Some people leave the photography world a little better than they found it. Jeff Schewe left it transformed.
It’s with deep sadness that we share the news of Jeff’s passing. He was a Chicago-based commercial photographer, a digital imaging pioneer, an author, an educator, and for anyone lucky enough to cross his path, a genuinely generous human being. The photography community lost someone irreplaceable, and so did we.
How We Came to Know Jeff
Kevin Raber introduced us. That’s a sentence that applies to a lot of meaningful things in the LuLa orbit, and this was no different. Kevin had a way of connecting people who belonged in the same room, and Jeff Schewe was exactly the kind of person you needed to know.
Losing both Kevin (March 2025) and now Jeff in such close succession is the kind of thing that’s hard to fully absorb. They were pillars. The kind of people whose knowledge, generosity, and enthusiasm shaped how an entire generation of photographers thinks about this craft. Their friendship with each other, and with this community, is woven into what Luminous Landscape is.
Earlier this year, I reached out to Jeff with a simple message: “Hey Jeff, been too long…” That kind of easy familiarity was something Jeff made possible. He was warm without being performative about it. He had the rare quality of making you feel like the conversation picked up right where it left off, regardless of how much time had passed.
The Man Who Helped Build the Digital Darkroom
Jeff Schewe graduated summa cum laude from Rochester Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Professional Photography, and he spent more than 50 years in the field. His commercial client list read like a Fortune 500 – Budweiser, Motorola, AT&T, Miller, Fannie Mae – but his impact on photography went well beyond the assignment work.
Jeff was a longtime Adobe Photoshop alpha tester and has been credited in five different Photoshop splash screens. He frequently consulted with Adobe’s engineers on the development of Photoshop, and was influential in the evolution of Lightroom as a raw-processing workflow tool for photographers. In fact, Adobe’s Mark Hamburg once referred to an early version as “Schewe Paint.”
Let that land for a moment. One of the most important tools photographers use every day – Lightroom – was shaped in part by Jeff Schewe. Early discussions about what that software would become literally happened in his Chicago studio. That’s history.
One of Jeff’s most famous images, “Globe Hands,” was done using Photoshop 2.5 – before layers. His technique demo at a Seybold Conference served as both inspiration and the basis for the development of the History feature found in Photoshop to this day.
The History palette. You’ve used it thousands of times. Jeff Schewe helped put it there.
PixelGenius and the Art of Sharpening
Jeff was a founding member of PixelGenius, the software company he built with five partners to extend what Photoshop could do. He designed PixelGenius’s first product, PhotoKit, and collaborated with the late Bruce Fraser on PhotoKit Sharpener – a sharpening engine so good that Adobe licensed it directly for Lightroom’s print module.
As Jeff wrote in his own Soft Proofing article here on LuLa: “Bruce Fraser, noted Photoshop author and color geek, had originally proposed the concept of multiple sharpening passes to address specific areas; capture sharpening, creative sharpening, and output sharpening. While Bruce sadly passed away before the PG sharpening in Lightroom was finished, I took over a consulting part of the agreement and worked with the engineers to improve the input sharpening found in the Detail panel, as well as the output sharpening.”
That output sharpening you trust every time you send a file to your printer? That’s Jeff’s work. And Bruce’s. And the refusal of either of them to accept “good enough” when “right” was achievable.
The Books That Belong on Every Shelf
Jeff authored two books that remain essential reading for serious photographers:
- The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop (2012, Peachpit Press) – widely considered one of the definitive references on raw workflow. Luminous Landscape reviewed it here.
- The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing (2013, Peachpit Press) – its companion volume, covering color management, soft proofing, and print output with the same rigor and clarity.
- Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom – co-authored with Bruce Fraser, still one of the most respected references on the subject.
Photographers are still reading these books, still citing them, still learning from them. That’s the mark of real knowledge.
Jeff and LuLa
Jeff’s relationship with Luminous Landscape ran deep. He worked alongside Michael Reichmann, Kevin Raber, Chris Sanderson, Dan Steinhardt, and others across workshops, video programs, expeditions, articles, and masterclasses. He was a fixture here, a collaborator and friend who showed up fully every time.
A few highlights from his work with us:
- Camera to Print & Screen with Michael Reichmann – a foundational video tutorial series
- Back to the Print with Michael Reichmann, Kevin Raber, and Dan Steinhardt
- Luminous Landscape Guide to Adobe Lightroom with Michael Reichmann
- Lightroom Edits with Jeff Schewe – Part One and Part Two
- Soft Proofing: The Secret to Making Great Prints – a masterclass in print workflow with Kevin Raber
- Jeff Schewe and Kevin Raber Live in Chicago
- Stephen Wilkes: An Epic Conversation with Kevin Raber and Jeff Schewe
- The Making of the Cactus Tintype Images
- Jeff Schewe, Carl Corey in Conversation with Kevin Raber
He also led instruction on Luminous Landscape’s Antarctica expeditions. Equal parts technical precision and sheer delight in the natural world.
What He Left Behind
LuLa has been on this earth for over 30 years. In that time, we’ve had the fortune of working with some of the most knowledgeable, passionate photographers anywhere. Jeff Schewe belongs at the top of that list.
Jeff once described his own journey into photography as a refuge from the frustrations of painting, where his lack of drawing skills became evident. “In photography, I discovered a medium that offered spontaneity and a unique freshness that painting couldn’t provide. Despite this shift, I have retained my deep-seated passion for light, color, and composition.”
That passion was real. It showed in everything he made and everything he taught. It showed in how he talked about a soft proof getting close to a print. It showed in his patience with engineers, and with photographers who were just trying to figure out how to get their image to look right on paper.
Photography is a better craft because Jeff Schewe was in it. Luminous Landscape is a better publication because he was part of it. And for those of us who knew him – across email threads and Zoom calls, on expedition, in studios and in the wild – there’s a warmth in knowing that some people give more than they take.
Jeff’s Artist Statement:
“I am a photographer with a painter’s eye, creating images that transform fleeting moments into lasting visual experiences. My work is about revealing the extraordinary in the ordinary, capturing overlooked details and quiet gestures that often go unnoticed. Through careful attention to light, and composition, I strive to see the unseen—moments made visible—and invite viewers to pause, reflect, and connect with the world around them. Whether in familiar spaces or distant places, my practice balances authenticity and artistic vision, translating real-life encounters into photographs that illuminate the hidden beauty within everyday life.”
Hey Jeff – thank you. For all of it. The knowledge you shared, the standard you set, the generosity you showed this community. We’ll carry it forward – cameras in hand.
We’ll continue to add to this tribute as more from the community comes in. If you have a memory, a story, or something Jeff taught you that you’d like to share, reach out to us at [email protected].
– The LuLa Team
Explore Jeff’s work and collaborations on Luminous Landscape:
Elevate Your Vision
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