If you have any questions regarding this video, contact me via the contact form.

PLEASE NOTE: As mentioned, I am an affiliate of Nik Software. If you purchase by clicking the links in this blogpost, I receive a commission. This helps me run this blog and keep creating tutorial videos like this. Furthermore, following the link doesn’t cost you anything extra. On the contrary: using my links and discount code actually SAVES you money

…is de introductie van Smart Previews: die laten je toe om in Lightroom foto’s te blijven bewerken, zelfs als de schijf met je eigenlijke originelen niet aangekoppeld is! De video hieronder toont je alvast mijn persoonlijke top-5 van de nieuwe features. Er zijn nog heel wat meer kleine verbeteringen, maar daarover later meer.

Wil je in de toekomst automatisch op de hoogte gehouden worden wanneer ik dit soort video’s publiceer? Meld je dan aan voor de nieuwsbrief.
Voor je enthousiast zelf de video gaat bekijken en aan het downloaden slaat, nog even dit:

• Lees aandachtig de minimumsysteemvereisten van LR5 Beta (en dus ook de toekomstige LR5) op de officiële Lightroom-blog. Daar vind je ook de download-links.
• Dit is beta-software die nog niet voor echt gebruik bedoeld is: je kan dus niet een bestaande catalogus upgraden (dat zal wel kunnen met de finale versie, uiteraard).
• Wanneer Lightroom 5 zelf uitkomt, weten enkel God en Adobe. Zoek je in afwachting een goed boek om Lightroom 4 te leren kennen en gebruiken, dan raad ik je graag Lightroom 4 Ontmaskerd aan
• Op zondag 5 mei organiseer ik in Gent een intensieve workshop rond Lightroom’s Bibliotheekmodule, werken met catalogi, importeren en exporteren. Uiteraard zal ik het daar ook hebben over de impact van de nieuwigheden (Smart Previews) van Lightroom 5. Meer info en inschrijvingen hier.
• P.S. Er schijnt een probleem te zijn met de Comments op mijn blog, maar als je mij wil contacteren kan dat nog altijd via het contactformulier!

Disclosure: Als affiliate van Nik ontvangt MoreThanWords een vergoeding wanneer je de links in deze blogpost volgt. Dit kost je echter geen extra geld, integendeel: door de kortingscode MORETHANWORDS15 te gebruiken krijg je nog de extra korting van 15%!

The software is Mac/Windows compatible, runs with Lightroom/Aperture or Photoshop as host application and can be installed on two computers.

In this video tutorial, I take you through the black & white conversion of a rather difficult image using Silver Efex Pro 2. You’ll learn all about presets, control points, grouping control points and about the advantages of using the Nik Smart Object workflow in Photoshop. If you think Silver Efex Pro 2 is an addition to your workflow, using the affiliate links in this blog post gets you an even better deal: if you follow the links and use discount code MORETHANWORDS15 upon checkout, you’ll receive an additional 15% discount on your purchase. I told you it was a steal, didn’t I

PLEASE NOTE: As mentioned, I am an affiliate of Nik Software. If you purchase by clicking the links in this blogpost, I receive a commission. This helps me run this blog and keep creating tutorial videos like this. Furthermore, following the link doesn’t cost you anything extra. On the contrary: using my links and discount code actually SAVES you money

Color Efex Pro is part of the Nik Complete Collection, that contains 5 other plugins as well. The whole collection now costs only $149,95  (down from a whopping $500), and with discount code MORETHANWORDS15, you can save an additional 15% upon checkout. You can install it on two computers (Mac and/or Windows) and it can be used with Lightroom, Aperture and Photoshop.

DISCLAIMER: I am an affiliate of Nik Software. If you purchase by clicking the links in this blogpost, I receive a commission. This helps me run this blog and keep creating tutorial videos like this. Furthermore, following the link doesn’t cost you anything extra. On the contrary: using my discount code actually SAVES you extra money

1. The preparation.

You should always photograph with your post-processing in mind. In this case, I combined sunlight and flashlight in a cross lighting setup in order to render my subject
in a three-dimensional way. The image is underexposed but that doesn’t matter that much as long as the mix between ambient and flashlight is OK. And anyway, my flashes just couldn’t go any stronger.

