As a photographer, I've been using Adobe Lightroom for several years. For the past two years I have been using it as part of the Adobe Photographers' Creative Cloud Subscription along with Photoshop CC. I primarily use Lightroom as a Digital Asset Management tool and my main photo editor. I rarely use Photoshop CC for photo editing, choosing to use Nik filters instead. However, from time to time, I use Photoshop for digital scrapbooking.

The Canadian dollar has taken quite a beating in the past few months. Our dollar has gone from being on par with the US dollar to now only being worth 75 cents. This has impacted the price of several of my online services billed in USD, causing them to go up by approx. 30% yet my salary hasn't gone up by the same amount!

The Adobe CC subscription has gone from $11.20 CDN per month to almost $15 CDN per month. The only alternative to "renting" Lightroom is to buy it outright. Again Adobe and the exchange rate have steadily increased the cost from approx. $89 to $198 CDN in the past handful of years. This wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't buying it on top of the $300 I've spent on renting the software in the past two years.

Sony A6000 - Camera of the Year 2014

When I recently purchased the Sony A6000 I noticed it came with Capture One Express for Sony. Capture One Pro (by Phase One) is a Lightroom competitor targeting professional photographers. As well as being a digital asset management system (DAM) it also allows you to modify photos directly in Capture One in the same way Lightroom does. On doing some further investigation into the software, I discovered that many photographers considered this software superior in both results and power to Lightroom. So I decided to give it a try by loading up my Lightroom catalog and experimenting.

First, I had some trouble loading my 70k photo Lightroom catalog into Capture One Express. The catalog loaded by the system was dreadfully slow and kept crashing my Mac. I created a 2nd catalog and this time imported my photos directly into the catalog without trying to convert the LR catalog file. This went much better. As I didn't want to lose my keywords, I first set Lightroom to embed the keywords into Jpgs and create XMP sidecar files for the RAW images. I then imported the files into Capture One Express. Note, while Capture One Express says it is for Sony, I noticed it opens my Panasonic and Olympus RAW files - although I haven't tried working with them yet. [Edited: I now notice it will not preview my DNG files.]

It's early days but so far I'm really enjoying it. I like that it has the concept of layers and masks which is far more intuitive to me than how Lightroom handles adjustments. Many of the tools are easier to use also. You can still round trip files to Photoshop/Elements/Nik etc for further adjustment.

The Pro version is available as a $50 USD upgrade and buys you the ability to tether shoot and customize your workspace, although I am waiting to see if I *need* to do this upgrade. At this point, I'd say the biggest feature I'll miss from Lightroom is the ability to load photos directly to Flickr. However, this is not a dealbreaker for me.

So if like me, you are looking to get off the Creative Cloud, there are other alternatives out there. You don't have to be locked into Lightroom.

Other Lightroom to Capture One articles:
http://www.dearsusan.net/2014/07/02/242-showdown-1-lightroom-vs-capture-one/
http://ibakeheshoots.com/5-reasons-why-i-ditched-lightroom-for-capture-one-pro/

I really enjoy looking through Pinterest posts recommended by my friends.

Today I saw the cutest Word Art Panel pinned by my friend Lisa, that I just had to have. Here is the original, created by Lauren:

What a great idea! (ok, maybe sharing my age might not be a great idea....)

I'm trying to get into digital scrapbooking again. This has been a lot more difficult than it sounds. When I moved from from PC to Mac a year ago, I didn't really think about how I'd access my digital scrapbooking programs including ACDSee, the program that organizes all my digital scrapbooking supplies.

To my disappointment, I discovered ACDSee for Mac can't open an ACDSee for Windows catalog. This meant I'd either have to stay with the Windows version or retag all my png files again (not the jpgs because tags can be embedded in jpg files, just not png files. And note, png have transparency so I couldn't convert them to jpgs).

Of course, the snag to staying on Windows was that I wanted to use my Mac with Lightroom for photo editing and management, but to scrapbook I'd want both the photos and the supplies on the same computer.

Well my new solution isn't perfect but I'll document it for you in case you are struggling with the same thing. I have Lightroom set up on an EHD (note Lightroom can't access a networked catalog, it must be local), including the catalog, thumbnails and photos. On the same EHD is my folder of digital scrapbook supplies and my ACDSee catalog. The EHD is NTFS formatted and my mac is running a driver that allows it to read and write to the EHD.

