dSLR Dad

Adobe has released downloads of Photoshop Lightroom 2.1 (Mac, Win), Camera Raw 5.1 (Mac, Win) and DNG Converter 5.1.  Newly Supported RAW File formats includes:

• Canon Rebel XS / 1000D
• Canon EOS 50D
• Fuji FinePix IS Pro
• Kodak EasyShare Z1015 IS
• Nikon D700
• Nikon D90
• Nikon Coolpix P6000
• Pentax K2000D
• Sigma DP1
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A900

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.1 update includes many other performance and bug fixes.  Those details can be found listed in the Read Me (pdf link) associated with the download page.  You can also learn more at the dSLR Dad Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Resource Guide.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Adobe will introduce the new Creative Suite 4 as a live video webcast on September 23, 2008.  You can register to watch the entire event at Adobe.  The following are the available times for viewing:

• Europe - 11 am CET
• North America - 9 am Eastern
• North America - 9 am Pacific
• Australia - 4 pm AET (9/24)
• Singapore/Hong Kong - 2 pm (9/24)
• India - 11:30 am IST (9/24)

Thanks to Scott Kelby for the heads up.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Adobe has finally posted their revised the X.4 release of Camera Raw. The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.4.1 download is available for for Mac and Windows. Camera Raw version 4.4.1 can be found here (Mac, Win). Both updates support the following new Raw file formats:

• Canon EOS 450D (Rebel XSi/EOS Kiss X2)
• Fujifilm Finepix S100fs
• Nikon D60
• Olympus SP-570UZ
• Pentax K20D, Pentax K200D
• Sony Alpha A200, Sony Alpha A300, Sony Alpha A350

Lightroom 1.4.1 includes corrections for the following issues:

• Lightroom 1.4 incorrectly modified the EXIF time date field of images that had a metadata update applied. This incorrect modification does not appear in Lightroom or Bridge and is only viewable through third party EXIF tools. This error has been corrected in Lightroom 1.4.1 and all files in a Lightroom catalog that have been incorrectly modified will be corrected on their next metadata update. (Metadata can be updated by selecting the files in the Library grid view and choosing Command or CTRL + S to save and update the metadata.) This has also been corrected in Camera Raw 4.4.1.
• Olympus JPEG files could render incorrectly in Lightroom 1.4, displaying an artifact in the exported file. This has also been corrected in Camera Raw 4.4.1.
• Any conversion to DNG in Lightroom 1.4 (Windows Only) would cause the DNG file to become unreadable by Lightroom’s Develop Module or Camera Raw 4.4 in Photoshop. The issue has been corrected and files can be converted to DNG again in order to resolve the issue for existing files. Returning to the original native raw files is not necessary. The affected DNG files can be selected and converted again using the DNG Converter 4.4.1 available at www.adobe.com/dng/. This process is not required but recommended to ensure that a correct validation value is stored within the DNG files.
• Lightroom 1.4 provided degraded import performance relative to Lightroom 1.3.
• The Lightroom team apologizes for the inconvenience caused by the issues presented in the initial Lightroom 1.4 update.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

Scott Kelby’s new book, The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers, is now available. It was written in collaboration with Matt Kloskowski. The book is in stock and shipping from Amazon.

Publisher Book Description
Best-selling author Scott Kelby pairs up with Matt Kloskowski to deliver the definitive book on using Photoshop Elements 6 to create the best possible images. With this newest release of Photoshop Elements, Scott and Matt show readers how to work with their images like a pro, from importing to organization to correction to output. Readers will learn all they need to know about the digital photography workflow, as well as the latest secrets of the pros to help them create the best special effects, apply the most useful sharpening techniques, and avoid many of the hassles and problems that are encountered in digital photography (such as digital noise and color halos).

About the Authors

Scott Kelby is Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop User magazine, President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Executive Editor of the Photoshop Elements Techniques newsletter, and is technical chair of Photoshop World, the largest Photoshop gathering in the industry. You can find out more at the Scott Kelby Amazon Page.

