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.

Great new site from Peter Krogh and friends about digital photography and imaging workflow and standards… in the works for a long time. Check it out.

A recent question from a client:

“I have prepared a few images for my winter publication, exported out of LR and sent them on to my designer. They need CMYK. So, at what point do I make that conversion. Would I do an edit into Photoshop, make the conversion and then save it from there?”

My answer:

“Conversion to CMYK needs to be done in Photoshop. When you’re done working on your master file (either in Lightroom or Photoshop), make sure to save it, then convert to CMYK as part of your process of generating the derivative file. You can do this my choosing Image > Color Mode > CMYK. (Be sure to retain your original RGB master!)

When you do this, the CMYK color space that will be used by Photoshop is determined by what’s set in Color Settings. You should use a CMYK profile that is as close as possible to the color space of the printing press being used; for example, if printing on a web press, use US Web Coated etc.. Try to get a custom profile from the printer, made specifically for their press. If you can’t get one, ask them what CMYK profile to use.

In Photoshop, You can also convert to any profile on your computer (CMYK or otherwise) under Edit > Convert to to Profile > and then select the profile from the menu. Sometimes this provides a better method than simply changing the mode due to the available options for choosing different rendering intents and a live preview.”

If you print your photos from Lightroom, you may notice that with different papers, the color and tonal output varies, even if printing on the same printer.

This is because all different printer/paper/ink combinations result in varying range of colors and tones that can be accurately reproduced.

In other words, if you print the same photo from Lightroom (or any other program, for that matter) on glossy photo paper, cotton rag art paper and canvas, each print will look different.

So what’s a photographer to do?

The answer is simple, but the implementation is not: you need to make adjustments to the photo for each substrate prior to printing. Read more…

A recent question from a colleague:
I want to convert all the photos in my Lightroom catalog to DNG.  Should I check
the "delete originals after successful conversion" box?

My answer:
I delete all the original camera raw files after conversion to DNG but not everyone has so much confidence in DNG vs. native camera raw.

The way I see it, DNG stands as good (or better) chance of being supported years in the future than do the native raw files. But this remains to be seen.

I don’t see a need to retain the original camera files after conversion.

If you have any concern whatsoever about this, archive the original raw files before deleting them from your master library.

(You also have the option to store the original raw file within the DNG, effectively doubling its size.)

Adobe has more info about all this at
http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/index.html

Major Software Upgrade Further Simplifies Photography Workflows

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — July 29, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software, the photographer’s essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish. As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel® processors and Microsoft® Windows® Vista® 64bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images. Read more…

These days I’m doing a lot of “giclee” reproductions of original fine art in a variety of media including pastels, watercolor and oils.

I’ve found that Lightroom is an ideal environment in which to work up my master images. In particular, the HSL panel is an extremely useful tool when it comes to matching colors in the original paintings.

I begin with a digital capture, either a raw image from a Canon 1Ds Mark III or a scan of a transparency (from  my Epson 750M Pro). Whether working with a raw capture or a TIF scan, I’ve found that I can match colors much more easily in Lightroom than in Photoshop.

For color management on my Mac, I use a LaCie 319 display, X-Rite EyeOne and Pulse. I’ve found that I really can trust what I see in Lightroom to match the print (of course, this also involves soft-proofing for the chosen media in Photoshop prior to printing.)

If you do fine art reproductions, consider integrating Lightroom into your workflow. It’s made a world of difference in mine.

*I will be publishing a white paper on Fine Art Reproduction with Lightroom this summer… stay tuned!

If you’re not making heavy use of Collections in Lightroom, I strongly recommend you start. Collections are one of the most important aspects of an efficient Lightroom workflow.

Simply, Collections in Lightroom are virtual groups. A single image can be a member of any number of Collections. This means you can arrange your images in an infinite number of ways, without making additional copies of the actual files on your hard disk.

Collections only contain what you put in them. And you can put a single image in multiple Collections, depending on their theme, purpose… anything. I have Collections that I use for Web galleries, emails to clients, etc. These collections often contain images from a variety of different Folders. Rather than move or copy the actual file, the Collections within Lightroom reference all the files in their original locations.

I have many Collections, including some for

Abstracts
Nature
Personal
Exhibition Entries
Clients
Stock Submission
Email to Joyce

etc.

This allows me to keep my folder structure and file location independent from the final usage(s) of a given photograph.

Also, I often use Collections as the last stage of editing a shoot. After I’ve gone through all the images from a particular outing, and assigned Pick Flags, Stars, etc. I take all the highest rated/flagged images and put them in a Collection named for the subject or location.

You might ask, “why not just use the Folders source”?

Again, because I want to separate the content from its source. This is the main benefit of Metadata editing, or “instruction-based editing”. It doesn’t matter where the file resides, I can edit and distribute it in myriad ways easily from within Lightroom.

So take a closer look at Collections! You’ll find all kinds of ways to use them.

Matt Kloskowski has a video with an introduction to Collections here:

http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2007/video-real-world-collections/

Peter Krogh, author of the popular The DAM Book, has posted a new white paper on the Adobe web site:

Non-Destructive Imaging: An Evolution of Rendering Technology
“With the rapid adoption of raw photography in commercial as well as amateur circles, the basic concepts of non-destructive imaging are increasingly important. But non-destructive workflows are not new. In this paper Peter Krogh leads you through a detailed outline of these evolving rendering technologies, and describes their relevance to every digital photographer.”

Click Here for the Adobe Site

I just returned from a great trip to Florida for Imaging US where I met a lot of interesting people and saw some really great new products. One that I’m really excited about is inkjet-printable metal, which I will definitely be adding to my list of available substrates. I will be posting more info about the latest photo and imaging developments soon… stay tuned!

A recent question from a client:

Where do the LR backup files go in v 1.3.1. I have a “Backup” folder in my LR folder with a long list of LR backup files. However, since mid Dec (about the time I upgraded to 1.3.1) there have been no new backup files created. And I can’t find the LR backup file when I do a search from Finder. So to make sure I’ve got a backup, I’m manually coping my current lrcat file to my backup drives. Any suggestions?

Also, how many older versions of the backup files do you keep. I’m about to delete all but the last 5 backup files. Don’t see much need in keeping the older files. Am I missing anything?”

My answer:

“Each Lightroom catalog has its own settings for backups.

Go to File > Catalog Settings. On the General tab you will see the settings for backup frequency and location.

From here, you can determine if and where LR has been performing backups.

I only keep a couple of recent backups. A really old one has no use to me.

Also, the way you’ve been doing it – manually copying – is totally OK.

There’s a new image-editing program that digital photographers using Mac should keep an eye out for:

http://www.naked.la/

I just re-read Bruce Fraser’s excellent explanation of current best practices for digital image sharpening and highly recommend it for anyone needing further explanation of sharpening.

Click for Article

After using PSD for many years as the file format for my Master Files (with layers, masks, channels, etc.) I have recently become convinced to switch to TIF for this…. Jeff Schewe and Andrew Rodney make a strong case for TIF in a thread on the Luminous Landscape forum.
Click here to read the thread

I’m teaching a two-day Lightroom class this coming weekend in downtown Denver. I will cover the program in its entirety, as well as demonstrating my complete digital photo workflow using Lightroom and Photoshop.

For details and registration click here