Lightroom really shines if you have a ton of photos to process quickly. A good example is event photography such as a dog show. I may shoot 800 - 1000 photos. Lightroom enables me to quickly catalog them, sort them, reject the losers, and then perform the initial processing (color, tone, contrast, and prelim sharpening). I can make adjustments to a single photo and then copy the adjustments to the entire catalog. This alone saves uncountless hours (seeing that I only have the evening before the next day of the show). As a final step, I can print contact sheets of proofs or generate photo slide shows directly from Lightroom.
So I have just made a big switch - from a PC with PSPXII and RSE to a Mac with PSCS3.
I use sports photography to feed my glass habit.
With my previous set up, I used RSE to convert my RAW files (DUH), qnd for sports photos would copy the settings to all photos of the series (where starting exposure was the same). Then RSE converted to .jpg and I used PSP to finish up.
RSE allowed exposure correction, fill light, highlight and shadow correction and saturaton changes.
In PSP I would typcally play with curves, sharpen, crop and be done.
How can I best mimic that work flow with my new tools? I like ARC - it has more fine tuning ability that RSE.
I would like to have some batchability though. For example, I have about 6 Gig of basketball shots to run through to find 'a good shot' of each of about 45 players.
So I have just made a big switch - from a PC with PSPXII and RSE to a Mac with PSCS3.
I use sports photography to feed my glass habit.
With my previous set up, I used RSE to convert my RAW files (DUH), qnd for sports photos would copy the settings to all photos of the series (where starting exposure was the same). Then RSE converted to .jpg and I used PSP to finish up.
RSE allowed exposure correction, fill light, highlight and shadow correction and saturaton changes.
In PSP I would typcally play with curves, sharpen, crop and be done.
How can I best mimic that work flow with my new tools? I like ARC - it has more fine tuning ability that RSE.
I would like to have some batchability though. For example, I have about 6 Gig of basketball shots to run through to find 'a good shot' of each of about 45 players.
ann
As you may know, the author of Raw Shooter works on the Lightroom team now and elements of RSE have been incorporated into LR and in some cases improved upon. What are you using now besides CS3? I believe Adobe gives a free crossgrade to Raw Shooter owners. Please somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
As you may know, the author of Raw Shooter works on the Lightroom team now and elements of RSE have been incorporated into LR and in some cases improved upon. What are you using now besides CS3? I believe Adobe gives a free crossgrade to Raw Shooter owners. Please somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
Very interesting - I did not know that. I only had RSE - the free version, so that wouldn't work.
I am only using CS3 - after all, plunking down $800 when PSP was $120 was a big enough shock....
And I only bought all this last Thursday. Still working out how to catalogue, what my workflow should be etc.
Very interesting - I did not know that. I only had RSE - the free version, so that wouldn't work.
I am only using CS3 - after all, plunking down $800 when PSP was $120 was a big enough shock....
And I only bought all this last Thursday. Still working out how to catalogue, what my workflow should be etc.
Tips greatly appreciated.
ann
Yeah not with the free version, I'm sure.
Still, "only" CS3 is up there with the best tools available, since you get the very fine ACR with that. Bridge is the built-in browser for images, which should let you do ratings and keywording, though it's not a database per se. You may find a more digital asset manager-type of app would help if you need an app to look after your organisation for you. Lightroom, Aperture, iView, etc., do this all with variable success for your needs.
I can tell you that Aperture, despite the things that made me stop using it, had very solid control over photo management.
So I have just made a big switch - from a PC with PSPXII and RSE to a Mac with PSCS3.
I use sports photography to feed my glass habit.
With my previous set up, I used RSE to convert my RAW files (DUH), qnd for sports photos would copy the settings to all photos of the series (where starting exposure was the same). Then RSE converted to .jpg and I used PSP to finish up.
RSE allowed exposure correction, fill light, highlight and shadow correction and saturaton changes.
In PSP I would typcally play with curves, sharpen, crop and be done.
How can I best mimic that work flow with my new tools? I like ARC - it has more fine tuning ability that RSE.
I would like to have some batchability though. For example, I have about 6 Gig of basketball shots to run through to find 'a good shot' of each of about 45 players.
ann
Hey Ann,
If I have a big shoot like an auto event or dog show and I have a prelim schedule or list of contestents, I try to setup my catalogs in advance. Of course, I will add to the folder structure as necessary but it helps save time out of the gate. For instance, if I know that a car event is being judged class, year, and type, I would set up my catalogs in that hierarchy in advance. For shows with preassigned locations for people to park their vehicles, I arrange my catalogs based on sections. Because the the presets work best with a constant exposure, it also helps to further group the images within set timeframes. That way I just need to dump the RAW images into their respective folders as the day progresses.
