by Steve Eshom on July 19, 2006
You probably saw the announcements this morning about Adobe’s Lightroom Beta 3 for Windows. So, what is Lightroom? Lightroom is a workflow and editing package which is one part Photoshop, one part photo organizer, and one part import tool. Adobe calls it a ‘project’ at this point because as they describe, the software is being ”built from the ground up by photographers, for photographers”. According to Adobe the goal is to provide a flexible streamlined work flow adaptable for any photographer or photographic style.
As a Windows user, this is my first opportunity to get my hands on this and see what it can do for me. I’m excited about this because from what I’ve heard from my Mac friend this software is spectacular and really improves the import functions. My current photo editing tool is Photoshop Elements 3.0. This software is certainly adequate for the amateur photographer and has served me well. I’ve long been thinking about jumping to CS2, but on the average foamer budget that isn’t necessarily possible. According to what I’ve read, Lightroom is supposed to be priced somewhere between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. So, if the price is right and the features are focused to photographers this could be the right thing for advancing the state of the art in my room.
If you are serious about your digital railfan photography and digital processing, go check out the 20 minute overview video on the Lightroom site and see what you think.
Technorati Tags: camera, software, workflow, lightroom
by Aaron Hockley on July 18, 2006
If you haven’t checked out Trainfoamers, you should. It’s where a lot of the decent ex-Trainorders members (photobob, Don Winslow, MargaretSPfan) have gone, and it hasn’t yet been invaded by the immature teenagers that seem to be taking over RailroadForums.
The other site worth monitoring at the moment is RailroadPhotoEssays – it’s a bit slow, but the quality of the material and discussions is usually pretty good.
Technorati Tags: railroad, trains, trainorders, railroadforums, trainfoamers
by Aaron Hockley on June 30, 2006
One of my favorite features of IMatch, falling into the “gee that’s nice info to have accessible” realm, is Data-Driven Categories. IMatch can dynamically assign images to categories based on the EXIF or XMP data stored with the image when it was shot on a digital camera.
What does that mean in real life? Well it means I can tell it to index on the EXIF lens field, and get something like this:
If I want to quickly see all images shot with a particular lens, the info is ready to go. You can setup a data-driven category for anything in the EXIF, such as aperture, focal length, lens, etc.
Technorati Tags: imatch, photools, dam, digitalassetmanagement, exif
by Aaron Hockley on June 27, 2006
Looks like another big name is now in the Digital Asset Management field. Microsoft has purchased iView, makes of iView Media Pro, one of the biggest DAM tools. This means Microsoft will now be competing against Adobe, Imatch, Extensis, and others in the market for tools for cataloging photos and other media.
Technorati Tags: microsoft, iview, dam, digital asset management
by Aaron Hockley on June 26, 2006
