New Lightroom Plugin for Photomatix Pro

You can now perform a seamless HDR image construction between Lightroom 2 and Photomatix…

When Matt Kloskowski, NAPP, recently began the crusade to get Lightroom and Photomatix to really communicate, we had v 3.1.2 Photomatix and a plugin which would take files into Photomatix, but not return them to LR. This left it up to us to move such files back into our working catalog.

Most of us are used to LR2 sending a file out to Photoshop then seamlessly getting the result back. The guys and gals at HDRsoft promised to remedy the ‘dangling file’ situation post haste.

With advent of 3.1.3 beta4, Photomatix now has a new plugin to integrate with Lightroom It only runs on the new beta vice 3.1.2. When you select 3 or more images to process for HDR, Photomatix brings up a dialog box. At the bottom, this box asks you if you want to return the result and stack it with your original images. You may choose either 8 bit jpg or tif formats. You may also choose a 16 bit tif (my normal choice since I shoot raw).

So you will want to download the new beta to speed your HDR processing.

Lightroom through Andrew Rodney’s Eyes

After a beautiful relaxing Christmas, it's time to get back in the saddle... the silence reflects development of a Lightroom 2 workshop for February and March, 2009. The digital blogosphere also seemed relatively quiet; until Lightroom once again poked its head well above the surface.
Photoshop World Conference, Boston, March, plans to Have a Lightroom Conference within the Conference.
Creative, speed editing, camera lights, weddings, organization, using camera raw, basic, Photoshop, and show your work... these would be the topical labels you might put beneath your blog to attract attention for this innovative Lightroom conference. The list of luminaries making presentations is long; we single out Andrew Rodney, Photoshop Hall of Fame, Santa Fe, for further comment.

Andrew Rodney and Lightroom

On one of Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider guest blogs, Andrew, who began working with Photoshop 1.0.7 18 years ago, wrote "Lightroom represents (excuse the cliché) a quantum paradigm shift with respect to image processing." As of January the 12th, this blog posting had 42 comments; a diverse set of views and experiences regarding Lightroom with Andrew's responses.

Andrew also discussed Lightroom workflow:
Get it right in capture (good exposure, focus, etc)
Then get it right in rendering (Raw processing) [Lightroom inferred - rjb]
THEN resort to Photoshop or use Photoshop for local corrections and special effects you wish to achieve.

For our broader, philosophical view of Lightroom, Andrew said:
I think the newer selective color tools in LR2 are intended for broad strokes if you will. They help a great deal (lets burn in the corners, lets do large areas of correction). But I think for those of us that need really fine control, Photoshop will always be necessary. The idea is to minimize having to do large general area corrections on pixel based images which can be slower to accomplish.
Andrew has also promulgated free Lightroom presets and written Color Management for Photographers.

So, another cogent indication the 1-2 punch is Lightroom first, then fine tuning in Photoshop! As a bonus, in many cases Lightroom is quicker, since it's designed for photographers…

Families Together…

Niece and Aunt
©Joe Bridwell
Golden Christmas moment in silence. Ageless beauty of childhood, dreams, and innocent memories… Simple grace, yet solid form.
Nikon D300, 60mm, 1/25, f5, iso 1600

Compositional elements are exquisite - essentially, graceful child and golden light as primary theme. The secondary theme is woman glancing at faint picture. A tertiary theme is subdued table, chair, and glasses creating a frame.
Nevertheless, it's as if this beloved child, amplifying golden light, cradled in some internal yet infinite wisdom, has graciously raised one hand to pray "Jesus, ..."
As the child departed for home, blue eyes awash with tears and arms full of warm hugs, we were able to clearly see how much being with all her family meant for Christmas, 2008!

May your Christmas have taken you to such limits of emotional and digital satisfaction! Happy New Year…