As part of the import to Lightroom, the images are renamed (naming schema depends on the type of show), keyworded, and a preset is ran with basic tone, vibrance, and clarity settings. At the end of the day, I run through the images and mark the rejects. I assign all prospective keepers a rating of 2 or 3 with 2 being marginal keeper and 3 being a definite.
I filter the 2 ratings and make a pass to see if cropping, straightening, or an exposure adjustment would bring them to definite keeper status. If so, the adjustment is made and the rating is moved to a 3.
I filter on the 3 rating, select the first image, and make my contrast, moderate noise reduction, and moderate sharpening adjustments. I then select all and sync the adjustments. From there I export them as jpgs for proofs. Any orders received later are exported from Lightroom as PSDs and detail edited in PCS3 before export to jpg and being sent to print or cd.
Others may have a more efficient workflow but this has worked for me thus far on days where I had to shoot hundreds of images with little time for PP. There are some good workflow tutorials out there. You might want to check out www.lightroomkillertips.com . Adobe's site also has some good info. Hope this helps....
A jpg is a flat single layer file. You can work on a jpg in Photoshop by copying the base layer and performing your adjustments on th ecopied layer; however, if you safe the file as a jpg, it will flatten your layers and the changes will become permanent (assuming your saving over the original copy). Continued editing, flattening, and saving will diminish the quality of the jpg.
In Lightroom, the adjustments are not made to the jpg itself. Instead they are written to a sidecare file (think of it as a little briefcase containing the adjustment instructions). Since the jpg is unaltered, you can always revert to the original with damage done.
With that said, I would suggest that you do not edit jpgs in PCS. Instead save the image as a psd so you can maintain the layered document and only convert it to a jpg when you want to output it for printing.
Lightroom is tooted as being non-destructive to jpegs when editing. But isn't CS3 non-destructive to?
True what Travis said. It saves the instructions of what it's doing. You don't actually make an altered image file until you export (or round-trip to Photoshop or another editor)
A jpg is a flat single layer file. You can work on a jpg in Photoshop by copying the base layer and performing your adjustments on th ecopied layer; however, if you safe the file as a jpg, it will flatten your layers and the changes will become permanent (assuming your saving over the original copy). Continued editing, flattening, and saving will diminish the quality of the jpg.
In Lightroom, the adjustments are not made to the jpg itself. Instead they are written to a sidecare file (think of it as a little briefcase containing the adjustment instructions). Since the jpg is unaltered, you can always revert to the original with damage done.
With that said, I would suggest that you do not edit jpgs in PCS. Instead save the image as a psd so you can maintain the layered document and only convert it to a jpg when you want to output it for printing.
Very interesting. I wonder why Adobe didn't put that valuable tool in CS3 for jpgs. Hummmm......Good marketing tool Thanks for the info!
Very interesting. I wonder why Adobe didn't put that valuable tool in CS3 for jpgs. Hummmm......Good marketing tool Thanks for the info!
Actually, it's in there. If you edit a JPG with Adobe Camera Raw (new feature in Photoshop CS3), the corrections aren't permanent until you export a new copy. So now you have that option, in addition to the normal JPG editing in Photoshop itself that permanently changes the pixels.
Actually, it's in there. If you edit a JPG with Adobe Camera Raw (new feature in Photoshop CS3), the corrections aren't permanent until you export a new copy. So now you have that option, in addition to the normal JPG editing in Photoshop itself that permanently changes the pixels.
See second paragraph of this page. Works with TIFF images too.
You can also use the Open dialog and select a JPEG, but change the Format pop-up to Camera Raw before you hit the Open button (otherwise it sticks to the JPEG default and opens without Camera Raw).
I should add, though, that although I have CS3 and it can do all this, the same workflow is so much smoother and faster in Lightroom that I use Lightroom for the bulk of editing and only send Photoshop the images that need detailed help.
See second paragraph of this page. Works with TIFF images too.
You can also use the Open dialog and select a JPEG, but change the Format pop-up to Camera Raw before you hit the Open button (otherwise it sticks to the JPEG default and opens without Camera Raw).
I should add, though, that although I have CS3 and it can do all this, the same workflow is so much smoother and faster in Lightroom that I use Lightroom for the bulk of editing and only send Photoshop the images that need detailed help.
Cool thanks! I printed it out and ready to do it. I know LR would/should be the way to go....I just can't justify it yet even tho it would save me so much time. I kick myself everytime someone says "I just use LR for that"
Ps does have that functionality. It's called layers!
