Bogin Bob wrote:
I am new to Lightroom and I have installed the 30 day trial to decide if I want to 'commit' to LR. I generally try to avoid being 'dependent' on one software provider - just in case their fees rocket or the supplier goes belly-up. I understand LR is the program of choice for professionals, but would like members experienced feedback on my 'newbie to LR' questions below. (any feedback welcomed)
1. if there was were a head to head feature comparison between LR and PS/PSE ... what key features does the group feel each one does better than the other. (i.e. PS - layers, LR - Organizing/Catalogs/Collections, etc.)
2. LR markets 'the original image is never modified'. Is that not what is available for PS/PSE and others simply by creating duplicate and only working on that image?
3. A big plus is that LR handles 'batch' photos better than most. It seems to indicate that LR may be a must-have for those that post process 100+ or more images at a time (also using presets as a key feature). Is that really a priority for most members. (however pre-sets seems a nice feature)
4. Organizing my photos is becoming a big issue for me (professionals with 100,000's of photos could be a most popular feature). However, using folders, file naming conventions and tags/keywords via meta data that is 'readable' by many editors, AND having a defined workflow for post processing a user is comfortable with ... does not organization become a mute point?
5. Re: Organizing in LR, is anyone willing to share a post processing model or steps as a starter model for me for a) organizing using tags, catalogs and collections and b) the editing post process flow?
6. Have any members considered Zoner Photo Studio Pro as an option. I hear Zoner is an up and coming alternative to LR - looks similar, great dashboard, BUT nowhere near the availability of self help tutorials on the web fee-based instruction.
7. In reviewing the literature and various sites there is an inferred WARNING ... "do not just import photos immediately into LR - you will have problems". What is the recommended approach to setup folders, and Catalogs so a new user can easily begin using LR?
8. There is much discussion about the number of Catalogs - only one, several based on need, etc. What is the scoop?
9. What steps or precautions would the members suggest in order to prevent an organizational nightmare if they decide to abandon Lightroom and to return to Folders, Tags/Keywords and File Naming as the model
10. What are the top 5-7 edit options a Lightroom 5 user has to open in PS/PSE to complete an image edit (like remove object, etc.)
11. What percent of photo processing do the members do in LR5 and do not require PS/PSE ... I read that Scott Kelby manages to do over 85% of editing in LR ...
Thank you
I am new to Lightroom and I have installed the 30 ... (
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2. Lightroom is a "parametric" editor where PS/PSE are "Pixel" editors. The difference is that a PIXEL editor CHANGES the pixels within the image, once changed they are changed forever, unless you made a copy first of course. A PARAMETRIC editor adds a parameter to the file that changes the VIEW of the original image. The underlying original image is never changed, only the view that you see, so in Lightroom you can always go back to the original image at any time. This is automatic, no additional files need be created to retain the original image.
Yes, you can create a duplicate to work on, but that is a manual step. You can also always work in layers in PS/PSE so you do not touch the original image, but again, a manual process that you must follow.
4. Organizing is easy in Lightroom, you can organize any way that you want. The power in Lightroom is that it becomes a database for your tagged, color coded, key-worded images, so when you have 100,000 images you can quickly zero in on the one image with a specific keyword or metadata value in the blink of an eye, instead of sifting thru files/folders on the disk.
5. For me, I import my NEF files directly into Lightroom from my SD card. Lightroom puts them in folders based on the year & day captured. On import, Lightroom renames my files from DSC_xxxx to DNG-20150301-09-00-10 (My initials, yearmonthday - hour-minute-second.)
Once the images are on disk in raw format, I go thru the images, deleting any that editing can't help, like out of focus, blurry shots, duplicates,etc.
Once the bad ones have been deleted I convert all to DNG format for editing. I prefer DNG to allow the edits to be written to the files instead of XMP files, and like the possibility of smaller files.
Basic keywording is done on import, detailed keywording is done during editing.
Collections are filled automatically based on keywords/metadata contained in each image, for example, if I do a panoramic shot, the keyword "panoramic shot" places the completed image in the panorama collection automatically.
I use a single catalog, so all my images are contained within one catalog.
I edit 75-80% in Lightroom, going to Photopshop the rest of the time when needed.
I do not move any files outside of Lightroom, instead do any file management within Lightroom so my catalog always knows where my images are.
Once images are complete, I export any JPG or Tiff files from Lightroom, publish files from Lightroom to my Flickr account.
7. I import directly from my SD card into Lightroom - have done so for over a year now, never had any issues. Not sure why the warning.