LIGHTROOM 5.5 Plus lots of new CC features PLUS Photographers package for $9.99

This morning Adobe announced LIGHTROOM 5.5

Lightroom Mobile for iPhone along with some fascinating update to Photoshop CC

Create and Manage Beautiful Images in Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5Photoshop CC, part of the Creative Cloud Photography Plan, was updated, with stunning new features Features for photographers, include the most efficient way to manage and edit images across desktops, mobile devices and the Web. 

The apps can automatically import images from the iPhone camera roll and sync back to a Lightroom catalog on the desktop. Lightroom mobile provides photography essentials, including non-destructive processing of files using Smart Preview technologies to enable professional class photo editing from the confines of the desktop. Quickly apply star ratings, flag or reject images and edit them on iPhone and iPad. Edits and metadata changes automatically sync back to the Lightroom catalog on the desktop and are also viewable from any Web browser at lightroom.adobe.com. 

Lightroom mobile photo collections are also accessible for users of Adobe Voice, the recently introduced free animated video storytelling app.

Photoshop Mix, provides a connected mobile workflow to Creative Cloud, aimed at anyone who wants access to powerful editing tools on their mobile device. Open Adobe Photoshop documents, individual layers from PSDs, and images from Lightroom mobile.

Easily apply looks, create advanced selections and masks, and access advanced 

Photoshop features like Upright, Content-Aware Fill, and Camera Shake Reduction to take creativity on the go. Then export your layered and masked composition to Photoshop CC for further refinement on the desktop. Share work, or even save it to a Photoshop document for a mobile workflow that works seamlessly with Photoshop CC.

Technology Optimized for Mobile Photography

The Creative Cloud Photography plan’s desktop and mobile apps are connected by a powerful technology designed to enable users to edit and sync photos non-destructively from anywhere. By combining the same non-destructive editing pipeline found in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, with Adobe’s renowned Smart Preview technologies, the amount of information being moved between apps is minimized, without compromising the end result. This gives users confidence that edits will be saved while being able to access their images with unprecedented speed, no matter what device.

Pricing and AvailabilityCreative Cloud Photography plan is available at $USD9.99 per month. 

For additional details, please visit www.adobe.com/go/photographyplan.

To get started with Lightroom mobile, visit www.adobe.com/go/lrmobile_getstarted.

Photoshop Mix is free and available for download in the Apple app store:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/adobe-photoshop-mix-creative/id885271158. 

To learn more about Photoshop Mix, please visit mix.adobe.com.

2014 Schedule of Workshops and Seminars

2013 was a great year! 

I was able to share my love for Photography. digital post processing and the unique landscapes of the Southwest with many new students and old friends and colleagues. 

I am teaching with Arizona Highways Photo Workshops and Southwest Perspectives Photo Workshops as well as my own private classes and sessions

I am looking forward to another educational,  creative and adventurous New Year.  My schedule for the year is filling up nicely.

Please join me on one of my an upcoming workshops

Lightroom 101                                February 15

California –Big Sur                         Feb 22 – March 1

Lightroom 102                                March 8

Advanced Photoshop                             March 22, 2014

Magical Monument                                 March 28 - 31

Slots Canyon                                               April 7-11, 2014

White Sands                                                April 13 - 16

Havasupai Falls                                                 April 28 - May 2, 2014

Spring in Sedona                                              May 12 -14

Lightroom 101                                                  May 17

Lightroom 102                                                  May 31

Sedona Full Moon                                           June 10 - 12

Grand Canyon Lightroom                             August 7-10, 2014

Image to Output – HartPrairie                   October 3-5, 2014

Lightroom 101                                                 November 1, 2014

Lightroom 102                                                 November 15, 2014

More to be added as the year progresses!

Outdoor Photographer Magazine

5.3 is ready for download!

Some of you may have already downloaded the beta version of 5.3.

