Here’s the official announcement: http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/

And the download link, of course! http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/

And finally the forums:  Official Adobe Beta Forum and Lightroom Forums

The Lightroom team have been busy – very busy – so it’s a looooooong list.  If you don’t have time to read it all right now, the highlights are marked in red.

System Specs

• The minimum system specs have been updated for Lightroom 4. This allows testing efforts to be more focused, hopefully resulting in less bugs!

• Windows
  • No more XP (LR4 uses OS API’s that aren’t available in XP)
  • Windows Vista or Windows 7 only
• Mac
  • Mac OS 10.6.8 or later
  • 64-bit processors only
    • That’s all Intel Macs with the exception of the original Core Solo and Core Duo which are 32-bit. Core 2 Duo and later are fine. To check your computer processor, go to http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3696

Import

• Tethering
  • Layout Overlay
    • Particularly useful for checking positioning when shooting tethered, but also works on any photo in Library Loupe view
    • Find it under Library module > View > Layout Overlay
    • Hold down Ctrl (Windows) / Cmd (Mac) to adjust the opacity, matte, size and position
  • Collapse Tether toolbar down to the shutter button by Alt (Windows) or Opt (Mac) clicking the close button.
• Video
  • .mts files from AVCHD can now be imported into Lightroom
    • They won’t show up in the Devices section at the top of the Import dialog, but if you navigate to the card in the normal Files/Folders section of the Import dialog, it’ll work.
• Presets
  • Presets in pop-ups (i.e. Import, Quick Develop, etc.) are split into folders
• Other Minor Import Changes
  
  • Second copy for DNG is fixed, now uses renamed name
  • In the Import dialog, whenever the “Into Subfolder” option is checked show “Enter name” as the placeholder text of the edit box so people don’t miss it.
  • In the Import dialog, the grid rollup is no longer sticky, so you don’t come back to it later and wonder why you can’t see thumbnails

Library module

• Video – new basic editing
  • As you move horizontally across a thumbnail in Grid view, it scrubs through the video
  • Use Quick Develop for Develop changes (changes affect whole video, not just the current frame)
    • Buttons for White Balance, Exposure, Contrast, Whites/Blacks clipping, Vibrance/Saturation and B&W/Color
    • Presets via Quick Develop Preset menu – allows access to Tone Curve, Color/HSL, Split Toning, Process Version and Calibration
  • In Loupe view there’s a bezel with editing controls
    • Rectangular button
      • Capture Frame – extracts the selected frame as a JPEG and automatically adds it to the folder
      • Set Poster Frame – lets you select which frame is shown as thumbnail in Grid view and slideshow
    • Cog button shows frame thumbnails and allows basic non-destructive trimming
      • Clip the beginning and end by dragging the trim handles at either end
  • Export the edited video using the Export dialog as original unedited, DPX for Premiere, or H.264 mp4 file
• Folders
  • Move multiple folders at once on Windows
    • Prior versions would not allow you to select & drag to move more than one folder at a time in the Folders panel on Windows. You had to do it one folder at a time. That works properly now.
  • Add Parent Folder has changed to Show Parent Folder
  • Promote Subfolders has changed to Hide this folder
  • In Library, if a parent folder is selected that contains no images and “Show Photos in Subfolders” is turned off, the center message changes to: “No photos in selected folder. Subfolders not shown.”
• Flags are now global
  • Picks/Rejects have surfaced in the photography industry as a primary method of refining image sets.
  • Localized flags confused most people, and future compatibility with other applications isn’t possible when they’re localized.
  • As a result, flags from Lightroom 4 onwards are global, like the color labels and star ratings
  • There will be a means of upgrading local flags in the final release, when the time comes to upgrade your catalogs.
• Stacking
  • Stacking now works in collections even if the photos are in different folders
  • Auto-stack by Capture Time now works with 0 second stacking
• Filtering, Searching & Smart Collections
  • Metadata Filters & Smart Collections adds Metadata Status (yippee!!!) so you can search for photos that need XMP updates (read/write/conflict)
  • Metadata Filters adds GPS Location (Map module Saved Locations)
  • Metadata Filters & Smart Collections adds DNG types to File Type (Lossless/Lossy Compressed/Reduced Resolution)
  • Is DNG With Fast Load Data added to Smart Collections
  • Is Proof added to Smart Collections for Soft Proofing copies
• Publish Services
  • There is now a “mark up to date” in the right-click menu for Publish Services
  • It doesn’t ship SmugMug plug-in now because it’s easier for SmugMug to distribute updates themselves, rather than waiting for the next Lightroom dot release
  • Added a link to Lightroom Exchange to find more Publish Service plugins
• Quick Develop
  • Presets in pop-ups (i.e. Import, Quick Develop, etc.) are split into folders
  • Quick Develop panel buttons change depending on the process version of the selected photo and become disabled if the process versions are mixed
• Metadata panel
  • Video preset added to Metadata panel, but only shows limited information contained in file – there isn’t an EXIF equivalent for video
  • Now has a DNG metadata preset showing detailed information about the contents and type of DNG file
  • In the Metadata Preset Editor, if you check a text field but leave it blank, its caption turns red and its placeholder text becomes: “Type to add, leave blank to clear”. This should help prevent the accidental creation of a template that deletes existing metadata.

