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Ever heard of the burst trick? If yes, I’ll show you how to use it with Lightroom to speed up your image selection process. If no, let me open up a tripod-less world to you.

Did I ever mention that I hardly ever carry a tripod with me? That for getting a shot I’d rather stabilize the camera another way? Such as leaning against something, propping the camera up on a rock or using a beanbag? And that I frequently use the bust trick?

The burst trick is an easy method to increase the chances of getting a hand-held shot at a long exposure time without camera shake. You simply set the camera to rapid fire mode and fire away a burst of two, thee, four or even more shots. Then you select the one shot from that burst that has the least amount of camera shake, or preferrably none at all.

Easier said than done. Personally I’m used to delete the shaky ones directly on my camera, but depending on the camera and its display (or simply depending on how much time I’ve got during the photoshoot), it’s not always possible. That’s why I have recently switched to doing this in Lightroom.

Continue reading ‘My Lightroom Workflow - pt. 4′

Back in 1970, Douglas Engelbart invented the computer mouse. Thanks to him (and a few others), most of us are now able to do things with our computers that would have seemed miraculous just years ago. The mouse lets us point at things on the computer screen, press virtual buttons, move virtual sliders, paint virtual things.

But only the effective combination of both, mouse and keyboard will take your Lightroom editing skills to the next level.

The good thing is that you’ll only need to remember 5 of those shortcut keys to help you blaze through your image editing and have your friends lower their eyes in your presence and address you as “Oh Great Lightroom Master” from now on.

Continue reading ‘My Lightroom Workflow - pt. 3′