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21 Apr 2019 - Podcast #639 - (18:17)
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LUT is an acronym for look-up table and adding the ability to use LUTs is a big advancement for Exposure X4. The Alien Skin application can operate in standalone mode or as a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom Classic or Photoshop. While you may not be familiar with the term, you've almost certainly seen LUTs in action.
So maybe you're wondering where you've seen a LUT and I should probably hedge a bit by admitting that you may not have seen a LUT, but that you've probably seen what a LUT can do. If you've watched any motion picture that has been edited digitally, you've undoubtedly seen what a LUT can do.
LUTs are used to translate values for colors in a scene to another set of values. One common use is to modify image brightness and contrast, but LUTs are also used to modify colors. LUTs can do electronically what film photographers and motion picture directors had to do with exposure and processing. The Godfather films in the 1970s were intentionally dark. Director Francis Ford Coppola had cinematographer Gordon Willis underexpose even low-key scenes. Or maybe Willis did that without direction from Coppola.
A low-key scene is one that's exposed normally, but contains primarily dark colors and will appear dark even with normal exposure. Underexposing film generally lowers contrast and obscures details in the shadows. Willis underexposed scenes that were already low key. At the time, a common film stock for motion pictures was Kodak's 5254, which has an ASA rating of 100. ASA is essentially equivalent to today's ISO rating. Instead of exposing at 100, though, Willis exposed at 250 and then push-processed the film. The result is obvious to anyone who has seen the film.
Today that would be accomplished with LUTs and you can use them, too -- even if you're not a cinematographer That's because LUTs aren't limited to applications used to create motion pictures. Alien Skin's Exposure X4 now supports LUTs.
Some of these emulate film stock, but there are thousands of LUTs -- some free and some not -- that are available for download. Once downloaded, they can be added to Exposure X4.
Around the first of this month, Alien Skin released version 4.5 of it Exposure X4 application and perhaps the most significant addition is support for LUTs that use the CUBE format. The 4.5 update is free to all owners of Exposure X4.
Click any small image for a full-size view. To dismiss the larger image, press ESC or tap outside the image.
Changes made by LUTs can be so subtle that they're barely perceptible, over the top, or anywhere in between. I'll show an over-the-top example and then show you how to modify it.
I started with a photo of the cat. You'll find the LUT tab about halfway down the panel of Exposure X4 tools. Clicking (1) the Browse option after opening the tab displays a selection of LUTs. I selected the (2) golden hour LUT and then clicked (3) Apply.
LUTs are applied as layers on top of the image. In this case, the image is a camera raw file. The result, with the LUT at 100% intensity is far too much. Some of the cat's white fur is orange and this just won't do. Obtaining the result I want requires two changes.
The first change is to (4) reduce the overall intensity of the LUT from 100% to around 70%. This still left an orange cast on some of the white fur, so I added a new layer and created a (5) layer mask. The brush is set to be an eraser (meaning that it applies black to the mask so that the underlying effect will be hidden). Then I (6) brushed black or gray over the white fur and the pillow behind the cat. The result is a more natural looking image with the warm golden-hour tint.
Those who use Exposure as a standalone application will see a faster import process. Photographers can select which images to import using preview images on the source media. Source and destination choices are now faster, too, and it's possible to start editing a photo while other images are still being imported.
Alien Skin has also added customizable keyboard shortcuts to this version. Those who use Lightroom and want to replicate Adobe's keyboard shortcuts can enable a preset that's included with the update.
Exposure X4.5 runs as a standalone program or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS6 or Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 or later as well as for Adobe Lightroom 6 or Adobe Lightroom CC Classic. Owners of Exposure X4 can upgrade to the 4.5 edition for free and owners of previous versions will pay $80 for the upgrade. The cost for new users is $120 and a 30-day trial version can be downloaded from the Alien Skin website.
Your favorite search engine will lead you to sources for free and paid LUTs. The search phrase sources of free lut cube files should work well. It's a good idea to specify both lut and cube. There are several kinds of LUT files and those with a cube extension are the ones you'll want for Exposure. There are also several types of cube files, not all of which are LUTs. So zero in with a more precise search. Here are some sources I found:
Download a few and see what you think.
