If you like sharing your photographs online, whether on Facebook or on your own blog, you should learn how to properly resize your images. While your camera can take very high resolution photographs, it is always a good idea to down-size or “down-sample” those images, not only because most websites won’t accept large images, but also because making those images smaller will actually make them look better, if done correctly. In this quick tutorial, I will show you the proper way to resize images in Lightroom. A separate article on how to do this in Photoshop can be found in my “how to properly resize images in Photoshop” article. I use the below method when exporting images out of Lightroom. You can employ this technique to any photograph – whether it is a portrait or a sweeping landscape.
Lightroom 3.6 and Camera RAW 6.6 have been released
Adobe has just released final versions of Lightroom 3.6 and Camera RAW 6.6 that have been in “release candidate” state for over a month (download link for Windows and Macintosh). As shown on Adobe’s blog, the update fixes a number of serious bugs, in addition to providing full support for the new Nikon 1 V1 / Nikon 1 J1 cameras and a bunch of new lenses from various manufacturers.
Here is the full list of newly supported cameras:
- Canon PowerShot S100
- Fuji FinePix X10
- Leica V-LUX 3
- Nikon 1 V1
- Nikon 1 J1
- Panasonic DMC-GX1
- Ricoh GR Digital IV
- Samsung NX5
- Samsung NX200
- Sony NEX-7
A bunch of new lens profiles have also been added. Here are the lens profiles for the Nikon mounts:
- Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 DG HSM II
- Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro
- Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
- Nikon 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8
- Nikon 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6
- Nikon AF-S DX Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G
Note that two of the lenses in the above list are the brand new Nikon 1 Nikkor lenses. I will be publishing reviews of these lenses within the next couple of days. Nikon 1 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 will be the first to be reviewed and compared.
Photoshop vs Lightroom
Whenever Lola and I post images on our website and the Facebook fan page, we get plenty of requests on post-processing from our readers. One question that keeps coming back all the time is about Lightroom vs Photoshop – many beginners do not know differences between Lightroom and Photoshop and have a hard time choosing which one to get first. In this article, I will show the main differences between these two software packages from Adobe, what they are used for and what you can do in Photoshop that you cannot in Lightroom. Most of this article will also apply for Aperture vs Photoshop discussion, because Aperture and Lightroom share very similar functionality.
1) What is Photoshop?
Photoshop was originally created as a tool for simple image editing, which since 1990 has grown into a monster software suite with many functions and capabilities to accommodate graphic designers, architects, animators, publishers, photographers and even 3D artists. Think of it as a Cadillac of image editing with an unlimited potential that can grow not only with software updates and upgrades, but also with special plugins known as “filters” from Adobe and third party software companies. Want to stitch multiple photographs into a single panorama? Or create a High Dynamic Range photograph? Or get rid of skin blemishes? Or perhaps make a person look taller, shorter, thinner or fatter? Yup, Photoshop can do all that; and much much more. It would be pointless to try to list what Photoshop can do, because it would probably be a never-ending list. The term “Photoshopped” is now a part of our daily jargon, because we are constantly exposed to altered images that might look realistic while being fake – that’s the power of Photoshop.
2) What is Lightroom?
The full name for Lightroom is “Adobe Photoshop Lighroom”, which may sound confusing, because it contains the word “Photoshop”. In a way, it makes sense, because Lightroom can be considered a subset of Photoshop with specific functionality that Photoshop does not and probably will never have. It was created for the main purpose of managing a large number of images, keeping them organized in one place. Photoshop is a very advanced image editing tool, but when you edit hundreds of images, keeping them organized becomes a problem over time. Before I started using Lightroom, my photography workflow solely consisted of Adobe Camera RAW (which allows opening, manipulating and converting RAW files) and Photoshop (which I used to fine-tune images before saving them into my hard drive). It was a complex, cumbersome and inefficient process, even after I semi-automated it through a batch process in Photoshop. The biggest challenge was organizing edited images in my hard drive, sorting and cataloging them. I am not even going to talk about finding images, because it was an impossible task that required reviewing thousands of thumbnails and image metadata in order to find what I was looking for. As my file catalog grew, I realized that I had to find a better way to organize my photographs. And that’s when I discovered Lightroom.
