Photo Taco Podcast

Right up front I want to set some expectations on the speed of DeNoise AI. Even on the best of computer hardware here in early 2022 DeNoise AI is not “fast”. The fastest I was able to get raw images to be processed in DeNoise AI was about 6 seconds per image. 6 real seconds, not the amount of time ... The post Making DeNoise AI Faster appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Hard Drive Space Problems for Photographers Let’s talk about the problems that photographers face with hard drive space.  The more technical term for that is “storage”.  Don’t confuse this with “memory” or “RAM”.  Memory is a form of storage but it only stores information while your computer is on.  Memory today comes in sizes like 8GB, 16GB, 32GB or more.  ... The post Help With Drive Space and Backups For Photographers appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

What Dimensions and Quality Should Photographers Use When Posting To Social Media? Nearly a constant debate online, I constantly get questions on the pixel dimensions, quality setting, and DPI that photographers should use when exporting out of Lightroom and Photoshop for posting the image on social media. The answer may change over time as the social networks make constant changes ... The post Dimensions and Quality For Social Media Photo Sharing appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Common Lightroom Problems Lightroom is really complicated software here in early 2021. Not complicated as a tool that can help photographers get the most out of their photos. Complicated in that so many things can go wrong we couldn’t possibly list them all here. Lightroom problems can range from seeing strange artifacts on the screen, to performance issues, to system ... The post 13 Steps To Troubleshooting Lightroom Problems appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

What Is Diffraction In Photography? Let’s start off by very briefly defining diffraction.  I want to encourage all of you to go and check out the video recently released over on DPReview where Don explains diffraction really well using some simple visual experiments. https://www.dpreview.com/videos/0286755323/dpreview-tv-understanding-diffraction As a very simple explanation, your camera has to bend light to take a photo. Just ... The post Find Your Lens Diffraction Point appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

This post was heavily influenced by and will reference an excellent two part article that the great Roger Cicala published at DPReview.com in 2020.   Difference Between Sample Variation and Bad Copies Part 1 Difference Between Sample Variation and Bad Copies Part 2 Why Lens Variance vs Bad Copy? I get the question very regularly, probably about once a week, of ... The post Lens Variance vs Bad Copy appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

The details of how I created a picture of a full moon that includes a foreground and looks more like a sunrise than a moonrise The Creative Vision Your chances of creating a good photo increase dramatically when you start out your shoot with a creative vision. Having a good idea of the image you want to create and then ... The post Fire Full Moon – How I Shot The Moon With A Foreground appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

No doubt you have heard that Apple made big news at their annual developer’s conference (WWDC) announcing they are moving from long-term partner Intel to using custom built processors they are calling Apple Silicon. What does this move to Apple Silicon mean for photographers? Apple switching from Intel to Apple Silicon should mean faster Mac computers with longer battery life. ... The post What Does Apple Silicon Mean For Photographers? appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Puget Systems Lightroom and Photoshop Benchmarks Before we tell photographers if AMD or Intel runs Lightroom and Photoshop better, it is important to know why it is Matt Bach from Puget Systems is so qualified to speak to the topic. In 2019 Puget Systems began offering a suite of tools that are extremely helpful for testing the performance of creative ... The post AMD vs Intel For Lightroom and Photoshop With Puget Systems appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Can the relatively inexpensive and tiny form factor Intel NUC be a good photo editing computer? The PC counterpart to Apple’s Mac Mini, this is the first in a series of videos taking a look at the Intel 10th generation Next Unit of Computing (NUC) to see how well it can run Lightroom and Photoshop. What Is an Intel NUC? ... The post Intel NUC – Inexpensive Photo Editing Computer appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

How To Make Lightroom Classic Import 90% Faster This is not a new topic here on Photo Taco.  I have talked about this magical process, something Adobe calls the Embedded Preview Workflow (added to Lightroom Classic back in Oct 2017), here on the show before.  I did an episode called Lr Embedded Preview Workflow back in April 2018, so about ... The post Slash The Import Time Of Lightroom Classic By 90%! appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Episode Sponsors Phlearn – When Phlearn reached out I was really excited because my friend Aaron Nace and the folks over at Plearn.com produce video training for Photoshop that I can’t recommend strongly enough. It is incredible. Aaron has forgotten more Photoshop than I have ever learned.  A huge portion of what I know about Photoshop has come from video ... The post Topaz DeNoise AI vs Lightroom and Photoshop appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Note: If you just want to skip straight to the results go to 43:19 in the episode! One of the questions I have had asked hundreds of times over the past few years is how photographers should setup their catalog and photos using external drives. Does it matter if the external drive is an SSD, or are spinning drives good ... The post Performance of External Drives With Lightroom Classic appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Create Photography Retreat I am so excited to be presenting at the Create Photography Retreat again in 2020.  It is being held in beautiful Greenville South Carolina October 15-17 when all of the fall colors will be breathtaking.  Come join me and others from the Master Photography Podcast network in interactive, hands-on sessions and make some serious progress towards mastering ... The post Photographer’s Checklist For Sharper Photos appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Water Droplet Refraction Photography I am sure you have seen photos featuring water droplet refraction, but you have to check out some of the images Don has on his website over at http://www.donkom.ca/category/macro-water/ under the Macro Water menu.  There are a number of images there where Don has done an incredible job of creating images that emphasize the beauty of ... The post How To Do Water Droplet Photography With Don Komarechka appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

