June 12th: GreyLearning Virtual Photo Conference

I am pleased to announce that on Saturday, June 12th, I will present a free all-day virtual photo conference, featuring a variety of live online presentations on photography, Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and more!

The GreyLearning Virtual Photo Conference will be held on Saturday, June 12th, from 10:00am Eastern Time to about 5:30pm ET.

The schedule of presentations is as follows (all times are Eastern Time zone):

10:00am – Keynote: Better Photography Through Travel
11:00am – Streamlined Organization in Lightroom Classic
12:00pm – Smartphone Apps for Photographers
1:00pm – Lunch Break
2:00pm – Mastering Layer Masks in Photoshop
3:00pm – Mirrorless Cameras, Presented by Noah Buchanan of Hunt’s Photo & Video
4:00pm – Depth of Field Demystified
4:30pm – “Ask Tim Grey” Live! Q&A, with Gear Questions Answered by Hunt’s Photo & Video

Discount on GoodSync Backup Software

I use GoodSync software to backup my photos and other important data. This software makes it easy to maintain a backup that is an exact match of the source data. Among other things that makes it incredibly easy to recover from a hard drive failure, because the synchronized backup can easily be put to use in place of the original drive.

If you’re interested in using GoodSync in your own backup workflow, you can now get a discount off a subscription to GoodSync (through December 31, 2020) by using this link to get started:

https://timgrey.me/goodsyncoffer

Webinar Recording: Avoiding a Mess in Lightroom Classic

In my latest presentation as part of the GreyLearning Webinar Series, I shared my top tips for helping ensure you don’t end up with missing photos and folders, a chaotic organizational structure, and other challenges that can make it difficult (or impossible) to find the photos you need in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

You can view a recording of the full presentation on “Avoiding a Mess in Lightroom Classic” on my Tim Grey TV channel on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/xd-yr5W7_l0

Webinar Recording: “Questions and Answers on Adobe Lightroom Classic”

I get a lot of questions from photographers, especially via my Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter (http://timgrey.me/greylists). Lately, many of those questions have focused on Adobe Lightroom Classic, and so in my latest presentation as part of the GreyLearning webinar series I focused on those questions.

You can view a recording of the full webinar presentation on “Questions and Answers on Adobe Lightroom Classic” on my Tim Grey TV channel on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/GMeQypcyhlI

Webinar Recording: “Top Critical Tips for Lightroom Classic”

Today’s presentation as part of the GreyLearning Webinar Series focused on what I consider to be the top critical tips for working with Adobe Lightroom Classic. In effect, these tips represented the information I wish all photographers understood before they started using Lightroom as the foundation of their workflow for organizing and optimizing their photos.

You can view a recording of the entire presentation on my Tim Grey TV channel on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/ZIx9wxXE8Vs

Price Increase for Creative Cloud Photography Plan?

Adobe temporarily changed the pricing plans displayed by default on the Adobe.com website, causing many photographers to worry that the price for the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan was about to double. Fortunately, at least for now, there is nothing to worry about, and the $9.99 price can still be found here:

https://timgrey.me/photoplan10

As you can see in the image below, the Photography Plan was showing a price of $19.99 per month rather than $9.99 per month. However, that doesn’t actually represent a doubling of the price for the Photography Plan. Rather, the $19.99 price includes the upgrade to 1TB of cloud-based storage, rather than the 20GB that is included with the $9.99 subscription rate.

The Adobe.com website was temporarily showing a $19.99 subscription plan option instead of the $9.99 rate. The $9.99 plan is now once again the default plan on the Adobe website.

Of course, it is altogether possible that at some point the $9.99 subscription option (with 20GB of cloud-based storage) will be removed, so that only the $19.99 option (with 1TB of storage) will be available. But so far that is not the case, and photographers can still get the Creative Cloud Photography Plan for $9.99 per month here:

https://timgrey.me/photoplan10

Hand-Held HDR

In an Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter (http://asktimgrey.com/2019/04/04/hand-held-hdr-2/) I addressed a question from a reader who wanted to know if it really is possible to capture bracketed high dynamic range (HDR) exposures hand-held, rather than using a tripod.

The simple answer is “yes”, though there are some caveats I’ll mention in a moment.

The bracketed exposures for this HDR image were captured hand-held through the keyhole of a door in Rome, Italy.

It is indeed possible to capture bracketed exposures for an HDR without the use of a tripod. The software you use to assemble the exposures into an HDR image, such as Aurora HDR (https://timgrey.me/aurora2019), is able to align the individual exposures so all of the details are blended properly without any ghosting. In other words, the slight movement between frames captured as part of a bracketed sequence can be compensated for.

In the image below, for example, you can see the ghosted evidence of camera movement during the bracketed exposure sequence. The effect is especially obvious in the leaves of the hedges along both sides of the image. With HDR software, however, I was able to align the images to create the final image shown above.

In this composite of five bracketed exposures you can see the duplication and lack of alignment caused by camera movement while the bracketed sequence was being captured.

Of course, you do need to be careful with your camera settings to avoid other problems with hand-held shooting. With a bracketed exposure sequence you might have a significant range of shutter speeds, so that the longest exposure in your sequence might be too long for you to be able to get a sharp image without using a tripod.

In other words, HDR software can most certainly compensate for a degree of movement between frames of a bracketed exposure sequence. But you still want to make sure that all of those photos are of high quality. That means you need to consider all of your camera settings carefully, and in the context of hand-held exposures also making sure that the shutter speed for each exposure will be fast enough considering the absence of a tripod.

My Go-To Tool for HDR Imaging

There are a variety of software tools available for creating high dynamic range (HDR) images from a series of bracketed exposures. My recent experience has demonstrated that Aurora HDR 2019 is among the best,


NOTE: Get an extra $10 off Aurora HDR 2019 by using coupon code greylearning after following this link:

https://macphun.evyy.net/c/202122/513351/3255


Conceptually the process of creating an HDR image involves only two steps. First the bracketed exposures are combined into a single image, generally with a very high bit depth that enables that image to contain a tremendous range of tonal and color values. Second, that image with an extended range is mapped into the narrower range of a “normal” photographic image, with a degree of creative interpretation available as part of this process.

What I have found is that a surprising number of my photos can’t be assembled reliably by most of the HDR software that is available. This often happens when I have a frame that has a relatively large area of the scene that is dynamic. One recent example was this sunset featuring water below and clouds above:

A sunset HDR capture, which I found that only Aurora HDR was able to assemble with good quality.

With a scene such as the above, it can certainly be difficult for HDR software to figure out how to blend the exposures into a single image. The water is moving relatively quickly, and even the clouds have a degree of movement that may cause variations among the individual frames of the bracketed exposures.

From a workflow convenience standpoint, I will admittedly use Lightroom Classic CC to assemble my more basic HDR images. After all, I’m already using Lightroom to manage my photos, and Lightroom does a good job with many HDR images.

Lightroom, however, failed miserably when it came to assembling the above sunset photo. Aurora HDR 2019, on the other hand, did a great job.

Beyond the task of assembling the initial HDR image, it is also important for HDR software to provide a good range of flexible tools for optimizing the appearance of your HDR images during the tone-mapping stage of the workflow.

In particular, I find the various adjustments in Aurora HDR’s “HDR Enhance” category to be helpful for enhancing details in a photo. Multiple sliders enable you to increase the clarity and texture, with control at varying scales within the image.

The wide range of tonal and color adjustments also make easy to exercise tremendous control over the general appearance of an HDR image being assembled with Aurora HDR.

If you like to create HDR images in your photography, I recommend taking a look at Aurora HDR 2019. You can get a free trial through the Skylum website here:

https://macphun.evyy.net/c/202122/513351/3255


NOTE: Get an extra $10 off Aurora HDR 2019 by using coupon code greylearning after following the link above.

New Features in Lightroom Classic CC 8.0

Today Adobe has announced the October 2018 release of Lightroom Classic CC (version 8.0). There are a handful of technology improvements in this update that many photographers will find helpful. The updates include:

Masking by Depth Map

It is now possible to refine a targeted adjustment in Lightroom based on distance ranges within the scene. The Range Mask feature for targeted adjustments has now been updated to include support for depth maps embedded in certain image formats.

At the moment this feature applies to HEIC photos. In other words, for now this is a feature for photos captured with the iPhone or other smartphones running the new Android Pio operating system. It is reasonable to expect, however, that other cameras will offer similar support in the future.

An HEIC capture can include an embedded depth map, which effectively maps out the distances from the lens for all areas of the scene being photographed. That depth information can then be used to refine the mask for a targeted adjustment, such as with the Gradient Filter, the Radial Filter, or the Adjustment Brush.

For photographers familiar with the Focus Area feature in Photoshop CC that enables you to create selections based on areas of a photo that are in focus, the concept of masking based on a depth map is somewhat similar. The key difference is that the Focus Area selection evaluates an image and attempts to determine which areas are in focus, while the new Depth Map feature in Lightroom actually uses depth information embedded in a supported photo.

With this feature you can apply adjustments to areas of a photo based on a range of distances. This can be incredibly helpful for applying adjustments only to foreground areas versus background areas of a photo, for example.

Merge HDR Panoramas in One Step

For more than three years (since April 2015) Lightroom has supported the ability to merge multiple captures into an HDR (high dynamic range) image, or to a composite panorama. With the new October 2018 release of Lightroom Classic, you can now merge captures into an HDR panorama with a single process.

Previously, to create an HDR panorama in Lightroom, two steps would be required. You would first need to assemble all of the bracketed exposures into individual HDR image, and then assemble the HDR images into a composite panorama.  With the new update, you can simply select all of the captures that represent bracketed frames of the full panorama, and then merge all of the images into an HDR panorama with a single process.

Improved Tethering for Canon Cameras

While there aren’t any new features for tethered capture in the October 2018 update to Lightroom Classic CC, there have been improvements to tethered capture with Canon cameras. With tethered capture you are able to connect your camera to a computer running Lightroom Classic CC, control the captures within Lightroom, and have the tethered captures added automatically to your Lightroom catalog.

The improvements for tethered capture primarily relate to greater stability and faster performance when using Canon cameras for tethered capture. In addition, support has been added for a couple of additional Canon camera models (the Rebel T7 and the M50).

New Process Version

The October 2018 release of Lightroom Classic CC includes new Process Version 5. While a new process version has typically involved the addition of significant new features in the Develop module, with this release the updates are a bit more modest.

Noise reduction has been improved to help reduce the appearance of a purple color cast in photos captured at high ISO settings. In addition, the Dehaze adjustment has been improved to help reduce noise when you use a negative value for Dehaze.

HEVC Video Support

The HEVC video format is essentially the video version of the HEIC (or HEIF) capture formats for still images. With the October 2018 release, Lightroom Classic CC now supports HEVC video captures, so you can import videos created in this format. At the moment, this update primarily relates to videos captured with an iPhone using the latest operating system update.

Updated Camera and Lens Support

As with perhaps every other update to Lightroom, the October 2018 release also adds support for additional cameras and lenses. This translates to support for additional proprietary raw capture formats, as well as automatic Lens Corrections adjustments for photos captured with newer lenses.

New lenses supported in the October 2018 release are:

  • Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM
  • Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM
  • TAMRON 17-35mm F2.8-4 Di OSD A037E
  • Venus Optics Laowa 15mm F2 Zero-D

New cameras supported in the October 2018 release are:

  • Canon EOS R
  • Fujifilm X-T3
  • Nikon COOLPIX P1000
  • Nikon Z 7
  • Panasonic LUMIX DC-LX100 II

New Features in Lightroom 7.2

While the new version 7.2 update to Adobe Lightroom Classic CC might technically count as a “minor” update, there are a few new features that I think can add a major benefit to your workflow.

You can check out the top new features of the Lightroom 7.2 update in the latest episode of Tim Grey TV here:

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Tim Grey TV channel on YouTube to ensure you see all of the latest updates!