Adobe have updated Lightroom to version CC2115.8 or 6.8 depending on which version you have. The latest update provides some bug fixes as well as new camera and lens profiles. It also adds a significant new feature called Reference View (Only available in the Creative Cloud version I’m afraid)

I’ve been travelling for the last few days, and I’m in Brussels, in Belgium. I’ve been here quite a few times and I know my way around quite well now. I usually photograph the sights and the buildings, but this time, as I was only here for a short trip, I spent my photo taking opportunity shooting street photography instead. 

Capture one has long been a rival to Lightroom, and I’ve been suggesting its use for Fuji X-Trans shooters for some time. However, Capture One Pro 9 seemed to be lacking in the quality of its conversions for X-Pro2 users and there were a number of issues holding it back. Today, Phase One launched a new version, Capture One Pro 10, and I’m happy to say that those issues are gone. 

At this time of the year, the days can get very dark and dreary here in Ireland. With the short winter days, when it’s sunny it’s actually quite beautiful, but when it clouds over, it becomes very dark and dreary. On days like this, it’s often tempting not to bother shooting, and certainly, I’ve been put off by what seems like bad light. However, as Jay Maisel once said, there’s no such thing as bad light, just difficult light. 

I wrote some first reaction thoughts on On1’s new RAW photo processor on Friday, specifically how it relates to Fuji X-Trans Files. Since then I’ve spent a bit more time trying it out, and I tried it using images from a few different cameras. When not using X-Trans files the results seem quite different, and so, while my first thoughts were a bit overly negative, I’m a bit more optimistic now. 

On1’s forthcoming “RAW” application has been teased for quite some time now. The Company has touted it as completely new modern raw engine, and a lot of people who have been frustrated with Lightroom have been hoping that this new raw software could be a possible replacement. The software is still in beta, but they have released a pre-release build to customers and I’ve been trying it out. I’ve been getting quite a few emails from people asking about this, so I took the plunge and bought the software t try it out (you’re welcome). I was particularly curious to see how it handles X-Trans images. 

The next version of Affinity Photo, due for release fairly soon, has a pretty impressive feature release. The company has released a “release candidate” beta for existing customers along with a long list of improvements. There is a lot on it, and they’ve really listened to customer feedback. I’m trying the beta now and I’ll report back if anything stands out, but for now, here’s some highlights from the release notes about some of the feature’s that I’m most excited about.

This is pretty old news at this point, but as I hadn’t covered it before, I thought I’d touch on it briefly. A while ago VSCO released an updated version of their Film series of Lightroom Presets to support the Fuji X-Pro 2 and XT-2. I finally got around to trying it out, and I’m liking the results.

With most cameras that are released these days having video, it may seem like a pointless exercise to point out the benefits of having the feature. However, if you read the comments on reviews of new cameras (and you probably shouldn’t for your own mental health) there’s always someone who complains about the video functions, saying that they are a photographer and “real photographers” don’t care about video. Even if you don’t like shooting video, I think that there are times when it’s a real benefit to have video in your camera, and the other day I came across a perfect example.

The other day, the temperature dropped down below zero for the first time this year. The air was cold and fresh, and you could feel the icy hands of winter on your skin. The winter sky is clear and blue, and the low sun gives the illusion of warmth, but you can almost see the invisible iciness in the air. 

Last week I wrote about the upcoming release of Macphun’s new Raw editing software, Luminar. The software was still in beta, but it’s now released, and you can also get a trial version. I’m still working on my full review of the software but I do have some more thoughts on it since the last post I wrote about it

I was reading a blog post from Brian Smith the other day and he was asking people for what they wanted from Sony in terms of lenses. I thought it was an interesting post, and it got me thinking of other things that I would like to see from Sony to improve the company’s camera offerings. Sony has really pushed the envelope with their camera designs over the last few years, but in my opinion, there’s quite still a few areas that could do with some improvement. So, in no particular order, here’s my Sony wish list. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.

Autumn is slowly giving way to winter here in Dublin city, and as the seasons change the light changes too. The harsh winter sun brings with it long shadows and cool sunshine. I actually love the light this time of year, and for street photography it makes for an interesting subject all of its own.

In addition to trying out a pre-production version of Luminar, I’ve also been looking at Macphun’s new version of their HDR software, Aurora HDR. While I’m not a huge HDR user I do like to dabble now and again. In the past I’ve used Photomatix as well as Lightroom’s built in HDR feature, so when I was asked if I would be interested in reviewing it, I was keen to try it out

A while ago I created a set of Lightroom presets called “Landscape Gold”. In fact, I had originally created the set for Aperture, and it was one of my more popular sets. The idea was to add a “golden” touch to landscape images, and it’s particularly effective at this time of the year. With all the autumn colours, Landscape gold can work well to give them an additional sheen (pardon the pun) and in this post, I’ll give you some examples as well as some tips for working with the presets