Develop module

• Process Version 2012 (PV2012)
  • Basic Panel has completely new sliders for PV2012 – Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Whites & Blacks
    • These changes need their own own blog post, so we’ll just cover a quick summary of sliders here. The short version is ‘forget everything you know and treat it like a new raw processor’ – because it is.
    • Exposure has become a cross between exposure and brightness
      • It’s now used to set the overall image brightness (midtones), rather than the highlight clipping, and behaves more like in-camera exposure.
      • It is simple (linear) scaling for most of the range, except for the highlights where it now rolls off more smoothly (instead of hard clipping, which is harsh and leads to color shifts). Modeled on film behavior which rolls off the whites, whereas digital just clips hard.
    • Highlights & Shadows are new tone-mapping controls
      • Once the exposure slider is set for the mid tones, highlights can be used to recover missing highlight detail.
      • Use at +/- 50 for normal processing, but higher values for effect
    • Whites & Blacks affect clipping – the blacks is now auto-calculated for each image
    • On all of the new sliders, moving to the left darkens, moving to the right lightens.
    • Work from the top down, rather than skipping around, more now than ever before. It works better!
  • Some existing Basic panel sliders remain in PV2012 – White Balance, Contrast, Clarity, Vibrance & Saturation
    • For PV2012, Clarity is integrated with the new adaptive tone mapping, so it can take advantage of the edge-preserving characteristics of the tone maps algorithm. This helps to avoid halos, but looks quite different. You’ll need lower values than you’re used to using.
  • Tone Curve
    • RGB curves have been added for PV2012, by popular demand
  • Local Adjustments – for PV2012, local adjustments have gained additional sliders
    • White balance temp & tint have been added to local adjustments
      • They’re relative to the global white balance, so they use the same values whether it’s a raw or rendered photo
    • Basic panel sliders (Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows)
      • A bug with exposure has been fixed for PV2012 – previously, adding any local adjustment (brush or gradient) involving Exposure could lead to sudden shifts in highlight color rendering.
    • Noise reduction is now available as a local adjustment
    • Moire removal slider in Local Adjustments to remove rainbow like patterns, which works particularly well on raw files
  • Presets
    • Tone Curve & Contrast have changed to 0/linear defaults so presets will be behave similarly regardless of file type.
  • Upgrading to PV2012
    • Don’t batch convert to PV2012, unless you want to reprocess all of your photos – there’s limited migration of settings because the look is so different
    • PV2003 and PV2010 are still supported – they just don’t have the new features
    • Old PV2010 settings are stored in case you switch back – only applies to replaced sliders, not shared ones (i.e. changing noise reduction changes it in all PV’s)
    • There’s a difference between the default rendering of 2010 vs. 2012 too.
• Lens Corrections
  • Automatic image-based Chromatic Aberration correction
    • The old CA sliders are gone and have been replaced with a checkbox which works really well
    • Chromatic aberration adjustments in profiles are now ignored but are left there for earlier versions
  • Many lens profiles have been updated to include crop factor metadata – it doesn’t affect most images, but prevents some undefined behavior in a few cases
• Soft Proofing
  • Soft proofing is an on-screen preview of a printed or other output of a photo, used by the user to make image corrections to improve the output appearance.
  • Enable soft proofing using a checkbox in the toolbar (or press S), and the options are below the Histogram
  • The histogram, 0-255 numeric values and preview are all updated according to the selected soft-proof profile
  • Profiles
    • sRGB/Adobe RGB are there by default, add your own using Other… in the pop-up
    • It’s RGB profiles only, no CMYK or Greyscale
    • You can select Perceptual or Relative for output profiles (i.e. printer/lab)
    • Simulation paper & ink becomes available if you select an output profile
  • Preview before/after splits
    • It shows with paper white background – you can zoom out to 1:8 or 1:16 to see surrounded by ‘paper’ instead of Lightroom’s grey interface
    • Compare against master, or against your proofed version before adjustments
  • Destination & Monitor gamut warnings are the top left/right corner of histogram where clipping is usually
  • Create Proof Copy utilises virtual copies, so that you’re not changing your primary set of settings
    • There’s a button in soft proofing options to create a proof copy
    • If you try to change an original with soft proofing turned on, it asks whether to create a VC for you to adjust or ‘make this a proof’
      • When you make an image a proof, it remembers which soft proof profile you used.
      • If you create a VC, it sets the Copy Name as the current profile, and changes it if you change the profile.
      • When you come to print, you can look at the breadcrumb on top of the filmstrip to see which profile you used for the soft proof
• Crop
  • Gained additional default screen-shaped ratios – 3:4 1280×1024, 16×9 1920×1080, 16×10 1280×800
  • In the Crop tool, increased the maximum value allowed to be entered in the custom aspect ratio dialog from 999.99 to 9999.99 so the user can enter in a screen resolution to get its ratio.
  • Whenever the user enters large numbers (greater than 20) for a custom crop aspect ratio, we now shift the decimal place over to the left to reinforce these are only ratios, not exact dimensions. (ex: Typing in 1024×768 results in a ratio of 10.24 x 7.68)
• WB eyedropper
  • The 5×5 area used by the eyedropper is now linked to 5×5 pixels on the monitor, not 5×5 pixels of image, matching the ACR behavior. This means that you can zoom out on a noisy photo to sample for white balance over a wider area.
• Previews
  • Noise reduction previews are no longer adaptive – noise reduction is always shown regardless of the view
• Snapshots
  • Snapshot names now default to the date/time instead of Untitled Snapshot
• Presets
  • Presets in pop-ups (i.e. Import, Quick Develop, etc.) are now split into folders
  • The default Develop presets have been split apart into multiple categories
  • Added Apply on Import to the right-click menu
  • Reordered the “Lens Correction” section of Develop preset dialog to match the panel order: Lens Profile Corrections, Transform, Lens Vignetting, Chromatic Aberration.

