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Lightroom Plug-ins make Life a Breeze.*

*Ok, maybe that title is a bit of an overstatement.

We all know Lightroom is powerful. Most of my editing is done and post processing these days, and no longer in Photoshop. In fact, I would say with the advent of Lightroom 2 and local adjustments (see my video HERE) 95% or more of my work is done in Lightroom now. But there are fun little secrets that make this application even more powerful useful for more than photo processing. How many of you use Flickr, Photoshelter, SmugMug? Did you know that Lightroom, with the added help of a few free (yes, free) plug-ins can make your life soooo much easier?

Here is how it works. I am going to show you with the Photoshelter plug-in, but it works the same with all the above and more. There are two ways to start. The easiest is to follow this link to Adobe's Lightroom Exchange HERE. This is a warehouse of Lightroom plug-ins. Here you will find plug-ins for exporting to the sites I listed above. But, you will also find all kinds of cool plug-ins for web templates, develop presets and more. Most are free! So poke around and enjoy. I said there was two ways to start. The other way is to open Lightroom and go under the new to Lightroom 2 "Plug-in Manager." This is a handy dialog box that will take you to the Adobe Exchange site by clicking the button on the bottom left of the window. But it is more useful than that, because it now is the simplest way to import your plug-ins. Once you download the plug-in you want to use, in this case the Photoshelter plug-in, then just hit the ad button and ad it to your list of plug-ins. Simple, no more searching for the folder where the plug-ins reside, it does it for you.

The new to lightroom 2 "Plug-in Manager."

So now you have the Photoshelter plugin loaded or the Flickr plug-in or whatever one you want. Now, you need to select the images you want to load. I chose the Arches of Delhi gallery I made last week. Make sure you have captions and key words already embedded in the image. This is the beauty of this method. Now export like you would do normally export a photo and bring up the export dialog box. Here you will see at the top of dialog box a small pane, click on it and choose which plug-in you want to use.

You must choose which plug-in to use.

You will see the list appear. Once you choose the plug-in you will need to log in to your account. Don't forget, you have to have an account with any of these services to use them. That may seem like a no-brainer, but... Anyway, then just work your way down the dialog box panes. Name the file, make your setting choice, your size choice, sharpening, etc... Finally choose an existing gallery or make a new one.

Just work your way down the dialog box panes.

Then upload.



Once uploaded, Lightroom will tale you to the site and you can make any changes to the photos in Photoshelter or whatever site you uploaded to.


Your captions and other IPTC data that was embedded from Lightroom 2 follows your image to Photoshelter.




These plug-ins will save you a ton of time and make uploading to your favorite site a breeze. I hope this helped. You can view this gallery in Photoshelter HERE.

Gavin Gough is turning Travel Photography upside down.

Photo by Gavin Gough

I wasn't going to post till Monday (Tuesday night US time) but Gavin Gough just got back home and has posted some amazing images. He just spent some quality time with Tewfic El-Sawy and others on the Land of the Druk Yul photo expedition in Bhutan. I haven't seen any of Tewfic's images yet, but Gavin's are outstanding! Due your self a favor and check out his blog here.

Welcome Acratech Tripod Heads!

I want to say welcome to yet another new sponsor to The Digital Trekker, Acratech tripod ballheads. As I write this it just doesn't sound real sexy. But trust me, these babies are just that, sexy. I went after Acratech because one of our participants on this past Lumen Dei was using their GV2 Ballhead. The tooling of this ball head is sweet, more like a sculpture rather than a tool. I am being completely honest here. Look at the images below. Plus the gimbal action make this a very utilitarian head as well. Want to see this baby in action? Check out the YouTube video below.