How to Watermark a Photo in Lightroom 3
In this article, I will show you how to watermark a photo in Lightroom 3 using the standard, available tools. Adding copyright watermarks to photographs in Photoshop can be a very time consuming task. Although you can create a batch job for watermarking multiple images in Photoshop, it is a rather slow and cumbersome process that involves recording actions for different layouts. Embedding watermarks in Lightroom 2 was also painful, because you had to use a separate plugin that had to be installed and configured. Gladly, Lightroom 3 now has an integrated functionality to embed watermarks that you can use in batch action while exporting your images. Let’s go over the new method of embedding watermarks and how you can use Lightroom 3 to watermark all of your vertical or horizontal images during the file export process.
1) Why Watermark Your Images?
The first question you might ask yourself is – should you or should you not watermark your images? There are many opinions on this matter. Some photographers argue that watermarks prevent theft (which I and many others disagree with), allow self-promotion and help build brand recognition, while others argue that adding watermarks spoils the viewing experience and does more harm than good. Let me quickly point out what I think about watermarks and when they should and should not be used.
Portrait Editing: Before and After
In this article, I will show you an example of how I process portraits (before and after) and what my portrait editing workflow is like. Many of our readers ask how I post-process my images for my wedding blog and I decided to put together a quick example. Obviously, every image is different, so while some photos take very little of my time in Lightroom, others might take a while to process in Lightroom and Photoshop. This image in particular is from our recent “Bridesmaids Photoshoot“, a collaborative effort by many talented individuals in Colorado.
For any portrait work, it is best to shoot RAW. First, because the skin tone is very important and any white balance issues can be quickly taken care of in post-processing and second, because you can recover a lot of details from a RAW file. For me it all starts in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. If I cannot get something done in Lightroom, I import images to Photoshop for further processing. Both Lightroom and Photoshop are very powerful applications – you can get a lot done without using any plugins or other third party software. Do not be afraid to experiment with either Lightroom or Photoshop, as it will only help you broaden your knowledge and build up your post-processing skills.
The close ups usually require a lot of work, due to the abundance of details and features. But the amount of time you put in all depends on the type of look you are trying to achieve. Here is the original image SOOC (straight out of the camera):
How to Stack Two Vertical Images in Photoshop
While Nasim is working on posting another big article on how to create a photography blog, I decided to jump in and write a quick tutorial on how to stack two vertical images in Photoshop. I hope those of you, who already have a blog or will be creating one soon (hopefully with some help from Nasim’s upcoming article) will find my tutorial useful. The below technique surely did save me from some hassle and headache!
Posting vertical images to a blog can get frustrating. While dealing with horizontal images is easy, vertical images either take up too much space (if you extract them with the same dimensions as horizontal images) or take less space and require proper alignment. To deal with this problem, I came up with a very simple way to stack images, which keeps our blog clean and allows me to create a storyline with two vertical images side by side.
How to Take Black and White Pictures
If you are inspired by the works of Ansel Adams, James Nachtwey or other masters of black and white photography, you probably want to try doing some B&W yourself. If you don’t know how to take black and white pictures and where to start, then this guide might help you to get into the world of B&W photography. I must admit that I am no guru when it comes to black and white photography, but I have been experimenting with it lately and would like to share what I have learned so far.
1) Colors in Black and White Photography
As strange as it may sound, black and white photography is not about the tones of white, grey and black colors that we see in B&W images. Instead, it is all about the colors that are recorded by the camera and how those colors are converted to different shades of grey, whether in-camera or through post-processing. Back in the film days, photographers used color filters in front of their lenses while shooting B&W film, then would employ special darkroom processing techniques like dodging and burning on top of that to lighten or darken particular parts of a photograph (some landscape photographers still do it today with medium and large format film).
