Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

I’ve been studying Architectural photography a lot lately and I’ve come across some really great websites. Thomas Grubba photography is one of them. He’s got a great portfolio of both interior and exterior photos. Plus, I really liked his Kitchen section as I’m a sucker for a really well designed kitchen (not that I cook) As I looked through his site it made me want to do two things: 1) I kept trying to dissect the lighting. Most architectural photography is a mixture of available light and some type of continuous or strobe lighting and I like to see if I can tell which is being used where. 2) It made me want a new house. Don’t get me wrong, I love my house but some of these places are absolutely gorgeous.

Next, one of the leaders in real estate photography, Scott Hargis, has a great portfolio as well. He’s got some beautiful exterior and interior stuff. Plus, if you’re interested in this type of work I dug up an interview with him that I thought was a great read. Here’s the link.

Finally, here’s a link to Randy Van Duinen photography. Randy’s been a friend of mine for a few years and he’s just got an awesome portfolio (as well as being a really nice guy). Randy helps out at Photoshop World and I see his photos every time I’m there and I always have the same response - “I’m following you next time we go out on a photo shoot!”. Seriously, he’s very talented and I’m hoping to accompany him on some projects in the coming months to see what tips I can pull from him when it comes to architectural photography.

All in all, I think this type of work is great and I’ve been exploring it more and more lately. I actually have a few shoots set up in the Tampa area so I’ll keep you posted. Enjoy!

I’ve been reading Scott Kelby’s blog this week and he’s been into food photography. It got me searching around for other photographers and websites and I came across Jeff Kauck Photography. Jeff is a food and still life photographer and he’s been in every magazine, cookbook, or package you can think of over the last 20 years. He takes food photography to a whole new level and if you’re looking for a change of pace for inspiration this is it. You can visit his site and portfolio over at www.jeffkauckphotographyadvertising.com. Enjoy! (photo credit: Jeff Kauck)

Happy Friday everyone! Yep, I know it’s not Friday for most of you but it is for me so I’m posting some extra stuff today since I’ll be off tomorrow.

First off, Jeff Revell of the Photo Walk Pro blog did a review of my Layers book. Make sure you poke around the site for a while when you stop by - lots of good stuff (I mean in addition to the review ). Oh yeah, don’t forget I’m still signing copies for anyone who orders the book from Kelby Training’s website. So go ahead and participate in the “Make Matt’s Hand Hurt” campaign. (fyi… I’ve gotten lots of comments here on the blog from people who’ve already gotten the book but please keep ‘em coming. I love that stuff!).

Next up, I want to let you know about a really cool discount. I know a lot of people that visit this site are NAPP members (and some of you are probably thinking about becoming one). Here’s a discount, that pertains to all photographers, that I just found out about but you’re going to have to act quickly. You may have heard about Nik Software’s Viveza, a new Photoshop plug-in. It’s really hard to explain what it does but it uses this “thing” called U Point Technology. Before you fall asleep from technical terms like that, you’ve got to see it in action. They’ve got a really quick 2 minute video that explains what this stuff is and I’ve got to say it’s really sweet. That’s not the news though. The news is that NAPP members (for 2 weeks only) are going to be able to save $50 off of the software. So if you’re a NAPP member you’ll have paid for half your membership right there. If you’re going to join, again, that takes care of half your membership right off the bat. Finally, this news is actually so new that the web pages aren’t set up yet. They will be early next week and I’ll make sure to post the link as soon as it happens. I wanted to let you know about it right away though, so you don’t go out and buy it this weekend if you were thinking about it.

Next up is some web gallery goodness.
- Sean McCormack has some new free galleries for Lightroom and you can find them here.
- The Turning Gate has a really cool Client Response web gallery. It let’s clients rate images with comments. Neat stuff! Here’s the link.

Finally, I’ll leave you with some inspirational photography. Take a look at Gregory Heisler’s portfolio. He concentrates on portraits and photographs mainly celebrities (the Quiet section was my favorite). However, knowing that neither you or I will likely be photographing the people he does, I always approach viewing galleries like this from another point - style, setting, expression, lighting and other factors aside from the celebrity. That way, I can start to get some ideas for my own work.

Well friends, that brings the week to a close for me. I’m taking Friday off from everything related to work (at least that’s the plan) and relaxing a bit. Of course the mayhem of little league/soccer games and kids birthday parties starts up on Saturday (you know, the usual weekend stuff) so it will be short lived. I wouldn’t trade it for the world though Have a great weekend!
(photo credit: Gregory Heisler)

Here’s a few things to chew on for the day if you’re looking to get inspired.

The first one if from a frequent visitor to this very website. His name is Hendrik van der Veen from Friesland (located in the northern part of the Netherlands). While not a professional photographer per se, you’d never know it from his work. He’s got some amazing landscape work as well as some equally amazing portraits. Make sure you pay his website a visit by clicking here.
Disclaimer: 99% of Hendrik’s work is PG rated. There is 1% though, that some may consider a little racy so if that offends you, then you may want to skip the “Portrait/Glamour” and “Still Life” sections of his gallery. I’m just sayin’…

The next gallery is something really different. His name is Andrew Wheeler and he’s a pro photographer that specializes in shooting motorcycle racing events. I first came upon his work in the latest issue of Photoshop User magazine (one of his photos is on the cover) where he talks about how Photoshop Lightroom fits into his life. I just love this stuff! The color, the sharpness, the speed he conveys is absolutely amazing to me. He’s got a website with a photo gallery here, but the best place I found to see his latest and best stuff is his blog.

Well campers, that’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow to close up the week.

First off, thanks so much to everyone who took some time out of their day to post a comment to yesterday’s post (suggesting presets). As I’ve said before I know how precious your time is and I’m honestly thankful that you continue to spend some of it here. I’ll be posting a follow up with my findings summarized tomorrow. Anyway, on to the inspiration/website for the week. This one is for all of you wedding photographers out there. Heck, even if you’re not a wedding photographer I think it’s just an interesting website to visit. It’s Jessica Claire Photography and she’s got some really beautiful work. Plus, she really let’s her personality come through in her blog and (to me at least) that ranks up there with one of the top things I look for when I visit blogs. So go pay her site a visit and enjoy your Wednesday.