I can't wait to get my hands on the GV2, it's light weight and open design makes it ideal for the type of shooting I do. Many other ballheads, and I am not excluding the big names out there, have their ball and socket design incased in some sort of housing. When dirt and grime get inside the housing the head starts to have friction and the movement no longer stays smooth. Not with the exposed design of the Acratech heads and being oilless and greaseless the ball will not attract and hold dirt and debris. Very smart! I told you they were light weight; they are less than 1 lb (.45kg). A concern with it being so light is, will it support the weight of a 5D (MKII ;) and a 70-200 2.8 lens? Apparently it does, and in fact easily holds over 25 lbs (11.4kg) at any angle. They are made with a quick release clamp that is compatible with most major manufactures QR plates. The one thing I was concerned about was the quick release clamp. It is a screw mechanism rather than a latch. But reading reviews of users, they all seem to get used to it quickly and in fact love it. I have not actually used this head for any extended amount of time. But I am getting my own in November, until then I want to point you to a very in depth review over at The-Digital-Picture.com, so check it out until I can post my own review here.

So a hearty welcome goes out to Scott Dordick and the great team at Acratech.

In other news; Lexar has posted a video I made for them on Lightroom 2. You can find it at their Digital Photography page HERE. While you are there checkout some of the other videos I have done for them. I have one on Toning and one on using the Displace Filter in CS 3 as well as some articles. David DuChemin has a plethora of articles there as well. Even Scott Kelby has posted some tips on the site. Go poke around and say hi to our friends at Lexar.

This is my Friday, so I'll see you back here on Monday, Malaysian time.

How to grow, pain and all.

Don't be afraid of critique. (Photo by David DuChemin)

I was having Teh Tarek with Grungeman a day back and he said something that opened up a long conversation. He was bemoaning the fact that here in Malaysia there are no photographers that take interns on. I started to think about that and wondered why. But the more I keep thinking about it I realize that there are not a lot of photographers I know that take on interns. I know I don't. Why? Not enough work load. I mean lets be real, if I had the workload that some of these guys I know with interns, I would not be blogging everyday! So the question remains, how do the inexperience get the experience? How did I? I never interned, well, not really. I worked photographic jobs at my University. I shot for the school paper and the Yearbook. Then after college my career path went a different way. Though I did work in retail for a while at a camera shop. Later I got back into photography and found the passion...again.

When I look back, the main way I got the skills I have today (ok, don't argue my skills!) was the advent of the Flat World (see the post: A Response to Selling Out ) and a digital camera. What do I mean? I started shooting, and shooting and, well, you get the picture. As my dear old daddy used to say, "Matthew, (he'd often call me Matthew) You cain't catch a fish with yer bait in the boat!" Yes, my dad was from Kentucky, but he put the accent on thick when he gave out pearls of Kentucky wisdom. But he, as he always did, made a great point. You have to get out and shoot. Practice. One of the best ways to learn is from our mistakes. Make a lot of them and learn a lot. And the beauty of digital imaging is it is all free after you buy the camera.

Here is the other part of the Flat World that made me into a better photographer. The Internet and it's ability to reach out to the world. Use it, and post your images for critique on a forum. The place I found that helped me a lot and a place where I found others who shared my passion was the Travel Photographers Network. TPN is a great place to post and get your images torn apart, in a positive way. The folks that reside there are nice and gentle, in fact maybe too gentle at times. Sometimes they need to just come out and say it, "That image sucks! Didn't I show you where the 'un-suck filter' was?" But honestly, over all, this a great place to gather others with similar vision and share and image and listen and learn. There are other forums out there that do the same thing. If you know a good one then post it here and share it with our readers. But the point is to go out and seek some critique. While in university, I minored in journalism (I know you would never know it by reading this blog!) and you may recall if you have been reading this blog for many years, that I am highly dyslexic and can't spell at all. So what was someone like me doing in Journalism? Bleeding! My papers looked like someone spilled a bottle of red ink on them. But I learned to take the criticism and grow from it. It made me better. Growth is painful at time, but well worth the effort of sticking it out and learning what honest and talented people have to say about your work. By the way, I also met some good friends while at TPN. I met David DuChemin and others that over the years have remained honest critics and encouragers. Join a forum like TPN and seek it out. Ask for them to be rough, brutal. Learn from others and from your mistakes and grow in your craft.

New ThinkTank Product Coming Our Way.

