Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

It’s that time of the year again. Photoshop World in Orlando is getting closer (April 2, 2008) and I’ll be teaching both Photoshop and Lightroom there. If you’ve never been to a Photoshop World then you’re missing out on a killer learning experience. It’s where the world’s top Photoshop instructors get together and share everything they know about Photoshop. And it’s fun and you’ll meet a ton of great people. A couple of things:

- First, my Layers pre-conference session is rapidly selling out. Last time in Vegas, it was one of the first pre-cons to totally sell out so make sure you sign up soon if you’d like to go. In a nutshell, it’s for those who’d like to wrap their heads around the layers concept in Photoshop and really start using them to their full potential to make your work easier and more creative.

- Next, I’m teaching two Lightroom sessions there. The first is an overall Lightroom workflow from start to finish. From importing all the way through to printing. The second one is a brand new session called “Photoshop and Lightroom - Connecting the Dots”. There I’ll cover where/when we use Lightroom and where/when we use Photoshop and how they fit together.

- Finally, other experts like Jeff Schewe, Andrew Rodney, Tim Grey and Kevin Ames will all be teaching in the Lightroom track and they’ve got some great stuff planned as well.

Registration is open and you’ll save $100 bucks if you register early so get on it. You can click here to go to the site and check it out for yourself. Hope to see you there! Don’t forget to check out the next post for this week’s video.

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This week’s video topic comes solely from your comments and questions here on the Lightroom Killer Tips site. For a few weeks, many of you have been asking how to save a custom print template in a format that would let you send it to a printer or some one else to print. Technically, there really is no way but in this week’s video I’ve got a workaround for you. Thanks for all of the ideas! Enjoy the video.

Click here to watch the video. (11Mb)

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Happy Monday everyone. I’m proud to report that I finished the Disney Marathon yesterday (all 26.2 miles of it!) and lived to tell the tale. Scott Kelby has a mini-report and photo up on his blog. Thanks to everyone who posted comments of encouragement and congratulations here. You guys are great!
Now to the Lightroom preset. As you probably saw from the title, this one is my take on the “300″ look from the movie The 300. It’s very similar to what I did in Camera Raw on Photoshop User TV this week, but doing it in Lightroom is even better. I actually saw a great take on this preset from Mike Lao Photography. I had a few things that I wanted to add to it to take the effect in a different direction and that’s where this preset comes from. You’ll notice there are 2 presets in the zip file. One of them is for a harsher stronger look (good if you’re looking for that gritty effect). The other one is for a softer look (better for portraits that have women in them).

Click here to see a sample of the presets.
Click here to download Matt’s 300 Look Preset
Click here to see a video on how to install presets.

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Here are a couple of updates. If you just want the Lightroom tip then skip down to the end.

First off, I have my “blatant plug” of the day. If you’re thinking about attending the cruise this summer that Dave Cross, Moose Peterson, and Laurie Excell are teaching on you’ll need to move quickly. The ship is nearly sold out. According to the cruise line it will be sold out within the next few weeks so if you’re on the fence about it, make sure you decide soon. Click here to see a full outline of what we’ll be covering on the cruise. It’s going to be a blast, and these cruises are a great way to spend some 1-on-1 time with some great teachers so I really do hope to see you there.

Moving on. The Disney Marathon I’ve told you all about is here. First off, thanks SO much for all of the kind wishes you have all given me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Now, if you read my Monday post about being fairly calm and relaxed, you’ll be happy to know that feeling has now transitioned to utter panic I have to admit I’m a little nervous now. It’s normal I know, and frankly, there’s nothing I can do about it. Race day will be here on Sunday and I’m feeling good physically. Plus the weather gods appear to be in our favor with temps in the 50-60 range and cloud cover. I’d love for that cold front to speed up and make it here earlier but I’ll take cloudy and a little rain if I have to. It’s way better then hot and sunny. If you want to track me here’s the website. Just plug in my last name (spelled: Kloskowski). You’ll probably see my brother Ed pop up there too. My anticipated pace is a 10 minute mile. So that should make gaging my success easy (5 miles = 50 minutes, 10 miles = 1 hr. 40 min.).

Finally, a Lightroom tip. You know how the background area around your photo is a neutral gray color. You can click here to see what I mean. Well, if you right click on that area you can change the color. Some folks prefer white, some prefer black - well they’re both options if you want to change it. Heck, if you’re one of the special few that prefers the Pinstripe texture because it’s obnoxious looking and totally takes away the focus from your photo then you’re in luck, as that is an option as well. Click here to see a graphic of the list that pops up when you right click. Just pick your color (or pinstripe texture) and you’re in business.

That’s it for the Friday tip (and update and stuff). Wish me luck this weekend!

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Well folks, as many of you have realized, the 5-across/pano print preset from Monday met with some challenges Instead of trying to figure out the Mac/PC/Lightroom incompatibilities, I figured I’d just show you how to create the preset itself since I do think it’s a really cool one. Along the way you’ll pick up some tips about good features to use for this in the Print module as well as tweaking the Page Setup options to get the right sized print. Enjoy.

Click here to watch the video. (11Mb)

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