2 Basic corrections.

I selected the Auto Lens Corrections checkbox and increased the Exposure in the Basic panel to +1.15, simply because the image was underexposed. So, this specific
correction is not part of the look we want to achieve. The following PV2012 settings
are typical for the “grungy” look we’re after: negative values for Blacks and high positive
values for Shadows, in this case -20 and +100 respectively. I also bumped the Clarity
slider up (+50) as it accentuates textures and structures. To create the worn out look,
I lowered Saturation to -55 and increased Vibrance to +15. I reduced Contrast because the other edits had already increased it more than enough.

3 Editing colours in the HSL panel.

Of all Lightroom panels, the HSL / Color / B & W panel is undeniably my favourite (apart from the Basic panel of course). You can use it to tweak colours without having to resort to the Adjustment Brush. In this image, I increased the Saturation of Green (+45) and Blue (+40) because the global desaturation in the Basic panel had made these colours too pale. I also dragged the blue channel’s Hue 25 units to the left making it more like a bluish green. Finally, I increased the Luminance of blue to +20.

4 More colour tweaking in the Split Toning panel.

You can adjust colours not only in the HSL panel, but also in the Split Toning panel.
I chose a warm Hue (55) for the highlights and a cool one (230) for the Shadows. Both Saturation sliders allow you to dial in the strength of the effect: I chose 33 and 10
respectively.

5 The Effects panel: vignetting and grain, your digital thickener!

It’s common to finish images like this off with a vignette. I also added some grain. Not only does this look nicely retro, it also is done for a practical reason: if you post-process
images really hard, you might degrade image quality, causing certain parts to disintegrate
more than others. In order to restore some uniformity into the way your pixels look, you
can use grain as “digital thickener.”

6 Finishing off with local adjustments.

This image was finished with three local adjustments: a graduated filter starting from the bottom right corner set to positive Clarity and negative Highlights to accentuate the concrete even more, a brush with negative Exposure and negative Highlights to tone down the disturbingly bright triangle under the skate and finally a brush with positive Shadows and positive Exposure to further lighten up the skater somewhat.

7 Saving your work as a develop preset.

Of course, you can save this look as a preset so you can apply it to other comparable images. It’s important to only select the effects that are indispensable for the look you are after, not the adjustments that were unique to this image (such as the exposure increase in step 2).

8 Applying to other images.

The nice thing about presets is that you can quickly apply them to other images. The
Navigator window at the top of the Develop module’s left panel already gives you a clue as to how the image would look with that effect applied to it. Of course, the more the
image resembles the original image in terms of tonality and atmosphere, the better the
effect will be. Sometimes, you have to tweak the result slightly, but still, presets can not only save you lots of time, they can also make images that were shot at entirely different moments in entirely different locations visually match, which can be a good thing if you want to use these images together in a photo album or an exhibition.
This is only one way to create such a vintage effect. By experimenting or Googling “Lightroom vintage preset,” you can find lots more. I quite like Kevin Kubota’s Vintage Delish set of Lightroom presets.

9 Alternatives.

If you don’t have the patience for this technique, or if all you want is ready-to-go solutions to achieve these kinds of effects, there is a slew of plug-ins that can help you.

• Alien Skin Exposure 4 and DxO FilmPack are specifically aimed at simulating old analog films.
• Color Efex Pro 4 by Nik Software and Perfect Effects 4 by onOne Software offer these kinds of looks as a subset of a larger array of filters and effects.

This blog post is an excerpt from my Lightroom 4 eBook “Lightroom 4 Unmasked”. It’s a 312 page eBook with 13 chapters and 59 more cases like this one, covering all aspects of Lightroom. You can find it here ($20).