What and Why of Lens Filters Every photographer, no matter the genre of photography they enjoy and do the most, should have a neutral density (ND) and circular polarizing (CPL) filter for the camera lenses. Photographers should skip the ultra-violet (UV) filter and may want to skip the graduated neutral density (GND) filter. Read on or listen to the podcast ... The post Photography Lens Filters Explained! appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Lightroom Hardware Testing Project Update Still working on this.  I know that is disappointing to many of the listeners because it meant I didn’t get an episode out in August 2019.  I really thought I would be close to finishing up the testing I am doing of the Develop module in Lightroom and what the impact of hardware is on ... The post Best Background for Composites appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Do You Find Photoshop Intimidating? If you find Photoshop to be intimidating you are not alone! We constantly hear from photographers that they know they need to learn how to use Photoshop but they can’t figure out how to use the program. Hopefully you have found this post and podcast episode because you need that help and we are going ... The post Taking the Intimidation Out of Photoshop With Aaron Nace appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Most of photographers already know a little about the texture slider that Adobe added to Lightroom Classic in the release of version 8.3 in May 2019. In this episode I want to try and help photographers know what the Texture slider does and when and how to use it. Where Is the Texture Slider? Let’s start with where photographers can ... The post How To Use The Texture Slider in Lightroom Classic appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Beginning Macro Photography Don, let’s start off the show by talking about what a competent photographer who has never done any macro can do to get started.  Let’s say this photographer is one who knows their way around their camera, knows how to control their settings to get good exposure, but has never done any macro shooting.  How would you ... The post Getting Started In Macro Photography With Don Komarechka appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Permission to Shoot Let’s start off with how photographers can get permission to shoot at a concert.  There have been so many stories in the photography world over the last year or two of artists who don’t allow photography in their concerts.  I have never tried to go and shoot a concert but I assume that you can’t just buy ... The post Concert Photography Tips With Steve Brazill appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

