Lightroom 2.6.1 posted for Leica users

Adobe have posted Lightroom 2.6.1 to their servers. This is not available via the normal update mechanism.

Mac OS: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4644
Windows: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4647

This 2.6.1 update contains a single change compared to 2.6: a fix for the problem that would cause LR to crash when processing some M9 files, primarily observed by users under 64-bit, but occasionally under 32-bit as well. There are no other changes.

LRB Portfolio 2.51 update available.

LRB Portfolio has now been updated to version 2.51. This update has substantial under the hood changes to overcome the way Lightroom generates CSS. Now when you export (or Preview in Browser), LRB Portfolio creates a new CSS file from internal settings, but based on a template CSS file. It's taken a while to get it right.

In addition there are some new features:

A Text Width slider that allows the user to set the width of the text in the Home, About, Contact and Blank pages.
An ID Plate Offset Slider that allows the user to nudge the ID Plate for better alignment
The non Gallery pages now use a separate header file to prevent an error in IE.
The code is now W3C valid. For the record, it's possible to have useless valid code, but as some people are bothered by this, it's done.
Fixed an IE bug where the ID plate could be hidden by the menu.

There are a few other bits and pieces changed, but mostly internal stuff. This was particularly hard work, with not a lot to show for it on the surface, but it was all still needed.

New customers can purchase the plugin from the LRB Portfolio Website. Current users can get the plugin from their download link, which they were encouraged to save on purchase. Support is available at the Lightroom Forums LRB Portfolio thread.


Update: Just pushed out 2.51 with layout fixes for the mail.html file page, which had orphaned CSS. I hate it when stuff like that happens.

Coding and keeping it safe.

This is a Lightroom post in the sense that it's talking about coding plugins for Lightroom. If you're not interested in coding, you can stop right here and keep 5 minutes of your life.

I've lost track of the number of versions of LRB Portfolio and other plugins I have on my drive, both as code, and compiled. I literally have folders of them. Why? Well, because I've lost my codebase before and had to redo an update from memory, way back in between version 1.1 and 1.2. I overwrote the code with complied versions by accident. That really sucked. I called myself obscene names, but I got over it.

Talking with other developers, I heard about different ways to manage code. One of them was Subversion, but it seemed too complex for the simple codebase I have. Coda, the software I use for coding plugins and websites, has subversion built it, but it seems really geared to websites, and not good for plugins. It may well be fine, but I couldn't get my head around it. My interest was purely academic, and I'd no reason to find a particular product.

Then something terrible happened. Somewhere between LRB Portfolio 2.3 and 2.4, an entire block of code, in the main file of the plugin, got overwritten by text. I literally have no idea how it happened. I just opened the file to edit and half of it was gone. I was able to replace the bad bits with the 2.3 code, but all the new stuff was gone. That sealed the deal for me, I had to find a way to keep my code safe always, not just when an update was launched.

After much seeking, I found a really cool piece of software called Cornerstone, from Zennaware. It does full Subversion, but I only need a tiny part of the functionality. Normally you would use a server, but I'm just using a folder on my drive. The 15 day trial seemed more like 15 days of having it open, than 15 successive days. Still they proved I needed the program, so I parted with my $60 happily.

Here's my workflow.

I have a repository on the drive and I have a working copy checked out. I do all my edits in Coda and Cornerstone keeps track, making new copies in the background as I save. I can always step back to a previous version at any time. When I get to a point where I want to test the plugin, I commit my changes. I can choose to add text to a log file, helping figure out which previous version I might need in the future. Next I select the working copy and click on the 'Export' button. I've set this up to create a copy in the Web Galleries folder of Lightroom. While the export is happening, I restart Lightroom. The export is fast, so when Lightroom reopens, I can immediately see the changes.

What's great about this is that the version in Web Galleries is no longer a precious commodity. I simply export the current working copy. Because Coda is working on a safe copy, with automatic backup, this working copy is used to make the compiled version of the file for beta testing. I have a script that copies the folder specified, and tags .lrwebengine to the name. It then opens this new folder and compiles the 2 .lrweb files, leaving the plugin ready for distribution. At this point, there's a compiled version, the working copy, the copy in Web Galleries, and of course all the versions in the repository. Because of this I can then continue working on the plugin, knowing that finally, the code is safe.

Accessing the Resources folder inside LRB Portfolio

Here's a shot video for those wondering how to access the Resources folder in LRB Portfolio to add avatar and background images.



Click through and select HQ to see the higher quality version.

Practical Presets

Presets are great for a number of reasons. Easy to get a look, Easy to preview using the Navigator, and repeatable would be high on the list. It's wonderful to get a look and save it as a preset. But sometimes, you apply that to another image and.. Ugh.. it's terrible. Why?
Well if you did a lot of work to get to that point, the base settings may be too much for an ordinary image.

For presets to be universally good, there are some basic things we need to understand. First off, presets for Raw and JPEG/TIFF that use all the settings need to be different. Lightroom applies +50 Brightness and +25 Contrast to Raw files by default, while JPEG/TIFF is left at 0. This makes a big difference in the look, requiring different presets. There is another option of course, and one that I think is the universal way to approach preset creation.

For every look you want to create repeatably, start work on an image with the exposure and colour corrected. When you want to save the preset, only save the the settings that create the look, but not the settings that fix the exposure and colour. For example, let's say I add +0.5 stops to my exposure and then take 500 degress off my temperature to correct an image. I then do some split toning and add a tone curve to create a cross processed look. If I then save this as a preset with all settings on, and then apply it to an image that is corrected take, then the look will be brighter and cooler than wanted. So instead I save the preset with Split Toning and Tone Curve only selected. This means the look can be created independently of the original images exposure issues.

For ease in finding the correct exposure, make a folder of presets that have different exposure levels in 1/3 stop increments. When you save these presets, make sure only Exposure is ticked in the New Develop Preset box. This way you can simply hover over the exposure presets in the left panel and see which one looks correct for the image via the preview in the Navigator.

Only choose the necessary setting when creating the preset

This can also be done for White Balance Temperature, allowing you to get a rough White Balance visually (assuming you haven't used a colour chart or gray card).

A final option is to have a series of contrast curves saved with only Tone Curve selected when saving. This method of building up looks means you can quickly find a combination of presets to give you a final look for your image in Lightroom.

Top 5 posts of 2009

Everyone seems to be doing top posts lists. Normally I wouldn't, but it was interesting looking at the most popular posts this year. In no particular order:

1. Using Lightroom for your iPhone photos


2. Alphabetic Lightroom


3. Things I like in Beta 3
4. An Introduction to Lightroom Plugins
5. Creating a background image grid


And a bonus, but more infamous popular post

6. My April Fools video post

The 5th one doesn't rank high from comments, but was popular on twitter.

Anyhow, Happy New Year to all and may 2010 turn the tide on bad fortunes everywhere.