Map module

• The new Map module uses Google maps to allow you to add locations to your photos as part of your normal workflow, without needing any new gadgets. (Sorry gadget lovers, no excuse to buy something shiny)
  • Any photos that already have location data will automatically show on the map.
  • You can add locations by dragging/dropping photos from the Filmstrip directly onto the map.
  • If you do use a dedicated GPS device, or a smartphone app, Lightroom can use your track log.
• Using Tracklogs
  • Lightroom understands GPX format tracklogs.
    • LR doesn’t handle getting the GPX tracklog off the device.
    • If your device doesn’t make GPX, you can use GPS Babel to convert them to GPX.
    • Photos can be autotagged based on the GPX log
  • Timestamp issues
    • You can manually adjust for the camera time not matching the tracklog time just by dragging and dropping photos.
    • GPX logs by definition are time stamped in UTC whereas the photos are stamped in local time. Lightroom helps you to apply an offset.
• Saved Locations
  • Saved Locations are like a location preset.
  • You can filter to find photos at that saved location using Metadata filters.
  • Marking specific saved locations as Private allows you to always remove the location information from those exported photos (useful for your home address) without removing the location data from all of your exports.
• Searching/filtering maps
  • Browse the Map to view the photos at each location
    • Markers show where you’ve taken photos, and when you click on a marker, it shows the photos taken there.
  • Search for a location using the search bar at the top to go straight there
    • Search by name – it’ll give you a choice, with priority given to those nearest your current map location
    • Search by postal/zip code
    • Search by co-ordinates i.e. 50°44’17″ N 1°42’59″ W or -33.840663, 151.071579
  • Filter using the Location Filter bar at the top of map
    • Visible on Map hides photos that aren’t tagged with current map location
    • Tagged dims the untagged photos
    • Untagged dims the tagged photos
    • If hidden, press \ like Filter bar in Library module
  • Filter using main Metadata filters set to GPS Data or GPS Location
• Navigating the map
  • 6 different Map Styles available – Hybrid, Satellite, Road Map, Terrain and Light & Dark too
  • Zoom
    • To zoom in or out of the map, use the slider on the toolbar or use the +/- keys
    • If you hold down Alt/Opt and drag a rectangle on the map, it’ll zoom to that area, which is very useful if you’re zoomed out a long way
    • Maximum zoom depth depends on the map style
  • Overlay
    • Press I to show/hide location overlay
  • Markers
    • Lock icon on toolbar prevents you from moving marker locations
    • Single image pins bounce when you roll over or select the corresponding image – doesn’t work for clusters or groups
    • Marker key shows what the different marker mean
    • Pin badge has been added to thumbnails and clicking on it takes you to that location on the map
    • Click on the arrow next to the GPS coordinates in the Metadata panel takes you to location in Map module
    • Alt/Opt click on arrow next to GPS coordinates in the Metadata panel takes you to Google Maps in your default web browser
• Google Maps
  • The Map module does require internet access to be able to view the maps. If internet is offline, it says “we have no imagery here” and then “Map is Offline”
    • Google’s terms of service don’t allow Adobe to cache that information.
  • There will be a limited lifespan for the Maps access itself, as Adobe is paying Google for the service.
    • Maps in LR4 will work for 5 years from release. That doesn’t mean Lightroom’s Map module will only work for 5 years – the clock will be reset for LR5 and future upgrades, so this would only be an issue if you use software that’s 5 years old without upgrading. The rest of Lightroom would still work as normal at that point too.
• Exporting Metadata
  • Location metadata can be written to the files when you write to XMP, but there are options to strip it, either for everything or just for Saved Locations marked as private.

All Output Modules

• Collections no longer store module-specific data – there should be upgrade options in the final release, for transferring existing collection data into new creations
  • In Lightroom 3 and earlier, any collection also automatically stored output module settings, so a standard collection could also remember slideshow, print and web settings.
  • In Lightroom 4, that’s changed. Normal collections no longer store output module settings. Instead, you save individual books, slideshows, prints and web galleries, and they can’t contain settings from other modules.
• Books, Slideshows, Prints and Web Galleries
  • When you first enter an output module, you’re viewing ‘unsaved book,’ ‘unsaved slideshow,’ ‘unsaved print,’ or ‘unsaved web gallery,’ depending on the module. That’s like a scratchpad, where you can play around with things without saving them.
  • When you want to keep something you’ve created, you save it as a book/slideshow/print/web gallery. These show up as separate items in the Collections panel, each with their own icon to identify the module.
  • If you select a Book, Slideshow, Print or Web Gallery in the Library module, it looks and feels like normal collection
  • Click on the arrow or double click on to go straight to module
  • When in other modules, a single click with take directly to correct module

