Adobe Lightroom Plug-ins

Yeah, I like Lightroom. One way I use it often is to create web galleries to post on my website for players and parents to view photos after a baseball game or musical. This is a quick method for me to get my photos out in front of others quickly and without a lot of messing around. The current plug-in I use allows me to create the gallery in a format that even accepts PayPal payments if someone wants to purchase one of my photos. Plug-ins are great!

Plug-ins abound but I still haven’t found that I am 100% satisfied with or that completely meets all my needs. Customization and tweaking are just in my blood I guess. In my defense, I strongly believe that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. I am fussy and I do have high expectations. I just want things to look a certain way. After all I am a photographer!

So today I am venturing into unknown territory–creating Lightroom plug-ins of my very own.

I do have some very basic programming skills thanks to one college class I had at Temple University in Fortan language. Over the years I also have acquired a few more programming skills and do design my own web pages. Still, this is going to be a monumental task for me. Wish me luck. And if you have any advice, please let me know. I can use all the help I can get!

 

Winter Projects

Winter is hanging on with ferocity here in the Poconos of northeast Pennsylvania. The sun is shinning nicely today but we were in single digits last night and there is still a lot of snow around!

This makes me think of all the photo projects I should be doing while the weather is cold. One, for example, is tidying up my external hard drives. I originally used two different external hard drives to store my digital photographs. Then I bought a Drobo since it redundantly backs everything up and is so easy to use. The Drobo is just plug and play–plug a new or bigger hard drive in and start storing and backing up photos. It’s sweet!

The problem was that my external drives now contain many duplicate files as well as some new photos that need to be migrated over to the Drobo. I did this on my first external drive to be able to back up my broken laptop and restore on my new laptop. That was a 500 GB drive. Now I have a 1 TB drive to work through. I started last night and it is slow going. This is definitely a winter project!

I hope to be done fairly soon so I can gain some much needed space on my one drive and then use the other exclusively for backing up my new MacBook Pro. There is always something to do!

Computer Problems

I readily confess that I am a computer geek. I love the technology we have at our fingertips today, especially in the wonderful world of photography! After all, where would we be without digital cameras and post-processing software?

That being said, I also prefer our computers to work for us rather than the other way around. My old laptop was not even two years old and was causing me much pain and aggravation. I had already re-formatted the hard drive and re-installed Windows on the machine twice but was still having major problems. It was enough for me to start pulling my hair out!

The final straw came when I spent the better part of a day creating a presentation only to have my laptop completely let me down. I had used the thing all day but when I went to restart later nothing happened. After some frustrating troubleshooting, I discovered that the motherboard was fried. Arggghhhh!

Now many of us know that many photographers enjoy using Apple computers–well, Macs, to be exact. I was exposed to this preference in the photo world from many different angles–photo workshops, blogs, podcasts, magazines, etc. The thought was already in the back of my head that one day I would perhaps consider moving into the Mac world.

When my old laptop died, this thought came to the forefront in a huge way. I told my friend, who by the way only prefers windows pcs, that I was simply looking for a computer that didn’t require me to work to make it work before I got to work on it. Reliability and stability were my primary goals in looking for a new laptop to replace my old one.

Well, after some agonizing and deep thinking, I made the plunge and ordered my first Mac–a MacBook Pro laptop. It was ordered on a Thursday and traveled all the way from China to my doorstep on Monday! I was amazed at the quick delivery. I was even more amazed when I opened the package and turned on my new MacBook Pro!

I will not bore you too much with my enthusiasm now. Just let me say that I can see what others meant when they enthusiastically proclaimed their joy in using them!

So, this is my first blog in a long, long time due to computer problems. And yes, it is coming straight from my new MacBook Pro. I’ve had it for a little over a week and I love it! I am sure you will hear more about this in future blogs. For now, I am enjoying using Lightroom and Photoshop on my new laptop. It is quick, fast, and speedy!

I am hoping to say goodbye to computer problems. I am hoping this new laptop will keep those computer problems at bay. Only time will tell.

End of Year Madness!

Well, we are just about ready to say goodbye to 2010 and hello to 2011. Can you believe it?

