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.

I will have much more to say for beginners on this topic, but for those already using soft proofing in the Lightroom 4 Beta, I wanted to show you two ways to display the original next to the proof as you work on the proof. (Thank you to Mike for the question that prompted my idea for this post.)

With Soft Proofing checked in the toolbar below your photo, as you make your first Develop adjustment, you will be asked to either make the original the proof, or to make a proof copy.

1. If you prefer to make your output / proof adjustments on the original, choose Make this a Proof.  Then to see both versions side by side, type Y to view Before and After side by side.  Next you will change the definition of “Before”: in the History panel, right-click on the History step that immediately proceeds your first proof adjustment (or the top step if you haven’t made any yet),and choose “Copy History Step Settings to Before”.

2. If you prefer to have a separate proof copy, you will choose Make a Proof Copy.  You can’t use Before and After for two different photos, so you will use Lightroom’s second monitor functionality to display the original. Select your original photo in the filmstrip rather than the copy, then click on the [2] button in the bottom left above your filmstrip to bring up this display. In the top left, select Loupe, and in the top right, Locked, so that this will continue to display the original. (If you have a second monitor, and you  want it displayed on your first monitor next to your Proof, click and hold on the [2] button, and uncheck Full Screen.)

Next,  in the filmstrip choose your proof copy to work on. Finally, size the second window to fit next to your proof copy:

With either method, only the proof will change as you work.

Finally, no need to go to Photoshop for soft proofing!

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• You have to crop a photo, perhaps because it isn’t straight or you applied lens corrections, but the crop cuts out something you really need?
• Something in your photo is right on the edge of the photo, and needs to be moved up a bit?
• You need to fix two things that are really close to each other, and the spot removal tool won’t let you?

If so, you will want to watch my 5 minute video here showing some cool tips for using the Lightroom spot removal tool.  They won’t always work, but when they do they are quite handy. These tips apply to all version of Lightroom, and to Camera Raw as well.

I find that the more I challenge the spot removal tool, the more I discover that it can do for me.  Yes, it still has its limits, but it is much more powerful than it initially appears!

Related Content:

Video on the fundamentals of using the spot removal tool (with some advanced tips, too)  from Lightroom Fundamentals and Beyond: A Workshop on DVD in which I teach the fundamentals of using the spot removal tool (as well as some advanced tips).
Putting One Spot Removal Fix on Top of Another
The Difference between Heal and Clone in the Spot Removal Tool

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Occasionally I hear about some presets that I just have to check out, including X-Equals XeL Black and White Toolkit of over 300 presets. They are designed to emulate the look of 54 classic black and white films, as well as 4 antiquated processes, and the workflow ingeniously follows the traditional black and white darkroom workflow (as I understand it — truth be told, I only had a couple months of film/darkroom experience):

1. Simulate black and white capture:

• Choose your film type from 54 choices (with a set of presets for each, covering black and white mix, tone and grain)
• Choose your color filter or color mix

2. Simulate darkroom work:

• Choose your paper contrast grade
• Adjust your contrast (with “curve kicks”)
• Dodge and burn (with graduated filters)
• Solarize / special effects
• Toning  (Sepia, Selenium, and 5 more)

The toolkit  also has a cool set of presets to reproduce four antiquated processes ( Tintypes, Daguerrotypes, Cyanotypes and Ambrotypes).

For people with extensive film experience, these presets allow you to replicate films and processes that you know and love.  For people like me with little or no film experience, it allows us to achieve looks that we wouldn’t have known to create otherwise.  And for everyone, it can help you to get much closer to a great black and white with just a handful of clicks using just the Presets panel. Here are some samples, where I just applied Xel presets, without further fine-tuning:

When I first downloaded this set of over 300 presets and started playing without reading the directions, they overwhelmed me quickly.  However, once I read the directions and realized that the idea is to use groups of presets, and that they are ordered into a carefully thought-out workflow, I was able to work much more effectively, and really enjoy the creative process. Nevertheless, there are a lot of choices, and particularly for those of us without film experience, it can take time to experiment and learn what film types and other choices we like.  To me this process of learning what I like is great for late-night creative exploration, and I enjoy it.

As with any presets, I think you should apply and then fine-tune your develop settings to taste.  They are a great starting point, and may be true to the film type used, but some photos will simply look better with some fine-tuning (this is not a flaw of the presets). For example, in the Ilford Pan 50 example above, my  next steps would be to use the B&W panel to further darken the sky, and back off a bit on Clarity. This is where presets can get you started, but are not a substitute for understanding the rest of the Develop module!