Book module

• The new Book module allows you to design photo books without ever leaving the Lightroom interface, and then upload directly to Blurb for printing, or export to PDF for sharing.
• Template based system
  • Square, portrait and landscape book styles
  • More than 180 templates built in
  • Templates are grouped into 5 different style sets, and also by number of photos per page, to make them easy to find
  • Although it’s template based, the cell padding gives plenty of flexibility in photo and text positioning
  • Save templates as favorites for easy access, just by right-clicking in the Add/Modify Page Template pop-up
• Different view options
  • See many pages at once, like thumbnails
  • Zoom in on whole spreads
  • View single pages
  • Zoom in closer to edit the text
  • And full functionality is available in all views, so you can select the view that suits you best
  • Layout guides allow you to see exactly what you’re doing
    • Page Bleed, marked in grey, will be cut off when it’s printed
    • Text Safe Area, marked with a thin grey line, may get cut when trimming after printing, so it’s best to keep text within that border
    • Photo Cells are shown with a grey fill which isn’t included on final export
    • Filler Text either says “Photo Title” or some Latin filler text, and show where the text cells will go. It disappears the moment you click in a cell, never to reappear.
    • All of the Guides can be turned on and off in the Guides panel.
• Drag and drop design
  • Drag photos onto the cells from the Filmstrip
  • Drag photos between cells to swap them
  • Drag whole pages to rearrange the page order
    • To select pages rather than page components, click just around the outside edge, especially just below by the number, or on any blank bit of page
    • Shows a yellow line to see where it’s going to drop, like dragging photos around in Grid view
  • Change a page template
• Auto Layout
  • Auto Layout creates a book layout based on the preset you create (number of images per page, your favourite templates) and the photos you select – it’s a great starting point for many books
  • Cover uses the first and last photo
• Photos
  • Drag/drop photos into place
  • Set default Fit or Fill in Book Preferences (under the Book menu)
  • Zoom and drag the photos within the cells to get the placement just right
  • A marker in the Filmstrip shows how many times each photo has been used in book
• Text Captions
  • There are 3 different types of text cell
    • Ones built in to the templates are in a fixed position, but you can use padding to position the text within the cell
    • Photo Captions are always above, below or on the photo, and you can move them vertically to position them
    • Page Captions span the full width and move vertically on the page. Combined with padding for left/right positioning, they allow you to put a text cell anywhere on the page
  • Add text manually or automatically using the photo metadata
    • Right-click on a text cell and go to Auto Text to choose Title, Caption or Custom
    • Set the default in Book Preferences, under the Book menu
    • When you select custom, it leaves the existing text there ready for you to edit
    • When you change the content of any text cell, it becomes a custom cell and subsequent photo changes won’t change the text unless you choose to do so
  • Industry-standard text tools allow you complete control over the text styling
    • Basic text adjustments – Font, Weight, Color, Size & Opacity
    • Extra options hiding behind the disclosure triangle – Tracking, Baseline Shift, Leading, Kerning, Columns & Gutter
    • Justification – both horizontal and vertical
    • Save Text Style Presets to reuse over and over again
    • When you use a text style on one cell, it will be sticky for new cells you create
    • Text Targeted Adjustment Tool offers an easy way of visually adjusting the text without having to understand or remember the names of the sliders.
      • The TAT tool works relatively, so if some of the selected text is one size, and some is a different size, it’ll change by a relative amount
      • Dragging horizontally over a selection adjusts text size
      • Dragging vertically over a selection adjusts leading or line height
      • Holding down Ctrl (Windows) / Cmd (Mac) while dragging horizontally over a selection adjusts tracking
      • Holding down Ctrl (Windows) / Cmd (Mac) while dragging vertically over a selection adjusts baseline shift
      • Dragging horizontally over the insertion cursor adjusts kerning
      • Holding down Alt (Windows) / Opt (Mac) temporarily deactivates the TAT so you can change your text selection – that only applies if you’re trying to change a selection in an area that’s already selected.
      • When you’re finished, hitting escape exits the TAT tool.
• Cover
  • As with the page templates, many different cover templates are available
  • Blurb offer hardcover, hardcover with dust jacket, and also soft cover for small books
• Backgrounds
  • Add background photos from the Filmstrip or use the background graphics included
  • Select the background color of your choice
  • Set the background globally or just for specific pages
• Saving your Book
  • Save your work as a Book (see ‘All Output Modules’ above for details)
  • Your saved book autosaves as you go along, so no need to worry about saving it once you’ve named it.
  • Duplicate your book (in the Collections panel right-click menu) to try something different
  • Export to PDF
  • Export directly to Blurb.com
• Export to PDF
  • Full control over size, cover, JPEG compression, color space, resolution & output sharpening
• Send direct to Blurb
  • Shows the estimated price in US Dollars, Pounds Sterling, Euros, Australian Dollars and Canadian Dollars
  • Including Blurb’s logo page at the end discounts the price
  • Select different page types, sizes, orientations & covers all within Lightroom
  • Output sharpening is applied automatically based on extensive testing

