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The gradient map is a powerful tool for adjusting color or creating duo-tones. It’s not often fully understood and in my opinion is under used in Elements although it is more widely used in the creative cloud version of Photoshop.
My YouTube video demo shows some tips and tricks for PS Elements users which can be used for adjusting color, lightness, texture and shine.
UK customers can currently save 39% on the All Apps Creative Cloud Package – usually £49.94 per month, but now available for £30.34 if purchased before 6 July.
New Language Support
With Lightroom Classic 9.3, Adobe has added support for Thai and Russian languages.
New Tether Support
This release brings support for the Canon EOS-1D X mark III
Tone Curve
In this release, Adobe has refreshed the user interface for the Tone Curve with simple buttons to choose the parametric (beginners) curve or point curve (advanced users). Previously these needed to be selected from a pull-down menu.
The
right-click context menu (control + click on MacOS) now offers the following
options:
-Reset Channel
-Reset All Channels
-Copy Channel Settings
-Paste Channel Settings
-Snap to Grid
-Show All Curves
For point curves, the axis values are now shown instead of percentages. Adobe has added the ability to pin a control point and adjust its value using the input/output textbox.
I do like the new UI, notably the individual RGB color channels where the point curve background is subtly shaded representing opposite sides of the color wheel. This makes it more intuitive when dragging individual points e.g.
Green – Magenta
Blue – Yellow
The UI for the parametric curve has received a similar update and the context menu provides for resetting regions, splits or resetting all.
This You Tube Video from Paul Charlton is a good example of using the Tone Curve color channels.
HSL/Color
The UI for the Color section of the HSL/Color panel has also been refreshed with the addition of individual color switch buttons plus a button for all colors.
Raw Defaults - Presets
With this release Adobe has provided a new set of “Defaults” in the presets panel.
These will help as quick shortcuts to preview and apply different default settings or to use as import presets. They will also be helpful to those not familiar with creating XMP files. They cover a range of profiles, lens corrections and iso interpolation.
ISO Adaptive Presets
Optionally, when creating your own user presets it is now possible to make them iso adaptive.
-Select two or more images, with different ISO values.
-Edit each image according to your liking and using different Luminance Noise Reduction values appropriate for the ISO value.
-With the images still being selected, click on "Create Preset”.
-Along with selecting the various settings for the preset, make sure to select "Create ISO adaptive preset" option in “ISO Settings” section at the bottom of the preset creation dialog.
-Click on "Create" to create an ISO dependent
preset.
The above steps are also applicable to "Update with Current Settings" workflow for updating an ISO adaptive preset. If two or more images, with different ISO values, are not selected, "Create ISO adaptive preset" checkbox will be disabled.
Develop – New Local Adjustment
With this release, Adobe has added a “Hue” slider in Local Adjustments. This can be used with the selection tools to change the hue of a selected area in relation to the underlying color. The “Use Fine Adjustment” option enables a slower progression through the hue changes. Users may find this new feature also works well in conjunction with range masking.
HEVC Support for Windows 10
With this release, HEVC videos are supported on Windows 10.
Center Crop Overlay
A new 2 x 2 overlay has been added for cropping those images where you want the subject in the middle of the frame. In the Develop or Library module press “R” to activate the crop tool and tab with the “O” key to cycle through the overlays.
Sync Status
Sync now has its own dedicated icon in the upper right corner. I do like this new prominent position as many new users often struggled to discover it when hidden under the identity plate.
We can now easily glance at the current state:
Hovering over the cloud icon while sync is in progress will show the number of assets currently being synced.
Clicking on the icon opens a pop up giving more options including start/pause sync. A link is also included to a Sync FAQs page for viewing the most common questions.
Multi Batch Export – Update
With this release,
checking multiple presets in the export dialog would change the “Export” button
to “Batch Export”
A new Batch Export dialog in Multi-Batch Export workflow then becomes available. The batch Export dialog gives more control on destination and file naming options for the export operation.
Parent Folder - It is now possible specify a Parent folder at the rime of export which is different to that contained in the selected prests.
If a different parent folder option is selected, then it would override any Export destination folder defined in selected presets.
With a new destination folder option a new “Put in Subfolder” option also becomes available when checked.
