Bret Edge and I are leading another workshop together, this one in Wyoming June 10-13, 2010. Click here for info.

The City of Lone Tree, Colorado is holding its 8th annual photography show and sale. Deadline for entry is coming up fast so get your submsissions in soon! All the details are at the City of Lone Tree web site.

I’ve been very happy with my LaCie 321 for the past few years but now am lusting for a monitor with full Adobe RGB coverage. Here’s one from NEC that looks really nice and I think is very reasonably priced:

http://bit.ly/d2zn5X

I’m providing Lightroom training info, news and announcements at my new site: LightroomClasses.com

The next workshop is March 20-21 in Denver, will you join us?

I’m teaching a Lightroom class in Denver March 20-21 (Sat-Sun; 4 hours each day).

Details and registration are at www.LightroomClasses.com

Hope to see you there!

Since Apple released Aperture 3 a few weeks ago lots of folks are debating the pros and cons of Lightroom vs. Aperture. It’s natural for folks to want to take sides, and pick one program over the other. It’s equally unlikley that most people will be able to effectively use both products, which supports the need to choose one.

I’ve casually used and kept up with Aperture updates since it was first released. After all, I’m a huge Mac fan. For twenty years I have passionately preferred all things Mac to anything Windows.

When Aperture 1 came out, it was a time of dramatic change in photography, when digital cameras were starting to become more popular than film. Clearly, new software was needed to support the new digital photo workflow. Though other software had been produced in attempts to deal with this (Adobe Camera Raw and Bridge, Capture One, iView Media Pro etc.) Aperture really represented a significant improvement in the photographer’s workflow. (And this was before Lightroom came out.)

I still love most Apple products and always stay current with what they are up to. In several ways, Apple is well poised to change computing as we know it – as they have done several times in the past. So I never count Apple out – even in the case of Lightroom vs. Aperture.

When it comes to the important and difficult choice, then, of what software to use to process our digital photographs, when clients, students and people in the general public ask me why I prefer Lightroom over Aperture, here’s what I say:

1. Platform independence: true, I believe OS X is a superior operating system to all flavors of Windows (even 7, which doesn’t suck). That said, I think it’s a big mistake to limit your work to using Macs only… and Aperture currently will only run on a Mac (and a new, fast one at that). I myself use both Mac and Windows every day in my work, and being able to use Lightroom on both platforms is a huge advantage. Maybe someday, the majority of people will be using Macs (we can only hope) but until that day, platform independence is essential.

2. Company focus: Adobe is the undisputed champion in digital imaging software. I trust their products completely and they have led the way for two decades. Though there will always be little things that we wish Adobe would add or improve, there is no doubt that the people working for Adobe are the best and brightest in the business. Conversely, Apple contunues to show it is really a hardware company. That happens to have some really kick-ass operating systems, oh, and the industry leading video editing program

3. Workflow: there are some really crazy, frustrating things about working with Aperture. One example is the Image Vault concept. This is very much like the approach taken by the horrible iPhoto, and serves no purpose other than to ensure it will be difficult to migrate away from Aperture in the future. I myself have helped a number of people through the extremely painful and nervewracking process of moving from Aperture to Lightroom. On the other hand, Lightroom’s handling of files is simple and unobtrusive. You could safely use Lightroom for all your photos for the next few years, then switch to something else, essentially without a hitch. Not so with Aperture.

These three points illustrate the main reasons why I believe Lightroom is still the way to go. The list could go on and on; other folks have already talked about Lightroom’s superior noise reduction, processing algorithms etc.

One way that I agree Aperture outshines Lightroom is the interface itself. Lightroom is designed to let you easily get the interface “out of the way” while you’re working; there are lots of cool tools to work directly on your photo, with only the photo showing on the screen. However, Aperture’s interface is clean, elegant and beautiful, providing the kind of experience where you might not want to get the interface out of the way.

Unfortunately, for me (and I believe the vast majority of photographers) the interface itself is not a good enough reason to choose one product over another.

I hope this article helps you understand why Lightroom is the better choice. I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments and questions on this topic.

Thanks for reading!

Recently, a reader of my Lightroom 2 book wrote to ask me about how to integrate Topaz DeNoise into an automated Lightroom workflow.