Matt Kloskowski is the Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, editor-in-chief of the Photoshop Elements Techniques newsletter, and (along with Scott Kelby and Dave Cross) co-host of Adobe Photoshop TV, the popular video podcast. For you Lightroom dSLR Dads, he also runs the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips website. A great source for video tutorials and develop presets (new ones every Monday).

Popularity: 10% [?]

 Critical Update (2008-3-16):  Adobe has yanked the Lightroom 1.4 and Camera RAW 4.4 downloads.  Lightroom users who installed 1.4 should uninstall that update and install Lightroom 1.3.1 (conveniently posted at the 1.4 download page).  There are instructions for dropping back to 1.3.1 at Lightroom Journal. The following major errors are occurring:

• EXIF Time Stamp Error
• DNG Conversion Error (in Windows only).  Something that freaked me out after converting 16GB of RAW files over the weekend.
• Olympus Conversion Error
• There are also reports that certain plugins are broken.

More details are available on the Adobe Lightroom Journal  blog here.

For all of you Adobe Camera RAW and Lightroom dSLR Dads. Adobe has released Camera Raw 4.4 (download available for Windows | Macintosh) and Lightroom 4.4 (Windows | Macintosh) updates.

Both updates support the following new Raw file formats:

• Canon EOS 450D (Rebel XSi/EOS Kiss X2)
• Fujifilm Finepix S100fs
• Nikon D60
• Olympus SP-570UZ
• Pentax K20D, Pentax K200D
• Sony Alpha A200, Sony Alpha A300, Sony Alpha A350

Update for Lightroom 1.4 (Windows | Macintosh):

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.4 update is available for both Windows and Macintosh. It includes corrections for the following issues:

• Compatibility with legacy printer drivers on OS X 10.5 (Leopard) has been updated.
• Previous camera profiles identified in the Calibrate panel of the Develop module may have displayed poor results at extreme ends of the temperature and tint ranges. A new camera profile identified as Camera Raw 4.4 is now available and will be applied by default to all images without existing Camera Raw or Lightroom settings. The creation of new default profiles will also include the updated Camera Raw 4.4 profile. Images edited in Camera Raw or Lightroom with earlier profiles will retain the earlier profile value and visual appearance.
• In previous grayscale conversions the Color Noise setting was disabled and this could result in an image with excessive noise when grayscale channel mixing is applied (which is why I desaturated all of the colors to make a black & white). Both the tool and effect have been enabled in Lightroom 1.4 providing the ability to reduce noise in grayscale conversions. In order to return to the prior visual appearance, Color Noise reduction can be set to zero.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

Jeff Schewe over at PhotoshopNews has a retrospective on the history February 19th in Adobe lore. He shares his thoughts on the beginnings of Photoshop, Lightroom and Camera RAW. You can read the entire article over at PhotoshopNews.

Popularity: 11% [?]

This is a great deal for any dSLR Dad who has owns a license of Adobe Photoshop Elements. You can now move up to Adobe Photoshop CS3 for only $299! That’s more than half off the full price of $649! For those of you are thinking but I don’t have a copy of Elements? Well, you’re in luck, because Amazon still has Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 in stock and it’s only $35.

The fine print:

Of course this is a limited-time offer, but it runs the entire month to February 29. It’s available only to licensed users of Photoshop Elements 1.0–6 and Adobe Photoshop Elements plus Adobe Premiere Elements bundle who purchase the full version of Photoshop CS3 directly from Adobe (available here).

Plus, Adobe has and additional promotion where you can save up to $150 when you buy Photoshop Lightroom together with Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop CS3 Extended. This is a great chance to get two excellent pieces of software at a great price.

Update (2008-2-8): Some of you are having issues with the promotion code taking hold in the Adobe Store. If that’s the case, here is the link to the main offer page. You may have to call in the order on the telephone. I know, I know, that’s soooo 1995….