Print module

• Print Adjustment (Brightness/Contrast)
  • There are 2 new quick & dirty sliders, to compensate for printers that are always a bit dark/light/lacking contrast
    • It’s not intended to be a replacement for proper color management, but not everyone wants to get in that deep, and even those who do can still have problems with slight mismatches.
    • Lightroom isn’t usually the cause, but it’s the easiest place to fix it.
  • It’s a sticky setting as it shouldn’t need to be adjusted per image – it’s specific to the printer/paper/ink combination
    • These aren’t intended to be image-specific settings. The point is that ALL the prints are mismatched in a systematic way relative to the screen (e.g., ALL too dark, or ALL too bright), not all over the map.
    • Saved in templates & prints
• Changes to the Print module to do with the Collections, mentioned above under ‘All Output Modules’

Slideshow module

• Only changes to the Slideshow module are to do with Collections, mentioned above under ‘All Output Modules’

Web module

• Color Management
  • The default flash gallery has been rewritten to use color management in supported browsers
• Changes to the Web module to do with the Collections, mentioned above under ‘All Output Modules’
• Added a link to Lightroom Exchange to find more web galleries

Export

• Export dialog
  • Video
    • Export the edited video using the Export dialog as original unedited, DPX for Premiere, or H.264 mp4 file
  • Metadata panel – offers more selective minimize embedded metadata options
    • All metadata
    • All except camera & camera raw info
    • Copyright & contact info only
    • Copyright only
    • Remove location info (can also remove selected locations by private saved location)
• Export direct to Email
  • You can now export direct from Lightroom to an email using POP/IMAP, with no need for an email client
  • It works for webmail as well as desktop mail
  • Email photo is accessed directly from the File menu, right-click menu, or the pop-up at the top of the Export dialog
  • You have full control over the size and quality of the emailed photo, via Export presets
• Adobe Revel (formerly called Adobe Carousel) Export plug-in
  • A new Adobe Revel export plug-in (formerly Adobe Carousel) is accessible from the top of the Export dialog
• DVD burning
  • Now works on 64-bit Windows

UI

• New Context Sensitive Tips
  • When you first open Lightroom, there are now context sensitive help pop-ups for each module
  • If you turn them off, you can get them back by going to Help menu > Show Module Tips
• Module picker
  • Show/hide modules via right-click on the module name
• Zoom
  • Gained 1:8 and 1:16 views
    • So that you can zoom out far enough to see surrounded by paper color for soft-proofing
• Icons
  • New badge for GPS tag
  • Video icon has changed

DNG Format Enhancements

• Multi-core reading of tiled DNG’s
  • Multi-core reading of tiled DNG’s was actually added in 3.6 but it didn’t get much fanfare.
  • A tiled DNG is the same data, but arranged in strips instead of one long string.
  • It means that different threads or processors can all be working on reading and decompressing the file at the same time, resulting in the file loading faster.
  • ACR and Lightroom have been created tiled DNG files for a long time so you don’t need to do anything special to access the new multi-core reading.
  • If you have a camera that shoots DNG natively, you can update those to tiled DNG files to take advantage of the new performance improvements, just by converting them either using Library menu > Convert to DNG or using the standalone DNG converter.
• Fast Load Data
  • There’s now a preference to embed Fast Load Data into DNG files.
  • It allows compatible programs such as Lightroom 4 to show you a preview much more quickly than a proprietary raw file or a DNG file without Fast Load data.
  • It’s fully backwards compatible, so it won’t break other programs.
  • To update existing DNG files, change it in Preferences and then select all in Grid view and go to Metadata menu > Update DNG Previews & Metadata.
• New Lossy DNG format
  • The new Lossy DNG is an extension of the linear DNG – it’s demosaiced and JPEG compression is applied – so it’s not the traditional DNG we’ve all been used to.
  • The full resolution lossy DNG files are considerably smaller than their lossless counterpart – a 24mb lossless becomes a 6mb lossy, with surprisingly minimal loss of quality and the full flexibility of raw.
  • You can also reduce the resolution resulting in an even smaller DNG file – much like sRAW formats, except it works better.
  • As the name suggests, it’s a lossy process, so don’t go switching all of your originals without thinking.
  • Beware, Lossy DNG’s are NOT backwards compatible. Lightroom 3.6 and ACR 6.6 understand them but most other programs don’t yet.
  • You have full control over how much quality you’re willing to give up in return for the smaller file sizes.
  • On the other hand, it has a huge amount of potential. Consider a couple of scenarios:
    • You could keep full resolution lossless DNG files on your main computer or in backups, and work with smaller versions on your laptop or in the cloud. The format has been designed to make their settings interchangeable, so you can make Develop adjustments to a small lossy DNG copy and then apply those same settings to the full resolution originals when returning to the office.
    • If you only usually keep your favorite photos in their raw format and convert the rest to JPEGs, now you can use lossy raw for the latter group, retaining their editable state. The file sizes are comparable.
  • Unlike sRAW, you’d make the decision later in your workflow, so you can keep your best photos as full resolution, and downsize the others if you wish.
  • The lossy compression in Lossy DNG is much more efficient than sRAW, so a full resolution lossy DNG file is usually smaller than the low resolution sRAW file.
  • This is a big subject for another blog post…

