Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

I know… the unexpected Saturday post has reared its head again. Better yet, it’s the unexpected Saturday Blog Post Video tip! You just can’t beat that can you Anyway, this week I’ve got a 1 minute video tip for you on some very cool brushing options in LR 2 beta. I know it’s just in beta and version 2 isn’t out yet, but this is one of my favorite tips in version 2 and I’ve been dying to show it. Enjoy and have an awesome weekend.

Update: Apparently this doesn’t work in the Windows version of the beta. I haven’t been able to test this out for sure (but many comments have been left alerting me of this) but it’s looking like a no-go for Windows. Sorry about that.

Click here to watch the video. (10Mb)

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While I was teaching this week I realized a tip that I had forgotten about. Backing up your catalog automatically but doing it to another drive. Oddly enough, the backup location is not specified in Lightroom’s preferences (where of course, you choose your backup frequency). It’s in the actual dialog that pops up when you choose to backup. If you’re like me, for a long time you just left it as it’s default but you can indeed change it. I’ll explain more about why you want to change it and how in the quick video so click below to watch it.

Well that wraps up another week. I hope you have a great Mother’s Day weekend. Me and my kids are making Mother’s Day morning breakfast for my wife so if you smell smoke, don’t worry (or maybe worry just a little) See ya!

Click here to watch the video. (10Mb)

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I’ve got another quick video tip for you today (I mean really quick - like 60 seconds quick). It’s on a little known feature that helps out when using the Remove Spots tool and spotting your photos in general.

Click here to watch the video. (6Mb)

Now for some news and links…• Legendary wedding photographer (and just one all around really nice guy), David Ziser, has a workshop coming in July. David truly has a gift when it comes to photographing a wedding and working with people. Anyone who has been in one of his workshops comes out knowing it was worth 10 times what they paid. If you’d like find out more check out this link.

• You’ve heard me mention it before but Dave Cross, Moose Peterson, Laurie Excel and myself are teaching on a one week cruise through Hawaii. It’s got a great itinerary and a perfect mixture of classroom time, shooting time with the pros, portfolio review time with any of us, and free time to enjoy the cruise and the Hawaiian Islands. I’ve been to Hawaii once and it’s so darn cool because you’ve got landscapes, people, wildlife, flowers, fabulous sunrises, sunsets all in one place. Find out more and see the itinerary at Cruising Through Life’s website. Oh yeah, mention that you’re a NAPP member and you get a discount.

• I’ve been visiting the Weekly Photo Tips blog lately and Scott has some really nice finds on there. I’m especially liking his blog since he did a review of my Layers book Seriously though, review aside you’ll find some neat stuff on the website and Scott brings some unique posts to blogosphere.

• Terry White, author of the critically acclaimed Terry White’s Tech Blog (and one heck-of-a great photographer) wrote a cool post about controlling the whole studio from his laptop. It’s definitely worth a read and I’m sure you’ll find some other good stuff on his site.

And finally, an inspirational update…
• There was a lot of interest in the architecture and real estate post I did a few weeks ago. Well I got an email from one of the guys I mentioned (Thomas Grubba) and he pointed me to a Flickr group for Real Estate photographers. Not only is it inspirational but it’s educational too, as a lot of the photographers share their setups and experiences. The real estate market being what it is today, you can get a great competitive advantage if you work in this area by visiting this group. Heck, even if you’re selling your own home you might as well be the one taking your photos if your realtor pulls out their $110 point-n-shoot. Thomas also let me know that he and Scott Hargis (another really popular photographer in the business) are working on a DVD. Sign me up for it when it comes out!

Well campers that’s it for today. And yes, whenever I end a post with the word “campers” you know what that means. Yep, another cub scout camping trip this weekend. Say a prayer that the bird-sized mosquitos don’t get the best of me. See ya!
(photo credit: Thomas Grubba)

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Happy Friday folks! I’ve actually got the day off since my kids are on spring break this week but I’ve got a quick video tip for you anyway.

At first glance there doesn’t look like a way to save your slideshows into a format that you can send to some one. If you look a little further you’ll see you can indeed export them though. It exports the whole slideshow into a PDF Presentation (much like Photoshop’s PDF presentation automation). However, it won’t include any music tracks you’ve added in Lightroom. Well there’s a workaround if you’ve got Acrobat Professional. You can go in after the fact and embed the music to the presentation and get close to the same effect. Make sure you watch the video and leave a comment if you’ve got any ideas on how to take what I showed even further. I’m always amazed at what you guys come up with.

Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend. I’m tackling crown moulding in my living room this morning, which is sure to be loads of fun . Then we’re hitting Busch Gardens this afternoon. Finally, I’m teaching a whole day hands-on class on Saturday in Sarasota, FL at the Digital Technology Centre so make sure you come by and say hi if you’re around. See ya!

Click here to watch the video. (16Mb)

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Last week I posted a video about importing and the folder structure that I use. Lots of other ideas spawned off of it and this video is one of them (but there’s more to come). So let’s say you have a folder structure and import system that really works for you now. But you’ve also got lots of photos from the past when you didn’t use the folder structure you do now. What do you do with them? Do you have to delete and reimport? Nope. There’s a much easier way and we’ll take a look at it in this video.

Click here to watch the video. (12Mb)

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