Anyone Using Lightroom ONLY?

[roxyandkaidotcom]

'Cause I've been using it all day and haven't launched Photoshop ONCE. This program ROCKS! I've been

SOOOOO much more productive today than ever before. Being able to copy and paste settings without

setting up and running actions ... being able to see before and afters so easy ... being able to add fill light

that actually looks like fill light. I'm lovin' it.

 

Don't comment on how horrible my images were in the BEFORES here ... I know, I know. I managed to

make 'em look pretty awesome, though :)

 

Soooo, are any of you using Lightroom ONLY? I think I might be ...<div></div>

[ellis_vener_photography]

I prefer the Photokit Sharpeners to the Lightroom sharpener, so I export to PsCS3 for that. Hopefully Picxel Genius will release a sharpening module for Lightroom soon.

[annealmasy]

The only time I launch Photoshop is if i have to do some serious skin retouching -- clone

stamping or heal tool stuff. (I'm not a big fan of LR's clone tool.) But other than that, LR is

totally #1. Love it. :D

[mikea]

I've put 7,500 images through this program in the last 2 months. Has anyone else had crashing problems that refer to "Bezel" under the task manager? Bezel will appear like 20 times under task manager and lightroom stops responding. It happens like once an hour or two for me.

[borniet]

I used to have alot of crashes (especially on import, but also on other moments) when I was using it on my WinXP computer. Also, it was often painfully slow.

I then tried it out on my wifes iMac (which had the same specs approximately as the winXP machine), and it is lightning fast, and hasn't crashed a single time on me.

As for the rest: Yes, it is the greatest program I've used so far. I rarely step to photoshop, lightroom does everything I want. Heck, I don't even step to my ftp program anymore!!!

I can definately say that lightroom has improved both the quality of my pictures, and the speed of my workflow.

[adw]

I too very rarely open photoshop now, but I'd love to see some third party modules to replace the photoshop requirements. Maybe a Noise Ninja module, interpolation module and retouch module. <br /><br />

 

I just had my first crash with it on my iMac - after importing a few hundred photos and pressing the 'F' key to change screen modes my mouse became unaligned with the cursor - you had to click just bellow any buttons to use them. Anyone else had this?

[valerie cook photography]

I think it 'rocks' too! I rearly use CS2 anymore = only for sharpening - and I still use Neat Image if needed as it seems that the noise reduction doesn't do much in LR. Otherwise, it is my first go to program these days - I am very much enjoying using it!

Oh - I was glad to see your before images Sarah! I thought only my before images looked like that!!! I thought everyone else's came out perfect from camera!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

~Val

[marten_holmes]

Anyone able to compare it with Nikon Capture as I'm thinking of buying one or the other?

[ken schwarz]

Agreed, LR is great. Unlike PS, where 90% of the color/tone correction controls mess up my pictures, in LR, 90% of the controls make my pictures look better. Well, at least in my clumsy hands. If only LR had transformation tools for perspective correction, it would eliminate most visits to PS for me. It is also painfully slow on my computer. (Bjorn: are you using it on the Mac running Windows? Why would that be so much faster?) The main usability gripe I have is the non-intuitive crop rotation feature: it always confuses me which direction I should rotate. Anyone know how to configure this to work otherwise?

[bambang indrayoto]

I love it, too. The interface is so user friendly. I love how the screen can show before and after adjustment. And each effect of each modification can be seen with the toggle in the upper left on each tool.

 

looselens.blogspot.com

[borniet]

@Ken: no, running it on an intel iMac with MacOsX

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Marten - I use Nikon Capture NX. Tt's an excellent program, but it does take time to adjust to the interface. The RAW conversions are superb, and the ability to make localized corrections and adjustments means that I rarely open Photoshop. Another plus is the ability to save multiple versions in the original NEF file.

 

The file viewing featuresa, however, aren't great. And the GUI doesn't have the polished feel of Adobe products.

 

Perhaps you should download and try the 30-day demo.

[steve brown]

I've also ended up using lightroom for 95% of what I do now.

I was looking at getting CS3 for the new b&w conversion and other bits but tried out lightroom and realised it did most of what I needed to do on a pic. The only thing I really go to cs2 for now is to use the Image Doctor cloning tool (which only works in 8bit unfortunately).

Lightroom solved so many problems for me:

Outputting for print & the web - even gallery building:

http://www.photos.drop-out.co.uk/

And it is a fantastic catalogueing system, something I was really starting to need. It is great for evaluating pics and shortlisting/chucking them. I can finally view all my pics in any combination AND find them again. I love the way LR picks up exactly where you left off so you can be working on something, relise you've goota go out, close down and then carry on whenever, no more 'now where was I'.