Photo by Dave Seah

All kinds of fun stuff head this way. ThinkTank Photo, a sponsor of this blog has some neat new gear.

First there is the Airport AirStream. This is a scaled down version of the other Airport bags ThinkTank makes. I use the Airport International and love it! So, a much smaller roller bag with all the domestic and international regulations met. Nice.


The not long ago ThinkTank released the Urban Disguise 35. Like the other Urban Disguise bags it is made not to look much like a camera bag. Again, this bag is a smaller version of the one I use the Urban Disguise 60, which by the way I love as well! So if you plan to do some travel or street photography and want to look less like a photographer with thousands of dollars worth of gear over your shoulder, you might give this bag a try. It holds up to a 13.3” laptop with a standard-size SLR or up to a 10” laptop with a Pro-size SLR with lens attached. It features a large opening for easy access to equipment and can be attached to a roller. It can be used as a backpack with the Shoulder Harness (sold separately).

And finally ThinkTank will be giving us a new bag scheduled to be released in December. Having not seen this bag nor even heard much about it till yesterday I can't say a lot outside of what my buddy Brian at ThinkTank has passed my way. So I will just quote you directly from the press release:

Shape Shifter™, the first backpack designed to expand and contract to fit DSLR equipment. By contracting down to 3 inches, the backpack keeps photographers from having to carry around a large foam box on their backs once their equipment is removed.

The Shape Shifter was designed for:
Photographers that want a lightweight solution with significantly less foam and padding than traditional photo backpacks;

Photographers that travel a great deal by airplane and public transportation that want to carry the maximum amount of equipment in the smallest package possible;

Photographers that want to reduce the size of the backpack after their gear is removed. (Note: some gear can remain in the front, like two strobes, and it can still be compressed to the smaller size with the zipper);

Photographers that use modular belt systems. After they remove most of their gear and put it on their belt, they then can then collapse the backpack;

Photographers on the run that must travel with up to 17” laptops and have the necessary accessories with them to transmit images.

Product Features

The Shape Shifter can be compressed to 3 inches in width once equipment is removed.

Once the majority of photo gear is removed, the bag can be collapsed and the photographer can still carry up to a 17” laptop and accessories, but in a much smaller package.

Rear compartment for up to 17” laptops has medium padding for protection and comfort.

Photographers can to wear their belt system, with components attached, and still support the weight of the backpack with the belt.

The inside compartment has neoprene pouches for:
2 Pro DSLR bodies
1 70-200 2.8 with hood reversed
1 24-70 2.8 or similar with hood reversed
1 16-35 2.8 or similar with hood reversed
Stretch pockets on the inside can also hold two strobes and other accessories

Includes a strap system to mount either a monopod or tripod on the front the backpack.

Padding on the back has an airflow system for breathability and comfort.


Technical Specifications

Outer Dimensions when COLLAPSED: 20 x 12.5 x 3” ( 51 x 32 x 8 cm)
Outer Dimensions when EXPANDED: 20 x 12.5 x 7” ( 51 x 32 x 18 cm)
Inner Dimensions of the LAPTOP CASE compartment: 19 x 12 x 1.5” (48 x 30.5 x 4 cm)
Inner Dimensions of the DSLR Camera compartment (Note that because there are neoprene pockets to hold the photo gear, the normal internal dimensions stated have less meaning): 19.5 x 12 x 4” (49.5 x 30.5 x 10 cm)
Estimated Base Weight (without any straps or accessories attached: 3 lbs, 13 oz (1729 grams)

This bag looks really exciting and quite frankly screams for a review by Fish over at Flying With Fish. He loves traveling with a backpack to carry his gear. Fish, this might just well replace your North Face Surge. I know I sure want to get my hands on it. A Oh, gear lust!

Arches of Old Delhi.

Today I am posting a few shots of Arches around Delhi, India. I don't post images in the blog that much and thought you might enjoy them. If I get some feed back maybe I will post some more of other images. If you click any one of the thumbnail images in the post it will link you to a small Lightroom gallery HERE and you can view the larger files. I hope you enjoy them and find them interesting.