In the end, I really like this set of presets and am happy to recommend it, because

• It exposes me to many more creative possibilities for my black and whites. I particularly like the antiquated processes and more grainy films, as they really push the envelope for me.
• The workflow is very well thought out.
• The presets clearly have been tested on a wide variety of images, and were built on measured film responses.
• They have been carefully designed to only affect what they need to affect — so they don’t wipe out adjustments you have already made unless they really need to in order to achieve the look.
• It is a great value, at only $19.99 (current website price – may change)

I wish the audio quality were better, but it is what it is — rest assured that my Lightroom DVD products have higher quality audio and video.

(Note: I have also added one more free live webinar, for Saturday, January 28. Click here for details and sign up.)

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Table of Contents (also shown on video web page with start times)

1. Introduction

2. Develop Changes

3. Map Module

4. Book Module

5. Saving Output – Book, Print, Slideshow, Web

6. Video Editing and Exporting

7. Integrated Email/Webmail

8. DNG Raw File Enhancements

9. More on Conversion from Develop Process Version 2010 to 2012

What this meant was that CS3 and CS4 customers were supposed to upgrade to CS5, right before the release of CS6, in order to get upgrade pricing.  This caused a lot of frustration among customers, so Adobe has now revised its policy.

Here is the statement:

We’re very excited about the upcoming release of Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 software and Adobe Creative Cloud™. CS6 will be a major new release of our creative desktop tools, with huge improvements for every type of creative professional. Adobe Creative Cloud will be our most comprehensive creative solution ever, giving members access to all of the CS6 desktop software plus additional services, new tools, Adobe Touch Apps, and rich community features. In addition, Creative Cloud members will receive continuous upgrades and updates to all products and services as part of their membership.

With these great new releases coming in the first half of 2012, we want to make sure our customers have plenty of time to determine which offering is best for them. Therefore, we’re pleased to announce that we will offer special introductory upgrade pricing on Creative Suite 6 to customers who own CS3 or CS4. This offer will be available from the time CS6 is released until December 31, 2012. More details on this offer, as well as any introductory offers for existing customers to move to Creative Cloud membership, will be announced when CS6 and Creative Cloud are released later this year. (source).

It is not clear whether they will get as good of an upgrade deal as those that who upgraded to CS5 first.

I could trash Adobe for their initial decision, but I sometimes make what turn out to be bad calls in my own business, and some of them are evident to my customers and followers.  While it’s embarrassing, we all just make the best decisions we can, and then adjust as needed as information comes in.

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 14 at 9:00 a.m. PST (5:00 PM GMT.)

Register here.

And stay tuned for many more webinar topics, on both Lightroom and Photoshop!

Working successfully with them requires that you change how you work with the sliders. The keys to successful work are to (1) understand that Exposure is now midtone brightness rather than the white point, and (2) that the sliders are designed to be worked from top to bottom.

Here is a video I have produced working several photos using the Lightroom 4 Beta. (You may have seen these same photos worked in blog posts and videos related to Lightroom 3).

For perspective, here was my workflow in Lightroom 3:

1. Set exposure for how bright I wanted the brightest tones (white point).

2. Set blacks  for how bright I wanted the darkest tones (black point).

3. Use brightness and contrast to affect the midtones.

4. Use fill light if needed to add light to the shadows

5. Use recovery if needed to recover  blown out highlights.

Here’s my new workflow — working top down:

1. Set exposure for midtone (average) brightness (ignoring whether I am blowing out any highlights)

2. Set contrast for overall punchiness. If this brightens or darkens the image too much, fine tune exposure.

3. Use highlights to recover blown out highlights and set highlight brightness

4. Use shadows to add light into or darken the shadows

5. If needed, use Whites to further adjust the brightest tones (white point)

6. If needed, use Blacks to further adjust the darkest tones (black point)

7. I can then circle back to any slider to fine tune the adjustments.

If you continue to treat exposure as the white point, you will find that the other sliders, namely shadows and highlights, don’t have the power that you would expect them to.

As with Lightroom 3, the secret to producing stunning photos in the Lightroom 4 Beta is to master the Basics panel!

The Lightroom 4 beta can be downloaded at this link.

To give Adobe feedback on features and performance, post in the Lightroom 4 beta forum.

Below are some thoughts on who may want to use the beta, and an extensive list of new features. I will have more blog posts on some of the features over the coming days.

If you are interested in watching a tour of the changes and a demonstration of how the new features work, check out my FREE upcoming webinars!

Should you download and use the Beta? 

You should first know that (1) you must have Windows 7 or Mac Snow Leopard or Lion (see the end of this post for full specs), and (2) you will not be able to upgrade your current catalog for use in the beta (though you will be able to in the final release.) The beta is intended for kicking the tires, and Adobe does not guarantee that your work will not be lost, so you should make copies of your photos and re-import them.

