Recently, I posted on how to quickly create fine art prints in Lightroom (check out that post here). An important part of doing that is to create a custom Identity plate and center it in the background. If it’s white, you’re set - the color of the canvas is white by default, so slight misaligns go largely unnoticed. If you have a colored background, though, things get ugly. This post details how to fix the problem.

The Problem

When you have an identity plate with an image of any color, you have to PERFECTLY align the identity plate on the stage. Easier said than done. In most other Adobe products, you get an align tool or a feature that snaps things to grid when you get close. Not the case with this feature in Lightroom. I found it literally impossible to perfectly align it, always leaving small slivers of white. Click the image below for an example.

The Solution

The only way I was able to solve this problem was to save my fine art print setup as a Template and then edit the template file.

1. Create a fine art print setup by following the steps in my previous post.
2. Save it as a Template by clicking the + sign in the Template browser panel, giving it a name and clicking the Create button.
3. Now’s the semi-tricky part. You need to locate that template file on your computer. In Windows Vista your templates are located at the following directory by default: C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\ Lightroom\Print Templates. If you are on a Mac or Windows XP, you’ll need to consult Lightroom help for the proper location. Also, you may have saved your presets in a different folder (in the Catalog settings)- if so, look there instead.
4. Open the file of the appropriate preset name with a text editor. On Windows, you may need to right-click and choose Open With… and specify a program like Notepad.
5. Scroll through or use the search feature to find any line that shows identityPlatePosH or identityPlatePosV. You’ll want to set the number on the right side of the equal sign on that line to .5 for each. They are probably close to .5 already - but it needs to be exact. See the lines I highlighted in the screenshot below for an example. I changed the values here and in one other place in this file. This is actually easier than it sounds. Once the file is opened, the lines are pretty easy to scan through.

1. Save and close the file.
2. If Lightroom is still open, close and re-start it. If already closed, go ahead and start it up. When you go back to the Print module and click on your preset, you should see that the Identify Plate is perfectly lined up.
3. Repeat for any other fine art print templates you want to create. For example, I created one for portrait-oriented pictures and one for landscape-oriented pictures. The identifyPlatePosH and identityPlatePosV should be set to .5 in every case.

Lightroom’s printing capabilities are amazing. Its ease of use and variety of features blow me away! One of the things I like about it is the ability to create a fine art print, like the one shown above.

Outputting Your Fine Art Print to an Image - Finally!

Version 1 allowed you to send a fine art print to the printer, but if you wanted it in an electronic copy for e-mailing, sending to an online printer, or for posting on the web, you had to use another method, like Photoshop. Lightroom 2 changes all that. It now allows you to export the fine art prints you set up in the Print module directly to a JPEG.

Changing the Background Color of Your Fine Art Print

One thing that Lightroom 2 doesn’t allow you to do directly, though, is change the background color of the fine art print. It is always set to white. If you use the right steps, though, you’ll be able to create something with any background color you’d like. The rest of this post provides steps on how to change the background color of your fine art prints directly in Lightroom 2 and then export them to a JPEG (the color changing techniques will still work in Lightroom 1, you just won’t be able to export it to a JPEG).

How to Do It

We have 2 things going on here. First, we need to change the color of the background of the fine art print. Second, we need to output it as an image. Several steps require that you create an image outside Lightroom. I use Photoshop in the examples, but you could use any similar image editing program.

How to Change the Color

1. Determine the size you want your final fine art print to be. I find that an 8×10″ provides a nice size, especially when posting on the web or e-mailing. Any size could be used, though. You’ll also want to decide about how much area will be taken up by the photo and how much will be color and/or your logo or descriptive text. I choose to set my fine art prints to have more space around the image than others do.
2. Open Photoshop and create a blank document at the size you chose in step 1. If the fine art print will be used for the web/email/etc., set the resolution to 72. If you’ll be printing it, I recommend setting it to 300. Click OK.

1. Fill the document with the color that you’d like the background of your fine art print to be. Also, place any logos or other text in the document. Make sure to place them in areas that won’t be covered by a picture in the final fine art print. Most people place the logo/text directly below the image area.

1. Save the document as a .jpeg or .tiff file.
2. Open Lightroom and go to the Print module.
3. In the Layout section, set your margins and cell size as needed to have your image fill the fine art print as much/little as you’d like. I also typically check the Zoom to Fill option in the Settings panel. It makes sure that the image fills the entire available area. You can click/drag the image to position it as needed in its assigned space.

1. The key to changing the background color is to change the overlay. In many cases, this is used to simply place a logo or other text on the image. Go ahead and check the Identity Plate option and click the down arrow just below that setting and choose Edit. Click the Locate File… button and choose the file that you saved back in step 4. Once chosen, click the OK button.
2. Make sure that the Opacity and Scale sliders are both set to 100%.
3. At this point, your image may be hidden by your new frame. To move it behind the image, click the Render Behind Image option. You can click/drag on the background to position it correctly. [Update - positioning it exactly can be very difficult. Read this recent post on how to get it exact.]

