The export plugins for Lightroom 1.3 that I mentioned here and here have now been released:
Unfortunately, I came down with a cold yesterday and I got word that I could release these just an hour before heading off to the doctor (I leave in 15 minutes), so I may have screwed up something in my rush to get these links out. We'll see.
In any case, expect a lot of version churn at the beginning, as bugs are flushed out...
UPDATE: You can now Download Here
As I'm still waiting for word from Adobe that I can post my Zenfolio and SmugMug plugins (“frustrated” does not even being to explain my feelings on this matter), I've put the time to good use, developing a plugin for Flickr.
To give a hint, here's what the export dialog looks like at the moment....
The SmugMug and Zenfolio plugins also got the ability to choose how the Title (Zenfolio) or Caption (SmugMug) is derived, as shown in the “Title / Description” section of this screenshot.
The Lightroom Export-Plugin SDK includes a sample export-to-Flickr plugin, and although I have not really looked at it since I tested a version of it a couple of months ago, I've heard that it's fairly bare-bones from a Flickr user's perspective. Mine, which I hope to release soon, is perhaps a step toward a more complete user experience.
(I should explain that the consulting I did for Adobe was to help test and debug the SDK and its “Lightroom SDK Guide” documentation. In order to help ensure that the documentation was correct and complete, I explicitly refrained from looking at the sample code. Thus, I had to read the docs and try to understand things that way, and as a result, I hope I was able to provide better feedback for them. I didn't use it as a Flickr user, either, because I'm not a Flickr user.)
Since the SDK's Flickr plugin was for demonstration, it contains some things I would prefer not to see in a real plugin, such as the various items it adds to the File and Library menus. My plugins don't add any of those. (I may add a “show these images at XXXX” entry to the Library menu, but there are some issues still to be worked out, such as where on earth I can find the time.)
Since I'm not a Flickr user, I'm not entirely sure whether I've grouped things reasonably, or what missing features would be most appreciated. I'd like to have a “replace” checkbox, but one needs a Pro account to replace images, so if someone at Flickr wants to comp me a pro account, I'd be able to write that 🙂 Oh, and Flickr, if you want to give me written permission to use your logo, I can add that branding to the dialog header, as I've done with the Zenfolio and SmugMug plugins.
Today was one of those “I hate where I live” days (in Kyoto, Japan) that I seem to be having a lot lately. A simple visit with some friends to the “Fall-colors Festival” at the preschool of one of their friends turned into a veritable feast of indulgent photographic delights.
The fall colors have been creeping up for the last couple of weeks, as I've shown in a few posts (here, here, here, and here), but it's definitely not yet even near peak. Still, there are some wonderful spots of color, and many of them are at the Eikando Temple (where, according to this post from last year, the colors were at a boiling point during the first week of December; here is their calendar of viewing events in English).
On the short walk to the Eikando Temple, we passed through the Nanzen Temple (scenes from which have appeared on my blog numerous times), where I looked up and took this shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/4000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 400 — map & image data
Canopy of Color
At the Eikando Temple, as everywhere, most trees hadn't yet begun to turn, or if they had, it was slight, as in the next shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data
Whisper of Autumn
I tend to be drawn toward compositions that show opposites or differences, such as the mix of still-green and already-orange in the next shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 500 — map & image data
Orange and Green
Along the same lines, this one shows not only the green and orange, but a branch that's already lost all its leaves. Combined with the sun hitting the green leaves in the background, and the wonderfully light blue sky, it all adds up to a shot that I really like....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data
Orange and Green.... and Bare and Blue
With each branch on each tree advancing in color at its own pace, the
cacophony of colors is delicious, as this pond-side shot hopefully
shows. (Do you like how I was able to mix sound, sight, and taste into a single metaphor?
)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 23mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image data
Pond at the Eikando Temple
There was one tree on the temple grounds that was so amazingly fiery red that it seemed to positively drip blood. It was orders of magnitude more deeply-rich than any other tree, so much so that I don't think there's a film or camera sensor that can accurately record the wavelength.
Human eyes could record the wavelength, and our brain could appreciate its rarity, and as such, there were a dozen bozos with cameras huddling under and around the tree. I laughed at their pathetic inability to put the camera away and just enjoy the moment, after which I elbowed my way into the scrum and took this shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data
Splendor at 475GHz, Back-lit
It's nice that I wound up with these and 100+ other images that I really like, and perhaps a few others might also appreciates them and the background-desktop versions I made, but really, how on earth can a guy get any work done under these conditions?
Please keep in mind that I'm not a professional photographer.... I'm just a guy with some okay equipment who went out for a walk and snapped a few pictures today. I had been thinking to spend the day writing my own Flickr export plugin for Lightroom, but oh well, so much for that. Maybe during winter, when Kyoto is decidedly less glorious.