Manufacturers of hardware reviewed on TechByter Worldwide typically loan the hardware and it must be returned at the end of the review period. Developers of software reviewed on TechByter Worldwide generally provide a free not-for-resale (NFR) license so that all features of the application will be unlocked.
Even if you have the latest version of Windows 10, Microsoft Internet Explorer is probably still lurking there. Microsoft no longer supports it, but does still send security patches. If you're still using IE, it's time to stop. Really.
The default browser for Windows 10 is Microsoft Edge, but Microsoft is scrapping the Edge code and instead building the next browser on Chromium. Google's Chrome is the most used browser and many other browsers are based on Chrome. Mozilla Firefox is another good choice. And there are others such as Opera, Vivaldi, Maxthon, and more. It's easy enough to install one and make it the default.
Any current browser would be better than Internet Explorer because IE doesn't support some modern web technologies or supports them badly. Once you have a modern browser in place, it's time to set that browser as the default.
To do that, press the Windows key or click the Windows icon on the Task Bar and type "default" (without the quotation marks, of course). Select Default Apps from the dialog. Then find web browser in the list of apps and click the icon. You'll see a lot of choices. Select the one you prefer and close the dialog box.
While you're at it, you might want to really get rid of IE permanently. Press the Windows key or click the Windows icon on the Task Bar and type "features" (also without the quotation marks. Select Turn Windows Features On Or Off from the menu. Respond to the User Access Control dialog and an old-style Control Panel dialog will open. Clear the check mark next to Internet Explorer 11, click OK, and then reboot the computer.
No more Internet Explorer!
Google's latest version of the Android operating system for smart phones is version 9 and its name is "Pie". The improvements are substantial and most are welcome, but only if the manufacturer of your phone has issued an update.
Pie is the 9th major release and the 16th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was released as a developer preview in March of last year and generally in August. Not all manufacturers and service providers pushed the update out immediately and some modified the operating system. That is one of the most frustrating aspects of Android: Two phones can be running the same version of the operating system, but they may not have the same features. A year after the developer preview was released, some users are still waiting for updates.
My favorite enhancement is the new way to take a screenshot. The old way was cumbersome and required two hands: Simultaneously press the power key and the volume down key. Invariably, I would reduce the volume or turn the phone off. Now a long-press of the power button displays options for power off, restart, and screen shot. But there's a lot more to like, too.
The Digital Wellbeing screen is easy to show because of the new way to trigger a screenshot. >>>
Virtually all models that support version 9 of Android have had the update pushed out. If you're not sure, start at the Control Panel and navigate to System > Advanced > System update.
Net Neutrality was eliminated by the Federal Communications Commission about a year ago. This happened despite widespread response so strong that it stalled the FCC's web-based comment system. Last year, the Senate voted narrowly to overturn the FCC's action, but the House failed to respond.
On April 10, the House passed the Save The Internet Act and sent it to the Senate, where it would probably be approved if senators could vote on it, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared the bill "dead on arrival" and will not allow it to be brought up for a vote. If the bill would pass in the Senate, the White House has announced that President Trump would veto it. It's unlikely that either the House or the Senate would have sufficient votes to override the veto.
So not much has changed, but many tech companies, advocacy groups, and nearly half of the states sued the FCC last year to challenge the repeal. Oral arguments were heard in February for "Mozilla versus the FCC."
California, Washington, and Vermont have passed net neutrality laws that would affect only internet service providers in those states and the FCC has threatened to sue the states. Currently providers are supposed to disclose any blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization and the FCC is supposed to determine whether the activity is anti-competitive. Yeah. Good luck with that!
For the second time in a month, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were all unavailable on Sunday morning (14 April).
The problem affected users worldwide. Facebook and Instagram were both inaccessible, but Facebook's corporate website was up. Even so, the Facebook Newsroom made no mention of the outage. The main facebook.com domain was unavailable for more than two hours -- from about 6:30 Eastern time until about 8:45 when the Facebook app began responding and less than half an hour later when the website version again became available.
WhatsApp and Facebook's chat services were also down for more than two hours.
This outage was rectified faster than the one that occurred in March during which the various Facebook apps were unavailable for many hours and full service wasn't restored for a full day. At the time, Facebook blamed the problem on a "server configuration change." This time Facebook flatly refused to specify the cause of the problem.