Lock up your wallets because we’ve got a fun, and tempting, new series for you to get to know the CMpros a little better!  What better way to learn about them than to ask them what their favorite things are, photography related or not?  First up is Elicia Graves sharing what she loves!
elicia graves’ favorite things

1. The mocha at Elmwood Cafe in Berkeley – This little cafe is such a happy place and not only do they use organic, local(…)

by Rachel Nielson

In this before and after tutorial, I am going to walk you through how I edited this image start to finish. I love the expression in his eyes and how he is biting his lip just a little bit. Melts my heart, but I am his mama, so I might be slightly biased!

My workflow starts in Adobe Lightroom 4. I import my images and do all of my RAW processing there before importing my photos into Adobe Photoshop(…)

by Carol Swaitkewich
I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or Winterpeg as we are affectionately called. It snows. A lot. It’s also cold. Like REALLY cold. For 5 months of the year we are surrounded by white and ice. If I wanted to take pictures I needed to learn how to shoot in the cold and snow fast!

The 3 main problems I found shooting in the snow are flat lighting, exposure issues, (blown out or grey looking snow), white balance issues(…)

by Jean Rhim
Adobe Lightroom is an amazing tool that can help you make your images better, your workflow faster, and the whole photo editing process more fun. I feel fortunate that I was introduced to it early, months before I even touched Photoshop, because it became the center of my workflow. Not only do I do a great deal of my editing through Lightroom, but Lightroom is also where I organize, sort, and prepare my images for print.  Lightroom is(…)

by Kate T Parker
We all can use more drama in our lives, right? Especially at home. Who doesn’t like drama at home?

(Crickets)

What?!? Am I alone here??

Wait, I think you misunderstood.

I meant dramatic light. You know, darks and lights intersecting with a gorgeous subject placed just so. Just the thought makes me want to grab my camera (and my unwilling kids).

That kind of drama is always good…at least when we’re speaking photographically. All the other kinds, eh, let’s leave it to(…)

by Ann Westerman
Lately I have been loving to shoot images specifically for processing in black and white.  I love my black and whites to have good tonal range and a lot of contrast.  What I mean by good tonal range is I want my image to have deep shadows, a range of mid-tones and some bright highlights and I usually want those bright highlights to fall on my subject.  I love for my subject’s face to have shadows, mid-tones and(…)

Every once in awhile, the CMteam groups together in order to bring our members and followers a really special offering! Today, we are thrilled to present to you an amazing breakout session- CMteam Breakouts: All Access Pass. With your registration fee of $50 you will receive access to 5 separate mini sessions, all at the same time. A total of over 150 pages of PDF information, along with several videos and the opportunity to ask questions of each presenter in(…)

Leaving your images filenames as img_0123 can be confusing and not very appealing to those of us with a type A personality.  Renaming each image one by one can be a daunting task, especially if you have hundreds of files to name, but Lightroom has made it really easy to rename all your desired images in a matter of seconds.  CMmentor Megan Moore is sharing with us how to rename your files in Lightroom and the options that are available!
renaming(…)

Who else is frustrated with their distorted and crooked architecture photography? Don’t delete those distorted images or throw them in your recycle bin!  CMmentor Monica Wilkinson has the secrets to correcting those images with the transform tool in Lightroom 3 and she’s here today to share those secrets with you.  Get your editing software warmed up because you’re going to want to try this out!

We’ve also got a great sponsor for today’s blog post, AlbumExposure, so make sure and read(…)

Every time Adobe releases it’s latest software there’s the inevitable debate, is it worth it?  Lightroom 4 was release a few months ago and while many have upgraded, many are still hanging on to the familiar, Lightroom 3.  Are the Lightroom 4 features really worth the upgrade investment?  Lightroom guru and instructor of our Processing 101: Lightroom Start-to-Finish workshop Lynne Rigby is here to share with us the differences between Lightroom 3 and 4.  The good and the bad are(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
cmpro | picture plays we love
This week our image comes from member Nancy/prairiemaiden:

our cmpro edits:
Lora Swinson, Oklahoma
ACR:
took exposure down a stop.
increased yellows in 5250
increased blacks +20
CS5:
Added(…)

by Ashley Spaulding

Happy Friday, everyone!  Today I’m going to be sharing how easy it is to create your own presets in Lightroom.  I have not yet converted to Lightroom 4, so these steps are for Lightroom 3, but I’m guessing that they’re basically – if not completely – the same for LR4.

I edit in a really ‘clean’ manner, so when I first started using LR, I thought that presets were not my thing.  I was very wrong.  I’ve since found(…)

I think I may have inspired this particular tutorial.  I may or may not have emailed my good friend, Lynne Rigby, Lightroom master, when I was super frustrated trying to organize my Lightroom files.  These instructions below were exactly what I needed and I’m forever grateful to her (for this amongst so many other things.  Like I said – Lightroom master!) and you just might be too!  Thanks, Lynne!