Layers work great, as long as you save as TIFF or PSD. The interesting thing about opening JPEG in Camera Raw is that it stays a JPEG with correction metadata attached to the header, so you don't have to save a much larger TIFF or PSD just to get a few nondestructive corrections.
I have Kelby's book. I read parts of it while traveling...and haven't gotten back to it, yet. Unfortunately, I have a shelf of books in the same state.
I have learned A LOT about LR from the various podcasts available thru iTunes. If you have trouble finding time to read/browse thru a tutorial, I recommend checking out the many well done 3-10 minute demo/tutorials available FREE online.
I have Kelby's book. I read parts of it while traveling...and haven't gotten back to it, yet. Unfortunately, I have a shelf of books in the same state.
I have learned A LOT about LR from the various podcasts available thru iTunes. If you have trouble finding time to read/browse thru a tutorial, I recommend checking out the many well done 3-10 minute demo/tutorials available FREE online.
Thanks for the time saving tip--I will check it out
I just can't justify it yet even tho it would save me so much time. I kick myself everytime someone says "I just use LR for that"
If it's a hobby, who cares how much time you "waste" on it? What else you gonna do? Play with the kids? Smooch with your Sweetie? Reconcile your bank statement?
If you're trying to make it pay, $300 for Lightroom pays for itself in the first couple of assignments. Really. Actually, I think Lightroom really does make it more fun. So BUY IT even if it's just for your hobby. And NO, I did not say "just a hobby."
John :
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
If it's a hobby, who cares how much time you "waste" on it? What else you gonna do? Play with the kids? Smooch with your Sweetie? Reconcile your bank statement?
If you're trying to make it pay, $300 for Lightroom pays for itself in the first couple of assignments. Really. Actually, I think Lightroom really does make it more fun. So BUY IT even if it's just for your hobby. And NO, I did not say "just a hobby."
Its on my Christmas list As I need some kinds of organization with all these photos just waiting for a home.
Lightroom is Easier for batch processing
I use LR for shoots where I have to edit 20 or more prints and the client is in a hurry to get their 4x6 prints, usually weddings and parties. You can batch adjust them very easily and automatically but I find that if I need to produce a large quality print, photoshop is better for refined adjustments and things like noise reduction.
For organizing, adding meta tags and batch processing LR is a breeze.
The BEST thing with LR is printing and beats PS any day. You don't have to open the files, you can set up any number of printing templates, including designing your own, and you can adjust images as you go along.
I sell hundreds of prints at street fairs in the summer and it is a joy to print with LR and was a nightmare with PS.
I also tend to never look at instructions and found LR very intuitive.
Comments
So I have just made a big switch - from a PC with PSPXII and RSE to a Mac with PSCS3.
I use sports photography to feed my glass habit.
With my previous set up, I used RSE to convert my RAW files (DUH), qnd for sports photos would copy the settings to all photos of the series (where starting exposure was the same). Then RSE converted to .jpg and I used PSP to finish up.
RSE allowed exposure correction, fill light, highlight and shadow correction and saturaton changes.
In PSP I would typcally play with curves, sharpen, crop and be done.
How can I best mimic that work flow with my new tools? I like ARC - it has more fine tuning ability that RSE.
I would like to have some batchability though. For example, I have about 6 Gig of basketball shots to run through to find 'a good shot' of each of about 45 players.
ann
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
As you may know, the author of Raw Shooter works on the Lightroom team now and elements of RSE have been incorporated into LR and in some cases improved upon. What are you using now besides CS3? I believe Adobe gives a free crossgrade to Raw Shooter owners. Please somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
Very interesting - I did not know that. I only had RSE - the free version, so that wouldn't work.
I am only using CS3 - after all, plunking down $800 when PSP was $120 was a big enough shock....
And I only bought all this last Thursday. Still working out how to catalogue, what my workflow should be etc.
Tips greatly appreciated.
ann
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
Yeah not with the free version, I'm sure.
Still, "only" CS3 is up there with the best tools available, since you get the very fine ACR with that. Bridge is the built-in browser for images, which should let you do ratings and keywording, though it's not a database per se. You may find a more digital asset manager-type of app would help if you need an app to look after your organisation for you. Lightroom, Aperture, iView, etc., do this all with variable success for your needs.
I can tell you that Aperture, despite the things that made me stop using it, had very solid control over photo management.