(BTW, what do you think of the dark background?)
The instructions on this page are for Lightroom versions 1.3 through 1.4.1.
For Lightroom 2.0 and Later, go here
As I mentioned yesterday, Adobe has released Lightroom 1.3, which now includes support for export plugins. Yesterday I described what a plugin might look like to the user. In preparation for actually being able to release the plugins that I've written, I'll describe here how to install a plugin.
A plugin consists of a folder worth of files, with the folder having a name that ends with “.lrplugin” or “.lrdevpluginin”. Installing a plugin involves simply moving the plugin folder to a place where Lightroom will find it, then restarting Lightroom.
The SDK zip's “Sample Plugins” folder contains a few example plugins, such as flickr.lrdevplugin. Other plugins offered for download on the web will likely be offered as individual zip files. Upon downloading, you'll want to unzip to create the plugin folder, then move that folder to the proper spot as described below.
Installing on a Windows XP
Move the plugin folder to this folder:
%APPDATA%\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules\
Note that you may have to visit the Folder Options dialog to allow the normally-hidden Application Data folder to be seen.
You must create the Modules folder within the Lightroom folder if it's not already there.
As a concrete example, on my XP system, the “flickr.lrdevplugin” folder from the SDK zip ends up as:
C:\Documents and Settings\jfriedl\Application Data\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules\flickr.lrdevplugin
Installing on a Windows Vista
Move the plugin folder to this folder:
\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules\
Here, too, you'll have to create the Modules folder within the Lightroom folder if it's not already there.
Installing on a Mac
On a Mac, if the plugin is provided as a folder ending with “.lrplugin” (as opposed to “.lrdevplugin”), then you can simply click on it in Finder, and it will install for you. Cool.
To install either one manually, move the plugin folder to
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules/
to install for all users, or for just yourself, to the folder of the same name under your home:
~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules/
In either case you'll have to create the Modules folder within the Lightroom folder if it's not already there.
Testing the Install
Restart Lightroom, select an image, then bring up the export dialog. Clicking in the top area of the export dialog should then bring up the newly-installed plugin in the list. This example from yesterday shows two plugins having been installed:
Pedantically, I should point out that not all plugins need to actually add something to the export-dialog list. It's possible for someone to create a plugin that adds things to Lightroom menus (e.g. to the Library or Help menus) but not the export dialog. I would expect that the documentation for such a plugin would its special circumstances clear.
Uninstalling
You can uninstall or disable a plugin in a number of ways:
- Delete the plugin folder, or move it to where Lightroom won't find it
- Rename the plugin folder, for example, to “flickr.lrdevplugin-disabled”
- Rename the “Info.lua” file inside the plugin folder (all plugins have an “Info.lua” file), e.g. to “Info.lua-disabled”
Official Documentation
Full documentation for how to install a plugin is given starting on page 27 of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom SDK Guide, a PDF found in the “Manual” folder of the SDK zip that can be downloaded from here.
Adobe has just released Version 1.3 of its Lightroom photo-workflow software, two months after releasing Version 1.2. You can download the new version from Adobe's Lightroom Page, or use these direct links: Mac · Windows.
There's a ReadMe.pdf describing the release, and a much more detailed description by Victoria Bampton, but in short, it contains some small things:
- Better OSX Leopard support
- Bug fixes
- Support for a few new cameras:Nikon D3 & D300
Canon 1Ds Mark III & PowerShot G9
Olympus E-3 & SP-560
Panasonic DMC-L10 - Added support for Fuji compressed RAF files and Canon sRAW files
- You can now render 1:1 previews during import (yeah!)
- New functionality for repairing corrupt catalogs
However, the big news for many will be support for export plugins.
Lightroom has always allowed you to “export” images to your local disk, creating new versions of your images (for example, reduced-size thumbnails for a blog). With export-plugin support, third-party developers can create plugins that do things with the generated images, such as upload them to a photo-sharing site.
For example, let's imagine that some brilliantly-genius (but incredibly-humble) programmer creates plugins to export and upload images to, oh, the Zenfolio and SmugMug photo-sharing sites, and you install those plugins on your Lightroom computer. When you bring up Lightroom's export dialog, you can then choose from among three options:
Lightroom 1.3 does not come with any plugins installed, so until you obtain and install a plugin (or write one yourself), your export dialog will have only the “Export Files to Disk” option.
SDK
To enable third-party developers to write plugins, Adobe has also just put out a “Lightroom Export SDK preview release” (get it here). “SDK” stands for Software Development Kit, and is a package of code and documentation to help programmers create export plugins.
The SDK is helpful to create plugins, but is not required to use plugins, so the SDK itself is not something that most Lightroom users would be interested in. However...
Export Plugin for Flickr
The SDK zip file also contains a sample “Export to Flickr” plugin, allowing users of Yahoo's Flickr photo-sharing site to easily send their images to their Flickr accounts.
