Review Digital Camera World 04-20-2013

Digital Camera World

Lightroom Library: a common sense way of organizing your photos Apr 20th 2013, 00:00 Whether you’ve just started using Adobe Lightroom or you’re an experienced hand, knowing how to organize your photos sensibly is a must. In this quick guide we show you a common-sense way of setting up your Lightroom library. For those of us used to a standard folder-based image library, Lightroom 4's approach to image organisation requires a shift in mentality. At its core, the Adobe Lightroom Library is simply a database that assigns and remembers things about your image – where it is on your hard drive, which keywords and ratings are assigned, if any tonal adjustments have been made and so on. It's perfectly suited to the demands of image libraries that can run into the thousands. However fastidiously you organise your images, problems arise with standard folder-based libraries when one image can be classified in several ways. Say, for example, you have a shot of a classic car taken during a wedding. Should it go in a wedding folder, a classic car folder, or both? Lightroom offers a solution: you can create collections for each category that an image falls under without having to move the file around or create memory-crippling duplicates on your hard drive. It does for images what playlists do for music. Building a Lightroom library begins with the import. This may seem laborious at first, but it quickly pays off when you begin to reap the rewards of an organised library. A few tweaks during the import can save you hours in the long run. Here, we'll start at the very beginning: plugging a memory card into your card reader and using Lightroom's Import command to assign copyright data and keywords. We'll go on to flag favourite shots, make quick tonal tweaks, and finally export images as JPEGs. Learn these key skills and you'll be well on the way to having the kind of organised image library you've always wanted. Making a Lightroom Library: 01 Stick in your memory card Open Lightroom 4, then stick your memory card into your card reader (if you're using our files, copy them to your hard drive, then go to the Library Module, hit Import and use the Source panel to find them). Either hit Check All or manually check the files you want. Check Copy as DNG at the top middle. PAGE 1: Making a Lightroom Library – 01 Stick in your memory card PAGE 2: Making a Lightroom Library – 02 Choose Import options PAGE 3: Making a Lightroom Library – 03 Pick your favourites PAGE 4: Making a Lightroom Library – 04 Make a collection PAGE 5: Making a Lightroom Library – 05 Quick tonal tweaks PAGE 6: Making a Lightroom Library – 06 Export the files READ MORE Adobe Lightroom 4 review Photoshop Curves Tool: 6 techniques every photographer must know Blend Modes: the 10 best blends for photographers (and how to use them) Photoshop Layers Demystified: a beginner’s guide to smarter photo editing Capture One Pro 7 review: should Phase One's new software have Adobe worried? Apr 19th 2013, 13:50 Image quality, reliability and speed are just three of Capture One Pro 7′s attributes. Is this latest photo editing software from Phase One an Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop killer? Find out in our Capture One Pro 7 review. Photoshop is not the only player in town. Enthusiasts and pros have other choices too, including Capture One Pro 7, the professional image capture, raw conversion and editing tool from Danish company Phase One. Capture One Pro leads a dual life. It's both a tethered capture tool for professional studio photographers and a high-quality raw converter that's compatible with many professional- and enthusiast-level cameras. Phase One doesn't just make software, it also makes medium-format digital cameras, which can be used on their own or connected by cable to a computer running Capture One and controlled remotely. You can do this with many Canon and Nikon DSLRs, although Live View may not be supported for all models. Tethered capture isn't the way most of us work, but it's very popular in controlled studio environments, and drives the way Capture One looks, feels and works. Up until version 7, it's been based primarily around shooting 'Sessions'. It's not really designed for opening and editing single images in the way that Photoshop is; instead it's meant for capturing and enhancing images in bulk, as you work. Incidentally, there's a clever Capture Pilot IOS app that enables you, or a client, to browse photos on an iPad, and you can even control the camera from the iPad, via your computer. You can also use Capture One Pro 7 purely as a raw conversion/editing tool, and this is where it really shines. Phase One says the processing engine offers 'dramatic' improvements in detail rendition and colour. Capture One Pro has always been good at extracting the maximum detail from raw files, but the results from this latest version are spectacular. Capture One doesn't just deliver finer, sharper edges at a pixel level, it does it with amazing clarity and contrast. Small details stand out with a crispness that makes the original look hazy and soft. It does depend on the camera, however. Capture One Pro 7 seems to unlock more potential in some models than others, and its high-ISO noise reduction can sometimes go a little too far. More often than not, though, Capture One Pro will reveal a level of quality you never suspected your camera was capable of. PAGE 1: What’s on offer in Capture One Pro 7 PAGE 2: Capture One Pro 7 Review – Editing highlights PAGE 3: Capture One Pro 7 Review – A user-friendly system PAGE 4: Capture One Pro 7 Review – getting to know the interface PAGE 5: Capture One Pro 7 Review – Final score READ MORE Best photo editing software: 6 Photoshop alternatives tested and rated 16 new cameras we’d like to see in 2013 101 Photoshop tips you really have to try 34 Photoshop effects every photographer must try once

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