Lightroom Tutorial: Managing Catalogs On The Road

I’m going to start a series of Adobe Lightroom tips and tutorials because it has become such an integral part of my workflow these days.  The first one I want to tackle is a common scenario for those of us who travel to shoot photos somewhere. 

Approaches to Light Painting

In simple terms, “light painting” involves taking long-exposure photos in nominally dark environments, where you artfully set up or move a light source to either reveal an otherwise-hidden object, or draw in space using pure photons. Assuming you yourself are either generating or reflecting relatively little light, and/or are moving during the exposure, you become invisible to the film or camera’s sensor, leaving just the light behind.

I recently went on a light painting shoot along with other members of the New Mexico Outdoor Photography Meetup group, dragging along a Canon 5D mkII, a Pixel RW-221 wireless remote control (so I could trigger the camera from larger distances, and without line-of-sight), and a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 carbon fiber tripod (the lighter weight was appreciated while bumbling around in pitch dark in a open space full of prickly pear cactus). Although I started out with the requisite flashlight and blink toys as light sources, I quickly went off-script and started using an iPad as a light source, plus spent a bit of time in Photoshop and Camera Raw afterward. Here’s what I tried, and what I learned.

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic Aberration is the culprit behind colored fringing - often cyan or red, and vertical in direction - appearing on high-contrast edges. Technically, it results from the failure of a lens to converge all colors from the same source at the same destination point. It is most likely to occur with lower-quality lenses and shorter focal lengths.

As I tend to use higher quality lenses and longer focal lengths, I bravely assumed I could pretty much ignore it. Until it slapped me in the face. Here’s how to identify it, and correct it in Adobe Photoshop.

Commercial Slide Show Presentations that Rock

A slide show featuring winners is a must-have for every awards banquet. From the Oscars and Emmys on to specialized industry recognitions, all these events showcase the accomplishments of nominated individuals and organizations. The public loves exciting recaps of important civic contributions and stars, just as much as entities want to introduce or remind the audience of their messages. Oscar night budget aside however, most organizations have less-than-adequate image library assets to work with, and the results are usually dull and predictable.

Adobe Bridge vs Lightroom

I’ve heard this question so many times it makes me smile. Not because I think it’s funny but because when Lightroom was coming of age not too long ago, I too thought the same thing. Today, I use Lightroom on a regular basis and don’t know how our studio would function without it. Sure, there are other programs out there that can help us manage our clients sessions like Aperture from Apple, ACDSee, iPhoto or even a simple Windows 7 viewer. Lightroom though is so much more than a simple image viewer, and with this article, I hope to clear up the comparisons to Adobe’s Bridge (which ships with Photoshop.)

Integrating Shutter Drag with Flash

A quick PR shot of event decor is really a fairly complex architectural assignment, but you have to get it in about 30 seconds with virtually no equipment. Here’s how to combat low overall light level, nasty contrast and lack of impact.

How to fix an ugly exposure mistake!

Everybody knows you can’t fix everything in post, but I had to try. Not an absolutely must-have shot, because I had four other good ones from different distances and angles. Most people would cIassify this one unrecoverable. I probably should have just tossed the image. But call it pride or embarrassment, I wasn’t going to let this one go. I felt responsible to turn the ugly duckling into the beautiful swan.

Blending White Balance

Star trails and night photography used to be one of my favorite activities with film shooting.  I’d go out on a moonless night and set up a star trail image, often times leaving the shutter open for more than an hour.  Then I entered the digital age and quickly realized star trails didn’t work.  A hour long exposure on my early digital camera looked like a speckled piece of sandpaper, noise permeated the shot. But then digital cameras got better.  And better.  Now I shoot a Nikon D3s with a larger sensor, and I get results similar to shooting film. 

Art Photography Prize awarded to Raw Report blogger Sara Frances

Don’t you hate the argument of whether photography is art or just a job? No other medium can be perceived and utilized in so many ways and garner such a diverse audience. Billboards and Super Bowl commercials. Or galleries and art books.

Reckless Valentine Adventure in Photoshop

Wouldn’t receiving just a picture of a champagne bottle on Valentine’s Day fall a little flat? Texting your love just isn’t good enough. As creatives, we’ve got the possibility of exorbitantly elaborate personal art (and fun) at our fingertips. All you need is a little ingenuity to surprise your lover with a memento that will be cherished for years.

HDR Efex by Nik

HDR, or high dynamic range, photography has become very popular in the last few years. This process allows the photographer to render details in high contrast scenes including sunny day landscapes and building interiors, both shadows and highlights will have detail.  All you need to do is bracket your exposures 1/2 stop or more for multiple frames.  I often bracket around 1 stop for 5 frames to get good results.  Using HDR techniques in Arches National Park in the middle of the day I could shoot Double Arch and still get details in my shadows while not blowing out my highlights.

Snap Shot to Award Winner - a Case Study in Postproduction

How often have been on vacation and seen a great picture story evolving in front of you, but you couldn’t get the right angle, there was stuff in the way or you didn’t have time to grab a series? That’s just what happened to my good friend and professional photographer Fabian Krajmalnik while touring a famous cloisonne factory in Beijing, China. He saw immediately the potential for a timeless image of the ancient craft.

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