1. Your fine art print is now ready to export as an image.

Output the Fine Art Print as an Image

Now that your fine art print is built, you can export it as an image.

1. Go to the Print Job panel. Select JPEG File from the Print to: drop-down.
2. Set the File Resolution to 72.
3. Set the appropriate JPEG Quality - I find that 80 is a good balance between quality and file size.
4. Set the Custom File Dimensions to the size of your document. Mine are set to 8×10″.
5. Set the Profile to sRGB, which is the preferred color profile when viewing your image on a monitor.
6. Once done, click the Print to File… button. Give your image a name and save it to a location on your computer.

That should do it. Hopefully you now have an image of your fine art print, with a different background color. I would recommend saving this as a print preset, which allows you to easily re-use it in the future.

A reminder of the final image…

Welcome to the first section of Studio Strobes and Setup for Beginners. Check out the intro to the series here.

One of the cornerstones to studios and the focus for today’s post is choosing studio lighting. It’s time to decide what lights should be used. We’ll consider several options. Other aspects, like light modifiers, backgrounds, etc. will be examined in future posts in this series.

How to Decide

When deciding what type of studio lighting you should use, you’ll want to consider several questions:

• How much $$ can I spend?
• How much light output do I need?
• How flexible do I want my choice to be?
• How hot can the lights be?

Some Options

You’ll have several different options, depending on how you answered the questions above.

Continuous lights provide always on light, allowing you to see exactly how the light will fall as you set it up. Lots of options here. Tungsten are popular and can produce a decent amount of light (still less than pro-level strobes though) but get VERY hot. That was a deal breaker for me - I do a fair number of children portraits and the heat thing was a problem.

You can also do fluorescent continous lights, which run MUCH cooler, but you lose quite a bit of light output. If you’re interested in continuous light, check out a great description of popular continuous lights by Scott Kelby here (picture shown above).

If needed, this can be the cheapest way. As long as you get the same type of lights you can often get away with cheaper workshop-type lights from a place like Home Depot. Just make sure that you don’t mix different bulb types - like some fluorescent and some tungsten - each often outputs a different light color cast and you don’t want a little of both.

Entry level strobes are a great way to get into the strobe world at a reasonable price. They provide a reasonable amount of light output and some decent features (like adjusting the output, modeling lights, etc) without breaking the bank. They also run much cooler than continous lights. I chose an entry level strobe - see that section below.

Professional level strobes provide high light output, lots of flexible features (like remote controlled settings and more). The catch? The cost. 1 professional level strobe can run you $1000+. That’s without stands, soft boxes, etc. (see a picture of a strobe to the right).

A Mixture: Depending on your budget and needs, you may choose a combination of these. For example, you might choose strobes when you need higher light output and flexibility for outdoor portrait sessions. You might have another continuous light setup using fluorescent bulbs for indoor product shoots (when you don’t need as much light output and it helps to see exactly where the light is falling as you setup the lights).

My Choice: Elinchrom D-Lites

Choosing which strobes I wanted was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in a while. I visited online retailers (like B&H Photo), searched on Google, read discussion boards and more. None provided a clear choice and why, especially in the entry-level ish price range. I knew Scott Kelby used Elinchroms, but his particular models are pro level and cost pro $$.

Then, one day, the Strobist ran a contest and was giving away Elinchrom D-lites (entry level models) as a prize. He gave them a general thumbs up. With that recommendation and the fact that Scott Kelby uses Elinchroms, I was sold.

I purchased them a few days later - my full review on them as my choice will be posted in the next installment of this series.

Studio Strobe Terminology

Flash Tube: The fancy ‘light bulb’ that creates the actual flash.

Modeling Light: Light bulb that sits near the Flash Tube. It can be turned on/off as needed and is used to get a feel for where the light will fall (it isn’t nearly as strong as the Flash Tube, but can show where shadows, etc. may end up). It also helps provide light prior to the full flash so that your camera’s autofocus has enough light to work.

Watt/Seconds: The power output of a light source. Every time you double your Watt/Seconds (from 400-800, for example), you get one stop of light. Luckily, both strobes and always-on light sources are measured in Watt/Seconds, allowing for easier comparison.

Continuous Lights: Lights that are always on. The bulbs are typically tungsten, but are more frequently fluorescent.

Monolight: The strobe plugs directly into the wall like any other electrical device.

Lighting can be one of the most challenging (and exciting) parts of photography. Especially for beginners. Luckily, there are some great resources out there for beginners. Strobist, Joe McNally and others help light the way!