As you know, I just wrote a Lightroom eBook myself called Lightroom 4 UnMasked, which was published through Craft & Vision. So shouldn’t I be promoting my own eBook instead of Gavin’s? Well, the fact is that I truly believe that our books are not competitors or that one is “better” than the other. On the contrary, both complement each other extremely well, which is probably why Gavin was kind enough to place a reference to my eBook at the end of his, and which is why I am writing this blog post.

It’s about Lightroom allright

Although there’s no mention of ‘Lightroom’ in the title of Gavin’s eBook, it’s about Lightroom allright.

Gavin compares the photographic workflow to a conveyor belt in a factory, where raw materials are being imported, managed, processed and exported and discusses how he uses Lightroom to tackle that process.

As such, the eBook focuses almost exclusively on importing, the Library Module, Develop Module and Exporting. There is no mention for example of my beloved output modules such as Slideshow, Print or Web.

Gavin describes his own workflow, but gives enough information on how you can adapt that to suit your own needs.

As British as sipping a cup of tea in a Land Rover

The eBook is beautifully laid out and I love the way each chapter opening image really pertains to the content of that chapter. The writing style is fluid and full of typical British humor, which I like. No over-the-top guru-style preaching but practical, down-to-earth advice. If Stephen Fry would ever write a book about Lightroom, it would probably read like Gavin’s.

I consider myself an advanced user – I have a neon ‘Lightroom Certified Expert’ sign on my wall – kidding . Yet I learned from this eBook, particularly with regards to metadata. Gavin’s amongst others a stock photographer, which I’m not, so I read the parts and advice on metadata presets and captioning with great interest. If you’re less of an expert, you’ll pick up invaluable pieces of advice throughout the entire eBook.

Anyone who advocates the use of Presets, Templates and (Smart) Collections is a friend of mine

In my own books, courses and workshops, I always advocate the use of presets, templates, Collections and Smart Collections and I give an example of how Lightroom assists me with my marketing by using a Marketing Keyword Set and a matching set of Smart Collections. I’ll also say that you can push the idea of Smart Collections even further, combining them into an entire workflow. Up to now, I referred people to John Beardsworth’s Smart Collections Workflow for an example, but now I can refer them to Gavin’s workflow: his use of Smart Collections really takes the ‘conveyor belt’ idea to the extreme: you enter fresh images in a collection, and from there, they’re automatically put into a Smart Collection workflow. When you rate them, assign keywords and develop them, they move through the workflow.

For me, this is the true value of this eBook. It challenges you – more than once – to revisit your own habits (also with regards to backups) and shows you new ways you might put Lightroom to use. And even if Gavin’s workflow is not the one for you, you’ll get an idea as to how you can set up something similar for yourself.

Gavin’s Smart Collection’s are included in the download (as well as some training videos) so you can start using them (or start messing around with them to create your own workflow) right away.

Conclusion

$30 isn’t cheap for an eBook but in this case, it’s well worth the price. For the money, you not only get Gavin’s 120 page eBook but a complete package with the Smart Collections, some tutorial videos and a set of Develop presets as well. And there’s more, until end of january and exclusively for MoreThanWords, code photowork33jan gets you $10 off!

Now, before you rush off to Gavin’s virtual book store, where does my own Lightroom 4 Unmasked eBook fit in all of this? Well, as mentioned, Gavin’s eBook only talks about a subset of Lightroom’s functions: Import, Library, Develop and Export. And even these aspects are only covered as far as they are relevant to the workflow Gavin uses. For example, there’s no mention of how to use Lightroom on two computers nor of the way Lightroom and Photoshop interact. And of course, there’s no mention of the output modules, which I happen to use all of the time and which are important to anyone who wants to print from Lightroom, make photo albums or who wants to use Lightroom to make an online ordering website.

