Hey folks!  I'm happy to bring you what I hope is a well received gift.   My personal Lightroom Keyword Library in Adobe Lightroom 3.x format.  So why would you want this you may ask?  Well, maybe you don't, but if you've put much effort toward creating a hierarchical keyword list in Lightroom including synonyms, then you'll know how very time consuming this can be.  To give you an idea, I've been working on this one for two years (estimated 200  hours)  and it's still very much a work in progress.  In it's current state it has over 6,000 categories, keywords and synonyms.

You may not find my particular style of organization to be your favorite,  In fact I'm betting you'll think it's a little odd.  But that is irrelevant as you can easily reorganize my hierarchal system to something which works for you.  Where you are really benefiting from my work is in the extensive list of keywords (and synonyms) which I'm providing.  This allows you to add one keyword and get almost every other keyword you need (for example type in "flamingo" and you'll also get "bird, birds, flamingos, feathers, wing, animals, wildlife and pink")

When shooting images in a city or anywhere with tall straight lines (example buildings, trees, or a road that goes into the distance) you can end up with perspective issue. The buildings seem to converge at the top, or they shoot sideways off the frame, or the are leaning like the Tower of Pissa (no idea how to spell that). Anyway, it’s a common problem with an easy fix. Just open up your Lightroom develop panels and use the Lens Correction Tools. Watch the video for details.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRmDjE7_u-0

So this questions buzzes around in forums and blogs all the time.  How do I move my lightroom catalog from my laptop to my desktop (and then back again)?  The reality is there are many ways to go about it.  Some are “proper” and others are “jerry rigged”.  But there are some pros and cons to each and some things to watch out for.  Read on to find the best way to avoid fatal mistakes.

Many people try and move their Lightroom catalogs back and forth between computers by actually copying and pasting files.  While this can work, it is prone to many issues and for the most part is more difficult anyway.  So how should we make the transfer?

Q: I know for a fact that I have “x” files sitting in folder “y”.  They are jpg versions of my RAW files which are already in LR.   I want to import these jpgs into my catalog, but when i look at my import panel.  NO FILES!  just the RAW files that I already have imported.  It simply refuses to see all those jpg files that I know are there.  I have imported jpg photos before, so what gives?

Send in your Photoshop and Lightroom questions. I’ll post you an answer.

When I’m not shooting photographs or tutoring I still must keep my Photoshop and Lightroom skills sharp.  One of the best ways to do that is to teach others how to make the most of their photos and artwork.  So send in your questions with as much detail as you can muster. I will respond to your question on my blog with full step by step detailed instructions on how to create the effect, look, restoration, etc that you are trying to achieve with your images.