Free Lightroom 2 Videos and New DVD on PhotoshopCafe.com

After adding PhotoshopCafe’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Learning Site to the list of items in the Related Links section of my last post, I then viewed four of the free videos that are now available on the site. They cover Dual Monitors, Photoshop Integration, Smart Collections, and Local Adjustments. They are each under 8 minutes long and I found them to be very well produced, and easy to understand. To go directly to the page where you can view the videos, visit this page.

Screen capture from the free sample Lightroom 2 video section on PhotoshopCafe.com

I’ve learned a lot over the last 3-4 years from Colin Smith, who runs PhotoshopCafe.com and who has produced virtually all the training on the site, including the Lightroom 2 DVD. He’s a great teacher and a talented artist. I found the Smart Collections overview particularly interesting and well produced. The full DVD (downloadable or in physical DVD format) costs $99, runs about 7 hours and has 91 separate movies. All the source files are also included, which really helps to make the training easier to follow.

To view a text overview of the Lightroom 2 training DVD visit this page.

ImagingBuffet.com has an affiliate relationship with PhotoshopCafe (as we do with Amazon.com and a few other selected companies). A coupon code is listed in the Sponsored Links section below for any product available on their site.

Related Links:

• Many free tutorials on PhotoshopCafe.com
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 30 Day Free Tryout
• Lightroom 2 Learning Center on photoshopuser.com
• Lightroom 2 Photowalk with Scott Kelby
• Audio interview of Tom Hogarty, Lightroom Product Manager by Scott Bourne of TWiPPhoto.com
• Lightroom-News.com
• PhotoshopNews.com
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Tasmania. This post about the new Clarity slider by Mikkel Aaland is very interesting.
• Excellent Lightroom video tutorial for converting to B&W by Martin Evening.
• Photoshop CS3 Launch site on PhotoshopCafe.com

Sponsored Links:

Coupon code for PhotoshopCafe.com (10% off any order):
Enter the word: cafeimaging in the coupon code box at Checkout.

•Shop for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom at Adobe.com

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Adobe Releases Lightroom 2 with Local Correction and Many Other New Features

Adobe Systems today officially announced the release of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. From the online demo I recently viewed, it is an impressive upgrade. There are many new features that are not currently in the Lightroom 2 beta.

One big improvement is in the Print module. Based on the size of your print output and the resolution of your image, sharpening is determined based on algorithms developed with expertise from the folks at PixelGenius (pixelgenius.com), the makers of PhotoKit SHARPENER, a piece of software that I highly recommend. Another welcome addition to the Print Module is the ability to create custom picture packages, similar to those currently available in Photoshop CS2 and CS3. Any one photo at a time can be set up to print in a multitude of different sizes on a sheet, and those templates can then be saved.

New Print Module for Lightroom 2, showing the new Picture Package Layout option. Image courtesy Adobe Systems. (click on image to view larger version)

Two more very welcome new tools are the new Graduated Filter tool, as well as the improved Lens Vignetting tool. Now, after cropping, the vignette acts as it does in Photoshop. Prior to that, it would act as if the image was not cropped, resulting in an uneven vignette.

The new Graduated Filter tool in Lightroom 2. Image courtesy Adobe Systems. (click on image to view larger version)

One of the other “big news items” is the ability to do local correction, which is really quite revolutionary in a product that uses nondestructive editing.

Image showing the masking capability of Lightroom 2, with an example of before and after edits. Images courtesy Adobe Systems. (click on images to view larger versions)

The Adobe press release has a lot of good detail about Lightroom 2. You can read it in its entirety below. I look forward to adding articles soon about my hands-on experiences with the product.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available now (in Windows and Mac OSX versions) through the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store in English, French and German with the Japanese language version planned to be released at a future date. The estimated street price is USD$299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD$99 for registered users of qualifying Lightroom customers.

Adobe’s Official Press Release: Continue reading

Call For Entry Deadline 7/25/2008: Online and Print Portfolio Show

The Center for Fine Art Photography’s “Online and Print Portfolio Show” Show call for entries deadline is today (7/25/2008).

Fifteen photographers will be chosen to display their twelve-image portfolio in The Center for Fine Art Photography’s special Online and Print Portfolio Show and be included the Center’s new book publication Artists ShowCase, volume 1, issue 1.

The Juror for this show is Darius Himes, founding member of Radius Books, a Santa Fe-based company created in 2007 that publishes books on the visual arts. He is also the founding editor of photo-eye Booklist, a quarterly magazine devoted to photography books, from 2002-2007. He is a lecturer, consultant, educator and writer, having contributed to Blind Spot, Bookforum, BOMB, PDN, and American Photo.

I am a member of The Center For Fine Art Photography’s Ambassador’s Circle, which is a group of volunteers who help to share information about events and calls for entry.

More information, including a full list of the awards, can be found on the show’s call for entries page.