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Showing posts 26 - 48 of 48, (reverse)
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 07/13/2012 08:28:24 AM · #26
Originally posted by mike_311:
when pressing "L" you can grey and then black out the screen, but is there any way to increase the size when do so. my biggest complaint is that it is hard to see details at a smaller size (yes i like to pixel peep). i'd like it to fill my screen for proofing.

you can hide all four (top, bottom, left, right) toolbars and see your image pretty much fullscreen. just click the little triangles.

Message edited by author 2012-07-13 18:42:01.
 07/13/2012 08:42:54 AM · #27
Originally posted by kirbic:
FWIW, the reason some programs like ACDSee, ZoomBrowser, etc. can display previews so fast is they are working with the embedded JPEGs in the RAW files, not the RAW files themselves.

That makes sense, and I'm just fine with that. I'm only using that function for a review to sort out the throwaways and the ones with some potential.
 07/13/2012 08:45:20 AM · #28
Originally posted by Skip:
[quote=mike_311]when pressing "L" you can grey and then black out the screen, but is there any way to increase the size when do so. my biggest complaint is that it is hard to see details at a smaller size (yes i like to pixel peep). i'd like it to fill my screen for proofing. [/quote
you can hide all four (top, bottom, left, right) toolbars and see your image pretty much fullscreen. just click the little triangles.


yeah that's what i do now. its kind of clunky though...
 07/13/2012 09:47:40 AM · #29
The tab key will toggle the left and right panels off and on, making the space larger for viewing. But i don't know how to make the top and bottom panels go away other than clicking the little triangles that were mentioned above.

Also the F key toggles through various full screen modes and back to the window size you had before you pressed it.

Dave.
 07/13/2012 10:10:06 AM · #30
I tried the 30 day trial of lightroom and after a week I uninstalled it. It was just too difficult to figure out. I bought a copy of bibble and it works great. Very simple to use.
 07/13/2012 10:12:41 AM · #31
Originally posted by bmartuch:
I tried the 30 day trial of lightroom and after a week I uninstalled it. It was just too difficult to figure out. I bought a copy of bibble and it works great. Very simple to use.

Isn't Bibble the one that was bought by Corel and is now sold as Aftershot Pro?
 07/13/2012 10:25:12 AM · #32
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
Isn't Bibble the one that was bought by Corel and is now sold as Aftershot Pro?

Sounds like a hangover cure.
 07/13/2012 10:48:47 AM · #33
Hi Doc, how are you buddy?

Well, I started using Picasa when it first came out (FREE). I have Lightroom 4, the latest Aperture and iPhoto. I keep coming back to Picasa for photo organisation for sheer speed and user experience. Itjust works for me. I have tried to FORCE myself to use Lightroom 4, but I just can't work so much of it out and I am not a dummy.

I just added a new SSD drive to my MacBookPro with a new installation of Lion, so I am in a prime position to rebuild from scratch and give it one last chance. I am just re-organising while I write. I am not holding my breathe that I will like it...there is a lot to like, but I just can't work out the organisation and what is saved and what is not saved. Perhaps a few tutorials.

By the way...thanks again for what you did for me a few years ago when you organised a replacement camera for me. I took a plunge this year and after 25 years in full time ministry went 3/4 time and became a pro photographer allowing my hobby to pay me handsomely, and for me to meet some people who could do with a connection to God. Thanks Doc...will never forget you.

07/13/2012 11:10:26 AM · #34
I know I keep repeating this, but I'm hoping to save others from my mistake. If at first Lr seems unintuitive and/or incomprehensible in the way it works (and it probably will), get a book. It really makes a huge difference, and I wish I had done so earlier.
Before you even install Lr, and especially before you import anything, read about how to best configure Lr to work with *your* workflow. Lr is pretty flexible, but there are some very important choices to be made when setting it up. Since it is an organizational tool, these choices will affect how it acts going forward, and you want to make intelligent choices so you are not beset with an organizational structure that does not make sense for you.
 07/13/2012 11:29:33 AM · #35
Originally posted by kirbic:
I know I keep repeating this, but I'm hoping to save others from my mistake. If at first Lr seems unintuitive and/or incomprehensible in the way it works (and it probably will), get a book. It really makes a huge difference, and I wish I had done so earlier.
Before you even install Lr, and especially before you import anything, read about how to best configure Lr to work with *your* workflow. Lr is pretty flexible, but there are some very important choices to be made when setting it up. Since it is an organizational tool, these choices will affect how it acts going forward, and you want to make intelligent choices so you are not beset with an organizational structure that does not make sense for you.


+1. becuase changing it later is a ... especially if you have lots of folders.

plus i also agree that you can't just right it off becuase it seems confusing, its not. its actually very simple once you see what it is doing and how it works. take the time to learn it and you will be rewarded.

Message edited by author 2012-07-13 11:31:11.
 07/13/2012 12:10:30 PM · #36
Great to hear from you 'pasta! :)

It's pretty clear the delay in Lr is that it IS working on the RAW. I just wish I could turn it off when I quickly cycle through slides. I shoot RAW+small JPG exactly for this reason so I can cycle the JPGs and view sharpness and general composition quickly to see what is promising. I then go back to the RAWs to work with them.