Steve McCurry Sharp

One of the fun and quite frankly, thrilling things that digital imaging has been able to deliver that film never did, is the ability to give you truly razor sharp images. Yeah, we had sharp images in the film days, but not like what we can get now. With the digital cameras ability to grab detail and photoshop's many techniques in sharpening, we have surpassed film by miles. Over the past two Lumen Dei workshops we developed an expression that might be taken disrespectful toward the Guru of travel and world photographers, Steve McCurry. The expression is, "Steve McCurry sharp". It is not meant to be disrespectful. Let me explain and give Mr McCurry his truly just dues. First, Steve McCurry is outstanding and has set the bar for all of us to reach for in our photography. But once you visit an exhibit of his you will notice something odd. Many of his images are slightly soft. Some of the focus is soft, others there is slight movement. You can't say this is bad, when the man defines "excellence". Prior to digital images, one would never had noticed these things. When we shot film we were never we able to get the sharpness we are used to now. But something else is happening. Let me illustrate it here.

This is full frame. Click to enlarge.

Here is a shot that all my readers will know. It is of a little Gujjar girl in Kashmir. One of the fun things about this image is it is so very, very sharp. Here is the EXIF data from the image:

Camera: Canon 5D
Exposure Time: 1/500 sec
F-Number: f/3.5
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
ISO Speed Rating: 400
Exposure Bias: -1 EV
Metering Mode: Pattern
Focal Length: 85.00 mm

I was, if I recall correctly, a good 6 to 10 feet from her. Below you will see that this image is so sharp, that you can see the scene behind me, when I photographed her, reflected in her eyes.

Click to enlarge.

So what is all this about? Why blog on how sharp digital images are? We all know they are sharp. Is it because this makes me better than Steve McCurry? Ha! If only that were true! No, it is because I bet you have started doing something that I have found myself doing. That is tossing away images that are not razor sharp. Any slight softness, slight movement and out it goes. I found I get so obsessed with sharpness that I loose sight of the beauty of an image. I don't see the moment in the image for the slight blur. For an image to work it doesn't have to be this sharp. Maybe even sometime it shouldn't be. Let me show you some images that I almost tossed, but I have now changed my mine and feel they are worth keeping even though they are not all that sharp. I will compare a nice sharp image with a soft or even blurred image taken at the same time, but a different "moment".

Click to enlarge.

Here is a shot of a man clutching his Qu'ran. It is a nice image. Sharp. Yes, there is glare in his glasses. But, even with out the glare there is emotion missing here. It is not a bad image and technically it is perfect.

Click to enlarge.

Here is the same man a few seconds earlier. His head is bowed and he is not looking at the camera. But the look give much more emotion, a since of thoughtfulness, or contemplation. You don't get that in the previous image. The soft focus or movement as it is here, work to make this a stronger image. Let's look at an even more stark example.

Click to enlarge.

Here is a similar shot. A Ladakhi woman sitting looking off to the left of the frame. A nice shot, right? But look at what the much softer shot below communicates.

Click to enlarge.

Here she is holding the beads to her head and there is real emotion here. Yet, this image is soft by all account. Not with movement, just soft focus. Now I admit, I should have been better at nailing the focus, and I think this might have been a better image had it been in focus. But does this make this image unusable? Not in the least! In fact this image is fast becoming one of my favorites.

I want to make sure you understand me. I am not talking about accepting sloppy camera work. But none of us get it right 100% of the time. I have known I am capable at getting razor sharp images like above, so I have not even looked at some of my more emotional images if they are soft. Of if I did, I cursed under my breath at my bad luck and tossed the image out.

All I am saying is we need to not forget what is good art. I cannot continue to throwout soft images just because I know I can get razor sharpness and didn't get it. You cannot say that McCurry's images are any less impressive or beautiful because of the softness of film or camera movement. So, if it is good enough for a Master like McCurry, I think I need to stop and realize technology has, dare I say, blurred my vision. I am missing the art for the mechanics and in danger of trashing some real jewels.