Lightroom - Smart Previews

Adobe Lightroom 5 Smart Previews

Lightroom Smart Previews – Love at First Sight

Lightroom Smart Previews are a killer *new* way to upload your images to us! They cut your upload time by about 90% and much easier to work with than XMP files! Follow the instructions below to upload them to us:

What Are Smart Previews?

Smart Previews are compressed RAW files that are 5%-10% of the original filesize. Does this mean they effect the quality of the editing? Nope!! When we send you back the Lightroom Catalog with our edits, it uses the uncompressed RAW images on your end. There is NO quality loss!

Smart Previews Workflow

  • Create a new catalog. I would suggest the Order Number as a name.
  • Import only the images you are sending us into the catalog.
  • Select all of the images, and click Library>Previews>Build Smart Previews
  • Browse to where the Lightroom Catalog is. Zip up both the ‘lrcat’ and the ‘Smart Previews.lrdata’ (NOT the Previews.lrdata) files.
  • Upload the zip file to us.

Receiving back an edited Lightroom Catalog

This part is soooo simple! Just open up the Lightroom Catalog we sent back! It will automatically link up to the RAW files on your computer, no other work necessary! :D


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Tutorials

Outsource Post Processing - Custom Photo Editing

Oursourcing your post processing can benefit your studio in many ways. Such as allowing you to focus on building your photography studio and your customer base. We’re here to help ease the transition of having to spend late nights editing photos to having hours back in your schedule. Unsure of what to expect? We’ll touch briefly on a few points below.

Your Editor

When we start working together, your assigned just one editor who will always work on your images. This allows your editor to learn your editing style and to grow with you. We’re focused on the details of your images and how you want your images to look and feel.
You can call or email us anytime and we will respond, we believe in our customer service and our one on one approach.

Why Outsource My Post Processing?

If your already reading this, most likely, you have a few reasons why you want to outsource. The 2 biggest reasons we hear about are:

  • Time
  • Money

Time is Money

The biggest reason for a photographer to outsource is time. We’re here to put your late night editing sessions to rest, use that time to focus on building your photography studio, spending time with your family or even taking surfing lessons :) Once your finished shooting a wedding/portrait, are you still getting paid?

When you have 4 Weddings booked in one weekend, how much time is that for you to post process? If your looking at outsourcing, that would be NONE. This gives you the much needed time to shoot more events.

Cost of Editing

If your unfamiliar with the costs associated to outsourcing, we charge on a per image basis. That means no package pricing which you end up paying more for unneeded services.

Portrait Edit

  • Portrait shoot of 60 images custom color corrected: $15.00

Wedding Edit

  • Wedding of 400 images custom color corrected: $96.00

Compare that to the time it takes you to edit a complete wedding, how much are you making hourly? I’m sure you’ll find out that you are actually loosing money by editing the images yourself.


XMPs - Lightroom

XMPs in Adobe Lightroom

XMPs – Adobe Lightroom

In our previous blog post about using XMPs with Bridge & Adobe Camera RAW we talked about why we love them and what they are.

Using XMP files with Adobe Lightroom

  • Download the XMP zip file.
  • Unzip it to the same folder as your RAW files.
  • Open Lightroom and select all images.
  • Right Click/Option Click and choose ‘Metadata’ – ‘Read Metadata From Files’.
  • Choose the ‘Read’ option from the popup.

You’ll start seeing the previews update with the edits from us . It’s as simple as that!


XMPs - Bridge & Adobe Camera RAW

XMPs in Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera RAW

XMPs Are Fantastic!

If you’re an Adobe Bridge user and shoot in RAW format, it’s a necessity to know how to use XMP files. XMP files are our normal delivery method for RAW files for a couple advantages:

  • They are super small.
  • They show all edits we made to your RAW files.
  • They are easy to use :)

What are XMP files?

XMP files are just small text files with the extension ‘.xmp’ that contain the edits we make. They hold the edits for exposure, contrast, brightness, blacks… everything. These updates are viewable in both Bridge and Lightroom. The filename of the XMP MUST match the filename of the RAW file, it’s how the two files synchronize.
How to use XMP files with Adobe Bridge

  • Download the XMP zip file.
  • Unzip it to the same folder as your RAW files.
  • Open Bridge and browse to the same folder as the RAW & XMP files.
  • Select all images, you will not see the XMP files in Bridge.
  • Right Click/Option Click and choose ‘Generate High Quality Thumbnail’ or ‘Purge Cache for Selection’

Sit back and watch the magic happen, you’ll start seeing the changes flash before your eyes. It’s as simple as that!


Post Processing and Calibration

Post Processing, Photo Editing and Monitor Calibration

It’s important for us, and we think you should know too!

This is what we do best, we’re setup to provide the BEST color correction for your images! We want to share and give you some tips to setup your environment. Have questions? Get in touch with us, We’d LOVE to talk!! More...