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New Lightroom Updates Offer Improved Raw Processing
Lightroom Classic CC has been updated for 2018, with many improvements to Raw image editing and more
William Sawalich
I’m one of those rare photographers who are actually big fans of Adobe’s subscription model for its Creative Cloud applications. Instead of going long stretches on outdated software, now I’m always up to date with Lightroom and Photoshop, using the latest tools those brilliant engineers have designed. Just this spring, Adobe provided an update to Lightroom Classic CC (having changed the name to incorporate “Classic” last fall, in order to differentiate from the entirely cloud-based suite of applications, known simply as Lightroom CC) that adds a new set of performance upgrades and features—in particular, some tremendous new controls to RAW image profiles. Here’s what you need to know about those new RAW profiles, as well as a rundown of other neat adjustments to the application. When Adobe updated Lightroom at the beginning of the year, the company focused on faster performance—particularly when it comes to importing and exporting. Photographers had been telling Adobe these areas were lagging, and so the developer improved the speed of these processes, especially for machines running 12GB or more of RAM. It also provided new options for searching nested folders more efficiently, as well as quickly creating collections from existing folders or geotags. The tone curve has been expanded in order to provide greater control over all aspects of exposure and contrast control. For instance, now you can really dig in to shadows, midtones and highlights separately, and tweak each of them with finer controls than before. This simply offers greater precision for those photographers who want to fine-tune their images to tighter tolerances. Other usability changes include moving the Dehaze Slider from it’s former out-of-the-way location in the Effects tab to the prime real estate of the Basic tab, right under the Clarity slider, putting it in a place where this useful tool is likely to get more attention. Also, the application now provides full-size previews of the effects of Develop presets as you mouse-over a given preview. Previously, that preview appeared in the small Navigator window in the top left of the Develop module, but now as you pause your mouse over a given Develop preset, the preview appears on the full image—making it easier to determine if it is, in fact, the look you’re going for. This year’s biggest changes to Lightroom Classic CC, however, are related to Raw profiles. Adobe has augmented traditional camera manufacturer profiles with new Adobe Raw profiles, as well as creative profiles that make more impactful one-click changes to the overall look and feel of an image file. They’re the perfect place to start making adjustments to a Raw image file before other edits are made. Camera profiles had long been buried at the bottom of the develop module in the Camera Calibration tab, but now they’re right there at the top of the Basic tab. This is the perfect place for them, because selecting the Raw profile is the perfect place to start editing an image. Just as you have been able to select camera-specific profiles in the past, now you can select profiles such as Adobe Monochrome, Landscape, Neutral, Portrait and Vivid in order to change the look of an image non-destructively. The creative profiles, of which there are four sets of eight profiles, are built to ride on top of other adjustments you’ve made—to exposure, saturation and sharpness, for instance—so they won’t obliterate any Develop module edits when switching between looks. Monochrome is the default black and white profile, while Adobe Color is the new default neutral color profile for Raw images. Landscape boosts saturation all over, and especially in blues and greens, while Neutral creates a flatter, less saturated overall image. Portrait is optimized for skin tones, while Vivid adds contrast and vibrance, while still maintaining nice skin tones—great for pictures of people in landscapes. The Artistic set of Creative profiles is designed to make bigger, bolder changes to the colors in an image. Black and White Creative profiles are intended to make stronger, more dramatic monotone images. The Modern set of profiles offers a variety of looks that are currently fashionable, while the Vintage profiles mimic the effects so often seen in analog film photographs (things such as increased shadow detail, lower contrast, higher saturation). Best of all, these creative profiles come with a slider (labeled “amount”) that allows you to intensify or dial back the overall impact of a given profile.
I’m one of those rare photographers who are actually big fans of Adobe’s subscription model for its Creative Cloud applications. Instead of going long stretches on outdated software, now I’m always up to date with Lightroom and Photoshop, using the latest tools those brilliant engineers have designed. Just this spring, Adobe provided an update... Read more

Shoot The Moon
Who needs a telescope when you’ve got a super-telephoto lens?
William Sawalich
There’s a full moon in a few nights. Why not point a camera at it? The June 28 Strawberry Moon presents an opportunity to capture photos of the full moon without a telescope. An even better opportunity appears in a few weeks when we’ll see a supermoon—when the moon is closer to the earth and, thus, appears larger in the sky. In each case, a super-telephoto... Read more