Preferences dialog

• General
  • Language pop-up added for Mac – it no longer uses the OS default
• Presets
  • Extra buttons added for resetting shipping default presets/templates
• External Editing
  • External Editing gained a stack with original checkbox to give you a choice
• File Handling
  • DNG
    • Newest compatibility version is now 6.6 and later
    • Embed fast load data checkbox added (very few reasons why you’d uncheck this)
  • Camera Raw Cache
    • ACR Cache now uses much smaller .dat files – it was also added to 3.6, so it won’t cause compatibility problems with the beta
    • Existing large cache files will continue to be supported but are no longer created
    • Cache files are now lossy JPEG compressed rather than uncompressed
    • They are now hundreds of kb rather than mb, so you can cache a lot more images in the same space, or reduce the cache size
  • Video cache size limit added

Catalogs

• On first startup with clean prefs, it now asks where to store the catalog and what to call it

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Updated keyboard shortcuts list is available from here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/keyboard-shortcuts/

Beta version

• Upgrading
  • Catalog upgrade is currently turned off for the beta, but will be back for the final release
  • Beta catalogs are expected to upgrade to the final release, but further changes may be made so it’s not guaranteed
• ACR Compatibility
  • There isn’t currently a compatible version of ACR available for Edit in Photoshop compatibility.
  • CS5 will understand PV2003 and PV2010 fairly well, but will ignore PV2012 settings.
• Usual warnings apply!
  • This is a beta version, not a release candidate, so there are bugs yet to be squashed.
  • It’s not expected to corrupt your photos or kill your computer, but it’s a beta so nothing is guaranteed. Just be sensible!
  • Take precautions, ideally using duplicate photos with the beta. If you’re going to use your originals, make sure you have offline write-once backups just in case.
• Have fun!
  • You can discuss the beta at the Adobe Beta Forum and Lightroom Forums
  • Report bugs at the Adobe Beta Forum

Where’s the Lightroom 4 book?

• It’s coming! Blog post here…

The new Develop controls undoubtedly take a little getting used to, particularly if you’ve used ACR or Lightroom for some years.

There are some great tutorials on the new Develop sliders, so we won’t reinvent the wheel here, but how about a quick summary to help you remember?

• Forget everything you know and treat it like a new program – it basically is.
• All of the sliders now work the same way – moving to the left darkens, moving to the right lightens.
• Try working from the top down in the Basic panel, even if you’ve always used another slider order. They’re in that order for a reason. You might go back and tweak slightly, but because the sliders are image-adaptive and some base their range on earlier sliders, you’ll find yourself bouncing all over the place if you insist on a different order.
• Whereas in the past you’d use Exposure to set the white point, now you use it to set the midtones, and don’t worry if that blows out highlights. That’s the hardest change to get used to, for me, at least!
• Once you’ve got the overall midtone brightness about right, tweak Contrast, again focusing on midtones. You’ll fix the highlights and shadows separately.  Even if you never used to use Contrast on the old sliders, you’ll probably need it now.
• From that point, Highlights does upper tones, Shadows does lower tones. If you go too far (50+), it can start to get a tone mapped HDR type look, which is why you need to get Exposure slider right (or close) first. If you get that right, the others fall in nicely.
• Finally, the Whites and Blacks sliders affect the clipping point. In many cases you may not even need to touch those sliders.

That’s the basic overview.  A few other odd tips that may come in handy…

• There isn’t a separate Recovery slider anymore, but you don’t need it as it’s automatically integrated into the Exposure slider, so it rolls off like film.  It works much much better than it did before. If you want to do the opposite and clip the highlights, use the Whites slider.
• To get a Fill Light type effect, bump Exposure a bit and then pull down Highlights to compensate.
• In many cases, the nicest results come from fairly symmetrical Highlights and Shadows values.  If one slider is wildly higher than the other, check to see whether you need to adjust Exposure.
• Clarity is also completely different. The halos are gone, but you’ll need much lower values than you used previously because the range of the slider is greater.

If you haven’t seen the videos yet, here are my favorites:

Lynda.com free introduction by Chris Orwig

Adobe’s own introduction by Julianne Kost

Laura Shoe’s workflow

And feel free to share your tips and tricks in the comments.

I’m undecided whether to release a rough cut this time, or focus on making sure the final release is completed and ready for release at the same time as Lightroom 4.  Probably the latter, this time, for a number of reasons:

• Unlike the Lightroom 3 beta, which was an 8 month, 2 version, early feature preview, the Lightroom 4 beta is expected to be of normal length.
• Releasing a rough cut takes a lot of extra time, and resulted in the final release of the LR3 book running late in 2010.  I want to make sure you’re not kept waiting this time.
• Writing about a beta version is like writing about a moving target.  As you finish a section, you discover it was a bug!
• Plus – you haven’t asked the questions yet!  My current draft is based on questions I’m expecting will be asked, and questions that have been asked before release, but I want YOUR input.  It’s your book.  I’ll be hanging out on the forums, so I’ll look forward to your comments.

Anyway, if you’d like to be notified as soon as the book’s available, feel free to join the mailing list using the form below, and you’ll be the first to know.

Now, back to the beta!

You can change your subscription options at any time by following the profile link at the end of any emails.

