Adobe/Macromedia have been hard at work on Lightroom for a few months now.  If you're hearing about this app for the first time, Lightroom is a RAW photo processing and organization tool for photographers.  As of now, it's only available for the Apple crowd (a direct challenge to Apple's Aperture?) but a Windows version is planned at some point in the future.

I used the initial release (Beta 1) for a week or so, but deleted it shortly after.  It was taxing the processor on my 1.5ghz G4 PowerBook something fierce, and I didn't feel the need to continue with it.  The interface and tools were all nicely thought out, and the app (other than the cpu-intensive issue - seemed pretty nice.  Given that it's up to Beta 3 now, it may be time for me to give it another spin.

The Beta 3 release notes offer wider RAW format support, Before and After views, Edit History, Keyword import/export, and more.  Lightroom has been a Universal (PPC and Intel friendly) application since Beta 2.

If you're a Lightroom fan, please share your experiences with us.  I'd love to hear what you like, or don't like about it.  If you've got any comparisons to Adobe's Camera Raw, I'd be interested to hear those too.

iView's Media Pro is one of those applications that does a little bit of everything - and seems to do it all well too.  I didn't see a need for it until I tried it out.  I couldn't go back to iPhoto, or Picasa after giving Media Pro 3 a try.  For me, it just works really well, and knows when to give you options to use other programs with it, or use its built-in functionality.

So yesterday the 3.1 update was released.  It's a free upgrade for licensed users, so go and get it if you're already using the software.  A couple of the bigger enhancements are the Notepad and Catalog Viewer.  Catalog Viewer is sort of the iView equivalent of Adobe Acrobat Reader.  It allows a client to install the Catalog Viewer and see shots from their photo shoot.  The Notepad allows you and the client to drag images into it, add notes, and send the whole file off (share it) to the client for review.  Collaboration on photo projects just got a whole lot easier!

There are a few other enhancements as well - additional XML support, larger catalog support, etc, etc.  If you haven't tried Media Pro, I think you'll like what you find.

So what's all this RAW talk in reference to digital photography?  Seems every time there's a camera review, or a technique that's discussed, RAW is mentioned in some way.  So what is it?  Why all the hype?  I'm here to quickly answer these questions for you - hopefully it'll prompt you to get your feet wet and give RAW a try.  It'll change the way you  approach digital photography.

It's probably best to think of the RAW format as the digital version of a photo captured on film.  It requires processing before it can be viewed and used in some way.  RAW captures a great deal more data in each shot, than in a typical JPG capture.  When you get back to your computer, you need software - usually supplied by your camera's manufacturer, but more on this in a minute - to process the large amount of data and produce a viewable photo. 

So what data are we talking about here?  Colors, hues, lighting, and shadows are all elements that are included in a RAW image file.  You can adjust the levels and values of all these elements, tweaking your shot until it's just the way you like it.  You may be thinking, "But I can Photoshop my JPGs just fine."  Well, sort of.  JPG is already a processed (by the camera software) and compressed image file.  It's ready to go immediately.  So when you edit that JPG, you are removing, and/or completely altering the pixels that make up the photograph.  In RAW, you are picking and choosing the values you desire from the many differing values available - then you can save it as a JPG and go from there. It's more technical than that, but this will do for our explanation here.

So of course, more data in the RAW image means a large image file.  For example, my Canon 350D (8 megapixels) produces 2-3 megabyte JPGs and 8-10 megabyte RAW files at the highest quality settings. So use them sparingly, or make sure your media card can handle the added file size before you go on photo safari.

RAW is actually not the file format - it describes a range of file formats that work the same way.  Each camera manufacturer creates their own RAW format, and actually the RAW formats differ from camera model to camera model.  It makes for quite a mess of differing RAW formats when it comes to trying to sort them all out.  But as I mentioned earlier, the camera manufacturer usually provides a software package to handle your camera's RAW files.  Adobe Photoshop CS2 has a RAW plugin called Camera RAW and it works quite nicely.   If you're not crazy about shelling out for Adobe Photoshop CS2, RawShooter is a decent alternative.

Adobe also have a utility that converts all RAW formats into a single, srandard-like format known as Adobe Digital Negative, or DNG.  This is a highly recommended option to use, so 5 years from now, should your camera's RAW file format become end-of-life'd, you've got a 'universal' solution in the DNG.  There's a project known as Open RAW that's working for RAW standardization.  But that's a whole other story...

