Lightroom. What is actually good for?

I think maybe I'm missing something because I have a copy of Lightroom, but I never, ever use it. From what little exploration I've done, it doesn't do anything I can't do more easily and effectively in Photoshop & Bridge....

I am getting serious about cataloguing my images, and am wondering specifically if I should bother utilising it for that purpose. Should I persevere with it, or am I better off getting rid of it and sticking with Photoshop and Bridge?

I would imagine the reason you dont use lightroom is that you dont realise the power of the software, I do 99% of my editing in LR and 100% of my catalogueing, then if their are any final tweaks needed I take a photo into CS5.
Until I fully learned the powers of LR I didnt appreciate it so I would suggest delving deeper.

Does it have 'layers', and can you use it, like, in conjunction with Camera Raw?

Trilby wrote: Does it have 'layers', and can you use it, like, in conjunction with Camera Raw?

Lightroom's develop module is essentially Camera Raw. While one can edit jpgs and tiffs LR is really intended for raw file editing. The editing is non-destructive. Original files are not touched. The software creates sets of directions and temporary jpgs for viewing on screen. New edited image files are only created when finished products are exported. That's the biggest advantage over Photoshop for me. I can create many virtual verions of an image without making more space hogging image files. I know non-destructive editing is possible in PS but it is more complex. LR is tailored to the needs of photographers and suits many photographers' workflows better than PS.

Layers is one of the few things LR doesn't do. Layers and some of the cloning and healing tools are the only reasons I go into PS now. I do over 90% of my editing in LR and find it faster and easier than PS. If future versions of LR improve the cloning/healing tools and with the relatively cheap Perfect Layers plug-in from onOne software I would seriously consider doing away with Photoshop completely.

Well thank you guys....I think I'd better start playing around with it....

I enjoy using Lightroom. Yes Photoshop has so much more. But lightroom was made for photographers and it's so easy to use with just a couple of steps to do this or that.

I personally prefer lightroom over any other editing software

No offense but I suggest you learn how to use. It's very good. You can do the following:

1. White balance adjustment (way easier than in PS).
2. Levels adjustment (inc. curves)
3. Colour adjustments (on multiple channels)
4. Set up custom presets for your RAW files
5. Use brushes for exposure etc.
6. Crop
7. Put in gradients (great for landscapes)
8. Red eye removal
9. Spot removal
10. Black and white conversion
11. Hue adjustment
12. Saturation adjustment
13. Luminance adjustment
14. Split toning
15. Sharpening
16. Noise reduction
17. Lens correction (using the adobe database [auto] or manually). Which includes vignette, chromatic aberration adjustments.
18. Add vignetting and grain
19. Make slideshows
20. Print
21. Create websites
22. Quickly rate photos and/or flag selections or rejections.

You need more? It also catalogs your work automatically on import and if you move the files around within the library in lightroom, it moves the actual file to an actual folder (i.e. it doesn't use it's own priority database... which is a good thing because you can move the files to another computer easily if you wish).

All these changes are reversible (it has a history of changes) too as they are done before exporting to jpeg on the RAW file itself (assuming you shoot RAW) or even to the jpeg file without actually changing the original file.

First step is to get out of library mode and into develop mode (top rightish of the program).

Watch these video and get back to us:
www.presetsheaven.com/2009/01/08/10-grea...rials-for-lightroom/

I'm another Lightroom fanatic...

I've taken 638 images so far in December. I was happy with 136 of them, and I processed probably 90% of them just in Lightroom. I go into Photoshop to remove a logo, perhaps blur an area that is too prominent, or to do some clever cloning, but almost all my exposure and color corrections are in Lightroom. At the end, they are all cataloged, keyworded, and ready to sell!

Steve

Well I'm convinced but I have to say I find it INCREDIBLY confusing....Does anyone know of any beginners tutorials or something that might be of assistance?

Trilby wrote: Well I'm convinced but I have to say I find it INCREDIBLY confusing....Does anyone know of any beginners tutorials or something that might be of assistance?

The link Stealthy has given you is great but just google lightroom videos there are thousands out there. [/b][/color]

Oops, I missed that bit....

YEh it'll take a little effort to get to know it, but it's not that hard.

i also have lightroom 3 and photoshop cs5 and i use both of them everytime i want to change anything

Got through the first four videos and haven't watched the rest because I've been too busy playing around with Lightroom. I am very, very glad I asked. Thanks again all.

My first Lightroom edit, didn't do much to it, but this is it....