Looking back over the past year, I have assembled some great photographic memories. Some are recorded for posterity in digital format, some of which you can see on my website. Other memories are etched in my mind and consists of terrific shots missed or great people I’ve met over the past year. 2010 has been a photographic blast for me!

In this end-of-season madness, I find myself doing some things that are important. I just upgraded my old wireless network router to a 300Mbps N Gigabit router. The main problem I was having on my network were IP address conflicts and slow speeds. I hope the new router will rectify these annoying problems. Upgrading equipment is important. I still have about 500 GB of empty space on my Drobo, so  an additional hard drive is on the short order list. I am still working on the Photoshop CS5 learning curve, which is pretty steep and will take me some time but will be well worth the effort.

All photo print orders have been fulfilled and it was a good year for me. I continue to learn the ins and outs of the photo business, which is exhilarating for me. Sometimes I stumble and fall, but most people are patient and a complete pleasure to work with. I am learning to streamline the process and am now able to offer more product services than a year ago.

And, of course, I continue to take time behind the viewfinder–my most favorite place to be these days, especially outdoors on a wildlife or sports shoot. Moments spent with the camera are “precious and few” to quote an old song.

I am excited to discover what the New Year will reveal for me photographically. I am looking forward to new opportunities and new learning!

Yes, 2010 was a great year, but I believe 2011 is going to be even better!

 

Slideshows and Flash

Do you like viewing or showing slideshows of your photographs?

I definitely do, but a recent change has caused problems for me. Most all of the slideshows I created in the past were created in flash. This is fine for browsers like FireFox and Explorer to handle, but they cannot be viewed with an iPad or a smartphone. This new development seriously limits how I want to get my photographs out there in front of other people.

So what do you do? I am curious how you present your photos on the web for others to see. Do you still use Flash? Do you use slideshows? How do you like to get your photos in front of other people?

I know that things change all the time, particularly in the computer industry. I have used web galleries for several years and I still like to use slideshows. But now I am wondering if I should still do this on my web site since I will be limiting some viewers who come to my site via an iPad or smartphone.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or ideas?

Here is one of my slideshows, but I wonder if you will be able to view it…

Finding Lost Files

I’ve never had the experience of having my kids getting lost and separated from me. I am sure that is an alarming feeling to say the least. But just this week I did experience that pit in my stomach when I wanted to find one of my favorite photos. It was lost! I searched and searched but could not find that lost file.

Part of my problem is that I have two computers, two external hard drives, and a Drobo. I can easily find all of my recent photos, especially those shot since I purchased my Drobo. Previous photos are harder for me to locate sometimes and this week was a prime example. Which drive could the file be on? Which date was the photo taken?

I typically had named my photo files with a date in this format: “2010-09-09.” Then eventually I added the event or location to the end of the file. For example: “2010-09-09 Elk County.” This naming scheme still caused some problems for me because what if I knew a photo was taken in Elk County but couldn’t remember which date it was taken? This was my exact problem this week. I knew the photo was taken in Elk County, but I could not remember exactly when I took the photo or even which year it was taken. Most recently I changed my naming scheme to the event or location first and then the date like this: “Elk County 2010-09-09.” This naming convention must be used by more and more photographers because Lightroom uses this convention in their latest version 3.0. This protocol makes sense to me because now all my events and locations are grouped together by name and then by date instead of vice versa. Obviously I did not make this name change to all my old photos or I would have found the file I was looking for this week.

I eventually did locate the photo I lost, but it was aggravating. How do you name your photographs? Can  you find exactly what you’re looking for within a few short minutes? I was told a long time ago to pick a naming scheme and stick with it. I guess I haven’t found the best scheme for me yet. I am still adapting and changing out of necessity. Some day I will be able to not even think about this and it will just be second nature. In the meantime, I will continue searching for the best naming protocol that works best for me.

By the way, here is the photo that was missing in action until today.

The Ups and Downs of Learning

Did you or do you like school? I must confess that I was not the best student in any of my classes. In fact, I sometimes wonder how I graduated from high school! But with each step I took to higher education, I learned more and got better as a student. The progression, however, was not linear. There were many bumps in the road and plenty of ups and downs!

