This week featured huge announcements for Adobe Creative Cloud applications, including Lightroom and Photoshop. Bryan Esler talked to members of the Lightroom and Photoshop teams to give you an idea of what you can expect, and what might be on the horizon! Levi Sim taught us how to up our selfie game with a Platypod, Bob Coates walked us through processing a black and white portrait and Julie Powell taught us how to create still life images with indirect natural light.
It was a great, busy week at Photofocus! We hope you had a great week making pictures.
Switching from DSLR to Mirrorless: My six months review - It’s already been six months since I switched from DSLR to mirrorless. Here’s my review and thought on my experience so far. Today marks my six months dating anniversary with Mr. A (aka Sony a9). A LOT of things have been going on and thousands of pictures have been taken since my last article of the “Switching from DSLR to Mirrorless” series. I thought you’d enjoy a real-life update on my relationship with my new partner after living with him for a while. Seeing double As you probably noticed from the cover image … it seems like talking about Mr. A is half right … Yeah well, to be honest, I’ve been a polygamous type of photographer from the very first day. I like to see it as a “time-sharing” type of relationship — where of course, everybody consents. When I partly did the switch, getting a single mirrorless camera body, it was hard. I tried to keep on working with Mr. DSLR simultaneously for a couple of months but he could hardly keep up with my dashing new partner. I waited until the moment was right and finally broke up with Mr. DSLR to get a second Mr. A. Now, the three of us hang out and have a blast at sporting events. Three features I’ve learned to love more and more 1. His intense focus I don’t get tired of his remarkable efficiency. I only have to lift a finger and he’s immediately getting to work. Autofocus always on point, fast and accurate. I fell in love with Mr. A on the very first day because of this feature and it still remains six months later what I like the most about him. 2. His fit body He also has a very fit and powerful body. A client once looked at me in a suspicious way as I was coming in, asking if I was carrying a camera in my small bag. I told her I had two of them. I sometimes get overlooked because of the smaller size of my gear. Between you and me, I kinda like it. People tend to give us less attention. And the less attention we have means more freedom to go wherever we want without getting noticed. 3. His calm and poise I like to go under the radar. That’s why I absolutely love that Mr. A is a very quiet partner. We can be standing right behind someone and that person will never see or hear us. I can get the exact moment I want and the subjects will never know it until I show them the picture. An athlete once told me “Michèle, we don’t see you when you’re covering competitions.” I found that was one of the best compliments I ever got. Because that’s exactly what I want: To be forgotten. I want raw and true moments and those can only be captured by being as quiet and subtle as possible. The family is growing! Big news, we recently welcomed baby Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens to our expanding family. This lil’ guy has already brought us so many moments of joy and happiness. I can’t wait to share with you the amazing pictures he’s given us. More on that later! What about Mr. A2? Even though Sony announced the new a9 II upcoming release, my love for Mr. A is still fresh and I won’t be ready to change him just yet. We’re still learning to get along and working on becoming the best duo possible. Sure, the newcomer has lots of great things to offer and — of course — I am curious to see his upgraded performances. (If I ever get a date night with him I’ll let you know.) My point of view Six months after investing in a totally new camera system, I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been able to catch moments I thought were impossible to get. I have extremely high image quality and I love what I can achieve in post-production with my RAW files. I am also thrilled to see where technology is heading and how I’ll be able to keep adding and upgrading my gear collection throughout the years (new lenses and eventually new camera bodies — please don’t tell Mr. A just yet). It’s been a scary and significant investment at first but I can say in all honesty it’s worth every penny to me. To each his/her own This story is a very personal one. Another photographer could write his/her experience about switching from DSLR to mirrorless and share a totally different one. The cover image and this one right above are portraits taken by my good friend Daniel Mallard, an amazing photographer. He is and has been in a very passionate relationship for many years with a certain Mrs. F (aka Fujifilm). He certainly could tell his story with a whole different point of view and tell you why he loves her so much and why she is a perfect match. One’s needs are not everyone’s needs. Can you imagine if that was the case, we’d fight over the same prospect all our lives? What a nightmare! We each have a unique background and style. Great photography is achieved with any kind of camera … And what makes the difference is who’s holding it. If you have yet to read my entire “DSLR to Mirrorless” story, here’s the link to the articles.
