Book Formats

Adobe Lightroom 4 – The Missing FAQ is now available for download in ePub and Kindle formats, as well as the PDF format, and when you purchase either of the bundles, you gain access to all 3 eBook formats. If you’re not sure which format will suit you best, here’s a quick summary:

• PDF – ideal for reading/searching on the computer; can also be viewed on devices such as iPad using apps like iBooks, GoodReader or iAnnotate.
• ePub – reflowable text optimized for eReaders such as iPad (iBooks), Nook, Sony, etc.
• Kindle – designed for the Amazon Kindle and Fire

The updated PDF, complete with the new Workflow chapter, was also released at the end of March.  Early feedback has been really positive, with many readers saying it’s their favorite chapter.  Here’s a small peek at my personal workflow diagram, which you’ll find in the book.

Emails went out to the book mailing list a couple of weeks ago when the updates were released, so anyone who has already purchased either of the Lightroom 4 book bundles can log into the Members Area to download the updates.

Paperbacks also shipped ahead of schedule. Bookstores in the US, such as Amazon, are now fully stocked, and I’m just waiting for some UK bookstores to catch up. If you don’t have your copy yet, there’s no need to wait for stock, as you can order direct from this website.

Thank you to everyone who posted reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, as well as on other websites. Reading them put a huge smile on my face – they really make all the hard work worthwhile.

What’s Next?

After many months of sitting here writing, I’m looking forward to spending more time with you on the forums and social networks. I’ve just finished catching up with all of the threads at www.lightroomforums.net, and a backlog of emails too, so Facebook and Twitter are next in line.  I’ve been enjoying reading your comments on the blog!

I’m also planning my next projects, so I’ve been reading back through more than 1000 survey responses from the end of last year, to work out which are the most popular choices. First on my list of projects is the new Members Area.

Website Updates & The Members Area

Lightroom Forums and this Lightroom Queen website are moving to a more powerful server in the next few days, so don’t worry if they disappear temporarily while DNS servers update.

The software for the Members Area has just come out of beta, so I’m busy adding content before its initial release. In addition to the download system, there are some useful features under construction, many of which were suggestions from the survey and other emails, and I’ll be continuing to add to it.  Anyone who has purchased the Lightroom 4 book will have Premium Access, so I’ll tell you more about that when it first goes live…

For now, I just want to thank you once again for your continued support, and I look forward to continuing to help you with Lightroom too.

The engineering team have pulled out all the stops to make 4.1 available as quickly as possible, so that’s available to download as a release candidate right now.  It also adds Canon 5d Mk3 support, for those with shiny new cameras.

The release candidate status means that it’s had a reasonable amount of testing (unlike a beta version) but they’d appreciate community feedback to see if they’ve solved the problems correctly.

You can read more about it at the official Lightroom team blog and download it from Adobe Labs.

In other news, my Lightroom 4 book is currently at the printers and ahead of schedule at the moment! More news on that in the next few days. The Workflow chapter is now included in the PDF download, and the ePub/Kindle versions should be available soon too.

It’s already been available for a couple of days, and the response has been brilliant. I do love hearing from readers who find little gems they hadn’t previously understood!

Roy emailed to ask what was new, as he already owns the Lightroom 3 book, so here’s a quick summary:

There are 3 entirely new chapters:

• Map module
• Book module
• Designing your Workflow (which will be a free update available this week).

The existing chapters also have lots of new questions based on your feedback, and many more were rewritten for changes in Lightroom’s behavior. All of the new Lightroom 4 features are explained in detail. These are a few of the highlights:

• Import discusses the new Lossy DNG format and the new Layout Overlay.
• Library module has 24 new questions, including Video Editing, and the changes to Flags, Collections and Stacking.
• Working with Catalogs expands on syncing presets and catalogs using Dropbox.
• Develop module has 47 brand new questions, and many more have been rewritten. They include the new Basic Develop sliders, how to work with the new PV2012 process version and how that interacts with your defaults and presets, and also a section on the new Soft Proofing tool. RGB curves, automatic Chromatic Aberration, Moiré removal and the additional local adjustment controls were also added.
• Edit in Photoshop goes into the interaction between the new PV2012 process version and older versions of Photoshop, as well as CS6, which is yet to be released.
• Export explores the new Email feature as well as the expanded ‘minimize metadata’ options.
• Publish Services adds details on Facebook, which were not in the previous book.
• And the other chapters have extra new questions and changes of behavior too.
• Click here to see a full list of all of the changes made to Lightroom 4.

If I counted correctly, having removed 21 outdated questions, that’s 264 new questions. I have a further 166 of the existing questions noted as having changes or having been completely rewritten. If you look at the Table of Contents, you’ll see I’ve marked the brand new questions in red. It turned into a much bigger job than I planned, as Adobe made so many changes. It’s had my undivided attention for months, but it was worth all of the late nights and weekends. I’m sure you’ll find it useful!

The release schedule is as follows:

• The PDF version available for download now. It’s complete with the exception of the final chapter – Workflow – which will be a free update on Wednesday this week (21st March). I want to spend a little more time on that before it’s released, but didn’t want to hold up the rest of the book.
• The Paperback – I’m expecting the paperback preorders to ship by mid-April, and I’ll update the main page as soon as I have a confirmed date. Anyone preordering the paperback bundle will be able to download the PDF version today.
• The ePub and Kindle versions will also be available at the same time as the paperbacks, if not before.
• Anyone ordering now gets access to all of those updates – the updated copy with the Workflow chapter, the ePub and Kindle formats, and any further 4.x updates.