Popularity: 40% [?]

I just wanted everyone to know that I have updated a few things on The Media Shelf page. Most notably to you regular dSLR Dads is a brief review of From Camera To Print - A Fine Art Printing Video Tutorial by The Luminous Landscape and Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3. I’ll be working on more in-depth reviews of those products at a later date.

For those of you who are new to dSLR Dad (and judging by the incoming StumbleUpon links there are quite a number of you), I have set up The Media Shelf to be a collection of books, video, and all things media that will be of great resource for the dSLR Dad.

Popularity: 24% [?]

A Scott Kelby Retrospective

Scott Kelby, the Photoshop master, has written a new year’s retrospective on all things Photoshop for the year 2007.

For my last post of the year, I thought I’d take a quick look back at what has just been an amazing year of change, innovation, and growth for our industry. I’m going to focus on what’s happened in the Photoshop arena, in photography, what’s happened here in my Photoshop Insider blog, and how it’s impacted our lives (and my own work), throughout this year (which seems like it literally just flew by).

You can read the entire article here. You can also view all of Scott Kelby’s Books at Amazon here.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Microsoft has posted a complete version of the HD Photo plug-in for Photoshop CS3 and CS2.  Here are the separate downloads for Windows and OSX.  The same features are supported on both Windows and OSX.  The files created with either version are fully compatible with Windows Vista, Windows Live Photo Gallery, the HD Photo Device Porting Kit, and several other applications that support HD Photo.

Thanks to Bill Crow at Microsoft for the update.  You can listen to the This Week in Media Episode 51 in which he discussed the genesis of HD Photo and image compression.  Just absolutely fabulous stuff.

Popularity: 8% [?]

OK, these are cool. If you’ve ever seen a Wacom Cintiq 21UX 21.3″ Graphics Tablet, you’ve wished you could use one when dodging and burning your photos. Now, Cintiq has introduced two additional models, the 20WSX and 12WX. I really like the Cintiq 12WX, it has a 12″ screen, under a $1000, yet compact enough to pack up and travel with you (16″ x 10.5″). Press Release below:

Wacom introduces two additions to the Cintiq family to give you options for working directly on screen. The Cintiq 12WX and the Cintiq 20WSX join the Cintiq 21UX as versatile interactive pen displays that combine the advantages of an LCD monitor with the natural feel and superior performance of Wacom’s patented, professional pen technology. (more…)

Popularity: 10% [?]

Lightroom 1.3.1 update coming within the week.

Adobe’s Camera Raw plug-in has been updated to version 4.3.1 (download for Mac, Win). This upgrade fixes:

• Compressed raw files from the Nikon D100 were read incorrectly in Camera Raw 4.3
• A possible artifact in Camera Raw 4.3 raw file support for the Olympus E-3 has been corrected (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]

The following is part of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

I’ve been searching for books to add to the dSLR Dad Media Shelf that everyone would enjoy. So, I decided to start with my own bookshelf here at home. Mastering Digital Black and White: A Photographer’s Guide to High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing (Digital Process and Print) by Amadou Diallo is a fantastic book. He does a great job of leading you through the digital darkroom process of black and white photography. (more…)

Popularity: 11% [?]

Attention all dSLR Dad’s.  I have just posted the initial Holiday Gift Guide.  The list is a work in progress, so please check out the dSLR Gear page daily.  Stay tuned  for more updates throughout the season.

Popularity: 5% [?]

xTrain.com has posted a page of free Classes that are available to those who sign up. Of particutalr note to you dSLR Dad’s:

• Exposure Modes
• Black and White Experiments in Photoshop
• Learn the Good, the Bad and yes, even the Ugly of photo retouching in Photoshop CS3 (more…)
  

  Popularity: 4% [?]

  Tags: Adobe CS3, Ben Willmore, Br. Brown, Digital Photography, google, google compliance, instruction, learn photography, Photoshop, Rick Sammon, search engine, viral videos