I find this to be true as I keep learning about photography as well. Some things come easy for me at times, but then there are those times when I pull my hair out trying to learn a new technique or skill.

Just tonight, I spent several hours trying to learn some new software–well, new to me at least. Thankfully, I had a friend beside me to show me the way, but it was not always easy and I am sure that I have a whole lot more to learn about this software. I do like learning and the computer has afforded me plenty of opportunities to learn more and more. I still remember the very first time I tore apart my pc and installed a new hard drive all by myself. Seeing the hardware underneath the hood and actually taking some of it apart was a thrill to me! Of course, I had to find a way to put it all back together, but the sense of accomplishment with this simple task was contagious.

If find a similar fascination with computer software. Can I find more efficient shortcuts or processes to make a task easier? Can I learn how to use this software for what it was intended but also learn how to utilize it in more creative ways?

Last night I worked on a project in Photoshop that was thrilling for me. It wasn’t anything fancy by any means, but to be able to work with a client and incorporate his vision for the desired outcome was enjoyable to me. Of course, I had to know how to use the software, but it was fun to actually be able to implement his vision into a tangible outcome. I attached a photo of this project for you to see here. Again, it is nothing very fancy but it reinforces my theory that learning has its up and downs. Tonight had some bumps in the road to learning new software for me, but last night I was able to get it right. So it goes with learning!

Go Ahead, Print Some Photos

Digital photography is great. No more waiting for turn around time with developers or messy chemicals to play with. And you can see what you shot right away on your LCD screen. Shoot away–the only limitation is how many gigabytes of memory available. Another positive difference is that you no longer have to go through shoebox after shoebox to find the photo you are looking for. Yep, digital photography rocks!

And yet, there is still something about a print. No matter its size, a print is something special, something tangible, something unique. When you hold a print in your hands you hold a memory, a moment frozen in time forever. There it is right in front of your eyes. You see it but you still can hardly believe it. Precious time frozen in beauty. Touch it, hold it, stare at it. And if you are the photographer who created this photo that’s even better!

Sadly, far too many prints are in laptops, computers, external hard drives, and Drobos never able to see the light of day. They are stored digitally and even viewed digitally. It is like they are doomed to a digital existence for all of eternity.

No! Even digital photos deserve to be printed. So go ahead, print some of your photos. Hold them in your hands, touch them, stare at them. And then you will realize that there is something mighty precious about a photograph!

Wondering how best to proceed…

Sometime next week I will be receiving shipment of a new desktop computer that I will devote exclusively for my photography. I will attach my Drobo to it so I can have all my photographs on the Drobo and my Lightroom catalog on the pc. Currently my photos are on two external hard drives and a few on my laptop.

My question is how to best proceed in moving the photographs over to the Drobo so that Lightroom can find them. Since I’ve done quite a bit of editing already on some of these photos, I am thinking that importing the catalogs is the best way to go.

Have any of you done this before?

I was waiting for the new pc because with Windows 7 I can view the Drobo as one complete disk. With Windows XP there was a 2GB limit for each drive. But now I have to find the best way to get everything over the Drobo and as efficiently as possible. If you have any thoughts on how best to proceed, I’d love to hear from you!

Is a computer considered photography equipment?

I readily admit that I am a computer geek. I took a Fortran computer language class at Temple University, back in the days when we still used punch cards! My laptop often has a large number of programs running in the task bar and my browser typically has far too many tabs open. Yeah, I like computers.

However, I would rather spend my hard-earned money on more photography equipment than on a computer! But reality has set in and I know I need a new pc. I recently purchased a Drobo and my current desktop is unable to run the Drobo–it’s just too old. My wife is reluctant to let me share her desktop pc, worrying that I will hog it much of the time and cut out too much of her surfing and pc game time! Hmmm, I guess I do have to spring for a new pc of my own.

I spent some time tonight configuring some pc arrangements. I am planning to use the new pc almost exclusively for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I want 3-4GB of RAM and a fast processor. Not much need for any other software at the moment. Oh, yeah, and I want Windows 7.0.

Do you think of your computer as photography equipment?