Welcome to another Tip Tuesday video. We kickoff part 2 in our “Fix a Tiger Photo” series, this time demonstrating how to extract the tiger for a better composite image. Check it out:

If you aren’t a regular reader over at TipSquirrel.com this is a good week to start. Today Tipsy kicks off the Lightroom 3 series which will run the next two weeks. This is your opportunity to win great prizes, view tutorials, read the latest tips, and did I mention win prizes? As an added bonus this week you can get a massive 35% off Lightroom 3 books from our friends at Peachpit with the code “LR3week”

Time for another Tip Tuesday video tutorial. Today is Part 1 of our “Fix a Tiger Photo” series. I’ll be demonstrating how I use Lightroom to prep our tiger for extraction & masking. Check it out:

It’s Tip Tuesday and this week I have a Photoshop demo on removing a blurry fence whipped out at twice the speed, minus the explanation. Don’t fear, next week I’ll break it all down. Check it out:

Now for something a little different. Music is the tie that binds my family together.

My sister has a new band The Redwood Plan. Check out their website & live performance videos on YouTube.

Hello everyone! Today I’m going to show you that it’s okay to destroy pixels. Sometimes making a composite image doesn’t require fancy layer masks or clipping paths, a good ole Eraser tool will do just fine. Have a look.

Time for another Tip Tuesday! It’s all about image sharpening, and the improvements made to Lightroom 3 & Adobe Camera RAW 6. Check it out:

UPDATE 08/12/2010 – I’ve been getting some questions about sharpening in Lightroom vs sharpening in Photoshop. There is an excellent article over at Brett Edge Photography where Nat Coalson details the differences between “capture sharpening” & “output sharpening”.

Adobe released an update to Illustrator CS5 which addresses several known issues – Download Mac Update or Download PC Update

Be sure to visit Adobe’s website for a complete list of all available software updates.

As listed in the Illustrator CS5 Read Me file:

Problems specific to running Illustrator on Mac with RAM exceeding 4 gb.
This update resolves a problem Illustrator had running on high Ram Machines. On some systems, after opening large complex files, certain operations would fail. This could range from shortcut keys no longer working, rulers disappearing, files not opening, to in some cases, application crashes.

Glyphs panel failing to insert stylistic alternatives for glyphs.
This update includes a repair to the Glyphs panel, which was failing to insert stylistic alternates. The panel now works as expected.

Crash caused by fonts with bad FOND resource file. (Mac only)
This update fixes a problem where problem fonts with bad FOND resources could cause the application to crash at launch.

Illustrator crashes at launch with some non-default system preferences (Mac Only)
When some system preferences, like “Number Thousand Separators” were changed to non-default settings, Illustrator was crashing when launched. This no longer occurs with this update.

Illustrator Crashes when the application is quit immediately after launch (Windows only)
This release resolves a crash that occurs if the application is closed immediately after launching, before the application bar is fully loaded.

Illustrator crashes on Quit immediately after signing into or signing out of CS Live or CS Review (Mac only)
Several Mac only issues regarding services were addressed in this update. Crashes could occur when you either sign-in or sign-out of CS Live or CS Review and Quit Ai immediately, while the sign-in/sign-out process is still underway.

Copy from Illustrator and Paste Special as EMF into other applications not working.
There was a problem where copying within Illustrator, then pasting special as EMF in other applications, such as PowerPoint or Excel, stopped working. This has been resolved with this update.

Horizontal Lines appear on gradient mesh objects after rasterization.
During rasterization, either from the Object>Rasterize menu, saving to a raster format or printing to a bitmap printer, horizontal lines could appear on objects. There were many scenarios where this was an issue. Most of these issues have been addressed in this update.

Illustrator crashes when traversing a Dataset of a Variables Library which contains linked images.
After importing a Variable library with linked images, traversing through the dataset was causing Illustrator to crash. This has been addressed in this update.

Illustrator crashes when launched on XP SP3 if automatic scheduled task creation is disabled.
Illustrator was crashing at launch on XP machines with Service Pack 3 for specific domain configurations if automatic scheduled task creation is disabled. This has been resolved in this update.

Be sure to visit Adobe’s website for a complete list of all available software updates.