My Workflow
I prepare the photos using Lightroom on my Mac but export the photos I think I'll need to jpg with all the edits onto the EHD. Then I unplug the EHD and plug it into the PC, open up Photoshop and ACDSee on the PC and pull all the supplies and photos into PS. Ideally I'd like to be able to use the Mac for the scrapbooking/PS piece but that would mean identifying the supplies in advance and copying them to a readily accessible location.

If you have any suggestions as to how I could improve my workflow I'd be interested in hearing them!

Here's the layout:

It's been a long time since I scrapbooked, but here a couple of new pages:

The Monthly is Cathy Zielske's answer to the project 365 photo documenting craze that has gotten a lot of popularity in the last few years. Cathy (like me) can't commit to a daily regimen of taking photos.  I thought after my Daily December 2008 that I was ready for the Project 365 so I tried it back at the beginning of 2009 and it lapsed after a few weeks.  Trying to remember to take a photo daily, especially in the Winter when you can't go out (or don't want to), is really hard work and I admire anyone that can actually do it.

The Monthly is Cathy's solution to documenting the real moments of your life without the pressure of taking photos daily or on any schedule. In fact, the system she's devised allows you to take as many or as few photos as you want during the month. Basically it's a set of templates from designer digitals that includes a title page, a monthly title page (12 variations), a journaling page, a journaling and photo page, and several other collage templates for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Back to 2009, these photos are still largely un-scrapbooked and held prisoner inside my computer. So I thought it would be a good idea to test drive her system using the photos I took in 2009.  So here goes.

Title page

Monthly opener

Journaling page

Like most of my projects, we'll see how long I can keep doing this :) but I'm feeling better about those photos already knowing that I can simply "slap" them onto a page and call it done.

As a recap you might want to read this article on how I set up my Category Drawers digitally in Photoshop Elements.  Now while Elements lets you set up sub-categories and keywords at different levels, it turns out that when you write them to the files, that they are not hierarchical at all. (And of course, if you don't write them to the files, you won't have any at all).

This means that when you read them in Bridge, they are all jumbled up because they are sorted alphabetically by keyword, and the categories are actually ignored.  To some people this is OK, but in the Library of Memories this is not helpful.

Bridge can support Hierarchical keywording which is just what you need for the LOM system.  To check it is switched on, select Edit, Preferences, Keywords.  I suggest that you uncheck the "automatically apply parent keywords", and check the other two boxes (Write and Read hierarchical keywords).

So I had to look for a way to bring those hierarchies over from Elements to Bridge.  So this is what I did.

1. First you need to open Elements Organizer and make sure that your categories/keywords are all cleaned up, no duplicates etc.  You cannot have 2 tags the same even if they are in different categories.  To fix this, rename the tag to incorporate it's parent category so that the duplicates are now unique.

2. Use the Edit, Write Keyword Tag and Properties Info to file function to ensure that all the keywords are written in the metadata of your files.  You will need to do a Ctrl+A to select All before chosing to do this.  This process can take a really really long time in Elements so be prepared to walk away from the computer for an hour or two.

3. Next open a spreadsheet program (Excel, Works, whatever).  Starting with the top of your LOM categories (in my case People) open up your categories and sub-categories in the Organizer so you can see them all.  Back in the spreadsheet, start typing in each category/tag vertically in column A.  I had around 200 entries by the time I was done.  Phew!

4. Save your spreadsheet if you haven't already!

5. In your spreadsheet program, select File, Save As, and choose a text document (.txt) format with tab delimitation.  In Works this looks like Text & Tabs.

6. Now open Bridge CS4.  You are probably on the default "Essentials" view.  Select the "Metadata" view.  You should have a Keywords pane on the right side of the screen.

7. If there are any keywords displaying in the Keywords pane, right click on them to remove them from the keywords list. You can select multiple keywords if necessary.  It is best to start from scratch to avoid confusion.

8. In the keywords pane, on the right top corner is a drop down menu icon.  Click on it and select Import.  Navigate your way to the .txt file you saved earlier.  And select it, click Ok and import it into Bridge.  You will eventually see your keywords show up in a list.  This list appears alphabetically and is jumbled because there is no hierarchy, all tags are at the top level.

