Micro Four Thirds User Forum

New Topaz Release this week - Clarity

Robert Watcher — Sat, 25 May 2013 23:26:36 GMT

I got a heads-up on both the new Topaz Clarity product and the $20 savings until the end of May 2013.

I use the Clarity feature in Lightroom on most of my travel and street images. I love the effect it gives. I have never used Topaz products before today. 2 things that I noticed in a video that was produced about this product - - - both which are significant to my usage - - - are the great masking options built into Topaz Clarity, as well as the refined Clarity controls.

I use masks frequently in Photoshop, but some of the Topaz selections are really wonderful from my early play with the program. Lightroom has one slider for Clarity control. Photoshop has none (unless I use Adobe RAW - which I don't). To be able to selectively affect finer details or broader areas only - and everything in between - is going to be a wonderful option. The presets really help out as well. Not just landscape presets either - - - there's Portrait, Wedding, Fashion - nice.

I've only had it purchased for 15 minutes for my PC work station (will have to get one for my Macbook later), and after the effortless installation - have pumped several images through the plugin and am fully comfortable with it's functionality.

Here is the video explaining the key features of Topaz Clarity - Topaz Clarity Demo - Top Five Features — LIGHT Photographic Workshops

https://www.topazlabs.com/clarity/

$29.95 with the coupon code "claritynew" until May 31'st, 2013

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Lightroom 4 Issue!

guzziknight — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:51:15 GMT

I've been using LR 3 for a long time, and I love it. A couple of weeks ago I finally upgraded to LR 4. I do most of my images as HDRs, so I shoot multiple exposures for everything. My usual work flow is to import the images as DNG files, make the HDR, then import into LR 3 for the final processing.

Since upgrading to LR 4, it been creating problems. If I import as ORF files, it works fine. When I import as DNGs, then make the HDR in Photomatix Pro, the following happens:

Ridershill.jpg Photo by guzziknight \| Photobucket

I ran a test where I imported the same images using LR 3, and LR 4, both as DNG and ORF. No problems with LR 3, or when using the ORF from LR 4. But I had this issue with every image from LR 4 as DNGs.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any ideas what's going on? Bad copy of LR 4?

Lightroom: What processor speed?

oldracer — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:31:40 GMT

I am presently running LR 3.6 on an XP machine. Pentium D 2.8ghz processor, 3gb of RAM, 800mhx FSB. I have a similar machine running Win7 that shows a Windows Experience Index of 5.9 for the processor.

Lightroom is fairly doggy on this machine. In particular, I often see "Loading" for up to a minute when I switch from Library to Develop mode. So I'd like something faster. I also don't want to update this old machine to Win7.

I have the opportunity to buy a machine that is running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 with 8GB. Windows experience scores of 7.2 for the processor and memory and 6.8 for graphics. The disk is slow, but I am not working with large enough images that swapping should be an issue.

Question for those of you who are happy with LR performance -- "good," "snappy," etc. : What sort of Windows Experience Index numbers do you have? I am not very familiar with this metric so I don't know of the Win7 machine will be huge improvement or just an increment.

Thanks in advance, but please no speculation from the processor specs, etc. I am a hardware designer by trade and understand the technical differences between the configuration. What I don't know is what the Index values imply for LR performance. So ... real world experience, please. :smile:

Single color (red) in Black & White photo

gs94121 — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:24:46 GMT

Help, does anyone have an experience on exposing and/or processing this photo showing black & white photo with red telephone booth or double-decker bus in London ? Is this easy to make from Oly OM-D camera with post-processing from software ?

The photo sample is enclosed for your review.

Thanks in advance.

Attached Images

Importing Camera Settings

coastlineamps — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:49:01 GMT

Hello All,
I tried to google this but no luck. I have a GH2 and I am trying to do figure out if there is some software that recognizes the camera settings for each image thast you shot and keep those settings when downloading the images.
I am just trying to do some photo comparisons with different settings ot get more experience. Any help appreciated. Thanks

Looking for rotational view software.

Wasabi Bob — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:47:57 GMT

I need to shoot a 360 degree series of photos around an object, and somehow create a Flash or ?? type file that would allow me to rotate around the object. Zoom would be a "plus". Anyone know of any such software?

