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Greetings,
Big doings in Adobe world, a great update to Topaz DeNoise AI, workshop stuff, and the anticipation of a new family member. All in this month's newsletter!
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Big updates to Photoshop and Lightroom Classic
In case you haven’t seen or heard, Adobe has made some significant updates to both Lightroom and Photoshop. Lightroom and Camera Raw have some new masking/selection options including Select Sky and Select Object. They both seem to work well. You can also invert the mask selections.
So you could select the sky and make some adjustments, then select the sky again, invert the selection, and make adjustments to the landscape. Pretty cool, be sure to check them out.
Matt Kloskowski has a great video on the new Lightroom features here.
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New RAW model in Topaz DeNoise AI
Up until now my workflow for new images brought into Lightroom has been to do a few passes of culling (deleting), and adding metadata and labels.
I usually will do some image editing at this point, mostly in Lightroom but some will go to DeNoise AI and saved as tiff files.
The last thing I do before I send the images off to their archiving home is to convert the raw files to DNG and then delete the original raw files. The reasons I do this are that DNGs don’t need xmp sidecar files and they have a smaller file size than the raw files from the camera, in my case, Nikon NEF files.
That workflow just got a kick in the pants with the latest version of Topaz DeNoise AI (3.3).
Topaz has added a new noise reduction model to DeNoise AI called RAW. As the name implies, it works on RAW files that can then be saved as tiff, psd, jpg, png, or dng.
The downside, you may ask? The new RAW model does not yet work with all raw files (Fuji, for example), nor does it work with DNG files. This means I cannot go back and use the new RAW model of DeNoise AI on my existing dng files of aurora and other night images. Sad. But not sad. DeNoise AI did an amazing job on those images already, so I’m not complaining.
But going forward, I’m going to change my workflow when it comes to converting to DNG files. While I still prefer using DNG for the reasons mentioned above, I want to be able to take advantage of the new RAW model in DeNoise AI.
Starting now, I’ll no longer convert images to DNG, at least not all of them.
If you have DeNoise AI, be sure to update to version 3.3 to get the new RAW model option. If you don’t yet own deNoise AI, you can click here and get it. Use the promo code FRIEND15 for a 15% discount (Affiliate link! If you buy, I get a small commission!)
Read more on my blog….
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Olympic in May special offer
I’m doing two Olympic National Park workshops next year. One in July with John Barclay, which has already sold out, and one in May (17th – 22nd).
(you can get on the July waiting list by emailing John)
In May (probably my favorite time to be in the park), the forests are wetter and greener, and the streams and waterfalls are fuller. And there are fewer people visiting the park in May. All in all, a more calming experience! And being inside of a rain forest when everything is drippy is magical.
And the May workshop is limited to only six participants.
For a limited time, I’m offering an early bird discount on the May Olympic National Park workshop for my newsletter readers. If you sign up by December 31, I’ll take $100 off the price.
To take advantage of this discount, just reply to this email or send me an email and mention the Olympic in May early bird discount) to confirm space availability. I’ll then send you a link to a private, password protected sign up page.
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Early 2022 trips
There is still space in both of the early 2022 workshops I'm leading with Cliff Zenor: Death Valley National Park in February and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in April.
Both of these trips are limited to just 6 participants, which means a small, intimate group and plenty of help from two instructors if you need it. Or we'll leave you the heck alone, if that's your preference. We're here for you after all. Or not, if that's what you want!
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Palouse 2022
My 2022 Palouse workshop, co-led with Cliff Zenor is half full at this point. There are just four spaces remaining.
The 2022 trip is June 14-19 and limited to just eight participants.
There is so much to see and so many places to visit that I seem to run out of days every year. That's why I've lengthened the trip by a day from previous years.
And every year I seem to find something new: I'll take a turn onto a road I've never been on before, I'll hear about a place I've never known about, or I'll just stumble across something. Every year I come back with unique pictures (unique to me, anyway!).
Interested in joining us? Check out the workshop on my Palouse page.
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Other trips in planning
I'm also planning on an Oregon Coast trip, most likely to Newport in late July, early Sept. or mid to late October. Let me know if interested.
And I'll likely be heading back to Sitka in early August. I've already heard back from a few people who are interested so I'll probably set up two tours, each limited to four participants.
These tours involve three trips on a small tour boat to photograph Humpback whales, birds, otters, fishing boats, seals and sea lions, and the incredible scenery.
Because of limited space on the boat, traveling companions would not be able to join us on the boat tours.
Likely dates are August 2-7 and August 7-12.
Drop me a line if interested. Those who've done so already, you're already on the notify list.
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We’ve ordered a new giant photo pack
A few months ago, I told you about the MindShift Backlight Elite 45L pack I bought. This is not that. It’s bigger. And it will take a lot longer to arrive. In fact, it’s got the gestation period of an African Elephant. No, it’s not an elephant, but it is about the same size.
 My wife Tracy has long longed (long longed?) for a travel van with which to, well, travel. Some of you who’ve been on workshops with me have heard about "The Plan" to get a small RV and travel about the US and Canada.
For my part, I’ve long longed to show her the auroras in northern Canada (and all those other places I've been able to go). And in a couple of years (I told you it was a long gestation period) we’ll be able to travel together and camp beside some scenic lakes and I’ll photograph the auroras dancing above our traveling home (aka, the giant photo pack)!
It won’t be only a photo pack; I’m sure Tracy will insist on bringing along a few things of her own.
Why the long wait? High demand. Unavailable parts. Covid. The usual.
We’ve decided upon a Leisure Travel Vans Unity (on the Mercedes Benz Sprinter chassis). This will give us a travel van that’s easy to drive, can go just about anywhere I would normally drive, has plenty of space for two people and a little dog (yes, another dog is definitely in our future), and doesn’t involve sleeping in a tent or the back of a pickup truck (or having to stumble to an outhouse in the middle of the night).
Should be fun!
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