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Lightroom 2 Beta - Working with two monitors to speed up the workflow.
Sometimes the solution is so simple that it takes forever to find it. If you have been reading my recent posts you know that I have been looking for a way to illustrate the second monitor in this blog. I have been using a number of different screen grabbing utilities for so many years now and none of them will let me grab the second monitor.
It of course never occurred to me that there could a really simple solution, the built in Apple OS X solution of simply using the keyboard command - Command/Shift/3. Could it be any simpler? The only problem with this solution is that it creates a full resolution PNG file (which Lightroom can not read), but the problem was easily solved by using Photoshop CS3 to reduce the size and save the image as a JPEG file.
Image 1a - the main screen in the Library Module - I have set the viewing area to the Thumbnail Grid mode so I can easily sort the images.
Image 1b - the second screen in the Library Module - I have set the second screen in the Loupe mode so I can see a detailed view of the image I have selected on the main screen.
Image 2a - the main screen in the Develop Module - As you can see I have selected my crop marks but not finalized the crop setting yet.
Image 2b - the second screen in the Develop Module - On the second monitor monitor I can see the crop selection enlarged to the size of the second monitor, before I have made the final crop decision on the main screen.
As usual I apologize for being late with this posting (especially to my fellow blog posters), now that I have solved the screen grab problem, I will hopefully be able to get back on schedule.
Thanks for the blog. I appreciate the Lightroom 2 coverage as I haven't had time to download the beta. Looks like that second monitor will be really helpful!
You can change the file format of the OS X default screen capture. http://guides.macrumors.com/Taking_Screenshots_in_Mac_OS_X
Basically it's a command line you enter in the terminal:
Thank you for the default Screen Capture tip Benjamin.
Snag it utility always gets both screens, but after looking at there web page I see that it is only for PC. But if you have a PC it is Great!
http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp
This dual display feature is really neat. I guess my question (not having tried both) id which is better. A single large display like my 30" cinema, or two 20-24" displays.
Is one making workflow more effeciant? Of course theres always 2 30" displays, but that a bit spendy :-)
Gavin Seim
I personally prefer two 20-24" displays to one 30" display. I used a 30" display for quite a long time and never really got used to it, I found that I had to move my head up and down too much (literally a pain in the neck for me).
My normal working environment (since I travel a lot) is the 17" MacBook Pro combined with any 20-24" screen I can get my hands on. At the moment I am using a 20" Dell UltraSharp.
When I am stationary for a longer period of time I try to set up with Apple screens of course.
I bought a Dell monitor to use with my Mac after reading that it used the same components as an Apple display. I've been quite happy with it. The Dell cost $300 less and has more ports. Haven't needed to move to dual monitors yet, but I've heard it's easiest on your eyes and brain if you use two monitors with the same dimensions and place them side by side.
I agree with David on the two side by side matched monitor advice. Unfortunately using a laptop that is not really possible. I would love to have a second 17" Apple monitor that is the same dimensions and sits at the same height as the 17" MacBook Pro monitor.It would be even better if it was portable and fit into a sleeve to travel with the laptop.
George:
How about one of these?
http://www.macworld.com/article/133117/2008/04/macbook_display_stand.html
Very interesting solution Gary, thanks for the suggestion and the link.