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“Shoot for the Moon” Photo Contest

We are kicking off a monthly GreyLearning Photo Contest for 2018, and the first contest theme is “Shoot for the Moon”.

For this contest theme photographers are invited to submit their favorite image featuring the moon. The photographer whose image is selected as the winner will receive one year of free access to the GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle.

Images for this photo contest must be submitted no later than February 5, 2018.

UPDATE: You can see the winning image for the “Shoot for the Moon” photo contest here:

https://greylearningblog.com/contest-winners-shoot-for-the-moon/

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No More “Perpetual” Lightroom

There will no longer be any updates to Adobe Lightroom for those who don’t subscribe to an Adobe Creative Cloud plan.

Yesterday Adobe released version 6.14 of Lightroom, which is the final update to the “perpetual” version of Lightroom. There will no longer be any updates for bug fixes, proprietary raw capture support, lens profile support, or new feature updates.

Adobe had previously made it clear that by the end of 2017 Lightroom would no longer be updated for users who did not subscribe to an Adobe Creative Cloud plan. In a blog post from October 18, 2017, which focused on the release of Lightroom CC and the rebranding of Lightroom Classic CC, the following information was included:

Lightroom 6 is the last standalone version of Lightroom that can be purchased outside of a Creative Cloud membership. There will not be a Lightroom 7 perpetual offering. Lightroom 6 will remain for sale for an undetermined amount of time, but will no longer be updated with camera support or bug fixes after the end of 2017.

Needless to say, this milestone will frustrate many photographers who are not happy about Adobe’s shift toward a subscription model for software licensing.

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The Perils of Geotagging

I am a huge fan of geotagging my photos, to the point that I made a decision to buy a Canon EOS 7D Mark II (http://amzn.to/2i4k7wg) based on the fact that it included a GPS receiver. With the geotagging feature turned on, the location where I capture each image can be recorded by the camera in the metadata for each image. I can later view all of my photos on the map within Lightroom, which can be tremendously helpful.

However, I recently ran across an article that made me realize this feature isn’t always a good thing. For example, an article on the RhinoProtect website points out that if you share photos online, poachers may use GPS metadata embedded in those photos to track wildlife.

You can read the full article on the RhinoProtect website here:

http://www.rhinoprotect.org/news/beware-poachers-use-geo-tagged-instagram-photos-track-kill-endangered-animals/

The bottom line is that when you are photographing sensitive subjects, you may want to turn off the geotagging feature in your camera. Or, when sharing photos, you may want to first remove the location information (and perhaps other details) from metadata.

 

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New Lightroom Downloader App

If you are a photographer who is using (or thinking about using) the new Adobe Lightroom CC and you are worried about your photos or metadata being “locked up”, you can now breathe a sigh of relief. Adobe has released the new Lightroom Downloader application that enables you to download all of your source photos with metadata updates from the Creative Cloud.

Prior to the release of this application, all photos you added to your Lightroom CC library would be uploaded to the Creative Cloud servers, and possibly deleted from your local storage. Any metadata updates would be stored within your library and synchronized to the Creative Cloud servers, but not stored with local copies of your photos.

This created some (very reasonable) concerns among photographers who were worried that their photos would be “locked up” with Lightroom CC, forcing them to continue paying for a monthly subscription just to retain access to their own photos.

The Lightroom Downloader application enables you to download copies of your original photos, along with metadata updates you applied within Lightroom CC. In other words, this application provides a way to access all of your photos and data should you choose to discontinue the use of Lightroom CC (or if you simply want a full backup of all of your photos and data to store locally).

When you use the Lightroom Downloader application, your photos will be organized into a folder structure based on the date of capture. This is the same folder structure Lightroom CC uses in the background, regardless of the folder structure you may have previously been using for your existing photos.

