einolu
Well-known
alen, if you are only using lightroom to organize your library, have you tried googles picasa? very simple software (and free) but it works great if you want to browse through a tone of photos and create albums. seems to me that lighroom is much more for working with batches of raw files and smooth editing.
M4streetshooter
Tourist Thru Life
LR works great for what everybody has stated. I find that most of my work can be handled in LR. When I need corrections with plug ins, I send the image to PS CS3. If I didn't have LR, I'd be ok with just PS.....LR is just way more intuitive......that means a lot to me.
When I shoot for the PGR (Patriot Guard), I maybe have 200+ images and they need the images fast. SO, I use LR, import DNG files, adjust all to...Auto WB, and Auto tone...then export to Jpeg at 72 dpi...this all happens in a matter of minutes...I send the files to them and the work is over....what a break.....don
When I shoot for the PGR (Patriot Guard), I maybe have 200+ images and they need the images fast. SO, I use LR, import DNG files, adjust all to...Auto WB, and Auto tone...then export to Jpeg at 72 dpi...this all happens in a matter of minutes...I send the files to them and the work is over....what a break.....don
niimo
Established
milos said:
Since I only use PS2 I have no idea about this. I would be curious to hear a "second opinion" on this though since it is pursuading, if true.
I use both PS2 and Lightroom. Lightroom to organize and batch edit, PS for more intensive editing, masking, cloning, adjusting, etc. I did try Bridge at first, but it just did not work well for me.
kshapero
South Florida Man
Well, I'll join this thread. I am currently using PSE 5.0. I downlaoded a trial of ACDSee Photo Pro 2.0. I t organizes better and does image adjustments better. My question is should I upgrade to PSE 6.0, get the real version of the above ACDSee or Lightroom?
edlake
The "Glory" Days
Greetings:
I use both Lightroom and PS (CS2, currently). However, I'm primarily in Graphic Arts (printing) not a pro photographer. Lightroom allows you to edit files in Photoshop and re-import them back as copies, so you have both. I find it better than Bridge in CS2, don't know about CS3. I have about 1500 photos in Lightroom so far, mostly digital, but scans also. It's quick at most tasks. I don't know if there is a trial version still, but you can check Adobe.com.
Cheers
I use both Lightroom and PS (CS2, currently). However, I'm primarily in Graphic Arts (printing) not a pro photographer. Lightroom allows you to edit files in Photoshop and re-import them back as copies, so you have both. I find it better than Bridge in CS2, don't know about CS3. I have about 1500 photos in Lightroom so far, mostly digital, but scans also. It's quick at most tasks. I don't know if there is a trial version still, but you can check Adobe.com.
Cheers
Benjamin Marks
Veteran
I have Lightroom and CS2. Lightroom - very good for editing, organizing, printing images that don't need a lot of manipulation. Very good for batch processing. Not good for nitty-gritty image work. I recently took a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge with the M8 and the CV15. For minimizing key-stoning and other distortion, as well as treatment of the various tones of gray, Photoshop was absolutely necessary. The final image is one of my favorites, but it really was a product of hours of PS work that could not have been done in Lightroom.
iridium7777
Established
word. cs3 + bridge greatest combo ever, makes everything else pretty much useless. as advance or simple as you want it to be. and you can do multiple image manipluations.
milos said:
weser
Member
I use both as well, Lightroom and Photoshop (also currently CS2). They are a perfect match. Wouldn't wanna live without either one.
To print, at least for photos, I use neither one but a colorburst rip.
To print, at least for photos, I use neither one but a colorburst rip.
iridium7777
Established
i second that opinion. i'm speaking from a mac perspective, but i'm sure it's close enough if you're using pc.
with cs3 when you click on browse images, bridge comes up. you can keep your pictures in any folder that you want (used to be a problem for me dealing with aperture). create any "tags" that you want. then simply highlight the picture and click off on the tags. now all your pictures are keyworded. looking for something? simply click search and type in your tags...
i usually always start bridge and not even go into ps unless i need to and then bridge will automatically bring it up. bridge is like your massive photo gallery and you do everything from there.
select a bunch of pictures and add your name to them, location or email, or any other information that you want.
if you're using digital, raw/jpeg, all your camera settings show up for each picture when you're browsing them in bridge -- wb, iso, f stop, shutter speed, focus metering, light metering...
when dealing with raw, when you click on the picture in bridge it doesn't start up ps right away, it opens it's own raw adjuster. here you can do crops, rotates (by simply dragging a straight line it will automatically ajust the photo and auto crop it for you), wb, and even curve manipulations, or pretty much anything else that you want out of the "adjust" menu you'd have in ps. from here you can save it directly into a jpeg format, or if you need to remove dust or anything else click continue and it'll bring it into photoshop for you to mess around with even more.
