Lightroom 5 impressions

I've been using the public beta of Lightroom 5 for a few days now and thought I'd share my first impressions.  As I'm not a pro photographer, my usage of Lightroom is more akin to that of a "normal" amateur photographer so please bear that in mind when reading on.  I'm finding new features all the time but here are my thoughts on a couple that I will use a lot.  Thankfully they have not thrown away the main interfaces so it all has a nice familiar feel.

Reflecting on my workflow, I seem to do the majority of my photo handling in Lightroom, only going off to other programs when absolutely necessary.  In LR4, this meant anytime that cloning or more complex healing was needed for example.  With LR5 adobe have brought us a proper Cloning tool and Healing brush, which is great.  Not sure if its me but the healing brush seems to not be quite as good as the one in Photoshop but for simpler jobs the tools are great.

When knocking out dust spots, there's now a function that makes them more visible which is great as it means you get them all and quickly too.

There are tools for automatically straightening/levelling images and they do seem to work on most images so will be a useful addition.

A nice new feature (and its puzzling why it wasn't there all along), is a full screen mode.  Any picture can now be viewed quickly at full screen by pressing "f".  This is a really nice "little thing" that makes a big difference.

One thing which is not there though is an erase brush function on the gradient tool.  I use the gradient tool a lot but its a bit heavy handed, would be great to get the super smooth graduations of this tool but be able to brush them out where you don't want them.  Yes you can fudge it with the current adjustment brush but its not the same.

The other thing I would love to see is a facial recognition tool that can tag faces in the library.  I've tried it in Picassa and thought it worked really well and it could save ages and help keep your library organised.

I'm wondering though if  there is enough new in this release to be a new version, feels like Lightroom 4S to me at the moment.  Hopefully there's more goodies to be discovered!

Canon Powershot G11 Compact Lives Again

My Canon G11 has had more than its fair share of use and abuse, typically going places that my prized DSLR kit doesn't go for fear of damage.  So it didn't surprise me when the screen turned everything orange after being in my rucksack on a particularly cold ski trip (it might've been the temperature or when I crashed out!).  It was still usable and I stuck with it.

Latterly though the big jog wheel on the back was beginning to play up, often needing to go round several times before it registered any movement and often the setting I was adjusting went the wrong way.  The wheel is used for many functions from scrolling between images in playback mode, to setting Shutter, Aperture and Exposure mode.  For me it was kind of a critical problem.

So it was looking like to would be time to bin it and buy a replacement.  But here's the thing, I've kind of got attached to it.  I've taken some great shots with it, shots that have scored highly in competition, (most recently a Highly Commended in Photoplus magazine), and images that I'm personally pleased with.  I also know how to get a good shot out of it and have often gone out with it when my friends have taken their DSLR's (Recent trip to Canary Wharf comes to mind).

So what to do.  I got the idea to "Google" the jog wheel issue to see if it was a common problem and whether anyone was doing repairs (and if so how much).  Well I wasn't disappointed.  I found a video on Youtube (watch it here) that showed a workaround AND a fix that takes no time at all to do (and works great).

That set me thinking, so I had another "Google" this time for screen replacement, and sure enough I found another video on Youtube (Watch it here) that shows how to do it.  I found a new screen for £25, and fitted it myself (a bit fiddly but not too bad) and I'm pleased to report the G11 is working perfectly.

Fully functional Canon Powershot G11 with shiny new screen fitted.

It never ceases to amaze me what an amazing resource the Internet is.  It also amazed me that I nearly dumped an expensive piece of kit for fear of high repair costs.  A lesson has been learned.


My thanks to Digitalkamera Reparatur for the screen repair info (lots of other repair guides there too) and Hungrygary for the jog wheel fix.

There's a Mouse in the Garage!

So we noticed that a container for bird feeder peanuts on a shelf in our garage always had husks around it, then we noticed on closer inspection what looked like Niger seed on the shelf too.  I thought my wife topped up the Niger feeder, she thought I had.  When we spoke about it, turns out neither of us had topped up the Niger seed and on closer inspection it turns out they were mouse droppings.

Ok, time for a trap, not the springy shut type but a laser trap.  After setting peanuts in the same spot on the shelf for several nights (which were all gone by morning) it was time to set the trap and get a look at my nocturnal visitor.

I rigged my Phototrigger to shine a laser beam over the peanuts, and prefocussed my Canon 7D with a Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens onto the same place.  I also had a studio flash (operated by radio control) pointing at the same spot (with a snoot and honeycomb, lighting the scene from behind the camera).

Click the image to enlarge

Then it was just a matter of waiting and hoping.  As things cooled down the beam would wander and the 7D would start to rattle off pictures, so I had to frequently check and reset things, hoping this wouldn't put off the little fella from making an appearance.

But then, he (I've no idea if its a he or not) put in appearance, apparently the lure of the peanuts was too strong and he ignored all the new stuff that had appeared, and the blinding flashes of light!

Click the image to enlarge

I think he's kinda cute.

Peter.

PS: No animals were hurt during this photoshoot!

For info the PhotoTrigger website is here http://www.phototrigger.co.uk/

Jumping Dog [Explored]

As a dog owner and photographer, I'm never without a willing (for a reward) subject to take pictures of.  George my 2 year old Sprocker Spaniel has given great service right from when he was a pup (one of his puppy pics has been sold by Getty many times).  He's done Studio work, Outdoor work, been composited, off camera flashed and loads more besides.

His latest modelling session involved an idea I had to get him to jump straight up at the camera for a quirky shot.  It worked out quite well and I posted a couple of images onto Flickr.  For me these were work in progress, it was the first time I tried it, and as it was a dull day, high ISO was needed resulting in more noise than I wanted.

However, the citizens of Flickr did not agree and both images got "Explored" and one of the images picked up over a thousand hits in just one day, which is very good for me.

You can see that image here.

I thought I would put together a short video of how it was done, there's a couple of tricks I discovered along the way. Hope you enjoy it, George certainly did.

I would love to see other peoples attempts.