photoshop V lightroom comments pls

[mantababe]

LR and PS are different tools for different tasks.

LR is extremely efficient for MANAGING all those thousands pics, with some useful (i prefer this word to commonly used "basic") editing included. (see below example...)
What i like most is that u can manage multiple (up to thousands) of pic in batch. So with a few clicks, everything is organised, tagged, stored and (basically) edited. In this view, LR is a GREAT return on your investment, coz it saves u hundreds of hours of time previously spent in Explorer/Finder, Bridge and all kinds of "into-which-folder-should-i-put-this-and.how.to.rename.the.smaller.JPEG.from.that.RAW" software...

In my understanding, and on my very basic PS level (which i guess is also a level of anybody asking "LS or PS" question), PS is for a serious EDITING of a single picture. I've always got this pblm with PS: it is powerful like a big Asian factory full of workers. All tools and skills are there. However, in order to use it, u need to learn Chinese or Vietnamese first to get your results out of it.
From this point of view, LR is like a factory that looks smaller at the very first look, but that is very efficient and that has an English speaking person there for you.

One last word: do NOT try to use LR without learning. There are a couple of good books both printed and online, get any of them and arrange for two longer afternoons to use them. Do NOT jump into it, "Ok, let's open it and let's see what's going to happen." LR is really very easy to use, but (BUT) u have to do your homework FIRST.

Hv fun!

great pic, LR worked well. i have also ordered a book with it, as id downloaded the trail and couldnt agree more......i have no idea where to start dispite having used PS for ages. all the time this weather continues i have plenty of time to sit down and play

 

[Uncle Pug]

i have no idea where to start dispite having used PS for ages. all the time this weather continues i have plenty of time to sit down and play

To benefit from Lightroom most folks will need to change their way of thinking. Lightroom is first and foremost a DAM (digital asset manager.)

With other tools we were often focused on playing with individual images and then leaving those images scattered all over our hard drives in various folders. We also often had duplicates of the same image, sometimes multiple versions.

So here are some do`s, don't`s and why`s ~

1. Do start working on your catalog of images. Don't start with editing individual pictures. You need to clean up your room before you start playing with your toys.

2. Do keep all of your images in a single fold called images or pictures. Don't continue to rely on a folder system for organizing your pictures. With all of your images in a single folder it is much easier to move/copy/backup ect.

3. Do use Lightroom to move files and keep track of things. Don't use windows explorer or drag and drop. Lightroom needs to know where all of your stuff is if it is going to do its job and if you put images into folders by yourself Lighroom won't know that they are there.

4. Do import ALL of your images into Lightroom so it can catalog them and you can also have Lightroom MOVE your images into folders at the same time. Don't leave some images laying outside of Lightroom and think that you will get around to cataloging them later. Even if you want to leave certain images on other drives or even CDs, if you ever want to find them again Lightroom needs to have them cataloged.

5. Do apply basic keywords to a batch of images on import. Don't waste this most important feature of Lightroom because you were in too big a hurry to type a word into a text box. Later you will be able to tell Lightroom that you want such and such images and it will produce them for you pronto.

6. Do continue to Keyword your images by adding refined and specific keywords to individual images every time you view them. Don't play with any image without at least adding one more keyword. Later when you actually want to use your images for something other than random personal viewing you will be able to find them.

7. Do let Lightroom backup your catalog periodically as this contains ALL of the information about your images that you have worked on to that point. Don't forget to back up the images themselves as well. The Lightroom Catalog is different than the images themselves and both need to be backed up.

Of course the temptation to ignore all of the above will be overwhelming and I fully suspect that you will play with the image editing features of Lightroom right away. Have fun... it is great.

 

[mantababe]

thanks for that uncle...gosh, sounds mind blowing, going be hard to get into this different way of thinking, as youre right so use to just edit one pic and then it stays in what ever holiday ive been on file :S

take it i can back all my LR files onto an external drive as well?? i also like to back my pics onto dvd [try and cover all angles] as well as print them out

 

[Uncle Pug]

take it i can back all my LR files onto an external drive as well

Yes, that can be done even on Import when pictures are added to the Lightroom catalog. The files can be copied from your media card to your internal drive in the folder you designate and at the same time be backed up to an external drive.

However, I prefer to Import images into Lightroom, copy them to my hard drive, sort through them, pick the keepers and delete the rejects from disk before I back them up.

About Importing into Lightroom and copying images to a file folder. I let Lightroom create a new folder for each import under the one folder for that year's pictures. The folder name is simply the date. All of my year folders are together under the one Pictures folder. So far with 40,000 images in the one catalog this is working fine.