Organizing in Lightroom
by Lynne Rigby
I’ve heard so many people say that they(…)

Have you ever wondered why a photographer chooses to have a particular image in color or black and white?  I think we all have and it takes time to learn when color or black and white is the best choice to enhance your photograph.  Our utterly fabulous CMmentor Stacey Haslem is here to share her thought process on color vs black and white!
thoughts on converting to black and white
by Stacey Haslem
Why do you convert an image to monochrome? Do you(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
cmpro | picture plays we love
This week our image comes from member Liz/ElizabethZoppa:

our cmpro edits:
Margie Mobley, Arizona
Adjusted the white balance. Bumped up clarity and vibrance to(…)

It’s time for another addition of our bi-weekly series “Ask a CMpro” in which we give our CMpros one question and they dish.  Their answers alone are always inspiring and this week we asked them “What editing software do you use and why? ”

Lightroom screenshot from April Nienhuis
Courtney Keim, New Jersey
I am a Photoshop girl all the way.  Adjustments in ACR and then tweaks in Photoshop.  Learning Lightroom is on my list of to-dos and am thinking Lynne’s workshop may(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
cmpro | picture plays we love
This week our image comes from member Nicole/rubypickles:

our cmpro edits:
Lila Armock, Michigan

In LR:
fill light +95
temp to 4759
recovery slider +20
HSL tab -(…)

Even though she has been insanely busy this week making our 4th birthday celebration AMAZING (Thank you, Monica!!), CMmentor Monica Wilkinson still made time to blog for us today with a great tutorial on exporting your images from Adobe Lightroom.

exporting from Lightroom
by Monica Wilkinson
So you finish editing and making changes to your images or “copies “in Lightroom. Now what? To some Lightroom can be confusing since you are never really “saving” your work. Instead, when you add key words or(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!

cmpro | picture plays we love
This week our SOOC image comes from member Susan/susansjo78:

our cmpro edits:
Juli Evans
opened in ACR
auto wb
recovery to 100
exposure +.5
clarity +3

opened in CS4
levels(…)

Happy Friday everyone!  Adobe released their latest version of Lightroom this week – Lightroom 4 is now available!  There’s been a lot of talk in the industry regarding the new version of Lightroom substantially changing how your current presets function.  CM preset lovers will be happy to know we’ve released our popular Paparazzi, Film Art and Essentials presets in a Lightroom 4 version.
We often get emails and posts on the forum asking how to install presets.  Our own Lightroom guru(…)

by April Nienhuis
Finding light and knowing how to use it is a major factor in creating beautiful, quality images.  The fun thing about light is that there are so many ways to use it and if there isn’t any you can create it by using your speedlite, strobes, or anything else you may have around.  Today I’m going to show you that there’s both a bad way and a good way to utilize your available light.

Here is a pullback to show(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
CMpro | Picture Plays We Love
This week our SOOC image comes from member Susan/susmjack:

our cmpro edits:
Jenny Miller
LR
Recover dress
lower contrast
Increase blacks

PS
Flip & crop
Sharpen & noiseware
curves layer (pull(…)

The always amazing CMmentor, Megan Moore, is sharing more of her tips and tricks for Adobe Lightroom here on the blog today.  Today Megan is going over sync settings.  Megan is a teaching assistant in our Processing 101: Lightroom Start-to-Finish workshop and knows her stuff – thanks for sharing with us, Megan!

Lightroom Sync Settings
by Megan Moore
Today I want to talk about one of my favorite Lightroom features: the Sync Settings button.
I love this little button for when I’m doing my(…)

We’ve been having such fun with our Photoshop Friday posts here on the blog that we decided we should give Lightroom some love, too!  Fortunately, we have our own Lightroom guru on hand,  the always amazing Lynne Rigby.  Lynne is the instructor of our widely popular Processing 101: Lightroom Start-to-Finish workshop. Registration for this workshop is currently open and seats are selling fast. Stay tuned to the end of the tutorial for your chance to win a coveted spot in(…)

One thing our members are often curious about is how others structure their workflow once they upload their images to their computer.  Our lovely CMmentor and Lightroom aficionado, Megan Moore, is generously sharing her Lightroom workflow here on the blog today.  Megan is a teaching assistant in our Processing 101: Lightroom Start-to-Finish workshop and knows her stuff – thanks for sharing with us, Megan!

processing |my lightroom workflow
by Megan Moore
Hi everyone! I wanted to share my Lightroom workflow today – this(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
CMpro | Picture Plays We Love
This week our SOOC image comes from member Heather/bellamontana:

Our CMpro Edits:
Elle Walker
CM Paparazzi Preset – ‘Rosy Good News’ (for warmth)
export to(…)

There are so many different ways to process an image and no one way is the “right” way. While all of our CMpros are extremely talented, they all have a very unique and distinct style. Who wouldn’t love to see the many different plays that they would have on a single image?!  We sure do!
CMpro | Picture Plays We Love
This week our SOOC image comes from Amanda/littlesprouts:

Our CMpro Edits:
Lora Swinson
decreased contrast in ACR
used spot healing tool to remove flaked skin(…)

We often get asked for examples of our presets in action so CMmentor, Lisa Tichané, has put together this little tribute to her love of the CM Paparazzi Presets.  If she hooks you in with her gorgeous images then make sure you read to the end for a special offer just for you!
Playing With Paparazzi Presets
When it comes to post-processing, I used to pride myself on NOT using actions or presets.
I love to control my editing process and you can’t(…)

Do you ever have an image that you love, love, love…..except for that one little thing that detracts from your image and drives you nuts?  Never fear!  The always inspiring Ashley Spaulding, CMmentor and teaching assistant in CM’s Lightroom workshop, is blogging today with some tips on using Lightroom’s spot removal tool.  Thanks, Ashley!
Tutorial | Lightroom Spot Removal Tool
by Ashley Spaulding
In an ideal world, we would never have anything in our images that we don’t want to be there.  In(…)

Love the look of presets but find you’re wanting to tweak them to your taste?  CMpro and CMmentor, Lisa Tichané has a wonderful tutorial explaining how to lower the opacity of those beloved Lightroom presets to suit the look you’re after.  Thanks, Lisa!

How to Lower the Opacity of a Lightroom Preset
by Lisa Tichané
When I get to the point in editing where I am choosing an editing style for a session, I mainly lean towards clean post processing. I don’t use(…)