2009 March | Graf Nature Photography | Notes from the woods

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Photoshop v. Lightroom JPEGs

Posted by Mark on Mar 4, 2009 in nature photography | 5 comments

Photoshop vs. Lightroom JPEG - 100% view

I came across an interesting discovery yesterday. I have been wanting to make a streamlined method for creating JPEGs for submissions for stock using Lightroom. Normally I would open the image (either RAW or a PSD edited file) in Photoshop, convert to 8 bit, Adobe RGB if necessary, and resize (uprez) the file to 5100 pixels on the longest side so I would have a minimum uncompressed 48 MB file, and save as a Level 12 quality JPEG. No sharpening involved.

So I tried to simplify this process by creating a Lightroom Preset for stock photo exports. The Export panel in Lightroom will let you select pixel dimensions (including uprezzing), color space, and JPEG quality. I saved a few JPEGs at 100% quality, sizing to 5100 pixels longest side, using this method and compared them against their Photoshop counterparts.

Photoshop vs. Lightroom JPEGs

While it may be hard to illustrate from these screen captures, since they are also JPEGs and resized – there was definitely a slight quality improvement in the JPEGs exported from Lightroom when viewed at 100%. A bit more sharpness and detail, and less artifacts. I think the differences are subtle enough that they may never be noticed in a printed image, but it is nice to know that I can process images using Lightroom’s convenient collection sets, use the export feature much faster, with better quality – than going through the gyrations and multiple steps (even if saved in an action) in Photoshop. Pretty cool.

Lake St. Clair

Posted by Mark on Mar 1, 2009 in nature photography | 15 comments

Winter Twilight

I am always a bit torn on visiting this particular spot on Lake St. Clair – the lake formed between two of our Great Lakes – Huron and Erie. I love the ice that piles up here, but it is blastin’ cold every time I go out there in the winter. Yeah, yeah I know – it’s winter! However, the wind makes it worse. It is that open landscape and a point that sticks out into the lake that not only provides some clean surroundings, but it is prime territory for a ripping wind.

Working around here can be difficult. In addition to the cold, you may have to walk or climb over some rocks and stacked ice sheets. And just like that box of chocolates, you never know what to expect. I walk the safer areas of ice thickness, so the bigger risk is falling and getting an ice sheet in my skull vs. falling through any ice into water.

Lake St. Clair

So in other words, there is a bit of effort involved to photograph here, to get to the particular ice formations that catch your eye. Today I only walked away with a handful of images, maybe 1 or 2 keepers at best. Since the forescast for a partly cloudy sky never came to be, the sun became real bright, real quick. When that happens, I am done shooting here. Most of my images here are captured before sunrise anyway. When the sun comes up, it looks quite bleak and barren. So you have to work relatively fast in an area where it is difficult to move around a lot.

The unique images I get here are the only reason I keep going back from time to time. The ice is always different year to year. Although walking away with one or two keepers is great, I have to admit yearning for a bit more reward for the effort at times.