Author Archive for David Marx

Social Networking Advice for Digital Photographers

A student in this week’s Lightroom for Photographers Workshop at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography asked for advice on social networking for photographers. Here is a short list of books and references that I have found useful in my understanding of this new emerging way of advertising your business. Helpful Websites: Seth Godin New [...]

Aerial Infrared Photography From GravityShots.Com

I lent my infrared camera to my good friends Jeff and Adele Scholl earlier this week. Jeff and Adele run a low-angle aerial photography company which uses remote controlled helicopters. Here’s a sampling of what they did with their helicopters and my infrared camera!

Searching with Metadata in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

There have been lots of reader questions lately about how to search and organize a large image library using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Working with metadata tools like keywords, colored labels, and star ratings is the only way to really harness the full potential of Lightroom as an organizational tool!

Importing Images: Getting Your iPhoto Images to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3

Moving images from iPhoto over to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom can be tricky because each program creates its own index. To do this right, you have to understand that these two programs do not work together. Moving files from one program to the other requires “exporting” a copy of your image from one program and then “importing” that file into the other….

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 for Photographers Workshop with David Marx: Oct 31 – Nov 5

David Marx will be leading a week long Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 workshop for Photographers at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula, Montana from October 31 to November 5. This class will be David’s last week long Lightroom workshop for the year. Don’t miss this opportunity to streamline your workflow and master Lightroom this fall.

Using Add to Import Files into Your Lightroom Index Without Moving or Copying

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is designed to index a lifetime’s worth of digital photography. Lightroom creates a database which acts likes a library’s “card catalog.” Thanks to the index, it is easy for a professional photographer to find one specific image out of the thousands that are stored on their computer in seconds.

Importing and Moving Files From Your Internal Hard Drive to an External Disk with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Two new video tutorials today for beginning Adobe Photoshop Lightroom users on how to import and move files from one hard drive to another using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. These videos are intended to help new Lightroom users find their photos, or the folders full of images, that currently live on their internal hard drive. Most beginning users need the extra help with this process and its great to know that Lightroom can do all of the heavy lifting.

Importing Images: Creating an Import Preset and Copying in Files from a Digital Camera Memory Card with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Ingesting new images from a digital camera memory card is a repetitive task that a professional photographer will repeat hundreds of times per year. This process just got a whole lot easier thanks to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3′s new Import Preset feature. In this article, and video tutorial, we explain how to simplify your life by building an Import Preset.

Getting Started Right: Building Better File Names with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

My digital camera takes great pictures but it gives them lousy filenames. This is a big problem because the file’s name is a really important detail for a professional photographer. Unique filenames make it easy to communicate with clients and they prevent confusion. Sadly, most digital cameras cannot create unique filenames.

Since I cannot teach my camera to name my file’s the right way I must solve this problem when I add files into my Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 index. Lightroom makes generating unique filenames easy once you understand how to create a File Naming Template.

Getting Started Right: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3′s Critical Preference Menus

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is finally here and it is a great to get started the right way with this powerful software! Lightroom is not a hard program to figure out on your own, but there are some critical switches buried deep inside its preference menus. Preference menus are dull material in any program, but a wise man looks the under the hood before buying a used car.

Advice on Buying Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Life is all about choices and software purchasing is no different. To get your copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, you could buy the product directly from Adobe, you could purchase the software from an online retailer, or you could pick up a copy at your local computer box store. So does your choice make any difference?

Lightroom 3 Now Available!

It’s been a long wait but the third version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is finally shipping! We at the LightroomLab have been playing with the private beta of Lightroom 3 all winter long and we are delighted that now everyone can work with this wonderful new product. Above all else, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is going to make your photos look better!

Getting Started Right: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Setup and Catalog Creation

Now Lightroom is a very straightforward program but to use it properly you must rethink your entire workflow from initial capture all the way to final output. To really get your money’s worth, you need to rethink every step in your photographic routine and look for inefficiencies. We want to think everything through and setup ourselves up for long-term success from day one with Lightroom.

Five New Features of Lightroom 3 for Professional Photographers

This video tutorial is a quick overview of my five favorite new features in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 for the professional photographer. This video highlights: improvements to the import dialog, the new IPTC Extension metadata fields, the improved sharpening and noise reduction algorithms, and the incredible new lens correction tool. The video concludes with a quick demo of the new Publish Services feature.

Getting Started: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 View Options Menu and Library View Toolbar Customization

I released a whole bunch of tutorials recently on crucial parts of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 setup process. The videos in this post are not nearly as important as the ones on building your catalog on an external hard drive or the ones on the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Preferences Menus. Still, setting the View Options Menu up right and customizing the Library Module’s Tool Bar is a big help when you are new to the program.

Amazon Prime: Is It Worth It?

