Lightroom updated

Lots of folks have already blogged this, but Adobe updated Lightroom to version 2, and added support for the Nikon D700 (unofficially, though). If anyone wants to send me a D700 for testing, just drop me a note and I'll make time in my schedule to accommodate you.

John Nack (linked above) lists some of the highlights in this release, so I'm going to ramble a bit about why I'm finally going to add LR to my imaging lineup.

First off, I'm doing more and more actual photography, where I want the image to be done right in the camera. And while I am writing a book on composite photographs using Photoshop, I want to keep my photography at the highest quality I can on its own. Yes, Photoshop has most everything I need, but I want to keep my brain on the images themselves for some projects, and LR has more flexibility in tweaking photographic images.

As a user group manager, I have been obligated to point out that Adobe has always meant for LR and PS to be used together, though either can stand alone for their own particular target audiences. Indeed, you can survive quite nicely as a photographer using only PS (the converse is not true for designers and LR). However, I never figured I needed to make the kinds of adjustments LR is capable of. That is changing, and it is mostly due to my changing perspective on photography alongside the availability of a more powerful image tool, LR.

If you are a PS user and a photographer, join me in adding LR to your lineup. It may take some getting used to, but I think it will be worth it to keep focused on a photography work flow that is distinct from an imaging or designing work flow.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your opinions on this.

DIY Home Photography Studio

I've started a series on building a do-it-yourself (DIY) some photography studio. The first article considers the concepts and introduces some of the terms I'll be using through the anticipated 5-part series. There are several sites out there that tell you how to build this or that, and many of them have great information.

What they lack is philosophy. Why do you want to build a home studio? How do you know what you need? When can you DIY versus having to go out and buy the real stuff?

My approach is to educate readers about the fundamental aspects of a studio setup. I am not going in to wiring diagrams, optical theory, or even shooting aesthetics. What I am going to do is give folks a set of tools they can use to evaluate their own needs and capabilities. More than anything, this will guide the enthusiast to making good choices about lighting and scenery, and help them balance elements that sometimes conflict, like reflection and detail, or efficiency and cost.

You can check it out at CommunityMX. There is a form at the end of the article you can use to send feedback or questions.

Future installments will talk about equipment and improvisation, and will go into more detail about how to approach building a home studio out of real-world, but non-obvious items. Find out how a USB hub can handle some tricky lighting situations!

NewTek introduces Rendition for CS3 Extended

NewTek, the folks behind LightWave 3D, have introduced a new plug in for Photoshop CS3 Extended. Rendition appears to be aimed at industrial graphic artists, but could be useful for anyone doing composite digital stills work. It will cost you to get into the beta release, but the price is discounted until the commercial release happens, presumably sometime later this year.

It's a bit odd to see software listed as being in beta, but still have a price tag attached. It might be better labeled as "early adopter" or some such, which would also imply it becoming a standard.

Adobe will not ship a 64-bit version of Photoshop for Mac

John Nack (I seem to refer to his blog a lot...) just posted this information about the future of Photoshop as a native 64-bit application:

As you've probably seen, among the great features in the Lightroom 2.0 beta is its ability to run 64-bit-native on Mac (Intel, 10.5.x) and Windows (Vista 64). If you think it feels great to beat Aperture to the punch here, you're right. :-)

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The Lightroom news naturally raises the question: What's Adobe doing with Photoshop? In the interest of giving customers guidance as early as possible, we have some news to share on this point: in addition to offering 32-bit-native versions for Mac OS X and 32-bit Windows, just as we do today, we plan to ship the next version of Photoshop as 64-bit-native for Windows 64-bit OSes only.

There is a lot of good information there about what 64-bit does and doesn't mean, both in general and for running Photoshop. In the end, it's about market, and Apple has decided to leave Carbon-64 in the trash heap. So, Adobe will be focusing on moving to the Cocoa way of doing things.

John brings up some good information for Mac folks, and also tries to head off any media-baited flame wars. However, I am willing to bet this will just spark a frenzy of armchair developers wagging fingers and charry-picking lame arguments. It's business, folks... take an objective step back and see what makes sense to all parties involved. Pay special attention to the 3 points made near the end of his blog entry.

Photoshop Express public beta now up

Adobe has finally launched a public beta of Photoshop Express, "a free Rich Internet Application (RIA) available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off digital photos with eye-catching effects. During the public beta period, Adobe will solicit Photoshop Express user feedback on product features and functionality, which will continue to evolve over time. As the newest addition to the Photoshop family line, Photoshop Express has taken much of Adobe's best image editing technology and made it simple and accessible to a new online audience. Photoshop Express allows users to store up to 2 gigabytes of images online for free, make edits to their photos, and share them online in creative ways, including downloading and uploading photos from popular social networking sites like Facebook."
Main site: http://www.photoshop.com/express
Press release: http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200803/032708PhotoshopExpress.html

TwistingPixels plugins for Photoshop

Last year, I tried out some Photoshop plugins from TwisingPixels. My 7-yr-old PC had a tough time with some of the rendering, but I really liked the effects, though I didn't spend enough time with the package to really get a grip on flexibility.

They have a free package you can download, called PixelSampler. The two coolest effects are the Black and White filter, and Tonal Streak. The 2nd one has some nifty algorithms that vary a blur distance based on local brightness.

If you are in to plugins, give these guys a try - I especially like the sky rendering stuff they have. I typically do not bother with plugins of any kind, but TwistingPixels is on my short list, and the only plugins I have currently (though I plan to get a few for image correction and sharpening).

Dropping hints...

Well, somebody has leaked a prerelease copy of Photoshop CS4 into the wild. The screenshots I've seen indicate a build from sometime back in November, and the associated comments seem to indicate that it was a fix or minor enhancement release.

No, I'm not going to post the screenshots... it's enough that I gave you a Google link above. Let me be clear that I do not endorse software piracy, especially when it involves prerelease copies of major software. Lemme 'splain...

Companies work very hard to have a good hold on their share of a given market. Part of that hold involves careful release of information. In fact, releasing information too soon can seriously damage a brand or company. The reasons are many, including having a competitive edge and getting first to market with given features or capabilities. Other reasons involve things that are less obvious; features that are merely experimental and may not make it to a commercial release, or less impact on the buying public.

There are counter arguments, as well. For example, some early releases can help generate buzz, and I'm sure some companies do this, though it's not well known how they control this nor if there are good metrics to decide whether this strategy really works. Adobe's Labs also help get material out in the public and make essentially the entire market a test platform to help iron out bugs or deficiencies before the sales numbers get hit.

Whatever the real cause, the buzz started a few months ago. I'm sure it won't be long before people get antsy about seeing CS4 on Labs (who knows if that will happen again), or other pirated versions start cropping up.

Happy Pi Day!

Well, having a physics degree, I just had to blog about Pi day and Einstein's birthday. Since this purports to be a Photoshop-centric blog, I should also include some graphic goodness, huh?

From 2006: Pi Mapped To Pixels

The Photoshop Chronicles: Intuitive Color Correction Plug-in for Photoshop

Dan Moughamian (The Photoshop Chronicles) found a nifty little Photoshop widget from Nik software, called Viveza:

Intuitive Color Correction Plug-in for Photoshop