File
Naming Options - the batch export dialog now permits a change of “Custom Text” and
“Start Number” sequence at this export stage, provided the selected presets
contain such option.
Survey Mode
Some improvements have been made to the appearance. So borders, star ratings, picks and color labels will display more clearly when the background color is changed, notably when using a black or white background.
Other Changes
In addition to the above, this release includes the latest camera and lens support together with a number of bug fixes. It also includes optimizations to grid scrolling and improved collection search with new architecture, similar to the one used in Folder search.
Some optimization has been made to improve Edit Slider interaction rendering in Develop module. This means navigator view, detail thumbnail, and filmstrip thumbnail would not be updated during scrubbing (dragging a slider without releasing the mouse) in Develop module. These will get updated as soon as scrubbing for an edit slider stops and the mouse button is released.
With this release, AVI files are now supported on macOS.
It is now possible to view/edit Three Dimensional Projection metadata info in Lightroom Classic where such information is available.
Lightroom 3.3
Watermarking
Watermarking has been available from Lightroom mobile on phone or tablet but many customers will be pleased to know that it now becomes possible from the desktop with Lightroom 3.3
There is a new rich font list, giving a wide choice of selections of fonts from the pull-down menu which can also be scrolled using the mouse wheel. Settings will sync to other clients.
A default font will be used if the selected font is not available on the client that you’re currently exporting from.
I've made a quick YouTube Video which gives an overview of this feature.
Raw Defaults
Raw defaults, first introduced in Lightroom Classic are now available in this release. They are set in preferences and applied as a starting point for your editing. You can specify Adobe Defaults, Camera Defaults, or a Preset for your raw files to use on import. Camera defaults read the image metadata, applying the appropriate profile based on the in-camera profile/style that you set in your camera.
You can use your own user presets if preferred and additionally Adobe has provided a built-in set of raw default presets which can be accessed in preferences under:
Presets >>
Defaults
These provide a number of combinations of profile, lens
correction and noise reduction. They can also be accessed by clicking Presets
(botton-right) when the edit panel is open. Hovering over each will show a
preview. The presets containing noise reduction are useful in that they
automatically apply different levels of NR based on iso; so for example an
image shot at iso 200 will receive a much lower level of NR than one shot at iso
8000 etc.
Selective Adjustment – Local Hue Slider
This new feature enables selective color changes when using the brush, gradient or radial filter tools.
Checking the fine adjustment box enables the slider to move more slowly through the range of different hues.
New Versions Feature
Versions are similar to snapshots in Lightroom Classic which save the edit settings at a point in time. This means you can save different “looks” without making duplicate copies. These could be a black & white version, or color versions with different settings or different aspect ratios. Each version is like a bookmark which you can return to at any time.
Versions can be accessed from the edit panel (bottom-right)
After editing a photo click on the plus icon to create a new version with those settings. A new thumbnail is created in the list of versions. It’s possible to hover over the version thumbnails to see a preview in the main window.
Likes and Comments
You can now like and comment on photos in albums that have been shared with you where the album owner has activated this.
Discover
In the “Discover” section you can now follow particular photographers to see all of their editing techniques.
The Discover playback view has been update, so that playback automatically shows the list of editing steps on the right. Playback can be paused by clicking on any step and it’s possible to move up and down by using the arrow keys.
Share Edits (Beta)
Submit your own Edits to Discover. This is a new feature
which enables collaboration with others and lets you share your own styles and
develop a following. This release is still regarded as work in progress, hence
the beta label and Adobe is looking for your feedback.
Other Changes
In addition to the above, V. 3.3 includes the latest camera and lens support together with a number of bug fixes. It also includes optimizations to selective edits, UI for edit stack and the accuracy of the guided upright tool.
Updates to the mobile apps, versions 5.3 are also being rolled out simultaneously. See the Adobe links below.
One thing I’m pleased about on mobile is the ability to send a photo from Lightroom for iPad to be edited in Photoshop for iPad.
New App Logos to keep in Doc (Mac) or pin to taskbar (Windows)
Cloud Eco System – Lightroom 3.3 & 5.3
Desktop App – Lightroom Classic 9.3