If the sharpening and cloning is improved it's probably all I'll use in the future which is pretty impressive. There is so much in photoshop I'll never use as I'm not a graphic artist.

I tried capture NX for a month and it does similar things re adjustments but the browser is really basic. It does have those fantastic control points though. If Lightroom had similar local adjustments I would jump for joy!

[marc_kruter]

Ken- The crop tool is different from what most of us are used to but it happens to be more

intuitive. In Photoshop you rotate the crop tool and do not get to see how your image will

look until after you have made the crop. LR allows you to view the image as it will be while

you are making the crop. You dont have to turn your head to envision what the outcome

will be plus the grid makes it alot easier to line things up. Also try the straiten tool that

allows you to draw a line and adjust the picture to that horizontal axis. It took me some

time to get used to the LR way but I'm glad I spent the time.

 

An album module would be very welcome.

[borniet]

@Marc: what do you mean by an album module? It does have the web module, so I suppose you know that already and mean something else :-)

[valerie cook photography]

As I said above - I love LR - but I also have trouble with the crop tool - if I crop to a 4X6 and then open the image in CS2 - it doesn't show up exactly as a 4x6. I figured out that on export I can constrain the size of one side to say 4 inches - and then it works - but I don't like this added step. I worry that if I forget to constrain it my crops will be off at the printers. Any ideas?

[marc_kruter]

Bjorn- I refer to a module for laying out albums for print. I would essentially be the print

module with one minor change: the ability to apply many templates to the pictures

selected. Whereas currently all images selected for print must conform to the same

template an album would have many pages each with a different template. Then the album

would need to be exported as a PDF or JPG not sent to your desktop printer.

 

Valerie- Not sure exactly what the problem is. First of all if you want to get a photo from

LR to PS you should not be exporting it but "control E" to open the image in PS. You will

get the Edit Photo dialogue box and it will give you 3 choices. You may choose to edit the

original and it will not have your crop or any other adjustments that you made in LR.

However, if you edit a copy with LR adjustments whatever crop you have applied within LR

will also apply in PS.

BTW even if you do export the photos I'm not sure what issues you are having with the

sizes since the exported photos should maintain your exact crop size. Clicking the

constrain button will not change the aspect ratio it will only affect the maximum width or

height.

Please refer to www.lightroomkillertips.com for all of you LR questions. Specifically, type

"export" into the search box and you will get a video that should explain your question.

[borniet]

@Marc: So, with that PDF file you could then simply go to some publisher or something to print the whole album, say, for a wedding or something?

That would definitely be a killer app, a time saver, a dream come true...

;-)

[stephen dohring]

I think we can all see from working with this program that really bad photogrpahers can now improve their results tremendously. This will make composition that much more important. As LR is discovered more and more it will be interesting to see how it changes the industry. Many bad shooters may not go for PS and the the ACR update but LR is very cheap.

[roxyandkaidotcom]

Heeeeeey Steve! Was that last comment a comment on my Befores?? I said NO comment on

those! :) :) :)

[rtrace]

I use Bridge CS3/ACR4 ONLY, except when I need to sharpen since I also use PhotoKit's sharpener. I also have some actions to resize and sharpen. But 99% of my edits are done in ACR4. For me Bridge/ACR4 is much faster, simpler, and logical than Lightroom.

 

Bogdan

[rtrace]

I also tend to agree with Steve. Nothing personal - but an accurate observation. Of course composition and stuff one does in camera, has and will always be important. But it is amazing how these programs can correct exposure mistakes. Then again, labs did it with print film for years. People just never knew;)

 

Bogdan

[roxyandkaidotcom]

Photoshop has always been able to correct exposure mistakes, too. Lightroom does make it

simpler, though.

 

I can see where Steve thinks it might change the industry. But, then again, we all kind of

expected digital to change the industry. I think it'll stay pretty much the same.

[jon_austin]

I downloaded and tried the 30-day trial version, which I understand to be identical to full version, just time-limited. I liked a lot of the tools, but without the availability of plug-ins, it isn't a do-all application for me.

 

And the Windows version definitely needs more code optimization. I have a fast system with loads of memory and storage, but LR feels sluggish on it.

 

Not bad for v1.0 software, though. I'm looking forward to the next major release.

[mikestryinagain]

LR is all we use, unless there is some need for a layer or openning eyes or something weird. Love how much control you have with it to make adjustments!