If you're a Flickr user, you'll probably want to get the SDK zip just for the Flickr export plugin.
Adobe, Lightroom, and Me
I've been an enthusiastic user of Lightroom for a long time, and a volunteer tester of development releases since last December. I've written about Lightroom enough over the years that I have a whole category dedicated to Lightroom posts on my blog.
However, during this 1.2 → 1.3 cycle, I upgraded to consultant, doing some paid work on testing and debugging the export-plugin support.
Since I got to know the export-plugin programming interface fairly well, I put that to use and created export plugins for two photo-hosting sites popular with those looking for something a bit more polished than Flickr: Zenfolio and SmugMug.
Export Plugins for SmugMug and Zenfolio
First, here are links to the per-plugin pages, from which you can download them:
- Lightroom Export Plugin for SmugMug
- Lightroom Export Plugin for Zenfolio
- Lightroom Export Plugin for Flickr ← added after this post was originally written
- Lightroom Export Plugin for Picasa Web ← added after this post was originally written
Installing a plugin involves unzipping a folder to a specific location on your machine, and the links above will have details once I'm allowed to provide the plugins.
You can install the plugin without having an account at the related service, but it won't let you do much until you get an account and log in via the plugin.
I do not really use any photo-sharing site, but I have liked the polished look of these two services whenever I have come across them in viewing others' photos, which is why I chose them. If you don't already use one for your photos, I suggest taking advantage of their free trials to see how you like them. I think both are excellent, yet they're quite different in their vibe, so try them both to see which one fits your style.
Since I created both plugins, and they both do pretty much the same thing (upload to a photo-hosting site), they look almost identical. The first time you select one, you're prompted for your login credentials:
(Update: since first writing this post, I've added Flickr and Picasa Web plugins...)
There's a lot more to these export dialogs, but most of it is disabled until you are authenticated to the photo-hosting service.
Once you log in, the export dialog then looks something like this:
Several of the sections (“File Naming,” “File Settings,” and “Metadata”) are the same as the standard Lightroom export dialog, so to save space, I have those sections closed in the view presented above.
Export-Dialog Details
Once you log in, you're presented with buttons that bring you to your page at the photo-hosting service, and to log out.
Once I log in, I generally leave that section closed. Your username/password are saved in the Lightroom database, so be sure to [Logout] if you don't want them to be saved there.
“Image Settings”
The “image Settings” section of the dialog is the standard Lightroom one, except that the “resolution” option is removed, since that makes little sense in this context.
“Upload Destination”
The top of this section indicates what gallery the images should be uploaded to.
As a convenience, the plugin also provides a way to create galleries on the fly. After creating a gallery, it automatically becomes the default destination.
“Upload Management”
The upload-management section offers a number of options related to the upload...
Both plugins offer the “Visit destination gallery after upload” option, which brings up the destination gallery in your browser after an upload.
Both also offer the ability to automatically delete previously-uploaded versions of the same Lightroom photo (at least, those that had been uploaded with this plugin). Enable this option to affect a “replace” operation. However, if you're uploading several different copies of the same image (such as different sizes, or with different develop settings), leave this option off so that new ones won't delete the old ones.
The two collection-related options are available only for the Zenfolio plugin because SmugMug does not have a collection-like functionality. These options allow you to keep a collection of all images you've exported from Lightroom, as well as a “most recent export” collection. I'm not sure how useful these will be in practice, but they were easy enough to add, so I did.
“Export Plugin Info”
This section offers basic info about the plugin: its version, a link to its home page, and a version-check option...
I expect a fair amount of version churn early on for a number of reasons...
- They have not yet been widely tested yet, since the Lightroom pre-release community is fairly small.
- They were written by someone who does not use any online photo-hosting service, so perhaps the guesses as to what would be useful and/or convenient are off the mark.
- These plugins are my first foray into Lua, a programming language that seems to me to be designed explicitly to create error-prone code, and I'm sure I've lived up to its full potential in that regard.
This section also contains a note about what metadata is sent with each picture over and above what might be included within the exported image itself. For SmugMug, that list is Caption, Keywords, and GPS Location/Altitude.
Colorspace Warning
Both SmugMug and Zenfolio convert non-sRGB images into sRGB for display, but it's probably best to export them as sRGB directly unless you have a specific reason for doing otherwise. Thus, if the color-space setting is not sRGB, a warning shows up in the upload-destination section:
Clicking on the [more info] button brings up a dialog in which you can turn off the warnings...
The [visit here] button takes you to my writeup on Digital-Image Color Spaces.
The Lightroom plugin support is just getting started, and is nowhere at all near the breadth and sophistication of Photoshop's, but it's a good start and I'm sure we'll see it expand greatly as new versions of Lightroom are released over the next few years.