Lightroom 4

Discussion in 'Photography - general' started by stella, Jun 27, 2012.

  1. stella

    stella Forum Junkie

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    Does anyone else use Lightroom 4?

    I was persuaded it's a better tool for photographers than PhotoShop (I currently have CS5), so as it was reduced to 90 for a legitimate copy (Amazon), I bought it. Besides having to learn a whole lot of new stuff, after finally becoming reasonably competent in PS, I have also found it's amazingly slow! I have some sort of dual core AMD processor and 4gb RAM, and despite handing hefty RAW files in PS, it was never slow, but LR4 is like a snail!

    Also, anyone bought any books to learn it from that they'd recommend? I've watched the Julieanne Kost videos and some Adobe TV, but still like to have a book (they all seem to cost nearly as much as the software!)
     
  2. Crispy 8V CGTI Committee - Club Secretary Admin

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    I've just finished using a 30day trial, but do plan to buy it in the future
    Brillant tool for RAW files, TBH I only used the last 10 days of it, was a large learning curve most learnt off the Adobe web site or Website/You Tube!

    I love what it can do with highlights/shadows !
     
  3. stella

    stella Forum Junkie

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    But highlights and shadows are in Photoshop! And I can arrange things in Bridge! ;)

    I have a few problems importing pictures, then I muck around a bit with the editing, and always end up right-clicking and editing in PS, where I can do things properly with layers and masks! :)

    The two people who have persuaded me how good it is are both landscape photographers and I can see how it helps them fettle their pictures, but I'm a (mainly) people and animals and street photographer, which are a completely different kettle of fish.

    I know that PS was originally designed for graphic artists and that LR is firmly for photographers, but I love PS and just hope it doesn't take me as long to learn LR. However, I am impressed by the 90 price tag for LR, as opposed to the 320 I paid for PS, the new version of which is something in the region of 600+. I wonder if I'm being cynical in thinking that Adobe is using LR as a loss leader, and then once we're all hooked, will put it up to PS prices? No, surely not .......
     
  4. antinkariba

    antinkariba Forum Member

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    I use Lightroom all the time and I couple that with photoshop too. I have been lucky enough to upgrade to CS6 Master Collection too.

    I find lightroom can be a little slow sometimes and I often have to "optimise Catalogue" and it seems to sort things out. Lightroom does like to chew up memory especially with large RAW files! The brush tool in Lightroom is awesome and really useful and I tend to use the noise reduction brush a lot for when I shoot in Dark churches etc.
     
  5. stella

    stella Forum Junkie

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    Does that mean that since I last spoke to you, you have either had a massive pay rise, or you've won the Lottery? ;) Isn't the master collection well into four figures of your money? I would like to have the whole collection inc Dreamweaver, though I suspect it would probably be too 'grown-up' for me to understand if it's progressed at the same rate as the rest of the Adobe collection.

    Thanks for the optimisation tip - it must be the same as Thunderbird, as that keeps asking me if I'd like to! lol
     
  6. N/B

    N/B Forum Member

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    Two different kettles of fish, tbh.
    Lightroom was designed to compete with Phase One CaptureOne Pro, Apple Aperture and other pro-grade RAW Workflow/Capture software.
    Photographers shoot directly into Lightroom from various cameras (tethered or not), often having their Digi Op make adjustments as they go, or processing & comping stuff up for clients mid-shoot.
    They will often use it to determine their desired look and feel for an image too before bundling a high-quality JPEG and the original RAW file off to their Retoucher, who will work exclusively in Photoshop once they've processed out the RAW file to their requirements, essentially starting from scratch.

    The adjustments made in these types of RAW Workflow software are getting better all the time but I don't know a single pro photographer that would rely entirely on a program like Lightroom to prep their
    images for publication, or ever consider it as a replacement for Photoshop.
     
  7. stella

    stella Forum Junkie

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    I expect you're right. I have to admit I'd have to be surgically separated from PhotoShop before I'd give it up. (Can you imagine me dying in a burning house because I'd gone back to fetch it? lol)
     
  8. queen New Member

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    We just want our photos to look better, and if somebody comes up with something that can make our photos look significantly better, were going to be all over it. Lightroom 4 does exactly that.
     
  9. stella

    stella Forum Junkie

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    I've just bought the Scott Kelby book on LR4, so I shall report back in due course, though it may be a little while yet on account of it has over 1000 pages! (hope it won't take me as long as it did to become proficient in PS)
     
  10. WEZ

    Wez Official Friday thread starter

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    just got LR3 as I run an old version of PS which doesn't support ACR!
    it's a fancy userface, but has taken more getting used to than photoshop, I just use it to sort exposure on my DNG files if it's completely out before sending them off to photoshop for everything else as i'm much more proficient with it.
    I imagine it's a better tool if you're a pro and have to sort lots of files for shoot, but i'm not so just the raw conversion and exposure correction for me.
    Most of my photos end up to be viewed online or another pc, so all the best are converted to jpg anyway at some point, but keep the original raw files just 'cos
     
  11. letooms Paid Member Paid Member

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    I use lightroom to shoot tethered all the time with any significant changes (outside the addition of preset filters, exposure or colour correction etc) made in PS only when necessary. PS is a great tool but Lightroom offers flexibility and the ability to make batch changes with ease using a relatively intuitive workflow that can be easily adapted to your own work pattern.
     
  12. stella

    stella Forum Junkie

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    I've moved on a bit since I wrote the above and understand it a little more now, but still tend to do the basic exposure/light/shadows/noise removal, then move across to PS.

    I've also since doubled my RAM to 8mb but it doesn't seem to have had much effect on the speed. I had a look round on the internet and it seems that the slowness is quite a big problem that Adobe has failed to address. It also seems that throwing more resources at it doesn't always make it run faster/better, more it seems like you have to have the right combination of resources.

    So I'll keep on using it for the above and carry on using PS for the fancy'/artistic stuff and probably use it more when I've moved and got myself organised with a little more spare time.
     
  13. WEZ

    Wez Official Friday thread starter

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    How thing change, now pretty much never use Photoshop, dunno what I was thinking. Lightroom IS the tool for photography.
     

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