This is one of the most common, and certainly the most stress-filled request I get for help. You open up Lightroom, and there is nothing there — all the photos you have imported and worked on are gone. Fortunately, this usually isn’t the disaster that it at first seems to be. When you are in Lightroom, you are looking at Lightroom’s catalog. You can read more about the relationship between the catalog and your photos in my earlier post, About Your Images and the Lightroom Catalog.  In a nutshell, the catalog contains all the information about your photos, all the work you do on your photos, and some snapshots of your photos, but not the photos (original raw files, jpegs) [...more]

As I mentioned in my last post, Adobe today announced the upcoming release of both the  CS6 Creative Suite, including Photoshop CS6, and Adobe’s new Creative Cloud subscription service.  There are now therefore two ways to purchase Photoshop CS6 — as we are accustomed to, through purchase of the stand-alone traditional product, and now also through the new Creative Cloud subscription service. Below is my early take on the options.  Overview of Pricing and Options The traditional stand-alone Photoshop CS6 full version will be $699, and the upgrade will be $199.  (Photoshop CS6 Extended, which contains the ability to create and manipulate 3D objects, is $999/$399. Note that video editing has moved from the Extended version to the Standard version.) [...more]

Check out this latest podcast from Canon blogger Jason Anderson — in it he and I discuss our favorite new features in Lightroom 4, and what we hope is ahead for Lightroom.  Thank you to Jason for having me as his guest! While you are there, check out other Learning Digital Photography podcasts, articles, and resources on this great site!

Adobe tonight announced the availability of a beta version of Photoshop CS6. You can download it at Adobe Labs . I have been very focused on Lightroom 4 lately, so I have not spent a lot of time on this yet to understand and evaluate every new feature.  In this related post, I show you a few features that have most peaked my interest, enough so that when the final version comes out, I would most likely upgrade even if I didn’t need to upgrade to teach the product.   Most of my work is and will continue to be done in Lightroom, but Adobe keeps adding enough to Photoshop to make me continue to want to use it as a [...more]

Some users — but not all users — have been having issues with Lightroom 4.  Victoria Bampton, a.k.a. The Lightroom Queen, has written an excellent post on known Lightroom 4 issues, so I will refer you to it. Should you upgrade despite these issues, or wait?  I would suggest that it depends.  Read through the list and see if these are things that would relate to you — for example, there are issues with the point curve (in the Tone Curve panel) and with plugins, but many users have never used the point curve and don’t use plug-ins. As far as performance lags, is time of the essence to you? Would you be willing to go back to Lightroom 3 [...more]

Some users have experienced issues when upgrading from Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 4. In certain situations, Lightroom 4 is automatically flattening out users’ Lightroom 3 Tone Curve point curve work, even if the photos are left in the old (2010) process version. If you are a point curve user and haven’t upgraded yet, I would suggest holding off until Adobe fixes this issue. They are very well aware of it.  If you have upgraded, keep in mind that Lightroom made a copy of your Lightroom 3 catalog and upgraded it, so you do have the option to go back to working in Lightroom 3 for now.  I would first check to see if you experience the issue by selecting photos [...more]

Hi everyone, I am hard at work on the Lightroom 4 version of my Lightroom Fundamentals and Beyond DVD, with plans to then do another on Lightroom’s Output Modules, so I apologize that I have not had time to post any in-depth tutorials recently. Here’s a quick tip to tide you over for at least a little while! From any module in Lightroom, the filmstrip shows you the folder or collection you are currently in. Click on that area for a quick way to get to All Photographs, the Quick Collection, or a recently visited collection or folder:   No more jumping to the Library module to revisit recently visited places! Once you select a location, if you want to [...more]

The Adobe Photoshop team has been out doing Photoshop Sneak Peaks, suggesting that CS6 must not be too far away.  From what they have shown so far, content aware move and expand are what I am looking forward to most:   Liquify tool performance enhancements (no lags!!) and a much larger brush size will be huge for those who use Liquify:

If you are in Seattle or can travel in, don’t miss this chance to learn in a small class setting! In this two day hands-on workshop, learn the fundamentals of Lightroom, concentrating on the Library and Develop modules where you manage, edit and enhance your images. With hands-on practice, learn how to organize, backup, manage, edit, fix and enhance your images, and the basics of working through large shoots efficiently with collections, presets, and synchronized settings. Learn how to move back and forth between Lightroom and Photoshop, and finally, to create jpeg and other copies of your images to share with others. Click here for details and to register.

Wondering what the Lightroom 4 Beta looks like and/or how to use the new features successfully? I still have some spots left in this FREE 90 minute webinar, Saturday January 28 at 10:00 a.m. PST (6:00 PM GMT.)  This is my last one on the Beta! Register here: If you can’t attend, you will find a recording of an earlier one here: Lightroom 4 Beta Recorded Webinar.