Exclusive: What’s next for Lightroom? - Fresh off of Monday’s updates to Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, I sat down with Tom Hogarty, Senior Director of Project Management for Lightroom, at Adobe MAX. We discussed the latest updates, the differences between Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, artificial intelligence and more. We also asked him a few questions from you, our readers! For Hogarty, he’s most excited about what Adobe is doing for Lightroom users who are just jumping into the ecosystem. “The biggest story for me this year is we’ve really continued to expand beyond what people consider the core of Lightroom. I always call it the core of editing, surrounded by management and sharing options,” he said. “The thing we started doing last year and really invested in this year is creating a fourth category, which is educating and helping photographers get better. Lightroom is a fine purveyor of great kitchens, but there’s no cookbook in that kitchen. You are on your own. We’ve gone a step further with guided posts and contextual help, where it’s like having a professional chef of your choosing in the kitchen with you, helping you get better. I’m really excited about all the quality content that’s getting put together.” Automating a workflow Just like last year, there was a lot of talk during the Adobe MAX keynote about artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies. And the Lightroom ecosystem was no different, introducing features like Panorama Fill Edges, which uses Content-Aware Fill technology to automatically fill the edges of merged panorama images. “There are a couple different vectors for AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine-learning) advances. If you’re into photography there are all these things we can do to make your life easier. It’s on the management side and on the editing side,” said Hogarty. “Editing we’ve been very clear on from the beginning — if you’re a Lightroom rated product you have the same editing stack regardless if you choose Classic or Lightroom. That will stay the same.” While artificial intelligence tools are often thought about at the editing level, they’re making waves in terms of photo management as well — specifically with Lightroom. “We are seeing more advances in the management AI and ML with the new Lightroom because it’s cloud native, so that’s where you can start to see a divide.” One of the biggest pain points for photographers that use Lightroom is the culling process. When I brought up Photo Mechanic to Hogarty, he mentioned that they kept Adobe “on their feet,” and then hinted at a few different ideas in terms of how AI could help with the culling tasks in the future. “We talk about performance almost every other day. It’s the ability to rip through a set of images and separate the good from the bad — a lot of that is dependent on performance,” he said. “There is an opportunity with the AI and ML stuff to get people started, and get them to a better starting point by using something like the Best Photos tech preview that we have on lightroom.adobe.com. We will both invest in brute strength performance and we will also invest in other areas where we can maybe give a little bit of assistance.” Smaller updates? Adobe has come out with a handful of updates for the Lightroom ecosystem over the course of the past year, but this year’s updates at Adobe MAX were deemed by users as being pretty light, especially for those that used Lightroom Classic. The updates focused more on workflow opposed to bringing in new editing capabilities into the program. Some Photofocus readers were concerned about this, specifically with the lack of feature additions in Classic. But Hogarty says there’s a specific reason behind that. “We’ve changed our delivery model from a behemoth launch every 18-24 months to just continuously dropping updates every couple months. If I look at the list of all the things we did for Classic before we got to MAX, the Classic list is pretty long,” he said. “It’s also because of the stages of where the product is in its lifestyle. Lightroom is still relatively new, it doesn’t have all the capabilities of Classic. It has a lot of catching up to do.” Lightroom vs. Classic Earlier this year, Adobe dropped the “CC” moniker on its Lightroom family of products. With Lightroom and Lightroom Classic now leading the charge, Hogarty made certain to touch base on the differences between the two applications, and how they serve different audiences. “We never want to have a photographer pick one solution versus the other. It should really be separated based on desired workflow,” he said. “We’re on this journey with photographers for a long time. No one’s drawing any hard lines in the sand. We’ve got a laundry list of things we need to get done, and we just work with photographers on what needs to happen next.” What about printing? One of the biggest gaps in Lightroom is the lack of a print module. While Monday’s update provided the ability to send photos to White House Custom Color (WHCC) for