About six months ago, I decided to step into the land of the home studio, which for me, included strobes. At the time, I did some research to try and find the best equipment, setups and general knowledge about using strobes. I found varying amounts of information, but still struggled getting a fairly comprehensive view.

That’s what this series intends to help with. I’d like to share the information, resources and experience I’ve gathered and worked with. I may not have the 20+ years plus experience, but I hope to help others just starting out with a guide on how to proceed with Studio Strobes.

This series will last several days (I’ll post most of the series back to back) and will include the following topics:

• Choosing your strobes. Which strobes did I choose? Why? My review of the options I selected.
• How to trigger your setup.
• How to effectively use the strobes for different lighting effects.
• Backgrounds. What are some options and what are the advantages/disadvantages of each.
• Challenges of the in-home studio.
• Various resources for studio lighting.

Check back tomorrow for the first installment - Choosing Your Strobes.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Sure, we’d all like to be better without putting much effort into it. And, in most cases in life, that is certainly the case. There is a tip, though, that if followed diligently (it can be hard to do) will make you a better photographer. It is…

Only show your best photos! It’s that simple. But, it’s a practice that many amateurs don’t follow. Oftentimes, when starting out, someone wants to show off ALL their photos. All the shots from their recent vacation, all the shots of the new baby (I know how the urgings for that go), all the shots from their son’s football game. What’s the problem with that? Simply put, most of those photos aren’t very good.

Even the pros take lots of okay or even aweful photos. But, you say, that can’t be the case. You only see their great photos. That’s because that is all they are willing to show you.

When you are willing to only show the very best, you are able to automatically elevate your work to the very best it can be - and as an extension the people that see your work will think you are a better photographer. When you show just ’so-so’ pictures, just because you took them, you are allowing youself to be a so-so photographer.

Now, this can be challenging. After all, you took the photos, so you NEED to share them. Resist the urge. Prior to sharing any photos, you should do an initial sort, then sort them again, then again, leaving only the cream of the crop. Scott Kelby brings up this point in his Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 and has a great line. He say “Just ask yourself what you would rather see–80 pretty good shots, or 10 outstanding shots.”

What’s My Percentage?

As an example, since our most recent daughter, Isabelle was born about a week and a half ago, my wife and I have taken around 300 photos of her. How many have I shared with others? 2 on my blog and about 8 total. That includes family and friends - I want to look as professional as I can with them as well. So, in this case, I’m only sharing about 2.3% of my work.

So, there it is. Elevate your work without changing anything about how you take your pictures. Just make sure you are only showing the very best.

What’s Your Percentage?

With that in mind, what is your %? How many photos are excellent vs. the number you take?

I was looking out my front window as I turned on my porch light at dusk last night and saw a red fox across the street. Normally, that isn’t all that unusual (we have a large rabbit population in the area, and an occasional fox trotting down the street is common). I noticed, however, that it was playing with another fox - and a third jumped in! I ran and got my camera, popped on my 70-200 (this is the longest lens I have - I wish I had one just a bit longer) and snuck outside. Once outside I noticed that I wasn’t the only one with a spring baby. There were 5 fox pups playing in the yard across the street!

At this point, you might be asking yourself why I put Moose in the title. I live in the Denver metro area - seeing an actual Moose in town isn’t likely. But, as I was sneaking outside, a recent class at Photoshop World taught by Moose Peterson came to mind. The focus of the class was how to get close to wildlife - which seemed very applicable at the moment!

I pulled out my notes from Moose’s class and provided a summary below. I used most, if not all, last night. Thanks for the tips Moose!

Moose’s Tips for Getting Close to Wildlife

• Invest the Time: This was the number 1 tip. Be ready to invest some time. Getting close to animals is easy, if you are willing to take a nice slow approach, stopping when necessary so that you don’t frigthen them. You might also need to find out where they are and just wait. Sometimes, you’ll have to wait - and wait - and wait.
• Go Where They Are: This may sound simple, but it can be very important. Find ou the places the animals you want to shoot are at. In many cases, that includes going to where their food is at. At times, this can be easier than expected. Moose pulled up a great example of shooting some pelicans at a local pier because they were used to getting fed in a particular place. No swamp hiking was required in that case.
• Don’t Get Low: For many animals, getting low makes you look more like a predator. So, a lot of the time, standing works just fine.
• Respect: Always make sure you respect the creatures you are shooting - make sure you provided the lowest possible impact on them and their enviornment.
• 60 Feet or Less: Most shots can happen at 60 feet or less. At first I was a little skeptical of this one, but last night the Foxes let me get within about 40 feet before they started getting nervous. If you follow the other rules, this one can be very true.
• Be Ready to Get Skunked: Moose is one of the country’s best wildlife photographers and he readily admits that he goes out and comes back with nothing regularly (around 50% of the time). So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get the shot you want. Just keep trying!