More details about the Lightroom Downloader application can be found on the Adobe website here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/download-lightroom-photos.html

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$44,000 Fine for Undisclosed Retouching

A new law in France requires that photos where the model’s shape has been altered to make it appear thinner or larger must be labeled as having been retouched (“photographie retouchée“). The penalty for violating this law is 37,500 euros (approximately US$44,200).
Embed from Getty Images

According to the French Health Ministry, the law is intended “to avoid the promotion of unattainable ideas of beauty and to prevent youth anorexia”.

In response to the new law, which took effect October 1, 2017, Getty Images has issued a statement indicating that images where a model’s body shape or contour has been retouched will no longer be accepted into the Getty Images creative library. The statement further clarified that this type of image manipulation had already been prohibited for editorial content based on the Getty Images’ Editorial Integrity Policy.

The full statement from Getty Images can be found here:

http://press.gettyimages.com/statement-from-getty-images-on-updated-creative-stills-submission-guidelines/

 

 

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Webinar Recording: Lightroom Classic versus Lightroom CC

The topic for today’s presentation as part of the GreyLearning Webinar Series was “Lightroom Classic versus Lightroom CC”. The aim was to help photographers overcome some of the confusion about the new Lightroom CC, as well as the renaming of the existing version of Lightroom to Lightroom Classic CC.

You can watch the full webinar presentation through the Tim Grey TV channel on YouTube here:

The GreyLearning Webinar Series is sponsored by Tamron USA.

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16 Years of “Ask Tim Grey”

Sixteen years ago today I sent out the very first edition of the Ask Tim Grey email newsletter (though at the time it was referred to as “Digital Darkroom Questions”.

It is hard to believe I’ve been at it so long. In fact, through today there have been 3,532 installments of this email newsletter.

To celebrate, we’re offering 16% off any course in the GreyLearning library. Simply use “ask16” (without the quotation marks) in the Coupon Code field during checkout (being sure to click the “Apply” button to apply the discount).

A huge “Thank You!” to all of you who allow the Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter into your inbox each day, especially those of you who have been reading for years now. Thank you!

You can check out the GreyLearning video training library here:

https://www.greylearning.com

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New York City Photo Workshop 2018

I happy to announce I will once again be leading a five-day photography workshop in New York City in 2018.

I have lived in New York City for the last seven years, and have spent considerable time exploring and photographing the city during that time. I’ve also been leading photo workshops for more than a decade, and truly believe that our workshops are among the best available to photographers.

My 2018 New York City Photo Experience Workshop is an all-inclusive experience focused on helping you capture great photographs, learn to improve your photographic techniques, and have fun along the way.

For all of the details about the New York City photo workshop for 2018, please follow this link:

http://www.timgreyphoto.com/nyc-2018

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Lightroom Gets Confusing

Adobe has just announced “Lightroom CC”, which of course is likely to confuse many photographers who have already been using Lightroom CC for a while, and who have been familiar with Lightroom for about a decade.

It turns out there is a completely new version of Lightroom that doesn’t actually replace the existing version of Lightroom. To make things more confusing, the new Lightroom is called “Lightroom CC”, and the prior version of Lightroom will become “Lightroom Classic CC”.

Confused? Me too!

Fortunately you can get some clarification in an episode of Tim Grey TV here:

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New Course: “Understanding Sharpening”

One of the most important steps in preparing your photos to be printed or shared digitally is sharpening. Many photographers find the technical details and practical application of sharpening to be confusing. The new “Understanding Sharpening“ course from GreyLearning can help!

This course includes lessons to help you better understand what sharpening actually is, and how it impacts your photos right down to the pixel level. In addition, you’ll learn specific techniques for applying optimal sharpening using a variety of tools, such as Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Lightroom.

Going beyond the specific tools for applying a sharpening effect to your photos, you’ll also learn about additional techniques that can help you extract maximum detail from your photos, while preserving and enhancing the quality of your images.

In short, if you’d like to truly understand the concepts related to sharpening your photos, and learn to apply sharpening with confidence for all types of sharing, this is the course for you!

Total Duration: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes

More Info: https://www.greylearning.com/courses/sharpening