printing, Hogarty notes that more work needs to be done, and committed that a print module would at some point come to Lightroom, similar to what’s currently available with Lightroom Classic. “Yes. I don’t have a timeline on it, but a print means a lot to photographers. We know that. We wanted to do a pilot program with WHCC … but that doesn’t absolve us of the responsibility of adding local desktop printing to the new Lightroom.” What about plugins? Another gap with Lightroom is the inability to use any plugin you want. Instead, Adobe is curating plugins, picking out specific third-party tools that fit inside their ecosystem best. “When we developed the extensibility of Lightroom Classic, we were picking out very narrow workflows. Publish plugins, preset extensibility, tether plugins. Over the years it’s seen as a very rich extensibility story. In reality it’s just been very focused,” he said. “We like to
Exclusive: Photoshop 2020, the age of the machine - While Adobe released Photoshop on the iPad on Monday morning, there was also a lot of buzz of its grown-up sibling, Photoshop on the Desktop. Sporting a new rounded corner logo to signify that’s it’s now multiple device-centric, Photoshop received several updates that were driven by Adobe Sensei technology. I had the opportunity to sit down with Stephen Neilson, Director of Product Management for Photoshop, during Adobe MAX. We discussed Monday’s update to Photoshop, and what he sees as the future in terms of artificial intelligence and machine learning in Photoshop. Intelligence for your workflow Monday’s announcements revealed the new Object Selection feature, as well as enhancements to Content-Aware Fill and other tools, all powered by Adobe Sensei. What’s that mean for Photoshop users and their workflows? “Machine learning, AI and Adobe Sensei has such an amazing opportunity to help photographers and all Photoshop users, because it’s a completely different way of developing software,” Neilson said. “We’ve always had lots of ideas on things that we could do to help photographers and Photoshop users to complete different tasks, but we didn’t always have the technology to do that. Machine learning is opening all kinds of doors. “You see it with the Object Selection tool — draw a box and it makes a selection. It’s really powerful. And Content Aware Fill, with the new advancements there — I like to describe it as collaborating with the algorithm or machine. Tell it what you want it to fill and what not to fill. I think there’s a ton of potential — we’re just at the beginning.” Moving forward, users can expect to see more AI to make edits easier than ever before. “I think we’re going to see machine learning start to change just about every part of the app. From things like making a selection, blending things together … but also in things like choosing colors or fonts, even selecting the right photo to work on out of a set,” he said. “I think there’s a tremendous amount of opportunities to reconsider ideas that weren’t possible, because we have technology that could solve the problem.” Making Photoshop more approachable With Photoshop being around for nearly 30 years, it’s easy to understand why Photoshop has grown to become a behemoth of a program. While it’s well respected among pros, it can be viewed as having quite the learning curve to new users. Adobe has been adding in-app tutorials to the Learn tab as a part of Photoshop’s home screen, to help make Photoshop more approachable to any type of user. “Both are designed to bring in learning content that would be valuable for any type of user. On desktop, we have a bunch of in-app tutorials that will walk you through step-by-step how to get something done. And on the web a bunch as well,” Neilson said. “Long-term, the goal is to make that content highly personal and personalized for your skill level, the things you’re interested in, etc. We’ll definitely be using machine learning to build the recommendation engine. We want people to be successful in learning our products.” In the cloud One of the other announcements made earlier this week was the introduction of Cloud Documents, making your documents stay in-sync no matter what device you’re on. Neilson is excited to see the potential of this throughout Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps. “The announcements somewhat understated the importance of Cloud Documents, and the workflow between desktop and iPad,” said Neilson. “But also, just generally speaking, Cloud Documents is really going to change the way you use Photoshop long-term, with things like automatic saving to the cloud and versions. It’s a tremendous amount of work, what we’ve done to get Cloud Documents in desktop and iPad at the same time.” More platforms? In terms of seeing Photoshop on other platforms, Neilson doesn’t have anything to announce yet, however, the ultimate goal is for Photoshop to be available on every device available. “We would like to bring Photoshop to all devices. We don’t have anything to announce right now, but the idea would be to bring Photoshop everywhere.”