SurveyGizmo, the survey tool I used, has provided me with a huge report detailing all of your replies, which I’m still working my way though.  It also provided a separate spreadsheet of the names and address of everyone who wanted to be entered into the prize draw – all 823 of you.

Since the response was far bigger than expected, I decided to give away not just 1, but 8 eBook bundles so you had about a 1/100 chance of winning.

To be absolutely fair, I asked Random Number Generator to give me 8 numbers between 1 and 823, and then selected those row numbers in the spreadsheet.

So, the winners are… in no particular order… drumroll please…

• Michael Koenning (mkoenning1@***)
• Karen Brockney (brockney@***)
• Lynda Farabee (farabee@***)
• Sean Denny (spd415@***)
• David Ollila (dmollila@***)
• Adele Lamb (ammlamb@***)
• Stan (instanes77@***)
• Sara Thomas (sarathomasphoto@***)

Congratulations to all of you!!!  There will be an email in your inbox shortly, explaining how to claim your prize. You can choose whether to claim one of the existing eBook bundles, for example, Lightroom 3 PDF, Kindle and ePub, or you can save it for a future release.

If you didn’t win, thank you very much for entering anyway.  Your survey responses are priceless.  Watch this space, as I’m sure to do more surveys and other prize draws in future.

Black Friday deals are popping up all over the place, so how about we join in the fun?  And this time, we won’t just make it Black Friday – let’s make it the whole weekend!

• 40% off the Lightroom 3 eBook bundle

• 35% off the Lightroom 3 Paperback bundle*

To claim your discount, use the applicable ‘Add to Cart’ button on the Lightroom 3 book page and then enter BLACKFRIDAY2011 into the discount code field when the cart pops up. The code expires at 23:59 PST on Monday 28th November 2011.

* The code will only work for products purchased from this website, not Amazon, sorry!  Discount excludes delivery.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

PS.  I forgot to say, anyone who buys the book also gets a discount off the next one….  and that applies to anyone buying anytime.

In amongst the announcement about the new Creative Cloud subscription was a section which said:

For customers who prefer to remain on the current licensing model, we will continue to offer our individual point products and Adobe Creative Suite editions as perpetual licenses. With regards to upgrades, we are changing our policy for perpetual license customers. In order to qualify for upgrade pricing when CS6 releases, customers will need to be on the latest version of our software (either CS5 or CS5.5 editions). If our customers are not yet on those versions, we’re offering a 20% discount through December 31, 2011 which will qualify them for upgrade pricing when we release CS6.

Ok, so who does this affect?

• If you upgrade every version anyway, nothing changes.
• If you use more than one or two Adobe programs, you may want to consider the Creative Cloud offerings once we have a bit more information, particularly if you’re not currently on CS5.
• If you are still using CS2, CS3 or CS4, it’s time to sit up and take notice.  When CS6 arrives, you’ll no longer be eligible for upgrade pricing.  So what are your options?
• You can upgrade to CS5 now, at a 20% discount, and then you’ll be free to upgrade to CS6 at upgrade price.
• You can upgrade to CS5 now and then not upgrade again for years, and pay full price when you do want to upgrade.
• You can do nothing – just keep using your current version, and pay full price when you do want to upgrade.
• Or you can wait and see what the Creative Cloud has to offer on a subscription basis.

As far as Lightroom’s concerned, we have no reason to anticipate any changes to the licensing at this point in time.

The Creative Cloud sounds interesting, and we only have very basic information so far.  The idea is that you’ll pay a monthly subscription, and get access to the current shipping versions of the products.  You’ll always be up-to-date, without having to worry about paying for upgrades.

According to the initial announcement, the Creative Cloud consists of:

• Desktop Applications — Every tool that is currently in Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection, such as Photoshop®, InDesign®, Illustrator®, Dreamweaver®, Premiere® Pro, After Effects®, as well as innovative new tools that are currently in beta, such as Adobe Edge and Muse.
• Touch Apps – Starting with the six Adobe Touch Apps announced at MAX , 2011 – Adobe Collage, Adobe Kuler, Adobe Carousel, Photoshop Touch, Adobe Debut, Adobe Proto and Adobe Ideas.
• Services – A version of Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite for delivering interactive publications on tablets, a tier of Adobe Business Catalyst for building and managing websites, and access to cloud-based fonts for website design from our acquisition of Typekit.
• Community –Collaboration features that allow members to share their creative work with other Creative Cloud members and forums to discuss and inspire new ideas.

Why would Adobe want to lead people towards a subscription basis?  Is it greed?  Well, they are a publicly trading company, so they do have a responsibility towards their shareholders as well as their customers.  I wouldn’t fancy being in the boss’s shoes!  You can read more about their viewpoint in this post.  But there are benefits to us, the users, too.

• If they’re not having to focus on putting in big marketing features to the same degree, in order to sell the upgrades, then they can focus on fixing some of those silly little bugs that drive us mad and smoothing the rough edges off current features.
• If they’re not focused on upgrade schedules, we may get earlier access to new features rather than having to wait until the next upgrade is due – the new deblur technology, for example.
• If they’re not rushing to get the entire suite ready for upgrade release at the same time, they can share more code, resulting in a more unified suite.
• We can spread the cost over a longer period, rather than paying out for an upgrade every 18 months.
• If you use more than a couple of their programs and upgrade regularly, the new pricing is a really good deal.