What Does the New Enhance Details Feature of Lightroom Do? The Enhance Details feature in Lightroom and Photoshop uses artificial intelligence to interpret the color information in a raw file from a camera and provide better fine detail. It can be used on the raw photos you already have on your hard drive and Adobe says you can get as ... The post Adobe’s New Enhance Details Feature Explained! appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff explains why photographers should choose their top ten image annually and what benefit he saw from doing that for 2018. Why Should Photographers Do a Yearly Photography Top Ten? Photographers should really consider going through the thousands of photos taken over a year and choosing the ten best they created to help them see trends in their photography, the ... The post Why Photographers Should Choose Their Top Ten Photos Annually! appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Greg Benz joins Jeff to answer the question of “What is Luminosity Masking?” Episode Sponsors: Squarespace has beautiful templates to make your website look great and 24 hour support if you do happen to get stuck.  Head over to squarespace.com/improve for a free trial and when you are ready to launch use offer code IMPROVE to save 10% off the ... The post What Is Luminosity Masking? appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Chris Marquardt talks with Jeff about everything you need to know about digitizing prints and negatives/slides using scanners and cameras. Episode Sponsor: Squarespace We love squarespace and are sure you will too for showing off your best work.  Head over to squarespace.com/improve for a free trial and use offer code IMPROVE to save 10% off your first purchase of a ... The post Ultimate Guide to Digitizing Prints and Negatives appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff is joined by good friend of the show, Victoria Bampton (better known as the Lightroom Queen), to talk about the new desktop and mobile features of Lightroom CC 1.5 released in August 2018. There are 2 new features of Lightroom CC 1.5 on the computer (local albums and album membership), 4 new features for on iOS (better organization, updated ... The post What’s New with Lightroom CC 1.5? appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon answers a listener question about how it is that adjustment syncing between two or more photos should work in Lightroom.  He describes some important details about how photo selections work, the role of the “active” photo in selections and adjustment syncing, and some reasons why it may be that adjustment syncing may fail. Episode Resources Photo Taco: Fast ... The post Adjustment Syncing and Selection in Lightroom appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff talks with computer building expert Matt Bach of Puget Systems about the best choices for building a Lightroom computer in 2018.  They talk about all of the decisions to make to custom build a Windows computer, as well as the recommendations for where it is worth spending the money if you are buying a Mac or a PC from ... The post Lightroom Computer 2018 appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff walks through the details of XMP, what it is, why photographers should care, the pros and cons, multiple options to turn in on in Lightroom, and a couple of lesser known options. Episode Resources Adobe XMP Page: https://www.adobe.com/products/xmp.html Photo Taco – Large Lightroom Catalog: https://phototacopodcast.com/2016/03/07/large-lightroom-catalogs/ Photo Taco – Lightroom On Two Computers: https://phototacopodcast.com/2017/03/18/lightroom-on-two-computers/ Photo Taco – The ULTIMATE Guide ... The post XMP Explained! appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff refreshes information from his 2015 article, the ULTIMATE Backup Workflow for Photographers, with information from 2018 including the two “storage walls” photographers slam into in their photographic journey and how to recover from hitting both of them. First Advertiser – Udemy: This episode is brought to you by Udemy*, the largest marketplace for online learning. Whether you’re looking to ... The post ULTIMATE Guide to Backup for Photographers appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff walks through a revamp of the profiles feature in the release of Lightroom Classic CC 7.3 and Camera Raw 10.3.  Even though profiles have been around for nearly 20 years, Adobe made a lot of changes to them in this release.  Jeff walks through: There are now two types of profiles.  Camera-specific and creative. Let’s dig into each type ... The post Lightroom 7.3 Profiles Explained! appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon walks through how to significantly speed up you culling process in Lightroom by using the Embedded Preview workflow: Disable background processes (pause syncing to Lr CC, pause addresses lookup, pause face detection) Set critical preferences (Camera Raw Cache at least 50GB, enable “Use Smart Previews instead of Originals for Image Editing”, enabled Generate Previews in Parallel if you ... The post Lr Embedded Preview Workflow appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon provides go/no go on the State of Adobe Updates Q1 2018. The he outlines 8 steps of good hygiene for memory cards: 1) Turn off Camera 2) Wait for 5 seconds 3) Carefully remove card and put it in a card reader 4) Use a GOOD card reader 5) Copy the photos to the computer using Finder on ... The post SAU Q1 2018 and Memory Card Hygiene appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff is joined by Victoria Bampton, a.k.a. The Lightroom Queen, to talk about Lightroom Classic CC 7.1.  They talk about her new Lightroom Classic CC The Missing FAQ book and go over 6 questions (including tips on faster culling in Lightroom, the magic alt/option key, Range Masks, and why you should use Quick Adjustments in Library): What is the future ... The post Lr Classic CC 7.1 With The Lightroom Queen appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff and Don Komarechka geek out over one of the most misunderstood concepts of DPI or dots per inch.  They talk about how file size, pixel dimensions, and DPI don’t really have anything to do with each other, how Adobe isn’t doing photographers any favors with how DPI is so prominently displayed in Photoshop and Lightroom, and how even the ... The post DPI With Don Komarechka appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff updated his Lightroom Classic CC status with version. 