So I wish I could have LR show me the 3MP JPGs at times so it can be instant instead of the RAWs.
 07/13/2012 12:12:08 PM · #37
Jason, as Frtiz says LR will be fast or slow depending on your hardware, and you really should be using LR4 if you want the most speed.

That said, any version of LR can be made to appear faster by setting up the views that it generates at import. If it is setup to use the little jpegs that are attached to the RAW files (what makes most other software appear fast) each time you want get a larger more detailed view of an image it will have to generate it right then and there and your 5D2 files are pretty big. So with less than super fast hardware it will take a while with each view.

There is something you can do to make things faster once you sit down to do some serious work even if your computer is a little long in the tooth. Setup the import preferences to generate at least "standard" if not 1:1 previews at the time of import. The import finalization will take longer as the computer will need to churn out all those previews, but you can go do other things for a while. Once those larger previews have been generated, the "standard" views will allow you to flick through the files rapidly with full page views. In standard you would still have a bit of lag if you wanted to zoom in on any given image more than a full page view- but it will be relatively quick. With 1:1 views already generated you will be able to zoom in very fast.
Myself, I go with "standard" previews at import as my rig is pretty new and fast and zooming at that point only takes a second. And once you zoom in on a standard preview it gets saved as a 1:1 view from that point.

Larger previews do use more drive space. If that is a concern, you can set the preferences to discard the larger views after a specific amount of days if you want.
 07/13/2012 12:45:28 PM · #38
I'll have to goof around with settings I guess. My computer should be up to snuff. Quad core, brand new video card, 7200 RPM SATA HD. The individual previews don't take long, 1-2 seconds, but when you are looking at 400 images that is 800 seconds which is a long time.

I'll check the settings out this evening.
 07/16/2012 04:52:16 PM · #39
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
Originally posted by bmartuch:
I tried the 30 day trial of lightroom and after a week I uninstalled it. It was just too difficult to figure out. I bought a copy of bibble and it works great. Very simple to use.

Isn't Bibble the one that was bought by Corel and is now sold as Aftershot Pro?


Yes it is Steve. Hopefuly, it won't be too much trouble getting updates.
 07/16/2012 05:36:11 PM · #40
Some are discussing how slow Lr is to quickly look through photos.

I find that running through them in the Library is quick (this is where you tag them etc). When I hit the arrow button for the next image it is there immediately.
I believe you can set it up to only show the small file in grid mode in the settings.

In the develop mode things change. Here you have to wait for the file to fully load which makes sense as you will be working on the image.

I didn't like Lr at first but now I do and I still don't know how to use it to its full potential.

I use lightroom and PSElements as I don't find I need full PS now.

I'm using LR3. Will move to 4 down the track (rather annoyed as I purchased mine and a couple of months later out comes 4 even cheaper than what I paid for 3, arggghhh)

Message edited by author 2012-07-16 17:42:42.
 07/23/2012 11:30:05 AM · #41
I see some confusion as to the use of lightroom. I think the way i use it is a bit different from the people who have catalogs worth 5k+ pics in there. Let me share my experience in hopes that it helps somebody out.

When i first tried to use LR, it tried to handle the organization of all my files by date in a single catalog and i had to put things in collections to quickly pull them up (that or tag everything well with keywords)

i didn't like this approach, used light room for about half a month then gave it up for my manual system.

I personally like having control over my files and their organization on the OS level in a way that makes sense. Eventually i found a LR class that discussed taking advantage of all that LR had to offer while doing exactly that.

Now my system involves getting everything on my working drive. Making a new folder by date/customer name and event, and opening up a new LR catalog and building both the LR and the actual files right within this folder. Once i m done culling, and normalizing/equalizing the files. (LR makes this ridiculously ridiculously quick and easy). I save everything and create a seperate catalog from this catalog for all my printing work if i ever need to come back to it. These are the files that may require a bit of extra photoshop retouching. I also export to all the places i need to after i m done, and then export some files to a folder for a seperate "portfolio" catalog where all my absolute favorites go to ( this catalog usually stays the most active). After its done, i move everything to an archive drive and then a second archive drive. If i choose to make changes in the future, its a simple copy paste.

For a shoot involving 500 pics, which i culled down to 56, and adjusted and sent to the client for viewing, i took roughly an hour last night. This to me, is pretty quick and i would've took atleast three hours using my older method. Thanks to DNG keywording,folder level organization in the OS, and seperation of Catalogs by job, all of my files are very well organized and quickly searchable even if i decide to move away from lightroom in the future.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

PS: if previews is an issue, during the import process, have 1:1's made for your files. THis should speed things up considerably.

Message edited by author 2012-07-23 11:43:08.
 07/23/2012 01:07:12 PM · #42
Originally posted by Devinder:
When i first tried to use LR, it tried to handle the organization of all my files by date in a single catalog and i had to put things in collections to quickly pull them up (that or tag everything well with keywords)

i didn't like this approach, used light room for about half a month then gave it up for my manual system.

