Wedding friends- give me some tips.

[Kai]

Just downloaded lightroom for 30 days. I have spent 2 hours watching tutorials. So you have any tips for me? I know there are presets out there I can buy and I have found a couple free, thanks Cory. I have not started playing yet - I guess I am kind of scared. Anyway can anyone share some of the common controls they use and numbers.

I know DJ has presets you can buy? Anyone done this yet? Bryan I know you started a thread about this and didn't get much responce.

Any help any one? When I get smart like you all I will share anything I know.

I better quit writing. Its sounds like I am begging.

[Woogie]

I really help you enjoy using lightroom as much as I do.

I dont know if I have any tips I can think of to share. Lightroom is pretty straight forward. Load up one picture and just click on random buttons. All the functions are very useful for photographers.

One of my favorite functions has to be the 'sync' button. I correct/edit one photo. Then select a handful of pictures along with that edited picture, hit the sync button and I can choose to apply the same settings to those selected pictures. You don't have to apply all the changes made, you can select certain changes.

Another thing I like is this:
Go to the tone curve box, and near the top left corner of the box, there is a circle. If you hover over the circle, two arrows (above and below) that appear around the circle. Click on that circle once, and go to anywhere on your photo, click, and move the mouse up and down. Very useful tool, in my opinion.

Have fun with lightroom!

-Bernard.

[Buckeye1]

Audra,
I wish I could help, but I am still learning the basics of Photoshop. You are a popular and well liked poster here, so I am sure you will get many good responses.

[kja]

I haven't watched the tutorials yet - I'm a bit of a play with the sliders girl, myself - but one thing a friend passed on to me was to get the Clarity slider up to +- 50ish for pretty much every image before you start anything else. I have no idea if this works for everything, but so far it's been a pretty helpful starting point...

Woogie - love that tip on the tone curve circle thing!

[Kai]

Hey Bernard... thanks. I checked out that curve thing. That is cool, but I would probably like it better if I knew how to work curves that well. In elements you only get levels. I think I am going to search a tutorial for that right now. I think I am really going to enjoy the sync button. Thanks for the info.

Buckey... thanks for just responding. I wish I could help people out more too but maybe I should follow your lead and encourage them even if I can't. Good luck with learning photoshop.

[Kai]

Hey Kja, Is clarity the same as sharpening?

[LeesaB]

I don't have any "hints" either, except get in there and play. You can't make a mistake you cannot undo...

Just import a couple pics...then play...do every action to every picture..I tend to like the sliders better then the others (that do the same thing)

Its a great program, worth every penny, it saves TONS of times and is a life saver.

I have a few of Kubota actions also..I like them too...there is so much to do out there...

go play and ENJOY

[EOS_JD]

Originally Posted by Audra

Hey Kja, Is clarity the same as sharpening?

Clarity adds edge contrast which looks like a sharpening effect. I use it very liberally and still use USM in Ps to sharpen my images.

Lightroom is used now for 90% though of my processing. I love it.

Import your images, scroll through and rate your images by pressing 1-5 or reject an image by pressing x. Once you have your images rated you can then edit the ones you want to by delving into the develop mode. Very simple and straight forward.

You can add all sorts of things in lightroom like vignettes and the like. I love it.

[Kai]

I am playing. Thats another thing (Kubota actions) I think I need now...thanks PONT!

I am trying to set up lightroom where I only have to go into photoshop with the best 20 shots and get creative.

[kja]

Thanks JD - I have to admit I didn't really know *what* it did, just that it worked. Unfortunately, this is my approach to a lot of things in Lightroom & Photoshop so far

I can see why Lightroom is replacing a lot of things in PS for many people - those sliders are awesome. I agree, get into a few images and just slide those things around. When I first got it I went wild -mostly to see what each slider actually did. Now I have an OK handle on some of the basics and I know right where to go to start on an image. I'm not even sure you'll need to go into PS too much some days!

I love that Lightroom is all non-destructive and the menu on the left side let's you easily go back if you've fuffed something up or want to try something new.

[bcap]

Hey Audra,

Glad you downloaded the trial! My best advice to you is to experiment with a whole whack of pictures. Learn how to use it, learn what each control does, how it affects different types of photos, so on and so forth.

For me, I typically work from the top down. I'll adjust exposure first (don't use this too too often), followed by Fill Light then Blacks. If I blew out parts of the photo, I'll bring up Recovery a bit, but I rarely do that.

Then, I'll almost always throw at least the Clarity slider up about 50%, I just love the way it makes the midtones pop.

Next, I'll go on to the Tone Curve and play with it until I'm happy. I typically leave the Point Curve at "Medium Contrast".

Then, depending on what kind of image I'm working with, I'll either move to HSL (Hue/Saturation/Luminance) and adjust each channel individually in Luminance first then Saturation - rarely Hue. If I am doing B&W, it is this point that I'll move over to Grayscale and play with the sliders there. Quite often, I'll do some HSL adjustments an then make a new snapshot (Command - N) and call it "Color" then I'll make a B&W adjustment and make a new snapshot of that and call it "B&W".