There's a lot to the whole RAW thing.  Lots more than I've covered here.  But this gives you the gist of many of the things it has to offer you as a digital photographer.  You may still be thinking that this is more hassle than you need.  Depending on what you shoot, you may be right.  But the first time you see how you can save a poorly exposed image by tweaking the RAW file, you'll be hooked.  Of course it's always best to shoot the image as precisely as possible initially, but at first, it's a nice aid for those still learning.

Got RAW questions?  Email me, or ask in the comments.

While I lean toward the Mac side of the house for my computer needs, I'll admit that OS X lacks a bit in the handling of photographs.  Mind you - iPhoto is great, as is Aperture - from what I hear - but they are add-on software items.  I'm referring to the accessibility of photos from the operating system, or file browser level.  Maybe this hangup is a hold over from my long past Windows days, who knows.  At this point, I'm comfortable with my digital workflow - something I'll be talking about in more detail in the coming days - and file-browser level access (or rather, the lack thereof) isn't an issue for me.  But I still think Windows got something right with the way they make photos so accessible in Explorer.

It looks like Vista - when it finally drops... - will be built to really step the handling of digital photos up a level.  From the filing, to the labelling and organization, to the options available to working with those photos.  The whole package looks pretty well thought out.  Browse through the pages on Microsoft (linked below) for details on the processes and capabilities to look forward to.  Try not to get too excited though, because the way it's been going, Vista seems like it may be perpetually pushed-back...

Digital Domain has released the latest version of its professional photographic printing software Qimage v2006.250. The Windows based software sports new features including double borders, border sizing, new color management, floating text, and an improved print quality for extensive enlargements.  Additional features include border dropping and custom cosmetic changes.

If your kit includes (or is limited to) a Canon PowerShot, there's a good chance you'll be interested in the PSRemote from Breeze Systems.  Just updated to version 1.5, PSRemote allows a photographer to connect their camera to their computer, and use the computer as the control over the camera as it snaps pictures.

You can use a live, on-screen view, near instant on-screen review of shots, and even download directly to the PC, rather than storing on the card.  This all assumes of course, that you've got a portable notebook, or will be using the camera/PSRemote/PC in a stationary studio setting.

A nice feature that PSRemote offers the Point & Shoot crowd, is auto bracketing, which will then enable the production of High Dynamic Range blended images.  A whole new world of shooting can be opened up by using the PSRemote software.

PSRemote for PowerShot cameras is $49, with a 15 day free trial.  It's Windows only, sorry Mac users.  Breeze Systems has a version of PSRemote for the Canon dSLR shooters as well.

Heads-up all you Aperture users out there.  You may have noticed that with Apple's premier Photo app, your storage library is restricted to a single hard drive volume.  With available megapixels soaring, your collection will stack up quickly.  So if you grab the Aperture Library Spanner, you can quickly and easily expand your storage capacities available to Aperture.  It's free.  Enjoy.  (Link's below)

A big issue with Digital Photography - one that's over-looked too often - is how to back-up and protect those important files.  I've heard far too much of friends who don't archive their images and have a hard drive problem, and their baby's birth photos are lost forever.

There's a number of ways to protect against that rainy day.  I personally archive my photos to 2 extra hard drives, alternating each month, in case one of them dies.  As a secondary safety I try to burn DVD back-ups every couple weeks - or however often is necessary to fit all my images on a single disc. 

Well ProtectMyPhotos has another solution to add to your available options.  You install their software on your computer, and point to the folders on your computer that you want protected, and it handles the back-up to their servers in the background.  No hassle for you.  Better yet, they archive your photos to different data centers, in the event one has trouble. 

You can get 100MB of storage free.  Unlimited storage on a monthly basis is $5.95, and yearly is $49.95.

The fall of communism made it possible for the rest of the world to enjoy goodies that once hid behind the formidable Iron Curtain. Caviar, dogs that can fly rocket ships, women athletes that look like men, and now, Photo Toolkit.

Photo Toolkit provides quick access to a number of useful editing options right from your image viewing program. According to its makers, it won’t embarrass you with a complicated interface that only canine cosmonauts can understand, and is priced at $20, a relief for us who dont have the money for photoshop. This software not only allows you to view your photos in Windows Explorer or in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, you can also edit those using different tools. Could be the best thing out of Russia since vodka.