I personally like having control over my files and their organization on the OS level in a way that makes sense. Eventually i found a LR class that discussed taking advantage of all that LR had to offer while doing exactly that.


It sounds like you still have a lot of work that you shouldn't have. Lr can be configured to do pretty much whatever you want on import. For example, I want my originals on my main data drive, in a specific folder and in subfolders by year and then by date. Keywords are by far the best tool for pulling up photos related to a specific topic, location, etc. over a long time period. For instance, if I want photos related to our annul family camping trip, all I need is to pull up photos related to "camping." If I had multiple catalogs, all possibility of utilizing this is lost.
My workflow is:
- Insert card
- Start Lr and click Import
- Use the library module to cull, rate and keyword as desired
My originals are now where I want them, and can be filtered to only those photos that pass muster for their intended use. They are keyworded to enable rapid retrieval of photos related to specific topics. Now I can use the Develop Module to:
- Process photos including limited local adjustments, and including copy/paste of settings. Many times, the Lr processing is all I need. I use Ps only for more complex jobs.
- Export photos for their intended use, or publish directly to on-line galleries, all with a few clicks. I have export presets set up for web use, print use, etc.
Upon exiting from Lr, it is set to back up my catalog once per week. I also have unattended backups of my image library scheduled weekly. The power of Lr is elimination of repetitive tasks; once I learned this, and learned to let go of my "control issues," my life became *so* much easier!
Later this week I will be going to EAA's AirVenture and this will inevitably result in many hundreds of images to sort and process. My "touch time" to get these images imported to their proper place and into the catalog will be literally 90 seconds or less. The actual import process may take 5 minutes or so, but I can be doing other things.

Originally posted by Devinder:
PS: if previews is an issue, during the import process, have 1:1's made for your files. THis should speed things up considerably.


Yes, while it does take longer, this is great practice if the generation of previews is slow. For very fast hardware, it may not be required. It will be great when Lr incorporates support for GPU acceleration, but apparently that is a difficult task. Adobe does know and recognize that it is a much-desired feature (per their posts in the Adobe Forums).
 07/23/2012 08:03:28 PM · #43
Yea, i do pretty much everything out of LR except the final storage bit, but its gonna have to be a "learn to let go" process for that last bit.

I must have a control freak in me -.-

08/28/2012 10:34:11 AM · #44
I am a light room user, not a LR expert but I do like the program once I got used to it. LR does for me what i need, organization or many photos. I am not computer savvy and I don't know how to use photo shop so I do my processing on LR. I have a question for anyone who knows. I have a hard time setting my dimensions for uploading to DPC. Does anyone know what the dimension setting is in LR for the largest possible size dp will accept?
On another note, if I shoot Raw how do you convert to Jpeg?
Thank you for any help.
PS I have a self portrait and can not get the thumbnail size correct to put on dp either.
 08/28/2012 10:37:19 AM · #45
I am a light room user, not a LR expert but I do like the program once I got used to it. LR does for me what i need, organization or many photos. I am not computer savvy and I don't know how to use photo shop so I do my processing on LR. I have a question for anyone who knows. I have a hard time setting my dimensions for uploading to DPC. Does anyone know what the dimension setting is in LR for the largest possible size dp will accept?
On another note, if I shoot Raw how do you convert to Jpeg?
Thank you for any help.
PS I have a self portrait and can not get the thumbnail size correct to put on dp either.
 08/28/2012 11:50:57 AM · #46
Originally posted by Barroness:
I have a hard time setting my dimensions for uploading to DPC. Does anyone know what the dimension setting is in LR for the largest possible size dp will accept?


When you choose File>Export, the dialog that is presented gives you the options you want. Scroll down to "File Settings" and set the following values:
- Set Format to JPEG
- Set Color Space to sRGB
- Check the "Limit File Size" checkboxbox and enter 290 in the box

Now under the "Image Sizing" section, make the following settings:
- Check the "Resize to Fit" checkbox and enter 800 for width, and 800 for height

The above settings will give you pics that fit within the 800px limit for challenge entries, and also are less than 300k in size (again within the challenge requirements).

Originally posted by Barroness:
On another note, if I shoot Raw how do you convert to Jpeg?


See above. The conversion is done on export. Your original RAW files are left untouched.

Originally posted by Barroness:
PS I have a self portrait and can not get the thumbnail size correct to put on dp either.


Ah yes, this trips up quite a few folks. In order to function as a profile pic, the photo needs to be exactly 120px by 90px. You can export an image this size directly from Lightroom by setting the width and height to these values, but beware, the aspect ratio must be set correctly or you'll get a size you don't expect. It's a funny ratio, 4:3, which is the ratio that most old point & shoot digicams shot in. To select this crop aspect ratio in Lightroom, click on the crop tool, select "Enter Custom" under the aspect ratio drop-down, and enter 4 and 3 for horizontal, or 3 and 4 for vertical.
 08/29/2012 09:26:30 PM · #47
thank you so much! Perfect instructions, as I'm sure you can see my thumbnail is up.
I can't thank you enough.
Debbi
08/29/2012 09:51:26 PM · #48
Woot! Glad to see you got it working.
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