Slowly learning Layers and Blending

slothead — Sun, 12 May 2013 10:38:36 GMT

I know it isn't difficult, but it has been somewhat of a challenge for me (probably because I initially learned computer graphics from a simple, Windows-based painting program).

This first image was originally two different images from two different areas in the sky (albeit at about the same time and sun direction). the vehicles were not this close together - or at least not when I finally captured the two images. Their exposures were not quite the same for some reason so I had to tweak the brightness of one of them (I chose to lighten the image with the fixed wing in it), and you may be able to sense that in the image. But I learned a lot in the process. Had the two images not been on the same background it could have been more difficult, but because the background was the same expected subject (sky) it was slightly easier.

The image below was also two separate images and had to be blended because the focus was different in each of the two images. Frog on the right was focused in one image and frog on the left was focused in another. I wanted them both to be in focus, so I layered and blended the two. the difficulty here was that the two images were not composed similarly - they were close but no cigar. So some jockeying had to be done before the two target subject didn't overlap (which would have ruined the effect).

With both of these the secret of course with layers is - black to reveal, white to conceal (I get these backwards all the time - there should be an acronym to remember it). Once you get the layers adjusted geometrically where and how you want them, you create a mask layer and paint away (to reveal the bottom layer through the top layer - at least that is how I did it).

I'm sure that some of my methods (not all described here were somewhat unconventional, but it got the job done and as I mentioned earlier, I really learned a lot this weekend. I feel like such an infant with this stuff!

PhotoShop: Budget Alternative

littlefish — Sun, 12 May 2013 10:31:09 GMT

Having used PhotoShop from version 1, CS6 will be my last purcahse. I was still cooling down from the news that Adobe are moving to an all subscription model for their software (and this is after screwing the UK market over pricing, being economic with the truth re: upgrading and still not overhauling text handling) when an offer popped into my email inbox.

Serif PhotoPlus X5 for �10.

Windows only in downloadable format only and, yes, it is Serif who have a reputation for strong / dubious phone selling techniques (ask them nicely and they'll stop calling) but...

I use X4 very occasionally and prefer a few of it's features to those of PhotoShop noticeably adding text and merging images. It's slower than PS (everything is), feels a little clunky and lacks the powerful tools (e.g. lab colour tweaking) but is perfectly serviceable for those with modest needs especially if LR is your main image program.

It's not the latest version (current version is X6) but at this price I'm getting it for my laptop and, who knows, a future version might find its way onto my main machine.

And for the record, no, I do not nor ever have worked for Serif and make nothing (�$) from this recommendation. I just like their software. Pity about the sales techniques.

Surrendered to LR4

fransglans — Sat, 11 May 2013 22:26:35 GMT

Just downloaded the trial from Adobe, and after some YouTube lessons Im starting to understand the main lines in lightroom. And for me its kinda of a new way to think. Im leaning to start shooting only raw, now that I have seen the potential of this software. It almost felt like I have bought a new camera. But im still a little bit worried about two things.
1. The backups. I have a smugmug account, and a hope that lr4 could work easily together with this.
2. 80% of my Photos goes to making a photobook every year. How about this, does the book making feature in lr work together with orf files or am I forced to first convert every file to jpeg?

I really hope that I will conquer this new software and through this achieve the full potential of my ancient sensor in my e-p3 :)

Icon has a bit of fun with Polaroid instant :-)

Iconindustries — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:26:14 GMT

I bought this app called 'Instant' from the app store (mac) and I'm having so much fun with it. At first I was a bit skeptical because the opened app is a large image of an old polaroid camera! To open an image you double click on the camera and it allows you to find a picture you'd like to process. It puts it in the camera and it makes a camera 'click' noise and from out the bottom it produces a square image with a paper border. You have to wait a couple of seconds to let the chemicals react to produce the fully processed picture (just like the real one) Once the picture is out, on the bottom RH side is a little message box where you can write on the bottom of the paper border. And beside that is a little gear which allows you to select from a pile of different effects. I like the effect called 'Sunday Morning'. In preferences you can set the effect as default, otherwise it will use a different one every time. In preferences you can also change the image size from a small to medium.

Random and fun, I wouldn't like to know how many pictures I've put through it in the last hour but watching the picture come to life as the colours pop is awesome. Small things amuse small minds haha. If you're bored with your pictures get this app and do some different things.

Here's some pictures I did this morning,

Serge Ramelli on Lightroom 5 Beta

gugarci — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:24:29 GMT

Just found it on You Tube. Hopefully some of the members here will find it helpful. I know I did.