This is a free update with new lens support and a few bug fixes.  To download this update just open Lightroom and you should be prompted automatically.  If not, go to HELP>CHECK FOR UPDATES

Adobe also released ACR v. 8.3

A few new shortcuts go along with this:

Some of you may have already downloaded the beta version of 5.3.This is a free update with new lens support and a few bug fixes.  To download this update just open Lightroom and you should be prompted automatically.  If not, go to HELP>CHECK FOR UPDATES

Adobe also releases ACR v. 8.3




A few new shortcuts go along with this:


•                Shift+double-clicking on the White Balance label sets the Temp and Tint sliders to their Auto White Balance settings and the WB menu to “Auto”. (This is different from the existing behavior of Opt/Alt-clicking or double-clicking on the WB label, which resets the Temp and Tint sliders to their “As Shot” values, and the WB menu to “As Shot”.)

•                Shift+double-clicking to set the auto values for the Whites and Blacks sliders will now take into account current non-default settings, as well as other factors such as the current crop.

•                Shift+double-clicking on the Temp or Tint slider label sets each to its Auto White Balance value.

Newly added support for Tethered Capture in Lightroom 5.3

Canon EOS Rebel T4i / EOS 650D / EOS Kiss X6i

Lightroom 5.3 RC Bug Fixes (provided by Adobe):

•                Issues when upgrading catalog from previous versions of Lightroom.

•                Incorrect photos are displayed after switching away from a Publish Collection.

•                Catalog optimization did not finish, and was not optimizing the catalog

•                Feather of clone spots is set to 0 after upgrading catalog to Lightroom 5.

•                Auto White Balance settings are not saved to Snapshots.

•                Sony 18-55mm lens is detected as the Hasselblad 18-55mm lens for lens correction.

•                Increased Update Spot Removal history steps when in Before and After view.

•                Slideshows start playing automatically even when the Manual Slideshow option is enabled.

•                On certain images, red eye removal behaved incorrectly

•                Incorrect White Balance settings applied when synching Auto WB from source to targets

•                Video playback stops when dragging on the scrubber.

•                Errors when publishing photos to Flickr through the Publish Service.

•                Option + drag on Edit Pin behavior is functioning incorrectly.

•                Black border appears around the exported slideshow video.

•                Catalog containing images processed with PV2003 were adding a post-crop vignette when catalog upgraded to Lightroom 5.

•                Pressing the “Reset” button while holding down the Shift key caused Lightroom to exit abruptly.

•                Output Sharpening and Noise Reduction were not applied to exported images that were resized to less than 1/3 of the original image size.

•                The Esc key did not exit the slideshow after right clicking screen with mouse during slideshow playing.

•                Import dialog remained blank for folders that contain PNG files with XMP sidecars.

•                Metadata panel displayed incorrect information after modifying published photo. Please note that this only occurred when metadata was changed after the photo was published.

•                In the metadata of exported files, the application is listed as 5.0 instead of the actual Lightroom version (such as 5.2, etc.).

•                An Error Occurs When Playing a slideshow having an image Flipped Horizontally or Vertically.

•                Added Camera Matching color profiles (Natural, Muted, Portrait, Vivid) for the following
Olympus cameras: E-5, E-M1, E-M5, E-P1, E-P2, E-P3, E-P5, E-PL1, E-PL1s, E-PL2, E-PL3,  E-PL5, E-PL6,  E-PM1, E-PM2, STYLUS 1, XZ-1, XZ-2, XZ-10

Lightroom 5.3 New Lens Profiles (Mount – Lens):

         Apple – Apple iPhone 5s

         Canon – Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

         Canon – Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

         Canon – TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD A011E

         DJI – Phantom Vision FC200

         Nikon – Nikon 1 NIKKOR AW 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6

         Nikon – Nikon 1 NIKKOR AW 10mm f/2.8

         Nikon – Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G

         Nikon – Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

         Nikon, Sigma – Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM A013

         Sony – Sony 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM

         Sony – Sony 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM

         Sony – Sony 70-200mm F2.8 G SSM II

         Sony – Sony E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS

         Sony – Sony E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS

         Sony  -Sony E 20mm F2.8

         Sony – Sony FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS

         Sony – Sony FE 35mm F2.8 ZA

         Sony – Sony FE 55mm F1.8 ZA

Gained 30GB of space on Startup Disk!! GMAIL settings

I have been plagued with these constant messages on my MAC over the last couple of months.  I dutifully followed all the common suggestions to clean up and recover more space.