Information is still very limited at the moment – this was only an initial announcement.  I’ve been able to gather some additional information, which I’m told I’m allowed to share with you.  As I hear more, I’ll be very pleased to share anything I’m allowed to.

So what else do we know about the Creative Cloud so far?

• The Creative Cloud won’t require you to be connected to the internet at all times.  Of course some of the cloud features need internet access, but the normal desktop applications will only need to ‘phone home’ about once a month, and there’s at least a couple of days grace if your internet connection’s down.
• Although not part of the Master Collection, and not listed in the initial press release, Lightroom is expected to be included in the Creative Cloud subscription package, although its upgrade policy isn’t expected to change. (It was mentioned in the Financial Analysts meeting)
• Other programs not listed, and not in the Master Collection, are expected to stay on their current licensing.
• The current subscriptions, which have been available for around 9 months, will be transferred to the new Creative Cloud subscriptions – which are much less expensive to the end user.
• The Creative Cloud is expected to be cross-platform – so all those users who have a Windows desktop and Mac laptop or vice versa, rejoice! Perpetual licenses (current style) appear to be staying single-platform.
• If you don’t need the Touch apps right now, and you’re planning on moving to the Creative Cloud, hold off buying as there’s no way they can refund/compensate you for Touch apps that you’ve already purchased.
• There’s a lot more pricing yet to be announced. That means that there may yet be smaller subscription packages too – with less programs at a cheaper price, far better suited to photographers. We’ve only seen the basic announcement so far, and if there are smaller packages, they may turn out to be a brilliant deal that makes the upgrade policy a moot point.

This is undoubtedly a controversial move, and I’m not going to bring my personal feelings into this blog post.  All I will say is WE DON’T HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION YET.  We have an initial announcement, which has caused uproar all over the web.  Not Adobe’s PR department’s finest hour, for sure.  But before you make your mind up, let’s wait and see what else is yet to come.

So what will you need?

First, you need to visit Thomas Ljundberg‘s website to download the 2012 Calendar PSD and JPEG files.  Here’s the link to the English ones, but he offers a number of different languages.  If you want to translate them into another language, or change the font, background color, or anything else, you can buy the layered versions from him too.
(Calendar images below copyright Thomas Ljundberg)

You’ll also need the Lightroom Print Templates, originally designed in 2011 by Ed Weaver and posted for download on Matt Kloskowski’s Lightroom Killer Tips website.  If you prefer European paper sizes, Thomas has also created A4 versions.

Matt’s even posted a video (slow to load) showing you how to install and use them.

Once you’ve created your Lightroom 2012 calendar, you can print it on your own local printer or print to JPEG and send them to your local photo lab for printing.

Have fun creating your 2012 calendars!

I’m stunned, amazed and thrilled by the response to the survey. More than 700 people have taken the time to fill out the survey just in the last week (and it’s still open, if you haven’t had chance to have your say yet!). In addition, I’ve also had hundreds of emails, which I’ve nearly finished replying to. You guys are amazing! I don’t know how to thank you.

So, I thought you might be interested in one or two of the results.  You can click the charts to enlarge them.

About You

How would you describe your photography skills turned out to be an interesting result. Only 10.9% of replies were professional photographers earning their main income from photography, with advanced amateur photographers coming in at 51.1%.  I had previously assumed that professional photographers were a much larger percentage of Lightroom’s userbase, so I’ll bear that in mind when writing the next book update.

More than 50% of you have been using Lightroom since version 1 or the pre-release beta versions.

My time

51.4% of you said you want me on the forums answering more questions, so don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been exceptionally busy this week answering all of your emails, but I’ll be back on the forums ASAP.

The blog proved to be a popular choice, so I have plans to post more often, and a lot of you said you’d like an email mailing list, so I’ll be looking into that too.

Facebook, Google+ and Twitter were popular for quick tips, with Facebook proving to be the most popular at the moment.

Once I’ve caught up with myself a bit, you’ll see me around those sites a little more, so here are the links to my pages…

Please get in touch on any of those sites – I love hearing from you.

For Facebook and Google+, I will be posting Lightroom posts on the pages linked above, rather than my personal profile, otherwise I’ll drive my friends and family mad but I’m very happy to add you as a friend on my personal profiles too.

The Next Book Update

You’ve also made the decision on which chapters make it into my next book, although I won’t tell you about that quite yet. Let’s just say that 70% of you wanted one particular section, so you made that an easy decision.

I’m still working my way through reading 60+ pages of your notes and suggestions, but I can’t thank you enough. You’ve come up with some brilliant ideas. This is YOUR book, from cover to cover.  And partly thanks to your ideas, there are some other new things to look forward to over the next year. You’ll have to watch this space!

The Prize Draw

The prize draw for the eBook bundle will take place on 30th November, and since I’ve had a far bigger response than I expected, I’m going to draw more than one winner. I haven’t decided how many yet. If you haven’t filled out the survey to enter yet, you’ve still got time. The survey will close on 27th November.

Here’s the link to the survey… how can I help you with Lightroom?

Thank you once again for all your help, and I’ll get back to reading your comments!