Presence Panel and the Tone Curve When we last looked at the Develop Module, we covered the first two tools in the Basic Panel: White Balance and Tone Controls, so now lets look at the Presence Controls: Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation.  Although the names of the three sliders have not changed with Lightroom4, the math behind them is much improved. There is only really one way to become familiar with the power and effect of these tools, and that is to experiment.

Sorry, I have been a bit quiet for a while - only just got back from a quick visit to the UK late last night.  I didn't even take a camera, they seem to have eaten all the wild animals over there, at least those of any size!  However, I did find time to write another Blog, so here is one on how Lightroom makes organizing your images so very easy. Lightroom ‘Collections’ are fabulous!  Use them like virtual storage bins, job folders or as easily created photo albums that you can store, modify and share.  They are also useful for printing, for uploading to web galleries, for slide shows or for exporting.  You can also create sub-collections within a collection set.  It is a great way to organize your images, and the advantage of having collections is that images are not moved out of the folder in which they exist, you are just creating a reference in the metadata that points to those files.

  Hot bug-ridden days, crazy crowds, heedless RV's and pushy photographers – too often how the Summer chaos along Yellowstone’s Grand Loop Road may seem.  Whereas winter is known for silence and solitude, Summer is often maligned as anything but an escape to nature.  Nonetheless, Summer can be just as rewarding and enthralling – put on a long-sleeve bug shirt, take a brief hike, escape the human swarm and observe the best of Summer. For me, spawning Cutthroat Trout and Northern River Otters are the highlight of early summer.  This summer an adult female, with two pups of the year and a protective older sister made up the family unit.  For Otters, playing, wrestling, napping, grooming and fishing are the priorities of the day.  With acute hearing and smell, they are equipped with sharp, lethal teeth and a body designed for swimming, in fact Otters are Olympic champions when it comes to fishing.  One afternoon, I watched as mom caught four trout in less than three minutes, giving each family member one trout, which they happily crunched and munched on.  That's what I call fast food.   Having seen a Coyote catch a muskrat and take nearly 20 minutes to consume the rubbery meal, it was astonishing to once watch an Otter behead and devour a muskrat in about three bites and in less time than it takes to microwave popcorn.

The new Lightroom 4 Develop tools do not work at all like Lightroom 3.  Working with them is proving to be a challenge, whereas some photos seem easy, others are just painful.  So here are a few tips?   First of all, you are not alone if you are having problems, but it will be well worth the struggle to master the new tools.  PV 2012 gives even more control and subtlety.   As I explained in my previous Blog, the LR4 Develop Module is based on Process Version 2012, which introduces a whole new algorithm for a simplified, more intuitive and powerful way to adjust your images.  The 'Recovery', 'Brightness' and 'Fill Light' sliders in LR3 (PV 2010) have been removed, and  in PV 2012 controls for 'Highlight', 'Shadows' and 'Whites' have been added.  

Something's not right!  I upgraded to Lightroom 4 but I don't see the new sliders I've heard so much about, in fact everything in the Develop module looks the same.   Question No 7:   Have I made a mistake whilst upgrading from Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 4?   Answer:  Adobe decided to introduce 'Process Versions' so that we can choose which processing engine we want to employ for any image in our library.  

It IS a new day!  My 'new' website has had a thorough service to improve accessibility and add 500 more images, more of which later, but:

      Following requests for prints of the Sandhill Cranes published in ‘Glimpses’ from the inside cover of the July/August 2012 issue of ‘Montana Magazine’, I am offering a special edition 12”x18” fine art print, printed and signed by yours truly for $100.00, or an 8”x12” for $50.00. Prices include shipping.        To order, please send me an email via Contact and I will provide you with the specifics.

Some of you may have seen the Jan/Feb issue of ‘Montana Magazine’, in which I was really pleased and honored to be the subject of the ‘Portfolio’ feature.  I am sure back copies are available!   I assure you that I don’t have any shares in the company, but I want to give the magazine another thumbs-up.  It’s a great publication, with a wide diversity of articles and stunning photography that really captures the essence of the many facets of Montana.  Not that I am suggesting that you dash out and get a copy of the Jul/Aug edition, but if you don’t you will miss a great article by Lisa Reuter on Yellowstone – ‘The American Serengeti’.  The added bonus is that the images that grace the article are by a blogging photographer you may recognize.

I can’t find the new keyword (Ruby-Crowned Kinglet) I just created?  It was supposed to go under the parent folder “ANIMALS/Birds/” but it is nowhere to be found.  Arrgh!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK, so I caught my breath, and calmly typed in “Ruby-" into the filter keyword search area at the top of my keyword list ….. and there it was inside of YELLOWSTONE THERMALS/Lower Geyser Basin/.

  Before you and I get caught up in something else, I can't let you forget about the best birding time of the year.  So, Three Owls??  Burrowing, Long-eared and Great Horned to be exact. While some bemoan the schizophrenic weather that is Spring in the Rockies, for both birders and photographers, it is the best of seasons; down in Pinedale with Betty - a fine friend, fantastic photographer and a formidable naturalist - I had the best of times.  Four days of 4:00am wake-ups and 9:00 pm suppers, in between exploring a fascinating variety of diverse habitats and photographing their feathered residents as they gamely set about the business of mating, nesting and parenting.        

Help!  What's happened??!!! Back from Pinedale after a great few days shooting birds, especially owls, perhaps more of which later.  However, I am now left with several thousand images to Bridge and to upload to Lightroom, so here's the next most frequently asked question that I patiently and sweetly answer!