Today's pictures for example will be copied to the pictures/2011/January 17 folder. Of course I can find any picture I want without having to remember what folder it is in or even what date I took it. I just type keyword(s) into the text field in gridview and Lightroom finds them all for me. I can do that because I keyword. Keywording is key in accessing your photos for use later.

Another thing I do on Import is to have Lightroom build 1:1 preview slides so that when I go to select/reject/delete photos I don't have to wait for a suitably sized image to be generated. I have these previews set to self delete after 30 days.

 

[BLUESEASONBALI]

I find that when editing photos to remove such items as back scatter and hotspots then i use photoshop. once all this editi is competed and the image is still in large format i will switch to lightroom to aid the lighting and standard post edit modifications.

BLUE SEASON BALI
Diving Bali | Dive Courses Bali
PADI Member Award Winner 2010; Outstanding Dive Center 2010
Commitment to Instructor Development 2010​

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[Uncle Pug]

I find that when editing photos to remove such items as back scatter and hotspots then i use photoshop.

Have you tried Lightroom's spot healing tool for removing backscatter? It was buggy in LR2 but works fine in LR3.

Here in the dark (need flash) nutrient rich (lots of backscatter) Pacific Northwest US anything other than macro seems to need cleaning up. I have found Lightroom easier to use and for me it produces better results.

 

[furby076]

Great descriptions everyone.
Photoshop is definitely a beast and will do everything you could possibly want... at the price of your soul. I know professional photoshop users (as in actually work with it for a professional company, on a daily basis) and even after working with the software daily, for years, they still don't know every aspect. So for us recreational users, it's daunting. Given that - it's an amazing tool. If you have an affinity for such a tool (previous experience, extremely adept at photo editing, etc) give it a shot. There are very few times where I want something like photoshop, and when I realize I don't have it I get over it...quickly. I refuse to spend $600, and days of my life just for the possibility of doing something extra custom. It would have to be something REALLY amazing

Lightroom is a much more simplified tool. It helps manage your photos, and as above the keyword functionality is great (definitly do this the moment you import your photos). It is a forgiving tool that doesn't modify your original images. As with anything, spending a little more up front time will reward you in the long run. For example

I still dump my files into specific folders (e.g. I use a scheme of YYYY-MM-DD-Trip Name...so I would have 2009-01-03-Cozumel). In that folder I would have a subfolder of RAW (for the originals) and Processed (where I keep my exported JPGs). Why do I do this instead of having all files in one big folder...organization. While lightroom is great for organizing today, I may not have lightroom in 3 years from now. Who knows what will be around and i want my pictures to be sorted.

Keywords - keywords are well KEY We have hard drives that are in the terrabytes - do you really want to spend hours searching for that one specific trip? I typically have default keywords... For example "Diving" "Night" "Mom" "Dad" "Vacation" "Dutch Springs". That way when I take photos of my mom i can just click on "Mom" to have that keyword in place. If I do a night dive at Dutch springs...I just click on both of those keywords and it's added. Then on top of that I would add the YYYY-MM-DD, and any other key information (e.g. "Underwater Scooter"). It sounds a bit OCD, but again, when you have tens of thousands of pictures these keywords are huge

If you shoot raw, the white balance (it looks like an ink dropper) is your best friend. A photographer taught me about this tool. You should try it on each picture you take. You click on the ink dropper, then click on the darkest (preferrably black) portion of your underwater shot. It will most likely clean up your photo. I use it and most of the time the picture looks better. Mainly the effect is noticeable when you take a picture of someone's face...it gets rid of the blue/green tint and replaces it with flesh tones.

Exporting is great, though be warned they are buggy with the watermark. Unless it was fixed recently (I haven't updated the software in months) certain fonts, for some reason, will not display. That means if you don't see the watermark on export, just pick another font and try again. Keep going down the list and eventually one of them will work

Don't forget to play with the color adjustments - you can get some great effects (see attached). The one in the blue was the original, but then using LR I managed to ge the other one which I think is a better picture

Goodluck, and enjoy

 

[toastman]

Can someone please tell me the full name of the lightroom program they are using? Also, did you download it or buy it ?

Thanks !

 

[bvanant]

Can someone please tell me the full name of the lightroom program they are using? Also, did you download it or buy it ?

Thanks !

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. You can download a trial version at adobe.com. When you pay for it they give you a license key that keeps it working past 30 days.
Bill