Hey Ann,
If I have a big shoot like an auto event or dog show and I have a prelim schedule or list of contestents, I try to setup my catalogs in advance. Of course, I will add to the folder structure as necessary but it helps save time out of the gate. For instance, if I know that a car event is being judged class, year, and type, I would set up my catalogs in that hierarchy in advance. For shows with preassigned locations for people to park their vehicles, I arrange my catalogs based on sections. Because the the presets work best with a constant exposure, it also helps to further group the images within set timeframes. That way I just need to dump the RAW images into their respective folders as the day progresses.
As part of the import to Lightroom, the images are renamed (naming schema depends on the type of show), keyworded, and a preset is ran with basic tone, vibrance, and clarity settings. At the end of the day, I run through the images and mark the rejects. I assign all prospective keepers a rating of 2 or 3 with 2 being marginal keeper and 3 being a definite.
I filter the 2 ratings and make a pass to see if cropping, straightening, or an exposure adjustment would bring them to definite keeper status. If so, the adjustment is made and the rating is moved to a 3.
I filter on the 3 rating, select the first image, and make my contrast, moderate noise reduction, and moderate sharpening adjustments. I then select all and sync the adjustments. From there I export them as jpgs for proofs. Any orders received later are exported from Lightroom as PSDs and detail edited in PCS3 before export to jpg and being sent to print or cd.
Others may have a more efficient workflow but this has worked for me thus far on days where I had to shoot hundreds of images with little time for PP. There are some good workflow tutorials out there. You might want to check out www.lightroomkillertips.com . Adobe's site also has some good info. Hope this helps....
My Images | My Lessons Learned and Other Adventures
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
In Lightroom, the adjustments are not made to the jpg itself. Instead they are written to a sidecare file (think of it as a little briefcase containing the adjustment instructions). Since the jpg is unaltered, you can always revert to the original with damage done.
With that said, I would suggest that you do not edit jpgs in PCS. Instead save the image as a psd so you can maintain the layered document and only convert it to a jpg when you want to output it for printing.
My Images | My Lessons Learned and Other Adventures
True what Travis said. It saves the instructions of what it's doing. You don't actually make an altered image file until you export (or round-trip to Photoshop or another editor)
Very interesting. I wonder why Adobe didn't put that valuable tool in CS3 for jpgs. Hummmm......Good marketing tool
---Mary
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
Actually, it's in there. If you edit a JPG with Adobe Camera Raw (new feature in Photoshop CS3), the corrections aren't permanent until you export a new copy. So now you have that option, in addition to the normal JPG editing in Photoshop itself that permanently changes the pixels.
Yep
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
How do you open a jpg in Raw on CS3?
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
See second paragraph of this page. Works with TIFF images too.
You can also use the Open dialog and select a JPEG, but change the Format pop-up to Camera Raw before you hit the Open button (otherwise it sticks to the JPEG default and opens without Camera Raw).
I should add, though, that although I have CS3 and it can do all this, the same workflow is so much smoother and faster in Lightroom that I use Lightroom for the bulk of editing and only send Photoshop the images that need detailed help.
Cool thanks! I printed it out and ready to do it. I know LR would/should be the way to go....I just can't justify it yet even tho it would save me so much time. I kick myself everytime someone says "I just use LR for that"
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
Layers work great, as long as you save as TIFF or PSD. The interesting thing about opening JPEG in Camera Raw is that it stays a JPEG with correction metadata attached to the header, so you don't have to save a much larger TIFF or PSD just to get a few nondestructive corrections.
I have learned A LOT about LR from the various podcasts available thru iTunes. If you have trouble finding time to read/browse thru a tutorial, I recommend checking out the many well done 3-10 minute demo/tutorials available FREE online.
Thanks for the time saving tip--I will check it out
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
If it's a hobby, who cares how much time you "waste" on it?
If you're trying to make it pay, $300 for Lightroom pays for itself in the first couple of assignments. Really. Actually, I think Lightroom really does make it more fun. So BUY IT even if it's just for your hobby. And NO, I did not say "just a hobby."
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
Its on my Christmas list
----Mary
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
There is no such thing!
I use LR for shoots where I have to edit 20 or more prints and the client is in a hurry to get their 4x6 prints, usually weddings and parties. You can batch adjust them very easily and automatically but I find that if I need to produce a large quality print, photoshop is better for refined adjustments and things like noise reduction.
For organizing, adding meta tags and batch processing LR is a breeze.
The BEST thing with LR is printing and beats PS any day. You don't have to open the files, you can set up any number of printing templates, including designing your own, and you can adjust images as you go along.
I sell hundreds of prints at street fairs in the summer and it is a joy to print with LR and was a nightmare with PS.
I also tend to never look at instructions and found LR very intuitive.
http://kitkaplan.smugmug.com/