I deleted all unnecessary video files, deleted trash, even moved my iTunes library to a separate drive.  All these helped....A LITTLE...FOR A WHILE.

Yesterday I was down to 5 GB of free space on my start up drive!  This morning I actually watched it go down to ZERO!  Something was eating up my drive space..I was on  mission to find the culprit or culprits.

I downloaded a nifty FREE little program called OMNI SWEEPER

http://omnidisksweeper.en.softonic.com/mac

This allowed me to see into the inner guts of my system to see what was taking up and eating so much space.  

#1 was GMAIL

#2 was Adobe Raw Caches

I cleared the Adobe Raw Caches and freed up 10GB!! I Also went into the preferences in Photoshop and Lightroom and MOVED the cache over to another disk (not the start up disk)

I found in users/smathia/library a folder that contain over 20GB of "recovered messages"

Even after deleting the folder, Mail recreated it and continued downloading the message from Gmail. To solve the situation, I opened the Mail Preferences (Command + , ) and chose both my GMAIL accounts, I clicked on the Advanced tab and changed the "Keep a Copy for Offline viewing" setting below:

I am one happy camper now!!!

40GB of free space

GPS Tracking app - Lightroom Maps - EASY PEASY

Just came back from teaching a couple of workshops in Colorado and Flagstaff.  I used this opportunity to test out a mobile GPS tracking system.  My cameras do not have built in GPS and I was looking for an easy solutions to import GPS info into the MAPS module of Lightroom.










I downloaded an app called GPStrack onto my iPhone.  Turned on tracking when I left and turned it off when I got home.

GPSTrack allows you to use the GPS receiver in your iPhone or iPad to show your current location and create a log of your travels.

GPSTrack can record your location in the background, so you can continue to use your iPhone for other tasks while your location is recorded.

When recording a track, GPSTrack can show a map with your path, updated in real-time.

Saved tracks can be exported via e-mail in GPX and KML formats, useful if you want to geotag photos from a camera that doesn’t have GPS support.

This tracking went on in the background without any intervention from me...in other words, idiot proof!

Easily imported the .gpx into the MAP module in Lightroom and TA DA...all my images from that trip are pinned perfectly on the map with all the GPS coordinates, time and location. I can see the image from the exact location!

This will be a marvelous tool for scouting and planning future trips, captioning my images, and using yet another great tool in Lightroom to its fullest!

GPSTrack 2.2 can be dowloaded from itunes - the website for the developer is bafford.com/gpstrack

Lightroom 5.2 now available!

Lightroom 5.2 has been in Release Candidate mode for a while now and I know some of you have already downloaded it and are enjoying the new features.  It’s now in official release and is available in the update menu in Lightroom.

The Spot removal tool now includes a feather slider to control the hardness of the edges when cloning or healing.  Also where is decides to pick it’s source has been greatly improved and works so much better with textured areas of the image. It will also try to limit the source to areas within a cropped image.

A smoothness adjustment slider has been added to the detail panel under Color Noise Reduction that helps reduce low frequency color mottling

Smart Preview size has been increased to 2560 pixels on the long edge

Local Adjustment Brush refinements:

▪                Right Click (PC) / Control-click (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to bring up a context menu to duplicate or delete

▪     Control+Alt+Drag (PC) / Command+Option+Drag (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to clone (duplicate) that adjustment

Added cameras and lens support

A few bug fixes:

The following bugs that were part the Lightroom 5 have been corrected.

▪                Catalog containing images processed with PV2003 were adding a post-crop vignette when catalog upgraded to Lightroom 5.

▪                Pressing the “Reset” button while holding down the Shift key caused Lightroom to exit abruptly.

▪                Output Sharpening and Noise Reduction were not applied to exported images that were resized to less than 1/3 of the original image size.

▪                Incorrect photo was selected when trying to select a photo in segmented grid in Publish Services.

▪                The Esc key did not exit the slideshow after right clicking screen with mouse during slideshow playing.

▪                Import dialog remained blank for folders that contain PNG files with XMP sidecars.

▪                Metadata panel displayed incorrect information after modifying published photo. Please note that this only occurred when metadata was changed after the photo was published.

Go ahead and update – this is included free