9. Using "drag & drop" mouse technique, go about recreating the same structure you had in Photoshop Elements.  Simply drag the sub-categories onto the top level categories, and the keywords onto their parent categories.

Now when I go to a photo, I can see the keywords with their correct hierarchy, a la Library of Memories.

I've written several tutorials about using Photoshop Elements for the Library of Memories system taught at BigPictureScrapbooking.com and detailed in the book "Photo Freedom" by Stacy Julian.

As a LOM 2009 alumni, I get to take the course for free again this year.  This is just as well because I never did finish "everything" in the course.  To recap, I organized my photos, created my cold storage, my binders etc all in PSE and even created some layouts with my newly organized photos.  But every organization system needs an overhaul once in a while and taking the course again this year is an opportunity to take a fresh look at what I've been doing, and how it can be improved (or not).

One big change for me since last year, is Photoshop CS4.  I purchased Photoshop CS4 back in July of last year.  It was a great deal as part of the Wacom tablet owners program, you can get a full version of Photoshop CS4 for $299 USD.  Anyway, I have to admit that I haven't fully made the leap from PSE to PS CS4.  This mainly boils down to the high comfort level I have with PSE7 Editor over the newly designed Photoshop Editor CS4.  The second reason is that my photos are currently organized in the PSE7 Organizer.

For those that aren't aware, Photoshop CS4 comes with it's own organizer called Bridge.  Bridge isn't a database driven organizer (like PSE Organizer, Lightroom, ACDSee).  It is simply a powerful file browser, more like the File Explorer in Windows or iPhoto on a Mac.  And I've been a little put off by the process of figuring out a new workflow for my photo organization/editing.

But a new year is a new year, and I'm feeling inspired, so I've embarked on the journey of switching my workflow from PSE7 to Photoshop / Bridge CS4 and I'm going to document the process, through in some tutorials and (hopefully) you'll follow me on this journey.

More to come....

Just passing along a link to an amazing blog entry with links to 140 photoshop action sets. Yummy!

http://free-web-design.co.cc/140-amazing-photoshop-actions-sets-and-tutorials.html

There's a *FREE* Photoshop course here http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/free-6-month-photoshop-course/

They need 1000 people signed up to make it viable. The classes are weekly at 11am PST for 6 months. Check it out!

DSC_4901 NVan+eyepop, originally uploaded by Marina Garrison.

The weather here has been a little crazy, first continual rain then almost a whole week of scorching sunshine and now back to clouds, definitely not what you expect for Spring.

I took advantage of a warm spell yesterday to snap a quick picture of K in front of a Lily of the Valley bush next door as I wanted to try out Nichole Van's Essential Color Pop action for Photoshop. The results are quite nice but I had to tone it down a bit as the defaults were just too strong for my taste. I also used the eye pop (screen mode, selective mask) technique on this one.

Let me know if you like it!

Hmmm, I'm gonna get a rep' for either disliking Photoshop or the beauty/cosmetics industry, but I am continously amazed at the lengths some people go to edit images of beautiful women to try to sell cosmetics and beauty products.

Here's an eye opening video for ya! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PWdW4BruF4

Today I read an article that looks at the recent use of photoshop airbrushing on the front cover of Redbook magazine.

The cover photo concerned is of 39-year old, Country singer, Faith Hill. This article is well worth a read, and you need to follow the link just to look at the before and after photos - they are unbelievable.

I feel insulted that Redbook felt this was necessary to "sell" their magazine. Faith is a beautiful looking woman and this touch up was completely unnecessary, and continues to perpetuate the myth that women must be stick thin to be attractive.

Anyway, my two cents, I'd love to know what you think.

So after taking iView MediaPro for a whirl, I've decided it's just too slow for my computer. Each time I click on something it goes into the "Not Responding" mode on my computer. I've tried having the catalog locally but the problem doesn't go away. I don't plan to load my photos on my laptop so I don't know if that will fix the problem as I didn't try.

In the meantime, I am taking the opportunity to use Adobe Bridge (part of Photoshop) to catalog my photos with keywords and ratings. This will take me a good week or so to finish up. These ratings and keywords should be recognizable by most programs and are written directly into my .jpg files.

In addition, I'm going to test drive both Flickr and Zooomr as photo galleries. More on this soon.