This is where I think Lightroom 4 Unmasked fits in: my eBook is really meant to be a COMPLETE guidebook on Lightroom 4. As such, it covers lots of things that Gavin’s book (deliberately) doesn’t while elsewhere, it does not go into the amount of detail that Gavin’s does. Hence, both books complement each other so well. I would say that of my 312 pages, there is only about 60 pages that overlap with Gavin’s. And even in those pages that talk about the same things, it’s sometimes interesting to read how two authors can have completely identical, similar or downright different views on specific topics (as with regards to converting to DNG, for example).

You can find Gavin’s eBook, the Photographer’s Workflow here. ($20 with discount code photowork33jan, until end of january only)
You can fine my eBook, Lightroom 4 UnMasked here ($20).

1 Don’t think that the catalog contains your images

Your Catalog does not contain your actual images, it contains references to your images. The catalog and the images need to be backed up separately. Actually, anyone working with computers should at least make one full backup of their entire computer (and any external drives).

Specifically with regards to Lightroom, you have to make sure you have at least a backup of your catalog and your images. As far as the catalog backup goes, Lightroom can assist you with that (don’t rely on Time Machine to backup your catalog, because Time Machine does not check the integrity of your catalog when making a backup), but as far as backing up your images is concerned, you’re on your own. It is probably wise to invest in a reliable software application and at least one or more external hard drives to assist you with that.

One of the most common misunderstandings of new Lightroom users is that the images are stored somewhere inside the catalog, and that backing up the catalog automatically also backs up the images. This isn’t the case: as said before, the Catalog only contains references to and information about your images but not the actual images themselves. Both have to be backed up separately! For example, my Catalog contains (references to) some 60.000 images, most of them D700 Raw files weighing in at about 12 MB each. That’s some 720 gigabyte worth of pictures. Yet, my Catalog is only about 1.5 gigabyte in size. So clearly, the pictures are not in the catalog

2 Never move imported images outside of Lightroom.

Moving images outside of Lightroom is probably the single most common beginner’s mistake. If I had a dollar for every Lightroom user who has made this mistake at least once, I’d be typing this from a hammock in the Bahamas. Actually, I guess I probably wouldn’t be typing this at all As the Lightroom Catalog is essentially a database, it makes a note of where your images are at the moment you’re importing them. If you should later decide to move these images using anything else than Lightroom (for example Windows Explorer or Mac Finder or Adobe Bridge), Lightroom gets confused: the images are no longer where it expects them to be and you’ll be presented with annoying question marks in Lightroom.

If for some reason, you want to move images that you already imported into Lightroom, you’re better off doing that with the tools that Lightroom offers: Lightroom has some basic file management options and allows you to move images to other folders, make new folders, and so on. When you initiate these changes in Lightroom, they will also happen in your operating system, but not the other way around.

3 Never rename imported images outside of Lightroom.

In the do’s blogpost you already read that you can rename your images during import. You can also rename them afterwards, but if you do, you should do so in Lightroom, using the command Library > Rename Photos.

Never rename your imported images in another application such as Adobe Bridge. The reason is the same as in the previous paragraph.

4 Don’t look for the Save button: there isn’t one.

This is also a consequence of the database architecture in Lightroom: contrary to other applications, you don’t really have a Save button or command. The keywords you add to your images and the edits you perform on them are all saved on-the-fly and written to the catalog. If, after an hour’s work, your power goes out, you normally don’t lose a thing when you restart your computer.

Yet, Lightroom knows the typical Command+S (Mac) or Ctrl+S (Windows) shortcut to save files. In the case of Lightroom, this command makes sure that the metadata (edits, keywords, etc.) of the selected images, which is already present in the database, is also written to XMP. This is mostly useful to ensure compatibility with applications such as Adobe Bridge (otherwise, Bridge cannot see your Lightroom edits) and is not really necessary from a pure Lightroom point of view (although writing out to XMP does constitute – if only a partial – backup of your metadata).

In short, “saving in Lightroom” does not apply to saving files, but saving the metadata about those files as XMP.

