PDN - May 2012

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features can bog down non-designers and, in many ways, that’s probably true since having fewer choices often speeds up completion of a project. But even with limited choices (e.g., five book formats/ sizes and three paper surfaces), having the tools to create and export your book directly to Blurb is certainly convenient.

Template based, with some flexibility in individual page layouts and the ability to add text and captions, the Book module is both fun and frustrating. Using the tools is mostly intuitive but there are small yet important tasks—like deleting a single page—that aren’t readily apparent. There are layout limitations as well but with workarounds.

For example, if you don’t find a page layout in the presets that matches your vision, Adobe senior digital imaging evangelist and software wizard Julieanne Kost suggests you use Photoshop to create a custom, single-page layout. Then you can just save it as a JPEG, import it into Lightroom, and drag and drop it onto one of your pages. While you can’t create your own template, per se, you can save the book (with or without images) to use again. You can also output the book to a PDF.

If you’re in a hurry or don’t want to mess with the manual layout, you can pick a template and with a click of a button Lightroom will automatically populate the pages with your images.

Once you’re finished with the layout, just click “send book to Blurb” and you’re pretty much done. A couple of nice touches: the estimated price is displayed in Lightroom and you can opt to exclude Blurb’s logo on the printed book or save a few dollars by letting it sit fairly unobtrusively on the bottom of the last page.

MAP MODULE

Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of geotagging nor do I use it on a regular basis; keywords work perfectly fine for me. But pretty much all smartphones record location data, some compact cameras are equipped with built-in GPS and DSLRs like the Canon 5D Mark III offer an optional GPS unit. If the location information is in the file, LR4 reads the meta-data and plots the images on a map. You’ll need an Internet connection since LR4 uses Google maps, but the whole process is seamless.

If you don’t have a GPS-enabled
camera, there are several ways to at-
tach batches of images to various lo-
cations. You can search by location
(including address) or popular sites
like the Empire State Building and then
drag and drop images onto the loca-
tion. GPX log files can also be utilized to
match images to the log’s capture time
and plot them on the map.

THE BOT TOM LINE

You don’t have to use, or even like, all of the new features or modules in LR4 to appreciate the upgrade. I doubt I’ll ever use the Map module, for example, but it doesn’t bother me that it’s there. On the other hand, I love being able to paint on white balance adjustments and noise reduction. Cumulatively, however, Adobe has moved Lightroom forward in a significant manner. We think that photographers will value the new features and under-the-hood innovations, albeit after a brief period of adjustment given the changes in the Basic panel. At the same time, Adobe has made the program more welcoming to newcomers without compromising the professional-level core Lightroom is known for.

—Theano Nikitas

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 www.adobe.com

PROS: More effective shadow and highlight recovery; additional brush-on options (white balance, noise reduction, moiré removal); expanded video capabilities

CONS: Current users will have to adapt their workflow to incorporate the new Basic panel features; minor aspects of video options require a little hunting around; some features in the Book module can be confusing and frustrating to use