Portrait Tips: You need to up your selfie game - You’re a photographer, for Pete’s sake! Shouldn’t your photos be just a little better than average? Selfies made with a phone at arm’s reach are the epitome of average. Sure, they have their place, and they’re way better than nothing, but you can certainly do better. And when you’re out with friends, you all deserve something a little better. Use your camera You probably brought your camera on whatever adventure you’re doing hoping to make a good picture. So let’s use that camera to make a good picture of you and your friends. I went out with two old friends yesterday to hunt pheasants. We haven’t been all together for quite some time so making a picture to help remember was a priority for me. Even though we didn’t bring home any birds for Thanksgiving, at least we brought home a picture. That picture can be a touchstone for so many stories we can relate with each other later and with our kids and other friends. All you need is a picture to set off the memories. And since you’re a photographer, it can be a good picture. Set it up My pals and I walked several miles and experience has taught me that the more I carry the more I regret it by the end of the day. Now I just bring one lens and a Platypod to hold the camera instead of a larger tripod and a selection of lenses. I can carry a smaller backpack which means I can’t fill it with more stuff I won’t use. Before I met up with the guys, I had an idea for this picture, down low with us walking toward it. I considered using an ultra-wide lens for the fun effect, but when you use a very wide lens for action pictures, you have a small window when the subject is large enough to fill the frame, but not out of the frame. When you use a telephoto lens, you get more opportunities with the subject large in the frame. I used a 25mm lens on my Lumix camera (50mm full-frame equivalent) and it worked out well. Focus and intervalometer If you’ve got action, you need the autofocus to track with your subjects. I used the AF-C (AI Servo) setting so the focus would change as we drew nearer to the camera. I also turned on the subject tracking so that the focus point would follow us as we changed position in the frame. It worked flawlessly. A comical tradition is to use the self-timer when making a group picture that includes yourself, but the results are always funnier than good as you try to get into the frame before it goes off. Instead, use your camera’s intervalometer to essentially make a time-lapse. You can set it to record a photo every second and as you get yourself into the picture it just keeps clicking. You end up with a lot of pictures you don’t need, but electrons are free, so you can just delete them later. Since my camera was recording continuously, we walked back and did it again. I didn’t have to change the settings and we just walked back in. Actually, I liked the walking-away photo, as well. It would have made a great closing image for a slideshow of our successful hunt … if we’d had a successful hunt. Be ready The great thing about making selfies with cell phones is that they are always ready and we know how to use them. But you’re a photographer! You should know how to use your camera. Try these settings today so that you’re ready the next time the opportunity for a high-quality selfie presents itself you can rise to the occasion. Learn how to turn on your AF-C and focus tracking, learn how to activate the intervalometer in your camera (or the ten-second timer with multiple shots if you don’t have an intervalometer), and get yourself a Platypod — I’ve only been talking about them for five years, after all. You can have your camera as ready to make a great selfie as a cellphone is, and your friends will appreciate a good photo to remind them of the good times. Portrait Tips come out each week, and you can see them all right here.
Exclusive: Embracing touch with Photoshop on the iPad - Last year at Adobe MAX 2018, the company announced development of Photoshop on the iPad. There was a lot of excitement built up around that, and finally, we have the chance to use it! On Monday, Photoshop on the iPad was released, marking the first time that Photoshop — yes, the actual Photoshop that’s been around for nearly 30 years — has made it to a touchscreen device. Yes, there was Photoshop Mix and Photoshop Express, but nothing is quite like the Photoshop on the iPad experience. It brings capabilities over from the desktop version we know and love — everything from Layers to Blend Modes — and puts them into an interface specifically designed for the iPad screen. Earlier this week I had the chance to sit down with Jenny Lyell, the Lead Project Manager for Photoshop on the iPad. We talked about the development process, initial impressions of the app, as well as what users can expect with future updates. Touch is the name Simply put, Photoshop on the iPad is Photoshop. In Lyell’s words, “It’s the only mobile app that uses the same shared Photoshop code base as desktop. It has the same power — the same computing power — and it delivers the same results.” Because of that, users can expect a very similar experience no matter the device they’re using. “We wanted to get the [version 1.0] out early because we want to build with that community of people who are working on it now and 30 years into the future,” Lyell said. “We want to bring the latest, most efficient, precise, fastest technology over [to the iPad] too. When we do our planning, we plan as an ecosystem, so it’s very tightly coordinated. What about the … Lyell is well aware that every tool available in Photoshop on desktop hasn’t made it into Photoshop on the iPad yet. But it’s a matter of taking the code that’s already there, and designing it in a way that makes sense for touchscreen devices and users. “What is different, intentionally, is the user experience and design experience,” said Lyell. “We wanted to make sure that we put some core features in, but we didn’t want to put all 30 years of the features in, because that’s being pretty presumptuous that people are going to have the same exact problems and same needs.” So will we see things like the Pen tool, and the new Object Select tool, in Photoshop on the iPad soon? “It gives us an opportunity, if we start with some core features, to create new and improved features,” said Lyell. “The features are coming in gradually because we want to make sure we give you the best. That takes time because, one, from an experience