5 Don’t go looking for the Save As command: there isn’t one either.

For the very same reason, Lightroom does not have a Save As command as you might use in Photoshop. When you’re working in Photoshop and you want to save a large, layered Photoshop file as a smaller JPG, you will choose Save As from the file menu. When you want to save an edited raw file in Lightroom as a JPG, we talk about “exporting.”

Exporting really is saving a copy in the file type (such as JPG), file size, resolution, bit depth, and colour space of your choosing. These options are set in the Export dialog, which you can call via File > Export.

6 Think twice before keeping exported images.

In practice, you want to export images to give them to others: you might want to export the images of a party as low-resolution JPGs to give to your friends. Or, you might export photos for a high-end photo book as a highresolution TIFFs so you can give them to the printer. Sometimes, students tell me that they keep these exported files, just in case. However, this is of little use: you already have the best possible quality on your computer by way of the original raw files on your drive and the edits contained in the Lightroom catalog.

Keeping these exported images needlessly takes up hard drive space, possibly even in your backup system as well. That’s why, after having given them to your clients or friends, you can just delete them. You’re better off making a couple of presets of the export settings you plan on using (for example lowresolution sRGB watermarked JPG and highresolution Adobe RGB TIFF). And if ever your friends or clients have lost their copies, in a well-organized catalog it’s only a matter of seconds to retrieve the originals and export them again using the original presets. You could even charge for the service.

Well, maybe not your friends…

This blog post is based on an excerpt of my new eBook ’Lightroom 4 UnMasked. A Complete Guide to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4′ which is available at www.craftandvision.com. $20 for over 300 pages (including 60 cases) of solid, no-nonsense Lightroom info. Suitable for beginning and intermediate users. More info about this eBook can be found here.

1 Work as long as possible with only one catalog

Although you could work with multiple catalogs, only one catalog can be open at any given time in Lightroom. This means that you can only search and filter within one and the same catalog at any given time. The same goes for working with collections: these will also only work within the same catalog. Unless you know what (and why) you’re doing, you should work as long as possible with one single catalog. This will allow you to reap the maximum benefit of the various organizational tools in the Library module.

If for some reason (for example, to have more compact, faster catalogs) you want to work with multiple catalogs, it might still be a good idea to work with so-called “project catalogs” and a central archival catalog but this is a more advanced feature that a novice Lightroom user should probably avoid until you get a full understanding of the Catalog concept in Lightroom.

2 Do as much as possible upon import

Lightroom distinguishes itself from ordinary file browsers such as Adobe Bridge by the fact that images have to be imported into its database (the ‘Catalog’). This importing is nothing more than making references in the catalog as to where your images actually are. Since, as a Lightroom user, you can’t get around this obligatory import phase, you might as well make the most of it and perform as many tasks as possible during import. The Import dialog allows you to “order” the rendering of the previews that Lightroom needs in order to run smoothly. Furthermore, you can also make a backup copy of your images and add specific copyright information during the import phase. Finally, you can rename your images and even apply some initial post-processing, such as the automatic removal of lens distortions, by means of a preset.

3 Use keywords, collections, smart collections and virtual copies.

Lightroom’s database architecture allows for some unique file management options and it’s up to you to take advantage of them. Using keywords, you will be able to quickly retrieve specific images in your ever-growing image library. Collections allow you to bring images that reside in different physical folders together without having to physically duplicate or move them. Smart collections automatically put images together when certain conditions that you specified in the smart collection’s rules are met. Virtual copies are an ideal way to experiment with different edits of the same image without having to duplicate that image, something you cannot do in Adobe Bridge & Camera Raw.

4 Make maximum use of templates and presets.

Lightroom is a workflow application, and it is stuffed with options to speed up that workflow by means of templates and presets. As a rule of thumb, if you’re planning on doing anything more than a couple of times in Lightroom, you’re better off turning it into a preset. There are more than 10 different kinds of presets, ranging from the obvious develop presets over metadata templates to specific keyword sets. And let’s not forget the templates you can save to quickly retrieve specific layouts in the output modules such as Slideshow, Print and Web. Templates and presest not only make your workflow faster, but also more consistent. In a way, templates and presets are the Lightroom alternative to Photoshop Actions.