you can also do batch adjustments with raw files. select a bunch of them, adjust all your settings on the first picture -- curves, wb or whatever else, click done, it opens up the next picture, simply select "previous settings" and it'll apply what you did to the previous picture to this one.
as i wrote in my previous post, it's a great program and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. if you're dealing with all raw files and never need to remove any dust spots or anything, you can do everything (all wb, curves, saturations) directly out of bridge and export them into a jpeg without even bringing up the main ps screen.
i never dealt with lr, but i've used aperture which i'm assuming is somewhat similar and cs3 suite (ps + bridge) completely blows it away.
it does decent job exporting to "web" jpegs too but that has been around for a while now so i'm sure you know your way around it. you can also export to a website with templates and stuff, but i never use it since i use iweb.
they used to give out 30 day beta trial versions, i'd see if i could find one of those since the ps suite is pretty expensive.
with cs3 when you click on browse images, bridge comes up. you can keep your pictures in any folder that you want (used to be a problem for me dealing with aperture). create any "tags" that you want. then simply highlight the picture and click off on the tags. now all your pictures are keyworded. looking for something? simply click search and type in your tags...
i usually always start bridge and not even go into ps unless i need to and then bridge will automatically bring it up. bridge is like your massive photo gallery and you do everything from there.
select a bunch of pictures and add your name to them, location or email, or any other information that you want.
if you're using digital, raw/jpeg, all your camera settings show up for each picture when you're browsing them in bridge -- wb, iso, f stop, shutter speed, focus metering, light metering...
when dealing with raw, when you click on the picture in bridge it doesn't start up ps right away, it opens it's own raw adjuster. here you can do crops, rotates (by simply dragging a straight line it will automatically ajust the photo and auto crop it for you), wb, and even curve manipulations, or pretty much anything else that you want out of the "adjust" menu you'd have in ps. from here you can save it directly into a jpeg format, or if you need to remove dust or anything else click continue and it'll bring it into photoshop for you to mess around with even more.
you can also do batch adjustments with raw files. select a bunch of them, adjust all your settings on the first picture -- curves, wb or whatever else, click done, it opens up the next picture, simply select "previous settings" and it'll apply what you did to the previous picture to this one.
as i wrote in my previous post, it's a great program and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. if you're dealing with all raw files and never need to remove any dust spots or anything, you can do everything (all wb, curves, saturations) directly out of bridge and export them into a jpeg without even bringing up the main ps screen.
i never dealt with lr, but i've used aperture which i'm assuming is somewhat similar and cs3 suite (ps + bridge) completely blows it away.
it does decent job exporting to "web" jpegs too but that has been around for a while now so i'm sure you know your way around it. you can also export to a website with templates and stuff, but i never use it since i use iweb.
they used to give out 30 day beta trial versions, i'd see if i could find one of those since the ps suite is pretty expensive.
niimo said:
jlw
Rangefinder camera pedant
iridium7777 said:
I agree these are a great combination. Bridge makes Photoshop much more useful and more convenient for dealing with groups of images. Great way to go through a batch of photos you've just shot, do basic cropping and balancing, and go into the ones that need further Photoshop work. The loupe in CS3 Bridge is a pretty slick editing tool, although still not quite as slick as the one in Aperture.
Don't know that I'd go that far. An application such as Lightroom (or Aperture) still has an important place for cataloging and managing a large collection of images. I also think it's easier to use Lightroom for batch printing and file conversion than messing with Photoshop Actions.
The good thing is that in the latest versions, Adobe has gotten Lightroom and CS3 so they'll play nice with each other -- you can bring in your take, sort it with Bridge, shape up the shots that need it in Photoshop, then dump the batch into your Lightroom catalog, and Lightroom will read your Bridge raw-file edits.
If you work with relatively small, well-defined groups of images, Bridge + Photoshop CS3 may be all you need... but if you've got a huge collection of raw files, then it makes sense to add Lightroom (or something like it) to the mix.
mllanos1111
Well-known
Not sure if it was mentioned but Lightroom is also non-destructive. So you can make any changes you want to the RAW file and it never permanantly changes the original.
Shac
Well-known
jlw - thank you for this very useful summary. Most appreciated.
iridium7777
Established
neither is aperture and neither is bridge. when you modify a raw in bridge/cs3 it'll show it in the preview screen but the changes are reversible. the only way to make them permanent would be to save the file into jpeg or something else.
mllanos1111 said:
shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
I use Picasa to organize and tonal adjustment, and Paint Shop Pro for dust/scratch removal and other "surgery" type post-processing.
I used LightZone briefly and was very impressed by the ability to change the tonality of an image per zone. I imagine Lightroom would have something similar.
I used LightZone briefly and was very impressed by the ability to change the tonality of an image per zone. I imagine Lightroom would have something similar.