Do you need or want to use some of the new features right away? Are you tolerant of bugs, crashes and inexplicable behaviors (which you most likely will encounter)?  Do you want to give Adobe feedback in advance of the official release? If so,  go for it!  If not, you are not alone – many users are content to wait for the official release, when features and performance are stable.

What’s New in the Lightroom Beta 4:

There are a lot of great additions to this beta.  I would point you to my favorites as being the hottest new features, but I think in this release my favorites may not be your favorites — most people will find features that they are thrilled to see, and others that they ignore completely.

New Modules:

• A powerful new Book module, where you can design books and upload them directly to Blurb (or export them as PDF’s).  You can choose from a fabulous number of page formats (with various numbers of photos and text boxes), drag and drop photos, change individual page background colors or add background photos or graphics, change your text settings and padding, and much, much more.

• A Maps module, where you can easily assign GPS location to your photos, view them on a map, and find and select your photos.  Assignment of location is by dragging and dropping or use of a GPS tracklog (from a GPS device or smartphone app).

click to enlarge

Library Module:

Much Enhanced Video Functionality:

• Most popular DSLR, compact camera and smart phone video formats supported including AVCHD (AVCHD is the native format for Sony DSLRs and many new Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens, MIL, cameras)
• In-application playback of videos (no longer launches in your default media player)
• Basic video editing — trim your video from the beginning and or end (no cutting from the middle), apply Quick Develop controls to develop
• Set video poster frame (thumbnail in grid view)
• Extract individual video frames as JPEGS — still photography from your videos
• Export your edited videos as mp4′s, or as individual frames to import into Adobe Premiere.
• Upload videos to Facebook and Flickr directly

Export Enhancements:

• Export directly to email/webmail (just right-click on the photo and choose Email Photo!)

click to enlarge

• Windows 64 bit: export directly to DVD (Mac and Win 32 already had this)
• More options for stripping subsets of metadata
• Export to Adobe Revel (Carousel)
• New Metadata panel views for DNG and Video

Develop Module:

• All New Basic Panel controls (referred to as Process Version 2012) — Exposure, Contrast, Shadows, Highlights, Whites, Blacks, plus improved Clarity.

• Soft Proofing — allows you to preview what your photo will look like when printed using a printer profile, or exported using sRGB or any other RGB display profile

click to enlarge

• Additional adjustment brush and graduated filter local corrections — white balance temperature and tint, highlights, shadows, noise, moire

• Individual R, G, and B curves in the Tone Curve Panel

• Automatic chromatic aberration correction checkbox (c/a taken out of lens profiles)

Output Modules (Book, Slideshow, Web, Print):

• New “Creations” model of naming and saving work. Saved Books, Slideshows, Web Galleries and Prints appear in collections panel; regular collections and folders no longer store output settings.

Print:

• Brightness and contrast adjustments, for those who consistently need the same adjustment in printing. (Addresses the “my photos always come out too dark” issue.)

Web:

• Lightroom Flash galleries are color managed

Narrower-Impact Items (JDI’s):

• On first new-user start up, Lightroom asks where to store the catalog and what to call it
• Walkthrough tips in each module for new users
• Right-click option to hide modules you don’t use
• New zoom ratios (1:8, 1:16)
• Stacks in collections available
• Flag status global
• Library Loupe view Layout Overlay for placing subjects in layouts (as you shoot tethered)
• Language selection option on Mac via preferences
• Collapse Tether toolbar down to the shutter button by Option or Alt clicking the close button.
• Folders Panel: Windows — ability to move multiple folders at once
• Ability to filter and search by saved vs. unsaved metadata.
• New GPS badge
• Folders Panel: Add Parent Folder/ Promote Subfolders wording changed
• Publish Services: mark up to date option, button to link with Lightroom exchange to connect with more services
• Pick and reject flags are now global (flags applied in a collection didn’t used to apply to the folder)
• Import and edit 32 bit files (export as 8 or 16)
• Import and quick develop preset drop-down now hierarchical, rather than one long list.
• Develop Lightroom presets now in smaller folders.
• Noise reduction adjustment is always displayed regardless of zoom level
• White balance sampling control slider to control precision of selection

New Minimum Specs:

MAC

• Multicore Intel® processor with 64-bit support
• Mac OS X v10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or v10.7 (Lion)
• 2GB of RAM
• 1GB of available hard-disk space
• 1024×768 display
• DVD-ROM drive
• Internet connection required for Internet-based services (Maps, Publish Services, Export to webmail)

WIN

• Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor
• Microsoft® Windows Vista® with Service Pack 2 or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1
• 2GB of RAM
• 1GB of available hard-disk space
• 1024×768 display
• DVD-ROM drive
• Internet connection required for Internet-based services (Maps, Publish Services, Export to webmail)