How to Import Images in Lightroom 4

Click photo above to view the video.

You can read all this stuff or you can watch the included video.

With the cost of Lightroom 4 being dropped to 149.00 there have been a lot of people giving it a go. One of the most often misunderstood aspects of Lightroom with new users is how Lightroom manages your photos. Well, here is the truth. It doesn’t… However, Lightroom does have tools that allow you to better manage your photo files. Lightroom doesn’t care where your photos are located so you can copy them from your memory card to your hard drive in a specific location before importing into Lightroom or you can leave them on the card and ask Lightroom to do it for you.


If you are in the Library Module on the bottom left side of the screen you will see the “Import” button. Push that. The Lightroom dialogue box will appear.

There are really only three aspects to this box.

1. Where From: The left hand side deals with where the files are currently located.

2. How you want Lightroom to handle the photos: This portion is in the middle of the dialogue box at the top of the screen. This is where many folks get a bit confused about what it is Lightroom is really doing. You have three options to choose from. Copy, Move, and Add. Let’s take a closer look.


Copy

• This is the option that I use 99% of the time. This is where you point Lightroom to a specific folder and/or memory card and tell it to copy the files in that location and paste them into a new location. The new location you choose with aspect three listed in the next section. I use this one over the Move choice simply because I like to ensure I have all the images in my backup locations prior to deleting them off the card.


Move

• The Move option does exactly what it says it does. It moves the files from their current location to the location that you have specified. (see the third aspect)


Add

• Add is the one that gives people the most trouble. This is because when you ADD photos all you are doing is bringing in the photos to the Lightroom Catalog. The images remain exactly where they were. This means if you moved your images to a folder on your desktop and you “ADD” them to the Lightroom catalog the files do not get moved or copied. This also means that if you move or delete the desktop folder and you do not tell Lightroom then it doesn’t understand where they all went. If you remove the original location and you open up lightroom you will see the thumbnails that it created when you imported the image. However, you will see writing across the image that says it cannot find the source file. Now, provided you have not deleted the originals there are ways to tell Lightroom where to look.

3. Where to put them: If you have chosen Copy or Move then you have the option of telling Lightroom where you want the files to be copied or moved to.

Another Great Post from Bill Fortney

I do not typically make it a habit to point to someone else's blog.  However, with posts like this one from Bill Fortney how can I not?  If you read one photographic blog this year, click on the link below and read.

http://billfortney.com/?p=6176

Recently, I have gone through a low point in photographic inspiration.  Yes, I admit it openly.  I have reached out to professionals who's work I admire for advice.  There answer is almost always the same and it involves one recurring word.  "Work"...  We have to work to be inspired.  We have to work to get better.  We have to get out and shoot and we need to shoot what we love! 

Mr. Fortney has put it plain and simple on his recent blog post and this may be one of the best photographic blogs ever written.

Mr. Fortney, I know you don't read my blog but I would like to extend a thank you for your words, your devotion (to photography and to Christ), and your photographic work.  You are truely and inspiration!

How to Load Presets in Lightroom 4

This is video that details the steps needed to add presets into Lightroom 4.  If you have every purchased or downloaded presets for Lightroom but could not get them to load, watch this video!



Click the photo above to start the video.



Bill Fortney, Photography and Faith

http://scottkelby.com/2012/his-light-workshops-with-bill-fortney/

The above link takes you to a guest post on Scott Kelby's Blog.  It is a post written by one of my favorite photographers of all time.  I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Bill at the PPA Imaging USA in New Orleans this past Janurary.  I would like to say that I had a great and powerful converstaion with Mr Fortney but I just stood there and gawked like a star struck school boy.  I did managed to get up the courage to introduce myself and shake his hand.

Mr. Fortney is simply one of the best photographers of all time.  You can check out his work here:  http://www.billfortney.com.  Make sure to look at his landscape galleries.  They are incredibly inspiring and they remind me that I have much more to learn.

Revisiting Past Images

Many of you know that the software we use to process our images gets updated every couple of years. Not to mention new software seems to come out all the time. Not only does the software change but your vision as an artists changes with time as well. Have you considered going back to photographs you have taken in the past and “re-editing” them based on software and/or vision changes?

Recently I took another look of a Great Smoky Mountain shoot I did from 2010. There were as many as 6 images that previously had not seen the light of day. It isn’t that they were bad but rather I had not realized the potential of the images. Since 2010 I have gotten the Nik Software Suite which gives some tremendous options. Silver efex Pro II for example allows you to easily and effectively convert images to black and white. Not to mention the Lightroom update with Lightroom 4. The highlights slider alone in that update makes taking a look at past images a must. Don’t forget about the Photoshop update to CS6 either. All of these are tools that can help you realize the potential of past images. 

 

Your ability to see the images differenly can change as well.  For me I know that I view tonality and image contrast much different than I did even last year.  The changing of software, hardware, and artistic vision make it worth the time to revisit your past archives.

Warning: While you might want to spend some time looking at your past images do not dwell there. The only way to truly improve is to get out and shoot.

Exposed by Gavin Seim

Okay, I have come across a video series worth the price of admission.  While this is centered a great deal around outdoor photography it teaches aspects of Exposure that most never fully grasp.  Ever wondered what the Zone System (created by Ansel Adams) really is?  Well, Gavin Seim teaches that system to you (among other things) in his new video.

I can dig his style too.  He is... well, quirky and fun!

Check it out!

http://prophotoshow.net/seim_effects/exposed/

Miniaturization: How To

See the video below to learn how to get this effect.

Have you seen those really odd photos where it looks like the picture was taken of a miniature city model.  Well if you check out the video I explain how to quickly get that look using the Photoshop CS6 Tilt-Shift filter.

I mention this in the video put it is important enough to reinforce here.  To make this work you need to be at a higher vantage point than your subject.  I have not seen an instance where this works at eye level.  I hope you enjoy this very short video.

***Click the above picture to watch the video***