DeNoise is a Photoshop plug-in that requires its processing to be done within Photoshop (not Lightroom).

This case study illustrates one very pwerful method of integrating Lightroom’s capabilities with processing files inside Photoshop. Here’s my reply to the reader:

Re: integrating DeNoise in your workflow: since DeNoise is a Photoshop plug-in, you would automate the batch process using a combination of Lightroom Export and Photoshop Actions. (In my book, there is some info in the Export chapter about this; I’m adding more to it for my next version on Lightroom 3.)

You’d set up the Photoshop action first. With a file open, create a new action and give it a meaningful name. Then, while recording the action, launch DeNoise and apply auto settings for noise reduction. (You can set up another action that will allow you to manually adjust, too… I’ll explain this in a bit.) Click OK to apply the DeNoise adjustment. Then, with the action still recording, save and close the file. Then stop recording.

If you want to be able to selectively apply manual adjustments during the batch process, all you need to do is activate the Menu option at the DeNoise part of the script. The window will stay open for you to make your manual adjustments, then when you click OK, the Action will resume.

Next, create a droplet from the action. Depending on your version of Photoshop, it will be somewhere under the File menu; probably under Scripts or Automate. With the Create Droplet dialog box open, select your new action, and save the droplet to your desktop. You can move it somewhere else if you want, but put it somewhere it can remain.

Back in Lightroom, in the Export dialog box, select a sample file and click Export to set up all the criteria for your exported files. I’d recommend you keep them in the same folder as the Originals, enable Add to This Catalog and use TIF as the file format. You can use whatever bit depth and color space you prefer.

Next, select the droplet as a Post Processing action in the bottom section of the Export window. (If you move the droplet later, this link will need to be re-established.)

Finally, make sure to save your new settings as an Export Preset.

To process a batch, select all the files you want to run through DeNoise, and export them using that preset. Lightroom will render the files to disk, then one by one open them in Photoshop, run DeNoise, save and close the files.

(The Droplet containing your action will open and process all the photos for you; you won’t need to do it yourself. All you will see are the windows quickly opening and then closing. That’s the “batch process” in operation in Photoshop.)

A key point here is that Photoshop can only apply settings to one image at a time. And each image has to be open in a Photoshop document window for it to be processed by Photoshop or DeNoise. That’s what we use actions and droplets for.

After Photoshop is done processing and saving your photos, they will be automatically added back into your catalog.

I recognize that this is a somewhat compressed explanation; I hope it presents a clear solution. This method is useful for anything you want to automate between Lightroom and Photoshop, especially plug-ins.

A recent question from a colleague:
I have a client who wants an image that needs some significant noise reduction. I’m trying to decide if I should purchase Noise Ninja for this little project or whether I should wait for LR 3 to be released. What do you suggest?

My answer:

Lightroom 3 Beta has greatly improved noise reduction over previous versions.

But currently, I think the best noise reduction software out there is Topaz DeNoise. I think its only drawback is that it only comes as a PS plugin.

Other really good programs:
Noise Ninja
Noiseware
Neat Image
Nik Dfine

All of these will allow you to integrate advanced NR within an automated LR/PS workflow. All of them produce excellent (and similar) results. The major differences between them are the software interfaces and controls.

One advantage of programs that are available as standalone apps (separate programs that don’t require Photoshop) is that you can set them up in Lightroom as External Editors, allowing you to use the Edit In… command to send the file to the outside editor, do your work, save and close and return to LR where the processed file is updated automatically. In this way, a standalone app offers more direct LR interoperability than a PS plugin.

To automate noise reduction between LR and plug-ins within Photoshop, you need to use Actions/Droplets and Lightroom Export post-processing.

There are lots of comparisons online; Google “noise reduction software” if you want to read reviews.

Hope this helps; let me know if you have any other questions about this.

I’m partnering with Professional Photographers of Colorado to present a full day class detailing all the essential aspects of the modern photography workflow.

We’ll cover everything from editing shoots in Lightroom to advanced image processing with Photoshop. We’ll also talk a lot about using metadata and other best-practices for pro or aspiring photographers.

The class is in downtown Denver, all day Sunday Feb 21. PPC is offering special pricing for the event. For more info and registration click here.