5 Work efficiently: do as much as possible in Lightroom…

When you’re editing images in the Develop module, try to do as much as possible with global adjustments: these are a lot easier to synchronize with (i.e. copy to) other, comparable images. Only when you run out of global editing options should you take on the local adjustments such as the graduated filter and the adjustment brush.

By working in Lightroom as long as possible, you keep your filesize down (because you’re working on a raw file instead of on a TIFF or PSD, which is typically 3 to 6 times bigger) and everything you do is non-destructive: you can always revisit your settings and change your mind: nothing’s ‘baked into’ the pixels. Every edit is just written in pencil in Lightroom’s big archive: the Catalog.

6 … But know its limitations.

There’s an awful lot that you can do in Lightroom, maybe even more than you ever thought possible. Yet, sometimes it will be faster and/or better to use other applications (the so-called plug-ins) that you can call from within Lightroom. And of course, there’s the mother of all Lightroom plug-ins: Photoshop!

7 Use all modules, not only Library and Develop.

There’s a lot of photographic fun to be had in the other modules as well: the new Map module allows you to geotag your images, manually or based on GPS data already present in your image. The Slideshow module not only lets you show images on your own monitor but also exports your presentations as video, including the music you used. The Print module and the Web module let you send images to a printer or even the internet, and the new Book module is perfect for automatically or manually laying out photo albums!

More tips? Read the ‘Lightroom Don’ts blogpost’.

This blog post is based on an excerpt of my new eBook ’Lightroom 4 UnMasked. A Complete Guide to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4′ which is available at www.craftandvision.com. $20 for over 300 pages (including 60 cases) of solid, no-nonsense Lightroom info. Suitable for beginning and intermediate users. More info about this eBook can be found here.

Weighing in at 313 pages, this is not a regular Craft & Vision eBook. It’s the first to be published in the Craft & Vision ‘Big Books’ series.

Now, I’ve never been particularly good at blowing my own trumpet, but if someone forced me into giving ten reasons why you should buy this eBook, I’d probably tell them the following:

1. ‘Lightroom 4 UnMasked’ is written by an Adobe Certified Expert – that’s me, in case you were wondering – who teaches dozens of Lightroom workshops a year and therefore has a thorough understanding, not only of the application itself, but also of potential pitfalls beginning users may encounter.
2. ‘Lightroom 4 UnMasked’ is aimed both at beginning Lightroom users as at more advanced ones. This is an eBook you’ll be able to read more than once: it grows with you as your understanding of the software grows.
3. In addition to the 13 chapters, the eBook features 60 cases, giving step-by-step instructions on special techniques or workflow procedures. 10 of these cases are pro-cases aimed at more advanced users.
4. We’ve kept upgraders in mind when we were doing layout: text boxes labeled ‘New in Lightroom 4′ immediately draw the attention to things that have changed between versions. Two cases also deal specifically with what’s new in Lightroom 4.
5. The eBook features dozens of tips, tricks and suggestions, some of which are unique.
6. The eBook does not limit itself to Lightroom as it comes out of the box, but points you, the reader, to useful third-party applications and plugins that integrate well with Lightroom.
7. The eBook focuses on Lightroom as an entire workflow application. There’s thorough coverage of ALL the modules, not just Library and Develop.
8. An entire chapter deals with the Lightroom to Photoshop integration.
9. It’s up to date, all the way to Lightroom 4.2.
10. And finally, it’s an eBook, so it’s fully searchable and loaded with hyperlinks.

‘Lightroom 4 UnMasked’ is priced at $20. Even if you already own a Lightroom book or eBook, ‘Lightroom 4 Unmasked’ will help you squeeze even more out of Lightroom!