standpoint, what’s the best experience here? And two, how do we make sure from a technical standpoint that that feature is a model that will work with the iPad? “There were updates that we had to make to the shared code base so it worked across the [Windows, Mac and iOS] systems. [For example,] Liquify is currently a plugin on desktop, and iOS doesn’t support plugins. So we’re looking at, ‘how do we get Liquify rearchitected and refactored so it’s in this code base that is shared between both iOS and the desktop?'” Primary or secondary device? One of the things I was most interested in talking about is whether Lyell thought that Photoshop on the iPad could replicate the desktop experience, and in a sense, become a professional’s primary machine. “I think it depends on the user. The main reason why we built this is because we kept on hearing from our existing Photoshop desktop customers that they simply want to have the choice to work away from their desktop. They just want the choice,” said Lyell. “For existing users today, it’s a great companion. For new users, they may be mobile natives and not want to use their desktop. We’re constantly thinking of both of these groups and their workflows.” And yes, Lightroom is on the horizon In my interview with Tom Hogarty, Senior Director of Project Management for Lightroom, he mentioned creating an integration between Lightroom and Photoshop on the iPad. Lyell agrees. “Right now we’re figuring out what that looks like. There are a lot of our customers who use Lightroom and Photoshop together. So we’re exploring and learning about what’s most important first,” she said. When will Photoshop on the iPad be caught up? There’s been a lot of talk from users about the app not being fully finished yet. But Lyell sees it differently. “I think it would do us a disservice if we were constantly chasing the 30 years of 10,000 features,” she said. “Catching up to me means people can complete their workflows end to end, have the same quality output and feel like it is efficient, powerful and fast. We’re constantly thinking about how to get there as soon as possible.” Looking ahead While Photoshop on the iPad is still in its infancy, Lyell is excited for what the future holds. “A lot of people have put a lot of emphasis on what it’s going to be like on day one. But we’re thinking about the long game — where do we want to be in five or ten years?” she said. “We want new creatives of our future, students who are in high schools now to be able to use it. We want existing pros to really see this as a first class citizen and have that choice to use it on the desktop or use it anywhere. I see this gradually rounding out. By listening to the community, we will build the right product, and I’m confident of that. That’s our goal.”
Bringing out the character a black and white portrait - You can use post-processing software to take an image to a new level. We don’t always have the opportunity to get everything lit exactly as we like when we come across an interesting subject. Photoshop, Luminar 4 and NIK Silver Efex Pro were my helpmates in making this image be more than the original capture. On every first Friday of each month in Sedona, I head to the Gallery of Modern Masters where my artwork is represented. Craig Christopherson, a fellow artist, inspired this blog post. He is a gifted sculptor of wood, metal, air and water and quite a character. You can see some of his work on his Instagram feed or check out the Gallery of Modern Masters website. I enjoy the character I see in Craig’s face. I wanted to see if I could sculpt this image into an artistic piece. Adobe Camera RAW The first stop in this processing journey was Adobe Camera RAW. The original capture was post-processed to open up the shadows, tame the highlights and add just a bit of clarity to add some sharpness to the photo. Luminar 4 for post-processing Next in line a copy was made and placed upon its own Layer. I add a Layer so that the result returned from a plug-in can be dialed in via a mask or change in opacity. Skylum’s Luminar 4 was called upon in plug-in mode to use its portrait retouching tools, AI Skin Enhancer and Portrait Enhancer. This resulted in eyes being brightened and opened just a tad. Best of all, I used the Face Lighting tool to bring some brightness to the face alone. This is lighting feature is awesome and held shadows and highlights nicely. Back to Photoshop I wanted to create a painterly feeling to bring more attention to Craig’s face. Texture files to the rescue to create a new background. A new Layer and a mask were created using the Select Subject feature. That gave me a selection of Craig to help control the effect. Photoshop’s Blend Modes were added to texture Layers and masks helped to remove some of the texture from the face. Additional textures with Blend Modes and opacity changes were judiciously added to enhance the painterly feel. NIK filters Silver Efex Pro is often a go-to when I want to make a conversion to black and white. I find the controls to be intuitive to get the right amount of contrast. Sharpness can get a solid boost by using the structure sliders. Fine details are enhanced using the Micro-Structure slider. This is wonderful for beards when properly applied. Careful! A little goes a long way and it is easy to start to look over-processed. Final post-processing touches The finishing post-processing touches are taken care of with a blank Layer set to Soft Light. It is used to do some dodging and burning to finesse the highlights and shadows. The retouch Layer was used to remove the white logo on his shirt and clean up a few stray hairs. Lastly, a sharpening Layer is used to bring attention to specific areas and to invite the viewer to move their eyes to areas where you would like them to notice. Final thoughts When processing images think about this. In a black and white image, a viewer’s eye is first going to the area of highest contrast. In this case, I worked to make the eyes the main focus. Following that sharpness is placed in areas to add subtle interest and guide the viewer’s eye for another trip through your portrait. One last tip when working on your portrait images. When you think you are done, flip the image 180 degrees and turn the visibility off. When you come back to the image later turn it back on. See where your eye goes. If it is not exactly where you want your viewer to look, it may be time for a bit more dodging and burning. Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