New Lightroom 5 beta retouching tutorials ! - PLP # 40 by Serge Ramelli - YouTube

New Version of Pixelmator (2.2)

merosen — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:15:23 GMT

Hands on: Pixelmator launches smart, significant new upgrade | Macworld

If Adobe products become too expensive

the_traveler — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:58:41 GMT

If Adobe products become too expensive, what are other alternatives?

If you use list any products, please give the platform and a small comparison in price and utility.

No new Photoshop CS7- Creative Cloud only

Ranger Rick — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:25:57 GMT

Don't know how you feel about this, but I'm dropping out of the Adobe "community" with their announcement today that there will be no new CS7, only a rental-based ($240/year and no access without rental) paradigm.

While I understand why they want to do this from their perspective, I have no intention of paying $20/month forever to rent their software. Yes, it may be good, but it makes no sense for me to pay at that rate and have no access to anything if I were to stop stop paying the ransom.

I've downloaded Pixelmator and Snapheal (Mac) and will work with those. I realize some may need Photoshop for their livelihood or creative process, but Adobe's greed means a parting of the ways. I'll be able to work with alternatives.

Your thoughts?

Using DXO ViewPoint to Correct Distortion

entropicremnants — Mon, 06 May 2013 01:02:32 GMT

I got DXO ViewPoint software for distortion correction while it's on sale for $49 and it's a mixed bag but I'll use it for some things.

For instance, some found the distortion of the ball a problem in the following shot. I thought it was kind of surreal looking, but it wasn't generally appreciated and that's a problem when an image doesn't present like you want it to.

This image and it's derivatives are all taken with a Panasonic G5 and the Lumix 7-14mm f/4 lens.

Come and Play with Us! Forever, and ever, and ever... by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

Okay so with the problem stated, I fired up Lightroom and made a virtual copy of the original image and right clicked on "Edit In" and selected "DXO ViewPoint".

Here was my first attempt letting the software select the correction. It completely corrected the roundness of the ball but made the shot into a mild fisheye shot doing it. As a result of the stretching, I lost the top of the arch and that bothered me.

Come and Play with Us! Forever, and ever, and ever...(alternate edit) by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

So I went back in and had another whack at it and reduced the amount of correction in manual. The ball is now not quite round, and the fisheye distortion is less. I also have more of the top of the arch. Not a bad compromise.

I've also made some other editing tweaks. If color/contrast and so forth looks a little different -- it is but it's not from ViewPoint.

Come and Play with Us! Forever, and ever, and ever...(alternate edit 2) by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

Now you clever folks might say, "I can correct that fisheye problem now with Lightroom's distortion slider". No, you can't.

When you do that, the ball goes back to being oval and you've got the original shot again minus some edge loss, lol.

So if you get this software be advised: it's not a panacea for everything.

Olympus Lens Profiles

dohearne — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:21:50 GMT

I am completely lost here. I know that adobe has not yet recognized Panasonic and Olympus lenses but apparently there is an Lens Profiler Downloaded utility. If I understand it correctly users can create profiles and share them. Do I misunderstand this? If this is correct where is this app located in the vast adobe ocean?

Why OV3 Strips EXIF Data - 16bit

dohearne — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:17:28 GMT

I was just curious if anyone had an idea as to why OV3 does not allow a 16 bit Tiff to be generated with the Exif data? You can save an 8 bit Tiff with the data which seems backward to me? I am coming from a Nikon world and had hoped to integrate the OMD into my workflow using OV3. But now it looks as if I will succumb to Lightroom.

Quick way to display movie files full EXIF info...

Shield — Sun, 05 May 2013 19:43:03 GMT

Guys, I need your help - what are the file extensions for raw files from Panasonic and Olympus cameras?

I posted this originally on FredMiranda, but would like to extend this to my former Micro 4/3rds brethren.

So I fool around with picture profiles a lot, and sometimes during testing I'd like to know the settings I used quickly.
Canon's own "Digital Professional Photo" software will do this if you open the app, browse to the folder and select "info". Will give you all sorts of goodies like Picture profile, aperture, shutter speed, etc.
But I'm lazy. I want to just right click on a file and pull this information up without all the hassle.

So I found a tool that will do it, called "ExifTool" by Phil Harvey. Works great - except it wants you to continually run this from a command line OR drag the file in question to the executable. Still not handy enough for the lazy like me.

So here's the solution for Windows users (this should take like 5 minutes). This will probably require full control / Administrative rights on your PC.

Step 1 - Download the Windows version of "Exiftool" from this site (freeware):
ExifTool by Phil Harvey
You want the "Windows Executable", or exiftool-9.28.zip.
Download it to wherever you like. Extract the file to your "Windows" directory. You then rename the file to "EXIFTOOL.exe".

Step 2 - Download This zip file which contains the registry information for avi/mov/mp4/m2t/m2ts/cr2/arw/mp3/tif/jpg files (will add raw Panny and Olympus stuff if someone can let me know the file extension(s). Doubleclick each .reg file to associate them (will need to be done as an Administrator).

Step 3 - Fire up Windows Explorer, and right click on any of the above file extensions. You should see a box pop up that looks like the dos box below. If you want to not have to scroll the dos window each time, right click at the top left of the dos box and change the window height and width to 98/50.

I can add any other extensions you like, like jpgs, or you can dig in the registry and add you own.

Just thought I'd share!

Shawn

Attached Images

Lightroom commands in Photoshop

MSnap — Sat, 04 May 2013 14:23:38 GMT

Of course Lightroom is much easier to use than Photoshop, but I've little doubt that Photoshop can do all the same stuff. I'm looking for a guide which maps the Lightroom commands to sequences of Photoshop commands. Free or paid.

I've found some guides online for specific commands, like for Vibrancy you change to LAB Mode then edit the 'a' and 'b' channel curves. There's a lot missing though, unless I'm using the wrong search terms. I'd be working in 16-bit TIFFs I think, because I like the OV3 output best.

Or maybe someone here would like to write a guide :-)

Thanks

Lightroom 5 Beta is Awesome

MAubrey — Wed, 01 May 2013 00:36:26 GMT

So, I'm loving the next cloning/healing brush feature. It has made possible fixes that I never would have been able to do before.

Check it out:

It isn't perfect, but it definitely looks better than the red streak of flare!

How Can I Get This Shade of Blue Sky?

M4/3 — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:49:23 GMT

I got this photo off the internet and would like to know how I can get that same very appealing (to me) shade of blue out of an Olympus E-PL1 or OMD camera? I have not been able to figure out how to do it in Olympus Viewer. Is that shade of blue associated with a certain brand of camera? Or do you think the shooter used a polarizer to get that color? Or do you think the shooter used a certain image editor? Thanks.

Opinions on Aftershot Pro (ASP)

MSnap — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:56:21 GMT

I'm doing my usual "read everything I can find" at the moment, and I'm downloading the trial. While that's in progress, I thought I'd ask other users if they had tried the software and what they thought of it?

One thing I picked up from RobKnight's video on OV3 vs LR4 is that OV3 makes better pictures by default. I've little doubt that my full Photoshop CS2 could do everything these editors can do manually, but the whole point of these is to be easy and semi-automatic isn't it? To make things quick and easy and to streamline the workflow?

Right now, based on what I've seen and read, I'm leaning towards OV3 > TIFF > ASP for my first streamlined workflow. I'd like to stick with just OV, but there's lots of features that I can't find in there, such as highlight and shadow tools, and "enhance the blues" kind of features.

Does anyone know when the 2013 version of ASP is due to be released? I bet it's soon.

Thanks

Aperture Help.. Confused

MrDoug — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:10:57 GMT

Hi.. I having been using the Newest Version of Aperture and when I move a photo from Viewer to Library, Album or Flag a photo and then delete it from the viewer it also deletes it from where I placed it.. all is gone! How to I save my Photos and delete them from the viewer? Hope this makes sense to you.. Your help and proper method will be much appreciated..
Thanks in advance..
Doug:smile:

Nikon/NX2 Users - Your Experience?

dohearne — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:58:55 GMT

One week into my OMD experience and I am in a huge debate with myself on PP. Prior to the OMD my Nikon centric processing was to ingest, sort, and keyword files in Photo Mechanic and then do the majority of my PP with Capture NX2. On some images I would export tiffs and do external NIK or HDR work.