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What is a Photography Workflow?
If you have been reading articles on photography and post-processing, especially from a professional photographer, you have probably stumbled upon the word “workflow” and wondered what it meant. In this article, I will explain what a workflow is and what it is comprised of in the world of digital photography. Please note that the workflow process can vary greatly from one photographer to another, because of too many variables involved and because there is no established, standard workflow that applies to everyone. Therefore, information that I provide in this article should only be used as a reference point to get an understanding of how workflows work in general. It will be totally up to you to establish your own digital photography workflow and you should ultimately design the process that works best for your needs.
1) What is a Workflow in Digital Photography?
A digital photography workflow is an end-to-end system of working with digital images, from capture to delivery. It is comprised of a series of inter-connected steps developed by photographers to simplify and standardize their work. Simplification and standardization are the two key words here, because a well-established workflow process will not only help you in simplifying and speeding up the process of working with images, but also will also allow you to stay organized, improving your efficiency and bringing consistency to your work. The number of steps involved in the workflow process varies, but generally consists of the following:
- Setting up the camera and capturing images
- Transferring images to a computer
- Importing images into a photo application
- Organizing and sorting images
- Post-processing images
- Exporting images
- Backing up images
- Printing or publishing images to the web
How to Organize Pictures in Lightroom 3
This is an update to the existing “How to Organize Pictures in Lightroom 2” article that I wrote a while ago for beginner-photographers who are getting started in Lightroom and are looking for a good way to organize their photos and photo catalogs. If you are looking for a generic guide on how to organize pictures without any third party photo software like Lightroom, then please read my “how to organize pictures” article instead. If you do not currently own a copy of Lightroom, I highly recommend purchasing one from B&H or other resellers.
Lightroom 3 has certainly become a very essential part of my workflow. I cannot imagine managing my photo catalog without Lightroom and I use it every day for my Photography needs. In fact, 95-98% of my post-processing work is done in Lightroom and I rarely use Adobe Photoshop for photo editing, which not only simplifies my workflow, but also decreases the amount of time I spend on post-processing. The below process of folder structures and organization within Lightroom 3 is my personal way of storing pictures and working with them for my home and professional use.
1) Where do you store your pictures and how?
The first question is, where and how do you currently store your pictures? I used to store all of my photographs in various subfolders of my hard drive (commonly in “My Pictures” or “My Documents”), but after I got into photography, I decided that it is best to keep all of my photographs in the root folder of my PC’s hard drive that I use solely for storing photos and small family videos. Hard drives are dirt cheap nowadays and you can snatch an external 2 Terabyte drive for under $150. I highly recommend getting a fault-redundant external drive like the Western Digital Studio Edition II though (two hard drives in RAID 1 Mirror configuration). If you shoot RAW like me and have a lot of photographs, the best and the most inexpensive solution that I know of is “Drobo“, which allows you to use up to five 2 TB drives together in a fault-tolerant configuration, allowing a single drive failure. If a drive fails, the system continues to run, but prompts you to replace the faulted drive as soon as possible. Once you replace the drive, the system goes back to regular operational mode.
2) Folder structure and organization
Now that you have figured out where you will be storing your pictures, it is time to figure out what your folder structure will be. There are many ways to do this and everyone does it differently. I will show you what works for me and will leave it up to you to decide whether you want to adopt it or create your own. Here is my current structure:
Default Lightroom 3 Import Settings
One of the first features that I noticed when I moved from Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 3, was the changed import dialog box. I got very used to the old ways of file imports in Lightroom 2 and while the new import screen seems to be prettier and easier to understand, some things do not work the same way anymore. If you have already seen my “How to Organize Pictures in Lightroom” guide, you will notice this import dialog change. Before writing an updated article on organizing pictures for Lightroom 3, I decided to share the settings I use in my environment and try to explain some of the import features.
To bring up the import screen, you can either click on File->Import Photos, or press CTRL+SHIFT+I on your keyboard. Once the import screen comes up, it will look like the following:













