Lightroom | Nerd Alert! | News | Tutorials
Nerd Alert! The Mystery of the Missing HSL Panel SOLVED!
Nerd Alert! The Mystery of the Missing HSL Panel SOLVED!
Lightroom | Nerd Alert! | News | Tutorials
Nerd Alert! Lightroom 12.3 Packs A Whammy With AI Powered Noise Reduction, And Tone Curve Adjustments In The Masking Panel!
Some exciting news from Adobe! Lightroom version 12.3 drops some new features underwater photographers are going to love!
The first new feature is something many underwater photographers have been asking for. You can now remove noise from your high ISO underwater images using Artificial Intelligence!
Lightroom | Nerd Alert! | News | Tutorials
Nerd Alert! Go directly from the Library Module to the Masking Panel
A killer keyboard shortcut for going from the Lightroom Classic Library Module directly to the Masking Panel in the Develop Module is “Shift-W”.
Lightroom | Nerd Alert! | News | Tutorials
Nerd Alert! Yes, the answer is yes. Upgrade your Lightroom Catalog when asked.
Yes, the answer is yes. Upgrade your Lightroom Catalog when asked. Every time you upgrade, Lightroom takes the name of your current catalog and appends it with a number.
Lightroom | Nerd Alert! | News | Tutorials
Nerd Alert! How to permanently trash images while working in a Collection
It’s not possible to permanently trash images while working in a Collection…or is it? By default, images deleted from a Collection are not permanently deleted from the Lightroom Catalog or (more importantly) from your hard drive.
Lightroom | Nerd Alert! | News | Tutorials
Nerd Alert! Capture Time Adjustment in Lightroom
For those of you who aren’t so good at remembering to set the time in your camera to match the time zone you’re shooting in – it’s possible to change the original capture time of your image from within Lightroom Classic, after the fact. Here’s a short tutorial video demonstrating the technique.
Nerd Alert! New Photoshop Update for Sky (aka Water) Replacement!
The new Edge Enhancement feature in the April 2022 Photoshop 22.3 update adds another powerful way to fine-tune your Sky (aka Water) Replacement composites. By using the new Edge Lighting slider in the Sky Replacement panel, you can finesse contrast around thin lines and reduce halos when changing from dark to light water, or vice-versa. Move…
Nerd Alert! – Lightroom 11 Masking Baby Steps
Do the new Lightroom 11 masking tools have you confused and frustrated? Learn how to work the old way by watching our free Lightroom 11 Masking Baby Steps Nerd Alert.
Go Ask Erin Water Replacement Starter Pack – Now Available
The Go Ask Erin Water Replacement Starter Pack provides more than 50 underwater backgrounds and 45 minutes of detailed tutorial video to help jumpstart your mastery of Photoshop’s amazing Sky (aka Water) Replacement feature. Available Now!
Nerd Alert! – Photoshop Practice Files for Understanding Layers
Sharpen up your layer masking chops with these simple but powerful practice files! Have no fear of masking, grouping, flipping, rotating and otherwise rocking your layers panel.
Seven Deadly Booby Traps in Lightroom Classic
I love Lightroom, but it’s not without a few pitfalls. After years of real-world studio and classroom experience, I’ve identified a bunch of booby traps that consistently derail new and old users alike. Booby Trap: “Default Catalog” at start up When you first launch Lightroom, a new “default” catalog (.lrcat file) is created in your…
Don’t Wreck Your Image
Do’s and Don’ts of Editing Wreck Photos Whether moody or magnificent, wreck shots can be a real challenge to edit. Typically taken in less-than-optimal conditions, most wreck photos need help in post to achieve maximum impact. Lightroom and Photoshop offer an impressive array of tools to tease out texture and contrast, but missing the target…
Spot Check
Two Dirty Tricks that Remove Backscatter in Photoshop Ugh. Backscatter. It’s the nemesis of every underwater photographer. Many have tried, but no one’s been able to conjure the sorcery that would banish it easily in post. Using Lightroom’s clunky Spot Removal tool for any serious goo removal is anything but magic. Luckily, if you have…
Adding an Edge
Using Photoshop’s Crop Tool in tandem with Content Aware Fill, you can tack on canvas area and add a little breathing room to an otherwise cramped composition. In some cases, you might even be able to restore part of a subject got cut off by the edge of the frame. Before starting this technique, finish…
Go Ask Erin On Demand Now Available
If you missed the maiden voyage of Go Ask Erin Live – Don’t Cheat on Lightroom – or if you want to build a library of your own of Live Events for fast easy reference, it is now available On Demand!
Introducing Go Ask Erin Live and On Demand
Sometimes there’s a silver lining. While in the midst of my self-quarantine after returning from Cuba, hunkering down for what’s sure to be a bumpy ride, necessity IS the mother of invention. With the unexpected gift of time to spare, I’m thrilled to announce Go Ask Erin Live and On Demand, in partnership with Joel and Jennifer Penner of Newmediasoup, LLC.
Nerd Alert! Cannot Be Undone Warning
In Lightroom or Photoshop, any time you get a message telling you that the ensuing operation “cannot be undone”, it simply means that you can’t go back using the File>Undo menu command or the undo keyboard shortcut (Command-Z on a Mac or Control-Z on a PC). You can always revert, reinstall, or redo using other…
Nerd Alert! Spot Removal Tip
Nerd Alert – In Photoshop, when you’re removing backscatter in blue water or on an otherwise uniform background, in the “Type” tab on the tool options bar, switch the spot healing brush to Proximity Match instead of Content Aware. Use a Diffusion of 3 or less – probably less. Content Aware , bless its heart,…
Go Ask Erin at DEMA
I’ll be speaking in the Image Resource Center on Wednesday, November 13th, 2019, 11:30am – 12:15pm The topic is: “Dirty Tricks for Underwater Photographers in Post”. I’ve got some cool new dirty tricks to show off, and you’ll want to learn them! You can also find me throughout the show at the Backscatter booth, where…
Nerd Alert! Hold Off on Mac Catalina Update
Nerd Alert – For Mac users considering updating to the new Catalina operating system, please read these posts from Adobe first. I think I’ll hold off until the issues are resolved. Writing this Oct 10, 2019 Mac OS Catalina update and Lightroom… Mac OS Catalina update and Photoshop…
More Shooting, Less Troubleshooting – How to Prepare your Digital Tools for Travel
There’s nothing worse than discovering you’re missing a critical piece of gear on a long-awaited dive adventure. Most underwater photographers stress out before a trip, checking and re-checking their camera and dive equipment to make sure all the required bits and pieces are packed and in working order, but they often forget to prepare their…
The Secret Life of Collections in Lightroom
Many people get off on the wrong foot with Lightroom. They jump straight into the Develop Module, hoping to attain instant editing wizardry. They suffer through the drudgery of folder organization at the most superficial level possible, and only then because it’s required to reliably locate and manage images. But in giving the Library module…
Texture vs. Clarity vs. Dehaze
Finding the Perfect Punch for Your Pictures I simultaneously love and fear the addition of any significant new feature in Lightroom or Photoshop. Love, because it potentially enriches my editing bag of tricks. Fear, because for a time after its initial introduction it’s used to excess by pros and enthusiastic amateurs alike, resulting in a…
Nerd Alert! Photoshop CC Visibility of the Reference Point
Nerd Alert! Recent updates to Photoshop CC have made the visibility of the reference point (little crosshair in the middle of the Free Transform bounding box) an option. By default, it’s turned off. If you’d like to restore your reference point, check ON the reference point checkbox on the left side of the Free Transform…
Nerd Alert! Lightroom Classic (8.4) Improvements
Nerd Alert! In addition to the usual new camera/lens profiles and bug fixes, the latest update of Lightroom Classic (8.4) includes improved folder performance in the Library (YAY!) PNG Export (YAY!), color labels and filtering for Collections (YAY!), and GPU acceleration (hardware dependent) (YAY!). Still no fix for resolution issues in the Slideshow Module (BOO!)….
Nerd Alert! Quick Access to Photoshop Spot Removal Tools
Nerd Alert! For those of us who spend a significant amount of time removing backscatter in Photoshop, having quick access to the best spot removal tools is critical. I typically switch between the spot healing brush, healing brush, and patch tool many times during a single edit. The keyboard shortcut for the healing brushes is…
Nerd Alert! Photoshop CC Use Legacy Free Transform
Nerd Alert! In the latest update of Photoshop CC (20.0.5), a new checkbox in the General tab of Preferences lets you revert to legacy shift key behavior when using Free Transform. The legacy behavior used the Shift key to constrain proportions. If you’re new to Photoshop, this is no big deal, but if you’re someone…
Spin Doctoring – Creative Blur Effects in Photoshop
Panning or rotating the camera at slow shutter speeds creates motion blur. It’s a technique that can yield exciting, evocative images, but the learning curve for producing predictable results is steep, and the percentage of keepers (in my personal experience) is low. Alternatively, Photoshop offers tons of filters that mimic in-camera effects. I’ve chosen a…
Mastering a Develop Module Workflow
There’s a yin-yang involved with post-production in Lightroom. In the Library Module, building an asset management strategy often seems more like a chore than a creative endeavor, while editing in the Develop Module requires creativity and artistic vision. Despite their differences, both sides of the Lightroom coin are essential to provide the best environment for…
How to Relink Missing or Offline Files in Lightroom
I don’t know a single Lightroom user (me included) who hasn’t noticed alarming exclamation point or question mark icons sullying their Lightroom Library. It can be downright scary to get a warning message on the screen that files are offline or missing, but the truth of the matter is usually no cause for panic. The…
Content Awareness – Removing Unwanted Objects From Your Images
Content Aware Fill is a quasi-magical Photoshop process that removes bubbles, backscatter and bozos from your pictures. When it works as intended, Content Aware Fill is a beginner-level technique that renders stunning results in the blink of an eye. When it’s not quite on the money, a slightly more advanced knowledge of Photoshop’s other super…
Here Comes the Judge – 10 Tips for Winning Photo Contests
As a frequent judge of underwater photo competitions, I’m tasked to evaluate thousands of competing images. It’s rare that the technical merits of an image, though critically important, are the only criteria by which contest winners are ultimately chosen. Sometimes the difference between being a winner or loser simply comes down to the judges’ taste,…
Lightroom Classic CC vs. Lightroom CC – Which one is right for you?
Lightroom is Adobe’s professional level one-stop-shop for organizing, editing, and sharing images. It’s the perfect companion to Photoshop, and has been the photo editing industry standard for more than a decade. In October of 2017, Adobe significantly changed the Lightroom lineup, offering multiple versions of its subscription-based Creative Cloud Photography Plan, and effectively discontinuing Lightroom…
Fixed Focus – How to Sharpen Out-of-Focus Eyes Using Photoshop
Of all the miracles Photoshop can perform, fixing soft focus isn’t one of them. There’s simply no existing post-production voodoo that can restore acceptable photographic sharpness to large out-of-focus areas. That said, if a small detail of your image – an eye, for example – is only slightly soft, an artful combination of Liquify, Smart…
Jump Start Your Editing with New Easy-To-Use Profiles in Lightroom Classic
In “What’s Wrong with This Image? Mastering a Develop Module Workflow”, I emphasized the importance of selecting a camera profile early in the editing process. Lightroom has long offered camera profiles to emulate in-camera picture styles, but until recently they were hidden away in the Camera Calibration panel at the bottom of the panel stack….
Five Invaluable (but hidden) Lightroom Features
As Lightroom evolves, new functionality is added to what’s already a stunningly deep piece of software. Showy new features get lots of exposure, but subtler components of an update may go unheralded, quickly becoming “hidden” features that only the most avid users are hip to. In addition, common tools in each module often have a…
Home on the Range
Mastering Lightroom Classic’s Color and Luminance Range Masking Tools With the addition of Color and Luminance Range Masking to Lightroom Classic, Adobe bestowed new superpowers to the Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter, and Radial Filter. Range masking tools are a great way to bring pro-level precision to your local adjustments, allowing you to build complex masks…
Essential Keyboard Shortcuts
Don’t wait to get good in Lightroom and Photoshop before learning a few keyboard shortcuts. Learning them is how you get good! Download my Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for Lightroom here, and for Photoshop here.
Wreck Tech in Post – 3 tips for editing wreck photos
I love working with wreck photos. They’re rich with all kinds of form, texture and gritty, scratchy detail. They’re dramatic and moody, and hold up surprisingly well in less-than-perfect conditions. Here are 3 tips to help make wreck images pop in post. Do Black and White right. Wreck photos shot with ambient light…
Where the #$&! Are My Images?
Digital Asset Management 101 for Lightroom The single most common question I’m asked about Lightroom is “Where the #$&! are my images?”. Understanding how Lightroom manages and displays information can help you stay organized and out of DAM (Digital Asset Management) trouble. The Lightroom Catalog The Lightroom Catalog is an immensely powerful database that…
The Right Stuff – Best Tools for Getting Spots Out of Your Shots
I wish I had a magic bullet for backscatter removal, but the truth of the matter is that to get spots out of your shots, you’ve got to master more than one technique. The Lightroom Spot Removal Tool In Lightroom, you’re limited to a single, rather clumsy Spot Removal tool. Click once on a piece…
Take Your RAW Adjustments to Eleven
Why take your RAW adjustments to eleven? Because it’s one louder than ten, as Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel so aptly puts it. The expression “taking it to eleven” refers to the act of taking something to an extreme, and although I usually don’t recommend taking post-processing to an extreme, there are times when a little…
Detail Oriented – Getting Tack Sharp Images in Post with the Detail Panel
Don’t get too excited. The techniques in this article won’t rescue your out-of-focus images. Out-of-focus photos can’t be recovered in post, but you can (and should) enhance the sharpness of properly focused pictures to maximize their potential. What is Sharpness? Without getting too technical, you might say that sharpness is edge contrast. Sharp edges have…
Puppet Warp
Let’s take a look at an advanced technique in Photoshop that purists would consider a cheat, but is a fantastic tool for those not so worried about bending reality. It’s called Puppet Warp. The goal in this example is to change the fin position of a model, but it’s great for all kinds of adjustments,…
Pimp Your Grid in Lightroom
It’s easy to customize the Lightroom Library’s Grid and Loupe Views to display useful information. Searching, sorting, and rating are much easier when you can see specific metadata right on the image thumbnail, and being able to toggle through additional information like camera settings helps when analyzing your photos in Loupe (single image) View. By…
Out Damn Spot!
Quick and Dirty Backscatter Removal in Photoshop There are as many ways to remove backscatter as there are to shoot it, but the technique I’m about to show you is one of my favorites for a quick and relatively easy fix. I learned it first from Photoshop guru Eddie Tapp, and although a few versions…
One Catalog to Rule Them All
Using a single catalog makes the most of Lightroom’s superpowers A Lightroom catalog is much like an old-school card catalog in a brick-and-mortar library. It contains all kinds of information (metadata) about your images — their physical location on a drive, keywords, ratings and even Develop Module changes, but it does not contain the actual…
Retouching for Good or Evil with Photoshop’s Liquify Filter
The fashion industry has long laid claim to Photoshop’s Liquify filter as its staple of image manipulation, but like many tools in post, it can be used for either good or evil. While it’s true there’s no end to the fun that can be had adjusting your buddy’s face or physique in post, the Liquify…
Let There Be Light
Using Lightroom’s filter tools to reposition your strobes in post One of the most difficult skills to master in underwater photography is lighting. While it’s always best to get it right in camera, Lightroom provides powerful local tools to help finesse your lighting after the fact. My favorites are Lightroom’s Graduated and Radial Filter tools….
Lean and Mean First Pass in Lightroom
Not all photos are contest winners. Cut down on the under-achievers in your image library by flagging keepers and clunkers right off the bat as Lightroom imports them. You only need to remember three letters on your keyboard – “P” for Pick, “X” for Reject, and “U” for Unflag. Getting in the habit of…
Keep Sharks Looking Sharp in Post
Sharks are a favorite photographic subject of mine. Over the years, I’ve developed a few post-production techniques that help to mitigate common problems and emphasize desirable details in shark images. Desaturate with an Adjustment Brush to remove unwanted cyan color on your shark. In the Develop module of Lightroom, click on the Adjustment…
Optimizing Exposure by ETTR – Exposing to the Right
If you’re not already shooting with the help of your camera’s histogram, it’s time to start. A histogram is a graph that shows the distribution of tonal values from black to white in your image, and it’s a very accurate indicator of overall exposure. By not checking out the histogram as you shoot, your exposures…
Compositing 101
I know, I know – compositing is cheating. A composited image uses elements from one part of a picture in another part, or combines multiple photos to create a single image. The reality is that if you’re not breaking someone else’s rules, or intending to deceive for personal or financial gain, then compositing is a…
Balancing Act in Lightroom
The right white balance can make or break an underwater photo. Some shots need just a single click with the White Balance eyedropper in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw to restore color and knock out unwanted ambient light. Others, in which the white balance isn’t the same across the entire image, require more specific editing….
65,536 Shades of Gray
How to make Sexy B&W Conversions in Lightroom The first step to making a good black and white image is implicit in its name.You’ve got to have clean black and real white somewhere in your photo. For the best black and white conversion, you should shoot in RAW, which delivers up to 65,536 shades of…
10 Hidden Workflow Secrets in Lightroom
Lightroom is a deep program with amazing functionality. Despite (or maybe because of) the enormous amount of documentation available online and elsewhere, it can be tough to unearth some often overlooked but otherwise useful features. Here are ten of my favorites. Library Module Secrets Do you know where your images are? Select “All Photographs”…
GoAskErin at DEMA
I’ll be speaking in the Image Resource Center on Friday, November 3rd, 2017. The Topic is: “Dirty Tricks for Underwater Photographers in Post”. Here’s a link to additional details. Hope to see you there! Show Floor — Booth #523 Friday, November 03, 2017: 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM
The Export Module – A Basic Guide to Getting Your Images Out of Lightroom
Lightroom is a near-magical piece of software. It’s both librarian and technician for your digital images, and unlike Photoshop, it leaves your original photo untouched throughout the entire editing process. How do you create a version of your image that’s suitable for social media, email, or printing? In Lightroom, you don’t save photos in the…
Avoiding Rookie Mistakes
I just finished judging a photo contest, and although the rules were made very clear to the contestants, a few excellent photos were still disqualified because of willful or unintentional violations. Some pictures didn’t make it because of over-zealous editing. It’s a shame to see potentially winning images get booted from a contest, but it…
Dial-a-Blue – Adjusting the Color of Water using Adobe Lightroom
I attribute the phrase “dial-a-blue” to Berkley White, shooter extraordinaire and owner of Backscatter Photo and Video. I first heard Berk use the phrase to describe a specific shooting technique, but I’ve since discovered many cool ways to also dial-a-blue during the editing process. In this tutorial, I make use of the massively powerful Hue…
Video Editing for Dabblers
Lightroom is a fantastic jumping off point for video dabblers who don’t want to miss out on all the fun of motion capture, but who are primarily still shooters without the time or ambition to tackle a completely new piece of software. In the Lightroom Library, it’s easy to trim video clips, capture still…
How to Build Watermarks in Lightroom
A watermark is a faint logo or words superimposed on top of an image. The idea of placing a watermark on your photos is to prevent others from trying to copy and use the photo without permission. Although a watermark identifies you as the creator of your photo, it won’t stop someone from swiping it,…