Deleting Lightroom Watermark Presets

I was asked by the aweseome Peter Jensen Bissell on Twitter if I knew of a way to delete watermark presets.  After doing some digging around in Lightroom 3, I found out that it is possible to do, but not the most straight forward option.  Here's how to do it.

Go into Lightroom and hit "Lightroom" in the toolbar.  Go down to "Edit Watermarks".

Now, go to the preset you would like to delete or change.  For this example I want to delete my "pete" watermark.  I don't use it that much.

Once the watermark is loaded up, you will see that you can adjust it and make changes to it and click "save".  What you won't see is a delete button, which would be the easiest route.  You will now need to go back up to where your preset name is and click it again.  You will now see a few different options, including a delete preset option.

Click that little fella there and you no longer have that preset. 

That's it.  From there you can make another preset or just close out of the edit watermark menu.  I haven't check it, but if anyone knows if the Lightroom 4 Beta has an easier way to do this, let me know.

The Decisive Moment - A Thing of the Past?

What is the "Decisive Moment'?

Digital Photography School has a post today discussing the "Decisive Moment".  The Decisive Moment is basically the moment you know you need to hit the shutter.  It's one of those now or never moments.  You are either going to get that shot or miss it forever.  The Decisive Moment is something that many photographers learn to see coming and they can feel when something big is about to go down.  It's the way a photographer will watch a musician move back and forth on stage and memorize the lighting pattern, then taking both of those into consideration will snap the shutter at the perfect moment.

Is the "Decisive Moment" Dead?

The DPS articles quotes a National Geographic photographer saying:

“A photographer shoots 20,000 to 60,000 images on assignment. Of those, perhaps a dozen will see the published light of day”

Read more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/1000-shots-a-day-the-national-geographic-photographer#ixzz1mHSJv5ua

I'm sure this is surprising to many people, but it doesn't surprise me at all.  I work at a place where I get around 6000 photos for one shoot and I end up using around 50 or less of them for a video project.  When news like this gets out that professionals are holding down the shutter and motor driving their entire shoots, people start to think that they are just "spraying and praying" and that the decisive moment is not taken into consideration.  This is not true.  When I shoot a wedding or a concert, I will burst 5 frames a second.  I'll end up with a TON of images.  This is not because I am just shooting as much as I can and hope I am getting good images.  I am shooting 5 frames a second OF the decisive moment.  I study my subject and I can see when they are going to scream into a mic or when the bride is about to let tears fly and when this moment happens, I'm going to fire as many shots of it as I can.

Many photographers like to pretend their DSLR only shoots 24 frames, like a roll of film.  Many say it helps them learn the decisive moment and teaches them how to compose a compelling shot quickly, but during an event where I need to make frames, I'm not going to do that.  Sure, going outside and pretending you only have 24 images to make a compelling frames is a great exercise and you should do it, but why do it when you need to capture a moment that you won't be able to capture again?

I understand where a lot of photographers are coming from, though.  Many beginners are going out and just firing away frames without a care in the world and this is wrong.  It's important to learn what makes a great frame and to study your subject.  The decisive moment should not be a thing of the past, but we should evlove with it.  Our cameras are allowing us to capture many, many frames within seconds and it's allowing us to capture thousands and thousands on a tiny little hard drive, so let's take advantage of it.  Let's pair the decisive moment with our new technology and create images that could have never a few years ago.

Pro or Amateur - What are you?

A few minutes ago, I came across a discussion on Fstoppers.com about being a pro or amateur photographer. I have my own thoughts about this, so I figured I'd just share them here.

The answer to this question is this:  "Who cares?"  There are many repsonses on the Fstoppers page saying your photography should be such and such a percentage of your income before you can call yourself a pro. While I've been told that if I went to school for it, you're a pro or if you worked in the business for a X amount of years, you're a pro.  In the end, none of this matters.  The only thing that will dictate you being pro or amateur is your work.

If you produce images or video that is professional, that is all that matters.  How much money you make should never be what defines you.  There are photographers using point and shoots who are creating images so visually stunning, you would expect them to be shooting with expensive gear and workig for high end clients. When I'm asked what I do for a living, I don't say I'm a Professional anything. I say, "I'm an editor and photographer".  Then I show them my work and they can decide if my work is the work of an amateur or of a professional. 

So, forget the titles and concentrate on doing good work. 

Check image changes the quick way

Want to check those color changes you made in Final Cut, but don't want to toggle the filter on/off and lose your render and waste time? ME EITHER!

Here is the quick way to do it.  Go to "Tools" and then click "Frame Viewer".

Bazinga! Now you can view the before and after of your frame without toggling stuff on and off.

You can also drag the split line around and adjust which parts you want to see.  That's it and that's all.

Export Multiple Sequences in Final Cut Pro at Once

Recently, I needed to export 27 sequences to  small .mov files with timecode.  The reason I had so many sequences is because I had Plural Eyes sync 27 interviews and it puts them in their own sequence.  I needed to export them, so they could be reviewed by the client, so I figured I would share the way I did it.  Best part of this is that it's easy. 

You need to go over to your browser and find all the sequences you want to export.  Command click all the sequences you want and then right click.  Go to "Send To" and then click "Compressor". 

Boom. That's it. Compressor should open up and you can just export with whatever settings you want.  If you need help using compressor, send a message or leave a comment.  If needed I can make another update going through that.