When I do a B&W, I follow the "Grayscale" conversion with adjustments in "Camera Callibration". There is a "skill" to this, and you just need to experiment with the sliders until you get comfortable enough to know what each will do. If I desire it, I'll do a bit of Vingette in Lens Correction, and then I'll zoom in to 2:1 and do some basic capture sharpening.

That is pretty much my workflow as for Develop is concerned.

Like I said, the best bet is to get waist deep and experiment. I typically don't use a whole lot of presets, because I like to give each photo a little bit of attention. If you have a series in the same lighting, same settings, and you want to copy-paste settings, select the photo you've already adjusted and press Command-Shift-C (Ctrl-Shift-C on the PC) and then select the adjustments you want to copy and press Enter. Then go to the photo(s) you want to paste the settings to and press Command-Shift-V (Ctrl-Shift-V on the PC) and voila.

Experiment with presets, metadata, labels, keywords, colors, different Develop settings, and you'll be golden. Lightroom is a great tool and I'm confident that you'll enjoy it

[GertS]

Hey Audra,

Bryan gave you already some great tips regarding correction. (I do nearly the same)

I jot down some tips regarding selecting images after downloading.
First I assume that the images are in the correct order of history and this is given by the filenames.

For sorting images go for Library, reduce the module picker, both side panels that just the filmstrip and the main window are visible. Main window should be in one image mode. Then increase the height of the filmstrip that it's about twice as three times the original size. This way you can recognize better the content in the image that you see groups of your images. In the main window you can see the image the larger way for deciding whether to keep it or not. You can see the images of the group and reduce them now easily.

Personally I delete the files I don't see as keeper. Deleting a file is set by standard for removing from the lib, it will stay on your hard drive, I have a backup of all downloaded files anyway. In case you deleted the wrong file, just do the undo.

How to "delete" all "removed" files? I do it by renaming the remaining files to an other name style. First I have a_####, then I go to b_#### , with # a digit.

LR is great for renaming and honestly it should create for a clone new name too.

Using this customer setting "{Customer Text}_{Sequence # (0001)>>}", you can edit under F2 - Rename - File naming select "Edit ..." , you can enter a fixed part for the start and it will rename it. You create only one time the renaming template with lots of options.

If you have 2 & more bodies which are not synched by time, you must have them in the correct file order and sorting in LR must by by filename not by file time. Can cause some trouble. However, if you have the cameras synched, LR can help you merging the images from all cameras in the correct order. (Mine are never synched, I use a self written tool, which doesn't care of that)

OK, back to deleting, after renaming the removed files keep their old names and you delete them easily with the explorer / finder as you can see clearly. Using a_#### first, then b_####, etc, you have the removed files on the top and needn't search much for the names.

When creating new names, LR doesn't rename a file if a file with this name already exists. It should be able to add an extra number like _001 to the filename, so you have less trouble after that.

After all editing is done you can give them the final name.

Myself I don't use the library functions for sorting, as I have a clear file structure for keeping my files and I find them really fast.
LR slows down with huge libraries > 1000 files, renaming 1000 files is no fun either and I have a really fast computer with heaps of RAM (4 GB). So I'm creating for each job a new library and after the first sorting and knowing which files I will edit, there are still some to go, I jot down the file numbers of the images in groups, separate the files extern in different folders and restart LR for each folder and create a new library and develop the groups separately.
Before I do the export I rename the group to correct name.

I keep the library at the same location all the time and before I start LR with a new job, I delete these files / folders. On my PC it's the folder I:\lr (I have 5 internal HDs with total 1,5 TB and 1 TB (not 1 GB, that would be really nothing) external in 2 HDs for backup, so I created different drive volumes).

Others may work differently, you must try things out which works for you best.

Good luck
Gert

[Kai]

So I have been playing and learning for 3 to 4 hours now. I think I like it...ok love it. I just don't know what I am doing yet. I think I need to watch the tutorials 5 more times.

I think my problem is that I have a "all or nothing - there is only one correct way" brain.
Meaning I want the best way to do any pp and in my mind I think that is only one correct way for each picture. I drive myself crazy. I need to relax.

Thanks Bryan for the reply, I'm sure I will post some pics for c&c soon.

Thanks KJA, Lisa and JD for posting.

I am going to bed, my brain is overworked for today.

[picturecrazy]

Wow, you guys use the clarity slider that much? I almost never set it past 9. I think I've always had an aversion to USM, and that reminds me of USM.

[EOS_JD]

Originally Posted by picturecrazy

Wow, you guys use the clarity slider that much? I almost never set it past 9. I think I've always had an aversion to USM, and that reminds me of USM.

I too keep Clarity low. I do however convert to LAB mode in Ps and do USM to sharpen the Lightness channel before converting back.