Do you frequent Amazon.com? If so have you considered an Amazon Prime membership? Thanks to Amazon Prime, it is often cheaper and easier for me to have supplies delivered then it is to drive all across this big state looking for photography / computer equipment. If you are already a frequent Amazon customer, or if you live way out in the country like I do, check this service out.

What Software Should I Add to A New Mac For Photography

We photographers need to buy some additional software to get a brand new Mac up and running. This article is about the software that I think a new Apple computer needs for professional-grade digital imaging, word-processing, and everyday use. Click here to read more….

Adobe Photoshop CS5 New Feature Highlights for Photographers Part I

Adobe Photoshop CS5 is out now and many of our readers would like to know which features of the new version are going to be useful for photographers. Top’s on my list of highlights though has got to be the new processing algorithms in Adobe Camera Raw 6. With the new code inside of Camera Raw, and soon in Lightroom 3, my images look better than they ever have before….

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Now Available!

Adobe Creative Suite 5, and all its parts including Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended, are now available. Adobe is even offering free shipping on Adobe CS5 Suites and on Photoshop for a limited time. Read on for more details.

Lightroom 3 Lens Correction Sneak Peak

Adobe Project manager Tom Hogarty recently released this video which shows off the fantastic new Lens Corrections tool that will ship with Adobe Camera Raw 6 and Lightroom 3. I have been messing around with this feature in the private Lightroom 3 beta for a few weeks and I am amazed at how much better some of my old photos look. Check it out!

My Camera Equipment: Digital SLR Advice from David Marx 2010

This article is all about the photography equipment that I use professionally. Among photographers there is no easier conversation starter then the question “what camera do you use?” For some reason, we photographers are obsessed with our camera bodies. I currently own two Canon bodies. Click here to read more about what I use and what photographic equipment I recommend.

Kevin Ames Demonstration of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Beta and Photoshop CS5 in Kalispell Montana: April 21

Photoshop expert Kevin Ames will be presenting a demonstration of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3 Beta and Photoshop CS5 in Kalispell, Montana next week. Kevin is the author of four books on digital photography, a frequent Photoshop World Instructor, and an expert at retouching glamour photos. Even better, this lecture is free and open to the public!

Teaching for FirstLight Workshops in Dubois, WY July 12-17!

I will be teaching Lightroom and digital workflow for FirstLight Workshops in the stunningly beautiful Wind River Range of Wyoming this summer! At this amazing event I’ll get to teach alongside Pulitzer-Prize winner and National Geographic photographer Jay Dickman, local star Jeff Vanuga, and Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist Skeeter Hagler. Participants in this program will spend five days photographing working cowboys rounding up herds of horses, fly fishermen patrolling pristine mountain streams, local artists and craftsmen at work, and the annual rodeo.

Digital Photography Weekend Class in Salmon, ID: May 22-23, 2010

I am delighted to announce that my good friend Doug Johnson and I will be teaching a digital photography weekend seminar i this May in beautiful Salmon, Idaho. Whether you’ve just picked up an SLR camera for the first time, or you are an experienced photographer looking for a few pointers, our photography weekend is the perfect opportunity to enhance your knowledge and to practice new skills. We have two days of lectures and demos planned for this event plus an evening field shoot in a truly picturesque setting.

Useful Sunrise and Sunset Websites for Photographers

I teach a class on sunrise and sunset photography. Knowing exactly when and where the sun will rise each day is a big part of getting better images. I find these websites useful especially when I am traveling to new places.

Backing Up a Mac with Carbon Copy Cloner

I am fond of a backup utility called Carbon Copy Cloner on my Mac. This wonderful little program has saved me from total disaster when one of my hard drives dies. Click here to learn more and to see my video tutorial on how I use this software to protect an entire hard drive full of photographs.

Backing Up Windows Computers Using Acronis True Image– Updated

Maintaining an up-to-date backup is painless if you choose the right software. For Windows (PC) users my favorite backup software is a product called Acronis True Image Home 2010. Click here to read more about backups and to see video tutorials on how to use this excellent backup utility.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom vs. The Adobe Bridge

This article is a follow-up to a recent post on how Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom differ. This time, we will explore the differences between the Adobe Bridge and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Behind the Lens Photo Weekend at Blackberry Farm: March 4-7, 2010

There are still a few spaces available for this year’s Behind the Lens Photo Weekend at the luxurious Blackberry Farm on the edge of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Blackberry Farm goes out of it way to make this an incredible field photography experience. Along with their superb cuisine and hospitality, the resort opens the doors to their gourmet kitchen, their incredible wine cellar, and their heirloom farmstead for us to photograph!

Lightroom vs. Photoshop

Do I need to buy both Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS4? Digital photographers ask me this question all the time. It’s a good question and one that deserves more than just a simple yes or no answer. Each program has it’s own strengths, and although the two programs share some common features, they are not competitors.