So what are you waiting for? Visit the main book page to order and download it right now.

The bundle of eBooks is only £14.95. I have to price in British Pounds Sterling due to the terms of the payment processors (PayPal and Google), as I’m based in the UK, but that’s approximately $23.67 US at today’s exchange rate. Or you can preorder the paperback bundle with flat rate shipping, and the paperbacks will ship from UK, US and Australia as soon as they’re available.

If you own a previous version of my book, and you haven’t received an upgrade discount code by email, I’ll be pleased to arrange that for you – just send me an email.

I look forward to hearing what you think!

Tom Hogarty’s just posted about the major bugs they’re tracking with LR4 right now:

His main ones are:

• Point Tone Curve Migration
• The upgrade loses some custom point curves – they’re working on a fix, and also a way of fixing already upgraded catalogs, so don’t panic. Yes I know it’s a pain.
• “Edit in” Workflow for External Editors/Plug-ins
• NIK plug-ins (and some other 3rd party editors) are not working when using Edit In. They’re working on a fix.
• Edit in Photoshop Workflow
• ACR 6.7 is available as an RC – once you’ve installed it, it’ll still say you need ACR 7.0 (which will be the officially compatible version) but pressing Open Anyway will work correctly.
• Reverse Geocoding Delays
• It wasn’t working a few days ago. They’re monitoring with Google but it seems to be ok now.

I’ll add a few more I’m aware of:

• Some people are seeing performance issues, but not everyone, which makes it hard to track down.  If you’re seeing performance issues, they’d like some clues on where to start looking, specifically…
• Where does it feel slow?
• Is it interactive speed in Develop?
• Walking through images in Develop? Or in Library?
• Does it slow down over time (hinting at poor memory usage)?
• Does turning off the second window help?
• Does turning off noise reduction or lens corrections help?
• Do you see the same with a clean catalog (i.e. is it catalog-specific or an upgrade problem?)
• Post your answers on the Bug Report forum where they can be tracked by the engineers

• Some can’t see the contents of large folders after converting their catalog. The engineers are investigating.
• Some are seeing an AgExportRendition error when trying to email photos. It appears to be related to a built-in preset which is only added when you press Restore Export Presets (so don’t do that if you’re not having trouble!). If you’re seeing it, please post it on the Bug Report forum and we’ll test the solution.

One final thing – some people are pressing Update All when asked about updating to PV2012.  Lightroom does try to translate the settings, but the rendering is so different that you may end up needing to make further manual adjustments.  Unless you want to practice your processing skills on your whole back catalog, don’t press Update All – only update the ones you intend to reprocess.

Thank you to everyone who joined in testing the beta and offering feedback.  The list of bugs fixed is huge – around 800 since the beta, at the last count.

The feature set is largely the same as the beta version, so we won’t list everything again, but if you missed the previous list, you can find it here.

A few other changes to be aware of:

• Can now upgrade catalogs from prior versions
• Reverse geocoding now works
• Develop has had further ‘tweaks’
• Improved auto tone in Develop
• Increased range of local white balance controls (temperature and tint)
• Changes to rolloff of highlight rendering
• Changes to positive Clarity to reduce overall image brightening.
• More tuning to auto CA algorithm.
• Re-added the Process Version checkbox in the copy/sync dialog
• Updated Develop presets + added new ones for video
• Maximum Blurb book size is now 240 pages

As usual, there’s some new camera support:

• Canon         EOS 1D X, Powershot G1 X, PowerShot S100V
• Fuji              F505 EXR, F605 EXR, HS30 EXR, HS33 EXR, X-S1
• Nikon          D4, D800, D800E

But the big news this morning?  PRICING!  For the first time in Lightroom’s history, the pricing is changing, but it’s not going up…. it’s going down!  The full version Lightroom price will be lowered from $299 to $149 (€109 excl. VAT), with upgrades and education editions at just $79 (€62 excl. VAT). There’s no reason to put off upgrading now!

With all of the new features added in Lightroom 4, especially the new improved Develop rendering, and now the new low pricing too, there’s no reason not to upgrade. You can purchase direct from Adobe or from your favorite retailer. For now, download the trial and let us know what you think!

In the meantime, I’m putting the finishing touches to Adobe Lightroom 4 – The Missing FAQ, and it’s available to preorder now.

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’d like more detail, I’ve included examples and diagrams in my Lightroom 4 book, which is available now.

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.

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…

There have been some excellent posts on two of my favourite Lightroom blogs, talking about getting Lightroom ready for the new year and updating your copyright metadata, but tell me, what are YOUR plans for Lightroom for 2012?

• Is there a specific Lightroom feature you want to master?
• Perhaps you want to make your workflow more efficient?
• Do you need to improve your backup strategy?
• How about creating photo books of your older photos?  Or putting them online for your friends and family to see?

Personally, I have 3 Lightroom goals – I want to finish keywording my personal catalog (I know, the painter never paints his own house… ), I want to put my favourites on Flickr, and I want to scan all of my old film negatives and prints.

As far as the Lightroom Queen website goes, plenty of plans… but for those, you’ll have to wait and see!

So, what about you?  Anything I can do to help you reach your goals?

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.