Adopting A Photoshop Lightroom Workflow - Lightroom Tutorial
Download the Adopting A Photoshop Lightroom Workflow PDF (660KB).

If you are a photographer who wants to take a laptop on location to review your work-in-progress, here are the four essential steps that you need to take to ensure you stay organized when using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. This workflow is optimized for a photographer who owns:

• A laptop computer.
• An external large-capacity hard drive or studio/home-office desktop computer with a large hard-drive capacity.
• A smaller pocket drive that can be powered via the USB or Firewire port off the laptop computer. Some photographers may prefer to burn DVDs using their laptop instead of using a USB/Firewire pocket drive.

The four steps in the workflow are as follows:

1. Create a master Lightroom catalog.
2. Import images on location into a working catalog using a laptop computer.
3. Export the working catalog to your USB/Firewire pocket drive or burn the catalog to a DVD.
4. Import the catalog from the location shoot into the master catalog and transfer the images to the main hard drive.

Free PDF Tutorial
Download the Adopting A Photoshop Lightroom Workflow PDF (660KB).
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Order The Book
This articles is taken from the book Digital Photography Essential Skills (Fourth Edition) by Mark Galer and published in by Focal Press. The book is available from Amazon.com.

Digital Photography Essential Skills is the ultimate beginners guide to digital SLR photography everything you need to start taking great images. Looking to take your photography to the next level? Need guidance on the basics, from choosing cameras to perfecting capture, managing files, editing images and developing a creative, critical eye?

Packed with quality images to inspire and enthuse, Digital Photography Essential Skills takes a refreshingly practical, focused approach to cover exactly what you need to know develop a creative, competent style and a seamless photography workflow.

As a working photographer and teaching lecturer, Mark Galer is the perfect guide to take you through the skills and knowledge needed to take fantastic images. Now updated to cover file management and editing in Lightroom, Adobes popular workflow software, for a stream- lined process from capture to output.


Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Who Needs It?

If you have managed to live without Photoshop Lightroom up until now, what makes it so fantabulous/damned hot that you need to place it at the top of your software wish list? Read Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Who Needs It? by Mark Galer for some thoughts on Lightroom's top features. From the intro:

Photoshop Lightroom has had somewhat of an identity crisis amongst the general population of photographers since its release in early 2007. The Adobe engineers built it to fill a gap in the Photoshop family of products (Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements being the other two family members) but many amongst the photographic community have not been able to identify its primary task to make it the ‘must have’ product that Adobe hoped it would become for all digital photographers.

Adobe would like to think that no photographer could imagine living without this product, but in reality, most digital photographers have survived without it for years and question why thy need it now. Much of the confusion for many photographers exists because the feature set of each of the Photoshop products overlap, e.g. they all allow you to adjust the brightness and contrast of your image. Why buy two products when the one I have does the job nicely?

Read the rest of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Who Needs It?.


Nik Software Announces Plug-in Update for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 - Plus 15% Discount Coupon Code
Nik Software announces that Viveza, its popular digital photographic plug-in filter is now available for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and higher. The update is free to current owners of Viveza.

"This new update makes one of our most valuable plug-ins available to anyone using Lightroom who’s passionate about photography," said Michael J. Slater president and CEO of Nik Software. "Now photographers can use U Point powered Viveza to precisely and selectively control color and light with a few clicks of their mouse in Lightroom."

Nik Software Exclusive 15% Coupon Code
Enter our exclusive discount coupon code - NIKPSS - during the checkout process at Nik Software for an instant 15% discount on any Nik Software product. This exclusive discount coupon code can be applied to all the latest Nik Software Photoshop plugins, including Silver Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza, Sharpener Pro, and Dfine.

"We’re happy to see companies like Nik extending the value of Lightroom with their plug-ins," said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Professional Digital Imaging at Adobe. "One of Lightroom’s goals is to help photographers focus on the art of photography and Viveza provides added creativity and control in pursuit of their vision. Today also marks the release of Lightroom 2.3 and Camera Raw 5.3 and we’re excited that our customers will be able to take advantage of the new camera support available with these offerings."

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and Camera Raw 5.3, is available immediately for download at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/. The Lightroom 2.3 and Camera Raw 5.3 updates, originally posted as release candidates for community testing on Jan. 23, provide raw file support for the newly-released Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30 cameras and support for eight additional languages.

Viveza installs as a plug-in filter for Lightroom 2 and is accessible via the Lightroom Photo>Edit In… menu. Edits made using the plug-in within Lightroom are non-destructive in nature, with edits applied automatically to a newly generated TIFF file and not the original. Viveza also takes advantage of Lightroom and its efficiencies for every day tasks, like the ability to edit multiple images in one session, saving time for photographers.

All Nik Software plug-in products now feature Nik Software’s patented U Point technology which revolutionizes the way photographers edit. U Point powered Control Points give photographers precise selective editing functions without the need to create complicated selections and layer masks. This innovative technology is easy to use and works directly on the image, empowering photographers to make selective enhancements in a fraction of the time needed by using other methods.

The fully compatible Viveza product, offering support for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Apple Aperture, is available immediately for electronic delivery directly from Nik Software.

Nik Software also announced that all of its remaining photographic filter products are being updated to support Lightroom as well, beginning with Color Efex Pro 3.0. As these Lightroom-compatible versions become available, current owners will receive updates free of charge. All products are expected to be available by the end of the second quarter of 2009.

Viveza retails for $249.95. Customers interested in purchasing all 5 Nik Software products for Lightroom or Aperture only may pre-purchase the Nik Software Complete Collection for Lightroom or Aperture for $299.95. Customers who pre-purchase the Complete Collection for Lightroom or Aperture will receive email notification for each product as they become available.

Download a free Trial version. Enter our exclusive discount coupon code - NIKPSS - during the checkout process at Nik Software for an instant 15% discount.

Exclusive 15% Discount On All Topaz Plugins - Use Coupon Code PHOTOSHOPSUPPORT - Includes Bundles And Upgrades

Topaz Labs Photoshop plug-ins are specifically designed to expand a photographer's creative toolbox by harnessing powerful image technology developments.

Enter our exclusive discount coupon code PHOTOSHOPSUPPORT during the checkout process at Topaz Labs for an instant 15% discount on any Topaz product, including bundles and upgrades.

Photographers everywhere are now taking advantage of the creative exposure effects, artistic simplification, unique edge manipulation, and top-of-the-line noise reduction offered in Topaz products. The Topaz Photoshop Bundle includes the following Topaz plugins:

Topaz Adjust
Deliver stunning and dynamic images with this uniquely powerful plug-in that features HDR-like abilities and enhances exposure, color and detail.
Topaz Detail
A three-level detail adjustment plug-in that specializes in micro-contrast enhancements and sharpening with no artifacts.
Topaz ReMask
The fastest and most effective masking and extraction program with one-click mask refining.
Topaz DeNoise
Highest-quality noise reduction plug-in that removes the most noise and color noise while preserving the most image detail.
Topaz Simplify
Provides creative simplification, art effects, and line accentuation for easy one-of-a-kind art.
Topaz Clean
Take control of the detail depth of your images with extensive smoothing, texture control and edge enhancement tools.
Topaz DeJPEG
Drastically improves the quality of web images and other compressed photos.

Learn more about the Topaz Photoshop Plugins Bundle. Download a free trial version.

Find the latest Lightroom 2 tutorials on our Photoshop Lightroom 2 Tutorials page. Visit the Adobe site to download a free 30 day Photoshop Lightroom trial free download.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2
Adobe has announced the immediate availability of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 software, the photographer's essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs.

With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Photoshop Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish.

As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel processors and Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images.

Find the latest Lightroom 2 tutorials on our Photoshop Lightroom 2 Tutorials page. Visit the Adobe site to download a free 30 day Photoshop Lightroom trial free download.

Save Up To $200 On Eligible Upgrades To CS4 - Get 30% Off Lightroom 2

For a limited time, upgrade from Adobe Creative Suite 2, Creative Suite 1, Macromedia Studio 8, Studio MX 2004, or Production Studio to Creative Suite 4 for the same price as an upgrade from Creative Suite 3.

You can also get 30% off Lightroom 2 when you purchase a full or upgrade version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 along with a full or upgrade version of Photoshop CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, or Creative Suite containing Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop CS4 Extended.

Providing a fluid user experience, complete creative control and higher efficiency, Photoshop CS4 leverages the power of the latest hardware to extend imaging possibilities and offer faster, more flexible ways to accomplish core tasks like image adjustments and masks.

All of these features and more can be found in Photoshop CS4 Extended, which serves users with advanced motion graphics functions, dramatically expanded 3D visualization capabilities and precise image analysis.

Buy Photoshop CS4 Directly From Adobe
Find upgrade options and Creative Suite deals at the Adobe USA Store. You can also buy in your country currency and language at the following Adobe International Stores:
Adobe United Kingdom  |  Adobe Germany  |  Adobe France  |  Adobe Eastern Europe

Photoshop CS4 Tutorials and Resources
See our Photoshop CS4 Resource Center for Free Photoshop CS4 Tutorials, the Free Photoshop CS4 Trial Download, and the Latest Photoshop CS4 News.


The Photoshop Blog offers the latest Photoshop and Digital Photography news and software updates, tips and tutorials, and random thoughts from graphic artist, digital photographer and Photoshop expert Jennifer Apple. Also includes Lightroom news!


PHOTO CREDIT: Full moon as seen from the International Space Station.