Hi Matthew Campagna,

We last came at you in June. June! Feels not so long ago as that, but that's time, wibbly-wobbly as it is. As usual, when we go quiet, it's because we've been working on the next thing. And in this edition, we'd like to spill some beans for you.

But first, we hope you're all doing well, and keeping safe. Covid continues to demoralize, and now the western United States is on fire, just like Australia was not so very long ago. Wherever you are, our thoughts are with you, and we wish you the very best.

Now, on with the beans!

Backlight 3.1 is Coming Soon

We are now putting the final touches on the 3.1 release, a major update within the Backlight 3 cycle. An area of focus for this release has been Backlight's Publisher, and we've implemented a number of improvements and new features that will make an incredible impact in your publishing workflow.

In fact, the 3.1 update introduces the most impactful changes to Publisher since its introduction in Backlight 2, and finally sees it outpacing the Publish Services plugin for Lightroom Classic.

Redesigned Publisher UI

The user-interface for the Publisher has been completely overhauled, emphasizing a more visual workflow, and unlocking new capabilities. Some of the included changes are:

• A new, grid-based view of albums and album sets.
• A customizable publisher workspace.
• Drag-and-drop reordering of albums and album sets.
• A redesigned slideshow for managing images in albums.
• Capability to set cover and hero images visually and independently, for both albums and album sets.

Hero Images for Album Sets

Hero images, a popular addition to albums in Backlight 3, can now be designed into your album set templates! Hero images can be used for both top-level and nested sets.

Watermark Images On Upload

Backlight can now apply watermarks to uploaded images!

Get a Backlight 3.1 First Look

If the image at the top represents Backlight 3.0, then this image here, relit and with the sky replaced, represents Backlight 3.1. Nice, right?

We made you a video, so click here to get your first look at Backlight 3.1.

Upgrading to Backlight 3.1

From Backlight 3.0.x

The upgrade is free, of course.

From Backlight 2

The upgrade is discounted, and your add-ons come along for the ride at no additional cost. As previously announced, from Backlight 2 onward, we are no longer charging upgrades for add-ons.

From Backlight 1 and CE4

Until now, early-bird pricing as been in effect for legacy upgrades to Backlight 3, with upgrade to Backlight and add-ons treated as if upgrading between contiguous versions.

Following the release of Backlight 3.1, we will be retiring the early-bird "contiguous" pricing for upgrades, and readjusting the price of upgrades to reflect the version gap from Backlight 1 to 3.

So, for those upgrading from our legacy products, this is your final opportunity to upgrade with the early-bird discount. And we really hope that you do!

Why upgrade to Backlight 3?

Upgrading means features for you, and support for us. And that support ensures there will be future features to come. Backlight 3.1 is an incredible update, and one that has only been possible thanks to the continued support of customers like you.

To claim your discounted upgrade, just reply to this email.

Stuff & Things

Our curated list of recent, suggested listening, reading and viewing.

Secrets of color-grading in photography

This exploration of color by photography Joanna Kustra is simply incredible. So much is presented here, in a concise 78-minute package. She delves into color theory, color perception, color inspiration and color grading of images. Much of what's here may sound familiar, but I've rarely seen it so well communicated, and you're likely to take something away from this, whether some new understanding or some bit of inspiration.

Your Phone Wasn’t Built for the Apocalypse

Keeping on with color, in this piece from The Atlantic, Ian Bogost discusses white balance, and the ways it might betray you, set against our very strange and firey week on the west coast.

He writes, "Under the blood-red San Francisco sky, white balance doesn’t have a reference against which to calibrate accurately. Because everything was tinted red, the software assumed that the entire scene was generally neutral. People felt confused or even betrayed when their phone cameras transformed the tiger sky into images that washed out the orange, or in some cases made it look mostly gray, like an overcast day."

And in a statement so very 2020, he eventually concludes, "Maybe the current apocalypse in the West will abate and cameras will feel normal again. But maybe it won’t, and the equipment people use to account for their world will require adjusting or replacement. Everything is falling apart, it seems, even the sensor and the software that runs your camera."

But just because you now know the ending, don't let that disuade you from reading the article. It's a fascinating conversation.

David Lynch on Where Great Ideas Come From

In the last week or so, David Lynch has made recurring appearances in conversations, in my inbox, in my media feeds, each advent fully independent of the others, complete coincidence. And so there's only one thing to do, and that's pass the Lynch along to you. This clip is a good one.

Music Pick: "On Your Own" by Blur

A standout track from Blur's 1997 self-title album, "On Your Own" has long been one of my personal favorites from the band. The song is a clockwork soundpile of off-kilter guitar hooks, gang vocals, and sampled effects, and so it should come as no surprise that frontman Damon Albarn, who would later co-found Gorillaz, would describe the song as "one of the first ever Gorillaz tunes". Lyrically and sonically, it is most certainly indicative of the directions he would go with his future band.