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Lightroom

Started by nickt, February 28, 2012, 08:31:16 PM

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nickt

At present I use CS2 to process my images. My workflow is pretty simple. Download the files from my camera to my 'photo' hard drive and at the same time back them up on my 'back-up' drive. When I want to work on any I view them in ViewNX2,open them up CS2 and then carry on. What use would Lightroom be to me? All my photos are in folders and are named and dated so I can recognise them fairly quickly. I must be missing something as so many people use it. Thanks in advance.
Nick

Simple

Nick, I used a nearly identical workflow as yourself. When I started with LR it became even easier. The main advantage for me is that it is so easy to copy adjustments from one picture to loads of other pictures. This is a big help to sort through vast amounts of wedding pics quickly. The sorting system to separate pictures and select them is very easy as well. I now use LR nearly all the time and only go to PS when heavy editing is requested. I would say 95% of my work is done in LR only.

ABERS

If your workflow system allows you to find what files you want when you want them, why change?

Lightroom is not just a cataloguing tool, although it's a very good one, it's much more than just that. I use it for post production every time, and when converting to monochrome it's invaluable and very flexible in it's operation.

With Lightroom 4 on the very near horizon, L/Room3 can now be purchased very reasonably.

Lightroom can be used in conjunction with CS4 and 5 for those little tweaks that finish the image off, whether that applies to CS2 I'm not sure.

The printing module in L/Room is so easy to use and the possibility of loading your image to Flickr is very handy. If you want you can do the same with Facebook, though I can't conceive why  ;), and something else called SmugMug. ::)

Hinfrance

I know what you mean Nick - I always felt I must be missing something too.  I've tried every version of LR since 2.0, although I am not going to bother with 4

I can't get on with any of them. LR does have some good points, good (but slow) DAM, excellent noise reduction to name but two. Contrary to what Alan says I have never worked out how to print anything from LR - the interface being probably its worst feature - it's utterly incomprehensible without a how to manual and because it is so cranky it is hard to remember. I suppose if you use it every day it will eventually sink in. It has always been very slow too, at least on my machines - Vista 32 bit desktop and W7 64 bit laptop.

The there is the price. Standard Adobe daylight robbery.

I used to use Bibble, and have now bought Aftershot Pro. Corel bought Bibble and tweeked the software into Aftershot Pro. Like Bibble before it it makes LR look like it's running in a bath of cold treacle. The editing tools are tabbed, making it much faster to navigate, the processing is lightning fast. You can nominate any number of external editors, so CS2 will definitely work with it. It also uses layers - I don't know if the beta of LR4 has layer or not, I haven't looked.

The DAM is not a refined as LR, and noise reduction is a cut down version of Noise Ninja - however I try not to take noisy pictures in the first place.

But then Aftershot costs £79 against LR's €297 - Although as 4.0 is due out soon that price is halved at the moment. So if you are going to buy LR3x, now is definitely the time.

Why not try them both? Watch Aftershot catalogue everything in minutes, and the run LR overnight and hope that it's managed to finish by breakfast . .  ;)
Howard  My CC Gallery
My Flickr
The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil. H.L Mencken.

Markulous

Another one who can't get on with LR - I too try relatively regularly but fail to see any advantages to me. But then I use CS5 and process each shot individually - even photoshoots and studio I find I prefer to give each image my full attention. Generally as I will tend to alter setup/settings between each shot, thereby negating any real possibility of batch process or 'one-process-setting-suits-all' - more time consuming but definitely better outcomes!  ;)
Whatever and ever. Amen
http://smg.photobucket.com/home/Markulous/index
Mark @ Photobucket

ABERS

Howard, now I'm the least computer/gizmo aware person you're likely to meet and speaking from that stance I can't recognise your negative comments about L/Room. On my machine, which I think uses Vista, it fires up immediately, imports images in the blink of an eye and operates every time. The ability to process in batches is of no interest to me however since I rarely take more than 40 images on a day out, but I can see it would be of use to the professional who perhaps has a time restraint placed on him/her and takes 4 or 500 images to get it right.

The printing module is a doddle and what I like particularly is the ability to link easily with paper types and paper profiles and especially when printing in B+W, the facility to adjust the warmth of tones to what you deem suitable for the image in question.

I can't comment on other systems, Bibble is a foreign word to me, I've always thought it was attributable to Blackadder when he wore a pair of underpants on his head and two pencils in his ears trying to feign madness to get out of the trenches! So with that picture in mind I wouldn't even give it a second look. ;)

Can't wait for L/R 4 to appear, let's get spending! :tup:

Hinfrance

Wibble wibble.

I know you're a fan Alan, but that LR print module only recognises one of my printers, the cheap and cheerful one, and I just cannot get it to print anything usable. I've looked through every sub menu I can find on the print page and cannot work out how to change the printer. Maybe the trial versions have some limitation that stops printing? I always use Qimage for printing anyway - it seems to be streets ahead of anything else.

I also find that the library and develop modules being separate is total pain. In Aftershot the library and editing tools are all available in the main window. It's just so fast to use in comparison. And don't forget, much cheaper :) Also, I believe that lens corrections are already available for the latest Sony cameras  :tup:

I hope the Adobe upgrade tax isn't too much :beer:

Howard  My CC Gallery
My Flickr
The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil. H.L Mencken.

Jonathan

I know some people struggle with LR speed.....I just opened a catalogue with 14,369 pictures in it.  It found the 38 shots on a D2X with 50 / 1.4 as fast as I could click the buttons.  (FWIW my computer is approaching its 6th birthday.)

Don't really use the print module much (I rarely print at home) but when I click the Print... button a system print dialogue opens and all 4 printers on my desktop are listed.

Adobe tax is likely to be £100 or so and about a month after LR4 launches I'll buy it without really considering the purchase - unlike Photoshop where I'll probably sit out the next release.

I just wish they could fix the preview bugs.  It's possible that's a graphics card thing but it's really annoying when you batch update a bunch and some previews update and some don't.
It's Guest's round

Hinfrance

Yep, the DAM is LR's best bit. After the aeon it takes to build a catalogue it works very well.

Of course, you had to close the catalogue you were previously working on in order to search the next one. Aftershot lets you open multiple catalogues at the same time.

As for the print module, I never seen a select printer dialogue, so I guess it must be missing from the trial versions. The only choices I have ever had are print to printer or jpg.
Howard  My CC Gallery
My Flickr
The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil. H.L Mencken.

Jonathan

Quote from: Hinfrance on February 29, 2012, 01:05:31 PM
Of course, you had to close the catalogue you were previously working on in order to search the next one.

Yeah that sucks.  Especially when I want to work on another catalogue while exporting finished work.

Print button should be there in the trial.  I have a funny feeling it was disabled in the original LR3 beta though.
It's Guest's round

nickt

Thanks for that. Lots to digest. For the time being, I carry on as I have been. I don't take 100's of photos in one go, so I can afford to view them seperately and then work on them.
Thanks again.
Nick

Hinfrance

Quote from: nickt on February 29, 2012, 06:54:36 PM
Thanks for that. Lots to digest. For the time being, I carry on as I have been. I don't take 100's of photos in one go, so I can afford to view them seperately and then work on them.
Thanks again.
Nick

Indeed. I thought from what you said at the beginning that you probably didn't need any of this type of software  :beer:
Howard  My CC Gallery
My Flickr
The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil. H.L Mencken.

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