Technique Tuesday: Noise, Noise Go Away In Lightroom 3, Broken Bones - OUCH, and More

Good Morning Everybody,

Three days down here, the weather is perfect and we don't want to come home. OK, only slightly kidding here.

That’s how today’s post was supposed  to begin – nice easy, talking about a little fun in the sun. That all changed abruptly yesterday at about 11:30 a.m. when LaDawn climbed aboard a small rental scooter, drove it for about 30 seconds, made a small turn, and then hit one of the very high curbs down here. The scooter went down and so did LaDawn.

She sustained a few minor scrapes, a big bruise to her pride, and one painful break to her wrist – OUCH! We spent all day yesterday in the hospital with the surgeon finishing up about 9:30 p.m. She now has a metal plate and several screws holding her two wrist bones together.  The prognosis is all positive – she should be good to go in a few weeks, and she is in good spirits. You can send your “well wishes” to LaDawn@ziser.com if you’d like. The bad news – she can’t have a margarita till tomorrow ;~(

I think we are planning a very easy day today – no snorkeling, zip lining, or bungee jumping.  Anyway, that’s the latest update from San Jose del Cabo.  On with today’s post.

On The Road Blogging Much Easier

I will say, blogging on my new iPad, using iWork.com, and Windows Live Writer sure makes things much easier than before in getting the posts up. The combo works like a charm. I could use the iPad to post directly to Blogger but I like how I can format things so easily with my combo set of blogging tools. And, the iPad is just WAY COOL to play with.

DRC Sale Ends Today

Hey, and don’t forget today is the last day for our SALE over at our Digital Resource Center. You can still save on my book, my Zumbrella, and lots more goodies.  Here is the main link right here.

I promised LaDawn not too much time on the blog today so let's get right to it. here we go...

Noisy Noise, Noise Go Away In Lightroom 3

Most of you know that from my early experience with the Import functionality of Lightroom 3 Beta 1, I was not a big fan of the upcoming new release. I really wanted to be excited though because of the new noise reduction features I had been hearing about in LR3.

Lightroom 3 Beta 2 became available just a few weeks ago and, after visiting with Tom Hogarty, Adobe's Lightroom Project manager, at Photoshop World recently, I decided to give it a try again. First off - the Import functionality is fixed and works great. I'm a happy camper again with Lightroom 3.

So now on to the really good stuff - Lightroom's new noise reduction features. What can I say - OMG, it will blow you away when you see it in action. I shot a Bar Mitzvah recently and really pushed my Canon 7D and 5D Mk II. I took the 7D to ISO 6400 and the 5D Mk II to ISO 12,800.

From my standpoint, the LR 3 noise reduction results were phenomenal. I wanted to see what Lightroom would do in a real world situation, not just what I see in a quick web demo. I ran a few of the high ISO images through Lightroom 3 and then printed them out as 8x10's to see what they looked like up close and personal.

I saw the light, it was a miracle, it was like Lazarus rising from the dead - OK, I'm getting a little carried away. But, I have to tell you - the results were simply amazing - the best I've seen to date in the noise reduction category. Remember, I'm a big fan of high ISOs so I'm always on the lookout for the best noise reduction solutions - LR3 is a really good one and I can’t wait for the final release!

Take a look at today's tutorial and see what you think. I just hope the video captures just a bit of what I saw when I was working with the images. Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We are off on another Mexican adventure today, and I'm not sure what. I'll see what the rest of the crowd has in mind.

Hey, don't forget to check back tomorrow for my "guest blogger" post. Tomorrow I have my "Ace #1 Assistant", Nicholas Viltrakis, covering me on Wednesday. Nicholas recently took a trip to Mammoth Caves and wanted shots that would show more that your borrowing on camera flash would show. He used a few techniques that I talk about here at DPT. Tune in tomorrow to see what he has in store. I've already seen the post - I think you will enjoy it.

Until then, Adios Everybody, –David