Lightroom CC 11 Update

[Kayaker72]

I am not sure how many people have updated LR yet, but, as with previous years, Adobe rolled out a new version of LR. Mostly an enhanced ability to mask, approaching what you can do with PS. But using autodetect for subject and sky seems to be generating some excitement.

Two videos that I've found useful in understanding and navigating the new features.

BTW...you'd kill yourself if you took a drink each time she says "Just them"
"It's Almost CREEPY How Good This Is" (Lightroom 11 Auto Masking Demo) - YouTube

Then, looking at using the new sky autodetect.
NEW: Lightroom / ACR Masking 2.0 - YouTube

I just upgraded...I haven't yet played with these new features.

[Jonathan Huyer]

I've been playing with it a bit, and I'm definitely liking it so far. The subject selection is quite good, and very useful for wildlife. I often want to darken a background, so I just select the subject and then choose 'invert' to select everything else instead. If the auto-detect system doesn't work perfectly then it's a quick matter to touch up the mask with the brush. So overall this will save a bunch of time.

[Jonathan Huyer]

BTW I had to stop that first video halfway through, and run straight to detox

[Kayaker72]

BTW I had to stop that first video halfway through, and run straight to detox

...I am glad you made the good decision to pause at the half way mark.....

[Kayaker72]

So, having now played with some of the features, very nice. Mostly, modifying the background is now much quicker as you can use the select subject feature and then invert.

But, I had missed that Adobe finally came out with R5 profiles (as well as R3 and R6). This had been a major complaint.

Finally, and I need to play with this a bit more, but I have noted occasional noise with the R5 where I was not expecting it. Well, I haven't seen that since updating to the most recent R5 firmware. But, also, even going through old Laguna Seca images with the new Adobe software....the noise looks a bit better to me.

I'll still want to do the DXOPureRaw v LR comparison later this winter.

[Joel Eade]

I'll still want to do the DXOPureRaw v LR comparison later this winter.

I have not done a scientific type comparison but DXO Pure Raw is amazing in my opinion.

I converted a bunch of my Laguna Seca images with it and you see virtually no noise when the image opens in photoshop.

Makes Topaz DeNoise AI unnecessary for almost all images and it's very fast.

It features presets for camera and lens combinations that work very well.

I'm a big fan.

[Jonathan Huyer]

Makes Topaz DeNoise AI unnecessary for almost all images and it's very fast.

I haven't tried DXO but I've been using Topaz Denoise for quite a while. What do you like better about DXO, specifically?

(This is changing the thread topic a bit --- hope that's okay).

[Joel Eade]

As a first step in processing RAW files it eliminates the need many times for any further noise reduction and sharpening.

The colors and contrast are spot on as well.

Its very fast and the results look great. Hard for me to tell if it's better than DeNoise AI but it's faster.

They offer a free trial .... give it a spin

[Kayaker72]

Thanks Joel. Just curious about workflow...do you end up keeping 3 files then? RAW (out of camera), DNG (from DXOPureRaw) and JPG (final image, ready for posting)?

[Joel Eade]

I send the file from PureRaw to Photoshop and then I only keep the final jpeg.

I used to keep RAW files but I virtually never re-visited them so I stopped doing it.

I don't use .tiff because they are so large and for my purposes jpegs do just fine.

I do keep 3 copies of my final jpegs on different devices.