7.1 from “WAIT!” to “cautiously proceed”. He recommends backing up your catalog prior to updating and then checking out the new version at a point where you don’t have a huge client Jon to process and see how it works. He also found Classic to be about 25% faster with import ... The post Lr Classic CC 7.1 Update & Composite Portraits appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon goes over gift ideas for the 2017 holiday season in budget categories from $20 to $2,000. Don’t forget about the Improve Photography Retreat 2018 and Jeff’s post-Retreat workshop “Be a Ninja With Your Camera” that you can sign up for at http://www.jsharmonphotos.com/workshop. Links to gift ideas: Canon T5i ($550): https://www.amazon.com/Canon-EOS-Rebel-EF-S-18-55/dp/B00BW6LWO4/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1512247923&sr=1-5&keywords=canon+t5i Nikon D3400 ($400): https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D3400-NIKKOR-18-55mm-3-5-5-6G/dp/B01KITZKDE/ref=sr_1_12?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1512248217&sr=1-12&keywords=nikon+d3300 SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB ... The post Holiday Gift Guide 2017 appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon goes over the details about the two new Lightroom programs now available to Creative Cloud subscribers, the costs of the various Creative Cloud options, and a healthy number of bugs that have been reported making his recommendation be that photographers who need to get work done using Lightroom wait to update. Not Ready For Professional Use I know ... The post Is Lightroom CC Classic? appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff answers a listener question about hobbyist photographers getting into flash photography from listener Jose Lopez “I’ve primarily been taking photos of landscapes, events, and other natural light subjects, but recently wanted to do more photography where a flash would be beneficial. I’ve watched the Improve Photography tutorials and spent hours looking online at YouTube and I find that it’s ... The post Inexpensive Flash appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jim Goldstein, from cloud backup provider Backblaze, comes on to talk with Jeff about 7 important questions photographers should have about backing up their photos and Lightroom catalog to the cloud: 1) How can a cloud backup provider help with the “1” of the “3-2-1” backup strategy? 2) Does adding an external hard drive change how cloud backup providers can ... The post Online Backup appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon does a detailed “How I Got The Shot” (HIGTS) for the first portrait shot he felt like he created instead of just captured. It happened to be a wedding photo taken in the summer of 2017. He talks about how he actually had a sad ending to the story because the Lexar USB drive he was using to ... The post HIGTS – Millers Park Wedding Photo appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon revisits one of the most popular Photo Taco topics ever published and talks about his experience doing Autofocus Micro Adjustment (AFMA) tuning over a 5 month period. There are things he has learned that are important for portrait photographers to understand. Resources Mentioned: Photo Taco AMFA Explained! : https://phototacopodcast.com/2017/04/25/afma-explained/ Other Photo Taco Resources: Vote for Jeff’s “Cull” module ... The post AFMA Revisited appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon talks with Bill Claff about his Photographic Dynamic Range testing and math that can be seen on his photonstophotos.net website. Jeff goes over the following questions with Bill: 1) Who is Bill Claff and what do you do with photography? 2) What is the story or background of your excellent photonstophotos.net website? Why did you create it? 3)You ... The post Photographic Dynamic Range appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon talks about a few changes to the show with some consolidation to a single Improve Photography podcast feed and a single Facebook group and then answers a question from listener Katie Shipley who asked: “I had just finished listening to the podcast and taking notes on what to look for when buying a new computer when Apple announced ... The post 2017 iMac For Photogs appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon takes listeners on a surface level tour of the PhotoPills app with 5 stops on the tour: 1) What does the PhotoPills app do? 2) How photographers should learn to use the app? 3) Why is the app called PhotoPills? 4) What do each of the Photo “Pills” do? 5) What are in the MyStuff and Academy sections ... The post PhotoPills Tour appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon is joined by Rafel Pons of the PhotoPills app team to talk about how photographers can learn to use the fantastic PhotoPills app: 1) Best way to get started? 2) Free, online videos are great (photopills.com) but are there good cheat sheets available? 3) Advice for photographers overwhelmed by the app? 4) Most used feature? 5) Least used ... The post Take Your PhotoPills appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon offers advice on how photographers can defend themselves from ransomware like WannaCry (aka Wanna Decrypter and WannaCrypt) through following 3 primary computing habits: 1) Keep your computer updated. Only install software you went out to get, keep all of the software on your computer updated, if you don’t need software then get rid of it. 2) Do NOT ... The post Photographers, Don’t WannaCry appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon is joined by Brent Bergherm to talk about shooting a solar eclipse. For the first time since 1979 a total solar eclipse will be visible from locations across the continental United States and Jeff goes over 6 questions with Brent about how a photographer can prepare now to be ready to capture such an event: 1) What is ... The post Shooting A Solar Eclipse appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon answers a question from listener Melanie Rice who on the Facebook page asked: Question about upgrading equipment: Started 10 years ago with a Canon 30D. Upgraded to Canon 60D 3 years ago when photography played a bigger role in my graphic design business. Now photography is becoming my main focus – mainly stock images, fashion and real estate. ... The post When is it Time to Upgrade Your Camera? appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon talks about 2 Lightroom bugs that he has had a lot of questions on from listeners: 1) In 2015.10 / 6.10 when round tripping from Lightroom to Photoshop an error message saying that the Camera Raw plug-in is not version 9.10 is coming up even though Photoshop is fully updated and has the very latest version of the ... The post Lightroom: 2 Bugs and Catalog Backup appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.

Jeff Harmon answers year old listener question from Improve Photography writer Aaron Taylor: Here’s a Photo Taco episode if there ever was one: AF Microadjust/Fine Tune. Why do it? When to do it? How important? Is it obsessive or necessary? Use a Lenscal device or just something you print yourself? Jeff talks about how autofocus micro adjustment (AFMA) is something ... The post AFMA Explained appeared first on Photo Taco Podcast.