JD750 wrote:
I know they are not exactly the same, but Bridge is a DAM manager and I like some things about it BUT it's as if the two programs were written by different companies. Stars, Picks, Colors, added in LR don't appear in Bridge and vice-versa.
They evolved from two very different Adobe software user communities. Bridge, as you note, is a Digital Asset Manager. It was conceived primarily as a workgroup tool for use by graphic artists in agencies, publishing houses, corporate marketing departments, etc. Bridge had been around for many years prior to Lightroom's conception. Its fatal flaw (and major attraction) is that it is operating system-centered.
Lightroom (now Lightroom Classic) was born out of the frustrations of cottage industry, "mom-and-pop shop" professional photography studios and working professional photographers at commercial studios and photojournalistic agencies. For these folks, an OS-centered approach was extremely limiting. They needed a tool set for:
> Cull editing, rating, and sorting files
> Metadata management, for rapidly finding images in a collection of tens of thousands, using modern database tools
> Serving as both a central image repository AND as the hub of a digital workflow using related imaging applications like Photoshop, various plug-ins, etc.
> NON-DESTRUCTIVELY developing, cropping, "healing," removing "red-eye," and doing simple masking of raw files, DNGs, PSDs, TIFFs, and JPEGs from almost any camera (i.e.; primarily parametric editing, as opposed to the primarily bitmap editing done in Photoshop)
> Making multiple, "virtual" originals, used for exporting files made from the same original, but processed in many different ways, for wildly different multiple uses
> Tracking where images were made, using GPS metadata and a map
> Creating photo books for wedding customers, etc.
> Making "slide shows" for studio customers and publication editors so they can view "proofs" on a monitor in a sales room or editing room
> Printing to directly-connected, high-end pigment ink photo printers for the very best color and print longevity
> Posting images to web sites for sale and display
> Storing images on Adobe Cloud servers for use in the other Lightroom (the mobile app) on other platforms (Mac, PC, tablets...)
I was part of an early beta test group for Lightroom 2. I quickly became a fan, because I was using Kodak DP2 Print Production Software in a photo lab at the time. DP2 is similar in many ways, yet completely different from anything Adobe has. Unless you run a lab, you don't want it.
I have often wished Adobe would create a "dashboard" application for all of its photo editing applications, so you could seamlessly move around the various toolsets without having to open and close them. Having ONE interface for each tool would be a lot more efficient.