Using The Ultrawide Tilt-Shift Lens For Interior Photography
There are several great reasons to use ultrawide perspective control lenses when photographing architectural interiors
William Sawalich
There are challenges associated with all types of architectural photography, but I find one of the biggest challenges with interiors is working in small spaces. Even homes that are big and beautiful, in reality, get much more compact once you’re looking through a lens. Utilizing an ultrawide perspective control or tilt/shift lens is a great way to... Read more
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Searching Lightroom Via Metadata
Lightroom’s powerful use of metadata embedded in image files provides plenty of unique opportunities for sorting and finding photographs with the Library Filter
William Sawalich
Searching Lightroom Via Metadata
When you capture an image with a digital camera, there’s information about the circumstances of the image’s creation that gets embedded in the file. This is called EXIF data. For instance, the date and time a picture was taken, the camera that was used, the lens, even exposure details such as ISO, aperture and shutter speed are embedded. This data... Read more

One-Light Portrait Magic
Understanding this one simple lighting trick will revolutionize your photography
William Sawalich
Put the key light closer to the subject and they’ll get brighter right? Yes, that’s true. But why does putting the light closer to the subject—and, consequently, the background—end up making the background darker? It’s all about the relationship between the distance between the background, the subject and the light. Yes, it’s true: If you... Read more

Email Photos Directly From Lightroom
This image management software includes easy-to-use controls for sending photos of all sizes without leaving the application
William Sawalich
Want to send someone a photo? Well if you’re a Lightroom user, you can email that photo without ever leaving Lightroom. It’s pretty simple, actually. Here’s how. First, in the Library module, navigate to the image (or images, by control-clicking to select multiple images) you’d like to send, then click on the File drop-down menu and look for... Read more

The Basics Of Baseball Photography
How to successfully photograph the fast action of a baseball game
William Sawalich
Tips for baseball photography
Spring is in full swing and with it comes the boys of summer. If you’re interested in photographing baseball—whether that’s little kids in the weekend league or big kids in high school, college or the minors—here’s what you need to know to try your hand at photographing this fast-action sport. Start With the Ideal Equipment It used to be that... Read more

Backyard Birding With A Super-Telephoto Zoom
See birds in a whole new light. Try a long zoom lens to get up close and personal with the your local feathered friends.
William Sawalich
Backyard Birding With A Super-Telephoto Zoom
I don’t know much about birds, but I know lots of them inhabit my yard. I hear a woodpecker on occasion, and I can identify a blue jay and a cardinal when I see them, but that’s about the limit of my avian expertise. So, when I rented a super-telephoto zoom lens to get a better glimpse of the birds in my backyard, I was amazed by the world of detail... Read more

Sports Photography
Hit a home run on your next sports shoot when you shoot with passion—and with these tips
Text & Photography By Sol Neelman
I’m a big fan of photographing what you care about. The experience will be better and the imagery usually stronger because you’re invested emotionally into what’s happening. It doesn’t matter if it’s landscapes or food or documentary projects or your family pup. Make photos of what you love. My love happens to be sports. While this article... Read more

Crop To Open Images As Same-Sized Layers
Automatically open multiple images in a single Photoshop file while keeping each layer the same size
William Sawalich
Crop To Open Images As Same-Sized Layers
One of my favorite shortcuts when working with images in Lightroom that I want to open in Photoshop is the “Open as Layers in Photoshop” option in Lightroom. With it, you can select as many images as you’d like and then, in much the same way as you can right-click and choose “Edit in Adobe Photoshop” from the popup menu’s “Edit In” heading,... Read more

Creating Unique Portraits
These unusual portrait-taking techniques will help you unlock your creative potential and capture images in a new light
Text & Photography By Tom Bol
No matter what type of photography you like, at one point or another, you’ll find yourself shooting a portrait. I know landscape photographers who swore they would never shoot a portrait in their career, and one week later they were shooting a portrait. Weddings, graduations, holidays or even a day at the zoo all present great opportunities to photograph... Read more

Fixing Moiré In Lightroom
A simple and straightforward fix for unappetizing interference patterns known as moiré
William Sawalich
Look Up to Portrait Subjects
As someone who photographs a lot of corporate portraits, I’ve seen my fair share of business suits. And one of the most common things you’ll find in these suits is very fine patterns and woven textures—the kind of thing that’s perfectly suited to causing moiré. (These patterns can be found in all types of clothing, however, and other surfaces... Read more
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