When Adobe
Lightroom was released it created quite a stir as
people did not quite know where it fitted into the
Adobe lineup. After all, Photoshop Creative Suite
seemed to offer all that was needed for the digital
image specialist. For those, like myself who used
the program however, it was clear where Adobe were
heading. This product is about workflow for the
digital photographer. Think about it. You go to a
wedding or an event. You take hundreds of
photographs on your high tech camera with its 4GB
card and now what do you do? Time is money and
believe me, it takes time to sort the good shots
from the bad. It takes time to optimise your
images. It takes time to ensure the correct
exposure, colour balance, saturation. Adobe
Lightroom is a groundbreaking piece of software
that lets you do all of that and to do it simply,
yet professionally.
The whole workflow process is clearly documented and controlled beautifully - from getting to know the workspace, importing, organising, developing and exporting photos through to creating slideshows, printing and web galleries. It is all handled with the usual Adobe aplomb.
The layout has become de rigeur among this class of programs and is shown below.
The Lightroom workspace in Grid view
A. Identity plate and Module Picker
B. Panels for working with folders and collections, or applying presets
C. Filmstrip
D. Panels for working with metadata, adjusting images, customizing layouts
E. Grid view or image display
F. Toolbar
It will not take you long to get used to this program because it guides you along a logical path and gives you some fantastic features that will take some of the drudgery out of repetitive actions.
For example, if you adjust the settings for one photograph, you can simply paste these changes to one or multiple others. This is a real time saver.
I loved the ability to set the colour balance properly – not just adjust the hue or tint. Normally, I take my shots in RAW and set the white balance before I shoot. However, occasionally I will shoot in jpeg and this format is not forgiving of white balance problems. I took some colour imbalanced shots and whilst not perfect, the colour balance adjustments did a perfectly decent job.
There are some additional tools that set this program apart such as the ability to adjust for chromatic aberration and lens vignetting. I also like the clever and sensible approach to noise reduction, although I feel Adobe still have a little work to do on this as I noticed that an unexpected level of chromatic noise was still noticeable on some shots.
Lightroom does not replace Photoshop, it merely complements it and this is evident in the interface. For example, right-clicking on an image in the grid allows you to edit it in Photoshop and then to return to Lightroom.
I have only touched on some of the features of Lightroom, but this is a top flight program that is well worth the money. It will yield consistently first class results in record time.
Adobe have delivered the goods again. This is the digital darkroom redefined - Adobe style. And it is a style I like very much - the Armani of the digital imaging world.
The whole workflow process is clearly documented and controlled beautifully - from getting to know the workspace, importing, organising, developing and exporting photos through to creating slideshows, printing and web galleries. It is all handled with the usual Adobe aplomb.
The layout has become de rigeur among this class of programs and is shown below.
The Lightroom workspace in Grid view
A. Identity plate and Module Picker
B. Panels for working with folders and collections, or applying presets
C. Filmstrip
D. Panels for working with metadata, adjusting images, customizing layouts
E. Grid view or image display
F. Toolbar
It will not take you long to get used to this program because it guides you along a logical path and gives you some fantastic features that will take some of the drudgery out of repetitive actions.
For example, if you adjust the settings for one photograph, you can simply paste these changes to one or multiple others. This is a real time saver.
I loved the ability to set the colour balance properly – not just adjust the hue or tint. Normally, I take my shots in RAW and set the white balance before I shoot. However, occasionally I will shoot in jpeg and this format is not forgiving of white balance problems. I took some colour imbalanced shots and whilst not perfect, the colour balance adjustments did a perfectly decent job.
There are some additional tools that set this program apart such as the ability to adjust for chromatic aberration and lens vignetting. I also like the clever and sensible approach to noise reduction, although I feel Adobe still have a little work to do on this as I noticed that an unexpected level of chromatic noise was still noticeable on some shots.
Lightroom does not replace Photoshop, it merely complements it and this is evident in the interface. For example, right-clicking on an image in the grid allows you to edit it in Photoshop and then to return to Lightroom.
I have only touched on some of the features of Lightroom, but this is a top flight program that is well worth the money. It will yield consistently first class results in record time.
Adobe have delivered the goods again. This is the digital darkroom redefined - Adobe style. And it is a style I like very much - the Armani of the digital imaging world.
Adobe Photoshop LightRoom Review