1. Go to the Lightroom 2 Help page directly.
2. At the bottom of that page, choose Help on the Web
3. Close your browser.

Now, the next time you launch Lightroom 2 and use the Help > Lightroom Help menu, you should go directly to the Lightroom 2 help doc.

That said, don’t give up on the Community Help page! There is a ton of great info to be found from there, and even the links to the Help pages for all versions of Lightroom under the Additional Help menu:

And you can still access all the Lightroom 2 content via the search field at the top of the Community Help page:

What about Lightroom 3?

When you launch Lightroom 3 and go to Help > Lightroom Help don’t be surprised if the Adobe Community Help AIR application opens, which runs a local version of the Community Help as well as the Help docs. Enjoy!

Thanks for having me on the show Jason!

All seems well until you launch Lightroom the next time and see Edit in Adobe Photoshop (not found).

But you know CS5 is installed because you can launch it directly just fine! So, thinking this is a Lightroom problem you might trash your Lightroom preferences or uninstall/reinstall Lightroom to no success. The issue is that Lightroom relies on a registry setting created by Photoshop when it is installed. However, when you uninstall the older version of Photoshop it removes that registry setting and Lightroom becomes blind to Photoshop’s existence.

Adobe has a TechNote that provides 2 solutions to fixing the problem. Both solutions work. Most people seem more comfortable with the reinstall of Photoshop option over the registry edit. Unfortunately, the only way I know to avoid the problem is to uninstall the old version first, then install the new. Hope that helps you plan ahead or at least regain your sanity after discovering the problem the old fashioned way (by accident).

First, and most important in my view, is improved image quality. I was impressed with the changes made to the rendering of raw files in the first beta release, but the subsequent tweaks and the addition of an improved luminance noise reduction has made me want to go back and reprocess many of my older photos. Yeah, I think it really is that good.

Second, and almost as important, is performance. The first beta was not optimized for speed, but they’ve definitely taken the feedback to heart and put more pep under the hood. From the import dialog to rendering previews to working in Develop, I am seeing definite improvements.

Now, before you run off and grab your free copy I implore you to do the following:

• Read the release notes. Go no further until you do. It isn’t that long and it may save you a lot of frustration down the road.
• Make sure your Lightroom catalogs and your system are backed up. Any excuse to confirm a solid backup is a good one. Don’t pass on the opportunity to save your own assets.
• Know how to replace the Lightroom preference file should things go wonky.

After reading the release notes you will learn that if you are on Windows then this version of the Lightroom Beta will overwrite the previous beta version, but if you are on a Mac the two versions can live side-by-side. I personally would choose to uninstall the old version and then install the new version since I only used it for testing purposes anyway (right?). Both beta versions can be installed alongside Lightroom 1 or 2 without problem.

To uninstall on a Mac, open the Applications folder and drag the Lightroom 3 Beta icon to the trash.

To uninstall on Windows, use the Add/Remove programs utility in the control panel.

Just like the first version of the Lightroom 3 Beta, this version will not upgrade your Lightroom 2 (or Lightroom 1) catalogs, but it will upgrade the previous beta catalog if you have one. You might find this guest post I did on importing photos from Lightroom 2 into Lightroom 3 beta and its follow up on migrating Lightroom 2 catalogs to Lightroom 3 revisited helpful.

Aside from the improvements I’ve mentioned here’s a few more things I’m glad to see:

• Support for copying video files off memory cards. No, Lightroom can’t edit video files, but at least it won’t just ignore them, and you can use Lightroom to manage them.
• An easy way to change the orientation of the crop rectangle, just press the X key to flip it! This may be reason alone to buy the upgrade. I look forward to not having to send people to this changing crop orientation tutorial anymore.




• A new function to pre-render previews for slideshows to avoid the problem of slides being skipped or shows getting hung up  in a loop due to the lack of completed preview rendering. Yes, sometimes it is the little things that make our lives better.

I’m just picking my favorites though. To get the complete rundown of improvements and new features head over to Lightroom Journal. Did I mention the release notes? Then join the party over in the Adobe Labs forum. They’ve even produced a beta version of the Lightroom 3 help file for you.

Additionally, there are some excellent LIghtroom 3 Beta 2 roundups from my favorite Lightroom gurus worth checking out:

• Victoria Bampton
• Mark Wilson
• Ian Lyons
• Richard Earney
• Jeffrey Friedl
• Sean McCormack
• Gene McCullagh

Even though it is more tempting than ever to abandon Lightroom 2 in favor of this beta release it is still a Beta release. It is not finished. Adobe is even teasing us by saying there may be more up their collective sleeve, so treat it accordingly and have fun kicking the tires!

First, here is Dave Cross’ updated planner for Orlando. Second, there is an iPhone app for that too!

There is also a Flickr group for sharing PSW photos. If you are free on Tuesday the 23rd, come by the Rosen Centre Poolside lounge around 7:30 for the official PSW tweetup as I hear @Lightroom will be sharing something. I’ll be there!

Here’s an extra tip I find really useful, when I am first using the Adjustment Brush to apply any setting I prefer to start with all sliders zeroed out and the mask overlay visible. This way I can just focus on applying the brush strokes to the right part of the image. Once the brush strokes have been applied I’ll hide the overlay and work on tweaking the settings as needed. The non-destructive editing capability of the Adjustment Brush is one of its most useful features, so don’t be afraid to experiment. You don’t need to get it right the first time!

If you are using the Lightroom 3 Beta you can simply hold the Alt/Option key and the Effect label changes to Reset. Click Reset and you are all zeroed out. The preset works equally well in the beta too, so if you prefer that option you can still use it.

To install this preset:

1. Download and unzip the .lrtemplate file.
2. In Lightroom, go to Preferences > Presets and click the Show Lightroom Presets Folder button.
3. When your file browser opens, navigate inside the Lightroom folder and copy the zeroed.lrtemplate file into the Local Adjustment Presets folder.
4. Restart Lightroom and look for the “Zeroed” preset in the Effect drop-down menu in either the Adjustment Brush or the Graduated Filter.