capt2575 Loc: New York City

Thank you Bleirer, I am taking notes and it looks like I will be installing Lightroom Classic to my computer.

bleirer

You won't regret it. Soon you will shooting raw and finding situations where Photoshop is the right tool for the job. But wait, just right click to edit in Photoshop, and when you save in Photoshop the edited image is in your Lightroom catalog.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Lightroom works just fine on jpegs, without limitation. If you shoot RAW, you'll have greater dynamic range, and hence expanded ability to correct over and under-exposure. As others have noted, its greatest strength is the tools it brings to organize your photos. Finally, don't forget that for the subscription price, you also get full-strength Adobe Photoshop.

BebuLamar

I use PS because I hate the cataloging feature of Lightroom (I do know it's the reason why many use Lightroom) but I rarely do any editing of my images. My need is mostly the ACR. I make adjustments to almost all of my images via the RAW converter.

capt2575 Loc: New York City

To All UHH responders, thank you very much. I am almost ready to notify Adobe to start my subscription. Just 2 more questions.
1. How many computers can I impute Lightroom Classic on?
2. Is the learning curve steep?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You can install on at least 2 computers, such as your full-power laptop and full-power desktop.

The learning curve depends on how much getting-started training you take. Watch a min 20-minutes of 'getting started' videos and save yourself hours of frustration. LR has a different paradigm. Many of your 'best practices' for computer software go out the window, such as save often. You don't save anything, explicitly, in LR. It doesn't even have a 'save' command, nor a 'save as'. A lot people have spent years developing a very content-rich folder structure. All that becomes unnecessary when you have a query database fully loaded with EXIF data of every image and all your user-defined keywords that are instantaneously searchable.

Another place many people struggle is they start by ingesting their entire legacy portfolio of images. A better approach is to start small with only new work, for the next 6-weeks or 6-months, until you 'see' how it works. Once things start to click in your mind, you'll better understand how to bring-in your legacy portfolio in an efficient and do-it-right-the-first-time approach.

Final tip: LR is non destructive. Everything can be undone. Even starting over from scratch with a new and empty LR catalog. Yes, you can lose work, such as mistakenly deleting the underlying and original image files, but even then, the files are moved to the recycle bin. But, for the most part, every keystroke and action is recorded key by key inside the LR database at a 'layer' completely separate and isolated from your image files. So, you don't have to 'save' periodically as every key is recognized by LR and stored by LR immediately.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

capt2575,

1. It is kind of odd. You can install Lightroom on as many computers as you want, have two "logged in" and contractual promise to only use one at a time. More important is that the benefits of cataloging your system require you pick where you want your catalog to be. It can, in some circumstances, be on a portable drive you move from computer to computer.

2. If we could break quarantine and I could sit next to you, you would be "developing" your JPEGs in a half hour or less. You will never quit learning full function editing programs because there are tools you don't need until you need them. There are also new tools always coming in the pipeline from Adobe.

I always balk at the "steep learning curve" theory. Learning is a fun adventure. The more learning the better. If there was so little involved that you could "master" the whole thing in a day, it would be a very weak program.

Take the free trial. Don't buy until YOU like it.

capt2575 Loc: New York City

To all the UHH family you have been a great help in my decision to try Lightroom Classic. Hopefully this new project won't be too hard. Will share with all of you any questions and concerns that I encounter.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

As far as learning LR is concerned, I would categorize it as moderate. But, that depends on how deep you want to go. How many of us are masters of all features of Excel, or Word? We learn enough to satisfy our requirements. Photoshop, which you'd also get with the same subscription, is another cat entirely. It's a much more challenging program. Start with LR, not Photoshop.

bleirer

The main thing people confuse is that the LR catalog and your picture files are two different things. Lightroom links to the folder where your pics are, but the catalog is just a 'recipe' for the changes, not the pictures themselves. That's why you can hit reset and start over if you want. Once you 'get it' it starts to make sense.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Amen! PS has been developed for over three decades. LR is about half that old. Complexity increases with age...

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The catalog.

Photoshop has the same raw converter in the form of ACR. If you just shoot jpeg, you may be missing out on the full potential of your camera.

If you don't want the benefit of a catalog, then Photoshop is all you need. You even have a Camera Raw filter that duplicates the ACR INSIDE of Photoshop so you can have a parametric-style editing experience.

I do a lot of wildlife (action) and used to do Equine Hunter-Jumper competitions, college LaCrosse, skiing competition, and the occasional shoot at Lime Rock Park - a sports car race track where NY, CT and MA kinda share borders. I still only shot raw. The benefits of a raw workflow overshadow any perceived benefit of jpeg. The results speak for themselves. This is too long a topic, and it has been discussed to death here and on other forums, YouTube, numerous websites, etc.

From where I sit, there is no advantage to shooting jpeg-only, or jpeg+raw, and no practical disadvantage to shooting raw-only.

A quick story. Years ago I had a photographer friend who did lots of weddings. His second shooter was out of commission due to a medical procedure, and he asked if I could help him out. I offered to do a gig with him. He was a jpeg only shooter. He made me swear to shooting the gig in jpeg. I yes'd him to death, but shot it raw anyway. His "gimmick" was to shoot the ceremony, then set up a flat screen TV at the reception and display images from the ceremony. His concern came from a lack of experience with raw. In any case, in the 90 minutes between the end of the ceremony at the church, and the start of the reception, I did a quick review, cull and edit to the 400 or so images from the ceremony, and I handed him a memory stick with about 350 nice looking jpeg/proof images. All he had to show were unedited jpegs. When he took a look at what I gave him he decided not to show his images. His one comment was - "how did you get them to look so consistent?" The following day I answered his question. The majority of the images that were ordered were from the batch that I shot, including those shot at the reception. Raw editing is simple and quick, and there is no excuse to shoot jpeg when raw is possible.

Yes, there might be the argument that jpegs are instantly available. But there is really one question here, is it better to have a fast result or a good result? My clients always appreciated the quality of even my proofs, and loved the final images, mainly because they looked "finished" as opposed to something that might have just as easily come out of a point and shoot or a cellphone (boy am I going to get a lot of crap for that one ). Jpegs can be very good in certain situations - especially when you have 100% control over the lighting/contrast. But for all other situations, the better results that converted raw files offer is well worth it.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I can do a LOT with a jpeg in lightroom. A LOT. Do it everyday for years.

tcthome Loc: NJ

e (boy am I going to get a lot of crap for that one :

Haha! luv it.