Newbie Software Advice?

[ScubaDocER]

The deal is just 30% off Lightroom 2 (list $299) with either Photoshop CS4 (list $699) or CS4 Extended (list $999).

So you save ~$90 making it either $910 or $1,210.

Not many divers I know can afford that chunk o' change on software!

You are correct. I did not read the small letters carefully

 

[bvanant]

With regards to printing, I'd like to be able to resize/resample. When I make print files I resize them so a Costco employee can't mess them up.

Whether the image is heavily cropped or not it must be cropped to print in the standard sizes. If you don't crop it the photo printing lab will crop it for you, possibly not where you would have. Once I crop I want to resize; for 4x6's I am looking to create an image file that is 4 inches by 6 inches with 300 dots per inch. For my 8x10's(or12's) I want to create an image file that is 8 inches by 10 or 12 inches with 240 dots per inch. For 12x18's it would be 12 inches by 18 inches with 180 dots per inch.

Since I was not able to find this function in Lightroom (or Aperture) I never got to the point of looking for the Unsharp Mask (or similar in Aperture). Is there Unsharp Mask in Lightroom?

I also like to have control of sizes for web use. My usual sizes are 500, 600 or 800 pixels on the long side with 72 ppi. I use Unsharp Mask here as well, but with different adjustment numbers from print files.

PSE 4 (mac) was $20.50 shipped off eBay. The lowest price I've seen for Lightroom (non-intel) is maybe $249.99.

You certainly can set the print parameters in Lightroom to do exactly what you want, including sharpening that is functionally identical (AFAICT) with Photoshop. But if you are getting Costco to print, you are just sending them JPEG files I guess so this is really a function of the export, rather than printing since Costco is using some other software to print to their machines.
Bill

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

You certainly can set the print parameters in Lightroom to do exactly what you want, including sharpening that is functionally identical (AFAICT) with Photoshop. But if you are getting Costco to print, you are just sending them JPEG files I guess so this is really a function of the export, rather than printing since Costco is using some other software to print to their machines.
Bill

As I said, I create finished print files and finished web files of various sizes. The prints made from the jpg print files sell whether they come from my Canon S9000 or from Costco. It costs me more to print at home and the matte 12x18's from Costco are sweet! I do not send them anything, I take in a disk.

I also crop images and then resize/resample to the original size so that the dive trip disks I sell slideshow a series of mixed crops and non crops at the same size no matter what kind of image viewer you use.

Plenty of Lightroom pundits talk down to me but none have been able to show me how to do those things in Lightroom. Even if someone does show me, I have CS3 Design Premium (free with a hard drive/memory upgrade) on my Macbook and PE4 ($20.50 eBay) on my Powerbook, so Lighteroom would have to be free to compete.

That does not mean I am not interested in whether or not those things are possible with Lightroom. Teach me something useful or circular file the attitude.

 

[bvanant]

No attitude was intended. You have your workflow and other folks have theirs and in fact you say that even if lightroom can do what you want you are happy with your workflow. That's great and you have some great photos on your website to prove it. My point is that lightroom can easily do exports of photos with defined total pixels and resolution so that the cretins at Costco can't screw them up (usually). As for taking a disk in to Costco or sending them files, a JPEG file is a jpeg file and you know it, Costco, at least in California only takes JPEGS and if it is on a disk or emailed in it will print exactly the same. Only the original poster can say if $200 is too much for him to spend but at least we should let him know about his options. After all GIMP is free, cheaper than even elements 4 but there is some pain involved in using it.

In any case, you have a workflow using either CS3 or elements (neither of which will be able to open raw files of newer cameras) and others of us have a different workflow. You have some great photos but so do many of us who use other more expensive workflows. To each his own.

Bill

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

My point is that lightroom can easily do exports of photos with defined total pixels and resolution so that the cretins at Costco can't screw them up (usually).

As I said I am open to learning new tricks. I had the free trial of Lightroom and I could not figure out how to resample/resize so I never got to the point of looking for unsharp mask. I have many peers who use Lightroom and none of them seemed to even understand what I was asking. It is possible you understand what I am asking and for the sake of the op and lurkers I ask again how does one accomplish these two things in Lightroom?

On either Photoshop (PS or PSE) Image/Resize/Image Size gets you to the Resize/Resample functions and then Filter/Sharpen/Unsharpen Mask. Those are typically my last two steps before Save As. Where does one find those functions in Lightroom?

As for Raw, I download from my camera with Adobe DNG Converter, which is my favorite price. Would a newer camera change that workflow?

I believe the Student version of Lightroom is only $99 now and I just might take a class or two.

 

[bvanant]

In lightroom you will need to do things in a slightly different order. To get the equivalent of the unsharp mask (In the newer versions of photoshop, there is smart sharpen which for many pics is for me a better sharpening than unsharp), open the photo in the develop module then use the detail tool. For me, I use 50 as the amount, a radius of 2, detail of 50 and masking of 100 to get to where I use to use unsharp mask on PS. Then you go to export with preset. In export I have files set to some pixel dimension on the long end and some resolution, then I burn full size JPEG in export with preset. The resulting files are dimensioned exactly as if I were taking them from photoshop. As far as I understand your workflow and printing, this should give you the same outputs. I seem to remember that the newer cameras will not work in raw with the older versions of rawcapture or DNG converter but I haven't tried. In any case, there will always be the camera manufacturer software to open the raw then output. What I like about lightroom is that it works on raw files but never makes changes to the basic file which for me is important since i am always screwing something up without a good backup.

Cheers
Bill