It’s Tip Tuesday, and today I’m answering Firgs request to demonstrate why RAW is better than JPEG when it comes to adjusting White Balance. This video continues the thread started in yesterday’s post on using RAW vs JPEG. In the video I demonstrate white balance adjustments in both Lightroom AND Adobe Camera RAW. Check it out:

Last week Firgs opened up her Designer Roundtable discussion with the topic RAW vs JPEG and whether it matters to designers. I responded in the comments that designers could simply use the JPEG provided to them or take advantage of what RAW has to offer for more creative post-processing.  She followed up with a question about practical things designers need to know about using RAW vs JPEG. With that here are my Top Five Things to know about RAW vs JPEG:

1. White Balance.
When using Adobe Camera RAW or Lightroom, you have the ability to change the image white balance without affecting image quality. In fact, the white balance settings will reflect the available features in camera, e.g., Daylight, Fluorescent, Tungsten, Flash, etc. You can also choose “As Shot” or let the program Auto white balance. When creating a custom white balance you can read & adjust the color temperature of the RAW file.

When using a JPEG file  you can adjust white balance, but it’s not the same as changing the settings. Adobe Camera RAW & Lightroom only give you three choices–Auto, As Shot or Custom. When creating a custom white balance setting you make a +/- adjustment without seeing the color temperature.

2. Bit Depth.
As referenced in Brandon’s article JPEG is limited by being an 8-bit format. While the visual difference between 8-bit & 16-bit might be invisible to most people (I can’t see it), there’s definitely more headroom in the RAW format. If you’re only printing consumer sizes then you may not miss 16-bit, but REALLY large sizes–billboards–take advantage of the extra color data. As Brandon outlined so well, you will see the difference processing an 8-bit file repeatedly over time.

3. Noise.
The latest versions of Adobe Camera RAW & Lightroom include much improved Noise Reduction. Making these adjustments appear smoother and frankly look better when done to a RAW file. (Although you know YOU CAN process JPEG files with Adobe Camera RAW and Lightroom right?) UPDATE 08/09/2010 – Watch this video from Terry White to see how to use JPEGs in Camera RAW

4. Control.
Simply put RAW files are unprocessed. As I tell students in my digital photography classes, RAW is like developing film yourself in a darkroom, while JPEG is akin to picking up the final prints from WalMart. A RAW file let’s you decide the final settings for white balance, exposure, hue, saturation, luminance, just to name a few. A JPEG is already predisposed to settings which you can only manipulate.

5. Saving a JPEG is like recording to VHS cassette.
JPEG by its very nature adds compression when saving a file. This compression–regardless of quality setting–is destructive in nature. JPEG is a known “lossy” format which is why TIFF (lossless format) is generally preferred by print vendors. Every time you save a JPEG–making digital copies is different–you run the compression algorithm degrading the file.

Changes to RAW images are generally written out to metadata, therefore the format itself is non-destructive. Given that Adobe Camera RAW & Lightroom are designed to work with RAW images you can further take advantage of this ability.

Prior to Camera RAW, designers saved their master files as Photoshop PSD or TIFF. Why? Because JPEG is a destructive format.

But wait…

Is there ever an instance where creatives would prefer JPEG over RAW?

1. Speed.
For photographers who shoot action, JPEG is the faster format. Smaller files allow for more images to be buffered, RAW is simply too slow.

2. Hardware doesn’t support RAW.
I have met a number of event photographers who provide clients with print-on-demand or “instant printing” services while onsite. Many of these photographers opt to keep the hardware setup as small as possible, meaning they just bring a photo printer & forgo a laptop. While I know newer printers allow WiFi printing, it’s been my experience that printers with media slots only read JPEG files. If you want to print & go without using a laptop then you’d have to consider using JPEG in this instance. What about shooting RAW & JPEG in camera? Again, if you need the file immediately that’s an option. I’d rather you not waste card space and download the free app Instant JPEG from RAW.

3. Storage.
I think this is the weakest of the arguments I come across. Hard drive storage is becoming more cost effective for everyone. Also, as photographers we should be shooting for quality NOT quantity. Discipline in our work will mean less wasted storage space.

Notice the pro JPEG statements apply mainly to the photographers creating the initial image. Bringing this back to my original statement, IF a designer only needs a base image, small format, 8-bit for the web or print, then JPEG will suffice. However, the most creative license for post-processing will be had from a RAW file.