Lightroom 2.0 BETA: Details and New Features Revealed!

[JoePhoto]

Updated!
According to the Lightroom Journal Lightroom 2.0 Beta is available for trial and bug reporting. I was going to wait for a few updates of the beta because according to the release notes, there are a lot of known bugs that I'm not keen on dealing with at the moment. But as the first BETA had it's benefits, this one had a few features I couldn't resist trying.

[JoePhoto]

From Adobe's official release e-mail:

Here’s a sampling of what you’ll experience when you download the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta:
• With Localized Corrections, photographers can now enhance targeted and specific areas of an image for unsurpassed fexibility and control. For example, darken only the sky in a landscape photo, or sharpen only the eyes in a portrait.
• An improved layout in the Library module allows for a more intuitive approach to image organization.
• Smart Collections automatically updates collections with images that match desired criteria such as star-rating, keyword, or other metadata.
• Suggested Keywords eases the task of keywording by making recommendations based on keyword associations.
• Additionally, you get support for a dual monitor configuration; the ability to correct specific parts of an image without affecting other areas; dodge and burn using the same non-destructive approach; and much more.

I'd personally like to see them incorporate plugins like Nik Viveza, Nik Color Efex Pro, Nik Sharpener, & Noise Ninja. But the selective editing is a blessing.

[JoePhoto]

Be sure to check out NAPP's Lightroom 2.0 Learning Center for video tutorials and an introduction to the new features on Lightroom 2.0.

[JoePhoto]

We got quite a few pageviews but no conversation unless you count me talking to myself. I'm not sure if anyone here is using Lightroom 2.0 Beta but if you're interested, and want an invite to join the beta program for more than 30 days, let me know.

I've experienced a few bugs with it (like oops, it was supposed to export a file but decided not to,) but overall I am enjoying the new develop features. See my next post for details.

Feature requests and bug reports for any Adobe product including Lightroom 2.0 Beta can be made HERE. I had trouble finding it on Adobe's site to make a feature request. A DWF member gave me this link so I figured I'd pass it along. If you're going to try the Beta, keep them informed.

[JoePhoto]

One of the new and more excitig features in LR 2.0 Beta is the Touchup Tool. You can access this by clicking the paintbrush in the develop module or by using the keyboard shortcut (K). It's easy to remember; K for T O U C H U P... Ok maybe not. But anyhow, press K to toggle the touchup tool.

The touchup tool is important because it offers non-destructive localized (manual) editing to a RAW file.

Here is a common problem image. This is a snapshot in natural, though less than optimal light.


The touchup tool is basically a cross between layer masks in Photoshop and control points in Nik Capture NX and Viveza. The key here is they are manually brushable/maskable for better control over images like portraits. You can brush on changes to Exposure, Brightness, Saturation, Clarity, and Tint. (Note: Tint is one step closer to adjusting localized White Balance!)

Note the five white touchup points in the below screen grab. A point is created where you start brushing. You can always select a point and edit it's features as needed. A single point can control multiple areas of the image (they don't have to be physically attached like a Nik Control Point.)

The touchup point on Zach's forehead is selected (and adjusted for exposure,) hence the black dot. I used three additional points for areas of the eyes as they needed different adjustment settings. The Irises were adjusted for exposure, clarity and saturation, the sclera (white) and catchlights were adjusted for exposure to brighten them, and the pupils were adjusted for exposure darkening them. The point in the background was adjusted for tint.


Each brushed area is repairable like a mask and you can reveal the mask by hovering your mouse over a specific point (see below). To delete a point, simply select it with a click of your mouse, and press the delete key. You can adjust the properties of the brush's size, feather and flow to create hard edges or believable blends. There is also an auto mask feature which helps confine the brushed area to a related area of the image. I find that for portraits and people the auto mask doesn't work so well, but for backgrounds and environments/landscapes/architecture, it works much more predictably.

The mask revealed:


The image before and after. I used an import profile which applies preset settings for camera calibration, tone curve, clarity, highlight recovery and vibrance. The only other manual adjustments I made besides the touchup tool were to add a little fill light and add a slight vignette with their respective sliders. This was a 30 second edit!

[mattchase]

Hello, is somebody there? I thought I heard a voice...hello? Hello?

Speaking of talking to yourself, did you hear about the guy that took old Garfield comic strips and took out Garfield, leaving just Jon talking to himself? (Called Garfield Minus Garfield... http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/ ) I like the Garfield comics, but have to admit this makes most of them even better. I shoed them to Guido and she looked at me and laughed, I guess she liked it too.

Oh, and Lightroom 2.0 looks pretty cool! I'm not planning on testing the beta though, I still haven't been doing any photography just trying to get the gallery ready (going very slow) and working the pro shop. Maybe sometime in the future, but not right now.

[JB]

Wow, that is a nice feature, Joe. And you can't tell it's been edited, either. Seems like the algorithms are getting better every year.

[JoePhoto]

JB - I'd like to think it has something to do with my madd editing skillz™ ... selectively choosing the brush feather size helps maintain the illusion of natural transitions between light & dark... but yeah LR does a good job with it .

You can do the exact same thing in Photoshop using adjustment layers with a mask, but the LR method is deffinitely faster as you can apply it directly to your RAW file.