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Adobe Lightroom

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:56 am
by cybers
I Know that the use of software to recover images is generally frowned upon but was wondering if anyone else had used Adobe Lightroom.
I had a few snaps i thought i had lost for ever due to under-exposure and recovered most of them with varying degrees of success.
Also found it great for timed exposures as my Nikon lets me down in this department with only an 8 sec exposure time.

Might even purchase this bugger but then again ....
Maybe someone here will recommend something else.

This image was really dark and when i tried to recover it via photoshop it just went all wonky.
Colours did not look right saturation sucked and i decided i needed more or less an auto solution.

Image

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:29 am
by John
I tried the demo of lightroom and found it very good but eventually bought Nikon Capture NX as it worked so well with the .NEF files from my D80.

I did really like lightroom though.

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:20 am
by e2wufos1
Can you show us the original image mate so we can see the difference?

Cheers

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:06 am
by Sharon
Is it not just a cut down version of photoshop?

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:55 am
by AlanM
Sharon wrote:Is it not just a cut down version of photoshop?


No not at all, its a completely different product with a non-Adobe pedigree, being born of Adobe's takeover of Pixmantec. While you can do the same tasks with Photoshop, Lightroom makes them a lot easier and adds an excellent file manager to the mix. The one thing I would like to see in Lightroom is a lens correction filter for barrel distortion and converging verticals - other than that everything most photographers would need is in there.

@cybers: I am in the habit of underexposing all shots now, by at least 1 stop, so as not to blow out the highlights.
Capture One is also very good especially at noise reduction but its a bit trickier to use and doesn't have quite as good a file manager

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:01 pm
by Sharon
AlanM wrote:
Sharon wrote:Is it not just a cut down version of photoshop?


While you can do the same tasks with Photoshop, Lightroom makes them a lot easier and adds an excellent file manager to the mix. The one thing I would like to see in Lightroom is a lens correction filter for barrel distortion and converging verticals - other than that everything most photographers would need is in there.


Oh FFS, thanks for the history lesson... shall i reword for the geek who has obviously researched the product, to say "does photoshop not do all lightroom does and much more" ...and the answer i assume is, yes.

PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:15 pm
by AlanM
Sharon wrote:
AlanM wrote:
Sharon wrote:Is it not just a cut down version of photoshop?


While you can do the same tasks with Photoshop, Lightroom makes them a lot easier and adds an excellent file manager to the mix. The one thing I would like to see in Lightroom is a lens correction filter for barrel distortion and converging verticals - other than that everything most photographers would need is in there.


Oh FFS, thanks for the history lesson... shall i reword for the geek who has obviously researched the product, to say "does photoshop not do all lightroom does and much more" ...and the answer i assume is, yes.
::): ::): ::):

Re: Adobe Lightroom

PostPosted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 12:34 am
by cybers
Before

Image


After

Image

PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:26 pm
by ambriel
Sharon wrote:Oh FFS, thanks for the history lesson... shall i reword for the geek who has obviously researched the product, to say "does photoshop not do all lightroom does and much more" ...and the answer i assume is, yes.


Doesn't Lightroom allow you to work directly with RAW image files; something Photoshop doesn't?

A.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:06 pm
by StevenJ
Photoshop does allow you to work directly with raw files. There is a plugin that comes with photoshop called "Adobe Raw Plugin", you just need to make sure that you have the correct update for your camera.

I used to use pixmantech raw shooter for butchering raw files, and found it amazing. This program/software was bought by adobe and basically, I think most of it went into Lightroom.

Lightroom is, in my opinion, very good - and also very fast. The changes it makes are stored in a database - so the actual changes are not made to any raw file. You then export the modified image as a TIFF or JPG for example and away you go.

I usually export as TIFF after making the majority of exposure mods and saturation mods etc. This can then be edited if desired in Photoshop.

I would recommend lightroom, at the very leat just to try out.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:57 pm
by bobrobert
@cybers: I am in the habit of underexposing all shots now, by at least 1 stop, so as not to blow out the highlights.
Capture One is also very good especially at noise reduction but its a bit trickier to use and doesn't have quite as good a file manager[/quote]

You would be better exposing for the highlights and adding +1 EV

Your method will add noise to the shadow areas in particular and when you expose the shadow areas then the noise will become apparent :roll:

PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:59 am
by sauvagii
Personally now, I swear by Lightroom.

For general photo editing and management, I use it 80% of the time.

If i'm looking for it, i can find it in my lightroom catalogue. I can straighten, adjust and do most stuff I'd normally do in Photoshop much quicker. The 1.1 update is excellent, with some good new features.

A brilliant feature for me is the flagging and organising of images - Pick, Reject, star rating, colour code etc which I use to quickly "whittle down" the images I've taken on a shoot.

Then, I go through them and make the adjustments I want, and batch process them all out to JPEG when I'm done.

Its a great product, and I'd recommend it to anyone. (and no, I'm not on commission :))

Alan - I too routinely underexpose by a stop these days. I'd say its useful to do in the summer sun especially to avoid blowing out clouds etc. But then we're all painfully aware there hasn't BEEN a summer!

Aperture

PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:39 pm
by scotgio
I like Lightroom, for those comparing it to Photoshop Lightroom has some unique tools not found in CS3, and vice versa. At it's simplest it is in effect Adobe Camera Raw merged with Adobe Bridge (file management app included with photoshop). One is not necessarily 'better' than the other, and to describe Lightroom as a cut down Photoshop is incorrect. The Camera Raw engine is identical in both. Lightroom is far more photographer orientated than photoshop, which recently, IMHO, has become a bit of a mess given how many markets it now has to satisfy (web design, photographers, graphic artists, scientific work etc). The monochrome mixer in Lightroom is considerably better than photoshop, particularly for split toning images. Also Lightroom is much, much better for metadata management, which is hugely important if you have a massive library of images. Lightroom's only real weaknesses are lack of support for twin displays and its sharpening tool is not nearly as good as smart sharpen in CS3.

Any Mac users here using Apple's Aperture? I just got my hands on version 2 last week, and it is a massive improvement. The speed difference is night and day. Definitely a serious contender now. I really like the support for dual monitors for comparing edits, and its really easy to manage metadata on.

Re:

PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:43 pm
by scotgio
bobrobert wrote:@cybers: I am in the habit of underexposing all shots now, by at least 1 stop, so as not to blow out the highlights.
Capture One is also very good especially at noise reduction but its a bit trickier to use and doesn't have quite as good a file manager


You would be better exposing for the highlights and adding +1 EV

Your method will add noise to the shadow areas in particular and when you expose the shadow areas then the noise will become apparent :roll:[/quote]

Agreed, a quick glance at the histogram is all that's required here. Underexposing by 1 stop will generate a lot of noise at high ISO's, given the reduction in the 'latitude' of the RAW file. A glance at a histogram lets you know instantly if you've blown the highlights.

Re: Adobe Lightroom

PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:49 pm
by potatojunkie
Yes. Here's a well-reasoned argument for doing the exact opposite.

It's worthwhile taking the time to get to grips with Lightroom, it's braw. I'd love it for the crop/rotate tool alone. That said, it's more for producing "straight" images, applying minor corrections and the like. Photoshop's the tool to turn to if you want to get creative.