Gary started his lecture by addressing a previous Lightroom question on the matter of backing up his catalogues. He explained and demonstrated how to edit the numerous drop- down options for automatic Catalogue backups and how to specify the file storage location. There was also the simple manual route of “File, Options, Catalogue settings” available.

Always looking for something new and different to demonstrate, Gary then asked if any of us had used “ Variations” in Photoshop, knowing that he was on pretty safe ground with that one ! This turned out, as demonstrated, to be a a way of setting up a dialogue between data in Microsoft Excel (exporting text)and Photoshop (providing the images). Both ended up in a composite multi-layered Photoshop file. So what was that all about?

The application shown was a Membership Card showing their Photo, name and home town. (Variation One on the Excel “database”). Three other Club Members text details were stored on the Spreadsheet as Variations 2,3 and 4 . Selecting each in turn added their text details to the template as Photoshop imported them together with the appropriate image from the Photoshop’s own file system. An interesting technical option for club administrators or for members looking to catalogue a collection of some sort. Not, however, one for those on the lower slopes of their photographic learning curve.

After the tea break, Gary turned to another Lightroom technique . . . that of “one-click” adjustment to images by producing one’s own Preset (as an alternative to the programmes “Auto” button.) This pre-set adjustment, once created, can then be brought into play automatically as your new files are imported. To create your pre-set, first an image has to be opened and manually corrected to form the basis of it. In this case, as a demonstration, the image was that of the lawn and stone facade of a weathered but still grand old manor house.

Gary worked his way through the various image adjustment options in Lightroom, explaining their use as he went and the final result . . . the fully corrected image . . . was saved as a new Preset. So you now have the one click cure for all ills? Not exactly but something to give you a head start when performing adjustments to a number of image taken under similar conditions with, perhaps, just the odd tweak needed to one or two of them as a final touch.

Gary works hard to engage his audience, questioning them constantly as he goes to create a dialogue that carries them along with him. He has the difficult task of addressing a mixed audience of varying skill levels but his long experience carries him through.

Dick Loaring Assistant Competition Secretary & Webmaster