My initial thought was to again use Photo Mechanic upfront, do further adjustments in OV3, and then export a Tiff for any further processing. I like very much the in camera processing of the OMD and the similar raw processing available in OV3. However, OV3 does not import my keywords and strips all EXIF data when a 16 bit Tiff is saved.

I am trialing LR Beta 5 and thanks to profiles I discovered here I can come close to OV3 raw conversion. I also have PSE 10 and have used it to also do the raw conversion (same ACR as LR) and then save out as 16 bit tiff.

My present direction is to still use Photo Mechanic for both my Nikon and OMD ingest, etc. Then import all keepers into LR and finally learn how to use it.

Are there other options and what is the experience of others coming from Nikon/NX2?

DXO Optics 8

Buster — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:24:12 GMT

I just tried (via 30 day trial) DXO Optics 8.

Some aspects are better than Lightroom.. but others are not that better.

Can't open DNG files in Photoshop CS2

MSnap — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:09:37 GMT

Yes it's old, but upgrades are expensive. I think I'd rather learn how to do stuff in Photoshop than in Lightroom. It's likely to be more useful in my line of work.

I have the ACR 3.7 Plugin, and Adobe DNG Converter. I convert the E-PM1 ORF files to DNG, but they still don't open. Just a message saying the format is not supported.

Please could someone help? I thought the whole point of DNG was to be a standard. Are there different versions of it? :-/

Thanks

Looking for HDR how-to

sinclair — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:27:58 GMT

After seeing this thread, I want to even more try my hand at HDR. Especially with a planned photo outing next month. I want some help finding a how-to on making HDR images with my current setup. I have a Mac Pro running the latest version of OS X, the current versions of iPhoto, The Gimp, and GraphicConverter. My camera is a Pany GF5.Due to some unexpected medical bills for my newborn son, I have no money to buy any new software (or glass like I was planning). I have figured out how to get my camera to take 5 bracketed shots, 2/3 EV apart (Total of 3 1/3 EV range).

What I have read so far: 3 shots is sufficient, but normally at 2 EV apart (Total of 4 EV range). Unfortunately, I can't do that with my camera, it can only do 3 or 5 shots at 1/3 or 2/3 EV apart. Sure I could do the bracketing my hand, but then I'll have to worry about aligning the images as well as doing the combining.

So, I'm asking all of you wonderful people to help me find some how-tos that use the software I have to make HDR images, and to tell me if it'll even work with the image bracket my camera has. Please post links, and as I find stuff, I'll post too, as well as what I end up with from following the linked how-tos. Thank you!

DxO Optics Pro 6 for free!!!

homerusan — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:03:53 GMT

hi there
i want to share the free DxO Optics Pro 6 campaign
i prefer lightroom or ACR+PS but it hell yes its FREE!!!

go to the; DXO - Image Science
write your e-mail and push "bestatigen" (if you dont want notifications uncheck the box below :thumbup:)
and then download for PC or MAC
install the program.
activation code will be send to your e-mail (it can be in spam folder, dont forget to check :thumbup:)

cheers :drinks:

Lightroom over Aperture

specialagenttuna — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:53:55 GMT

Just something for people to think about. I wanted to share how I almost sold my OM-D EM-5 after thinking the pics looked terrible.

I've been using Aperture for a while now and have never had any issues until OM-D EM-5. I imported some pics I took of my gf's nephew's birthday and I was surprised how bad they looked. The pics were really dark, the skin was really noisy and patchy with red spots and any attempts to improve them made them look worse (in case anyone is wondering, it is the most current version of Aperture from Mac App Store)

Here I was just shocked. These were NOT what a $500 lens (17mm 1.8) and $760 body should be producing! I was ready to sell it and just deal with lugging around my large and beautiful D800. But I wanted so badly to love this little gem that I went researching again all while my OM-D was on eBay.

Looking around it seems all the beautiful examples of pics I saw that made me want to try M4/3 were done with Lightroom. Now I'm no professional shooter but I'm decent enough to know I wasn't screwing up so bad that I was making pics that looked as bad as a point and shoot in bad lighting while others were getting damn near SLR quality! So I dropped the cash for Lightroom (Mac App Store again) and glad I did! The pics looked dramatically better and more like what I expected from my experience.

TL;DR - Aperture made my OM-D pics look bad so I tried Lightroom and it's a lot better. Not sure if that's anyone else's experience but hopefully you aren't an Aperture user that got rid of this camera because of the way it handles the RAW format.