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Post by Kath on Jan 17, 2023 14:08:26 GMT
I've never used Lightroom. I've never felt the need because I've always had Bridge and Photoshop and between those and the functionality of Camera Raw, Lightroom always felt like it was duplicating a lot. However, I am running a non-profit Photography Club and several members have asked to have a photo-editing series of talks...but they don't use Photoshop - just lightroom.
I have Lightroom as part of my Adobe package but I find it very un-intuitive and feel the need for some instruction. Any good 'how to' guides that you've come across?
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Post by MJB on Jan 17, 2023 14:12:02 GMT
I've always found YouTube good for tutorials on software use. That being said I'm one of those people who learns by doing (if that makes sense).
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Post by Kath on Jan 17, 2023 15:11:20 GMT
Yes, I'm the same and most of what I know about photoshop and premier pro came from YouTube tutorials but I seem to have fallen at the first hurdle with Lightroom - I'm clearly not wording my query very well but I cannot get my head around the library at all.
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Post by peterob on Jan 17, 2023 15:40:13 GMT
I've never used Lightroom. I've never felt the need because I've always had Bridge and Photoshop and between those and the functionality of Camera Raw, Lightroom always felt like it was duplicating a lot. However, I am running a non-profit Photography Club and several members have asked to have a photo-editing series of talks...but they don't use Photoshop - just lightroom. I have Lightroom as part of my Adobe package but I find it very un-intuitive and feel the need for some instruction. Any good 'how to' guides that you've come across? Editing is basically ACR. The interface to the tools looks a bit different but the functionality is identical. You don’t have to change in any way what you’d do in ACR just find where the tools are. I think the LR layout is more logical than in ACR but it is mostly just getting used to it. I occasionally use Bridge + ACR if I want to edit a file that I don’t want to import into the Lightroom catalogue - e.g. something I might have suggested an edit of for AP appraisal. Adding images is through the import dialogue. You can select a target folder or import direct from a device there are different options I use copy (from USB connected camera) and let LR create the destination folder - there are format options - I use the image taken date as the folder name. It can also convert files to DNG on import - or move files (deleting from the original location). In ACR and Bridge, once you have done editing you go back to Bridge to export the results and Bridge saves the export instructions for you to be re-used. For re-use in LR you make a publish collection which saves the export instructions. You then add the image to the collection (select photos, right click on collection name and choose add), open the collection and click publish. I have collections for saving to hard disk and for publishing directly to Flickr. Edit: thinking about it, if they all actually USE lightroom then they should be able to follow an ACR editing example. Once the tool is open it looks recognisably the same on the screen. I think the least clear case is inverting a mask, from memory the ACR invert token is differently placed. All the other edit panels are pretty similar. |
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Post by peterob on Jan 17, 2023 17:43:50 GMT
I'm clearly not wording my query very well but I cannot get my head around the library at all. The library is just a browser of the images in the catalogue. Keywords and ratings can be given and searches carried out on any searchable field. The scope of the library is all of the images that have been imported to lightroom. These can be from multiple sources and the source files don’t necessarily have to be online - Lightroom builds low resolution “previews”. Think of it as Bridge essentially. The catalogue remembers where the files are (the files stay in their original locations) and all the edit instructions associated with the image plus all the keywords etc. Very like Bridge in the beginners way that I use it, with it pointing to one single folder with just a few files in it. I assume Bridge also has a hidden database for remembering the edit instructions as I don’t deliberately save sidecar files. |
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Post by dorsetmike on Jan 17, 2023 19:49:55 GMT
I still use Picture Publisher, it does all I need, plus I don't need the hassle of a climbing a new learning curve at my age!
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Post by Chester PB on Jan 17, 2023 21:38:22 GMT
When I purchased my copy of Photoshop Elements 7 in 2009 I had never used photo editing software before, and invested in a copy of 'Photoshop Elements 7 for Dummies'. It helped me a lot with the initial 'learning curve', but it's now a very long time since I've referred to it. Amazon offers some Lightroom for Dummies books: www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=lightroom+for+dummies&i=stripbooks&crid=1INU1JM70V4SS&sprefix=lightroom+for+dummies%2Cstripbooks%2C68&ref=nb_sb_noss_1When AP gave a rave review to Lightroom 5, I made the mistake of buying it (I still have the disc and box), but abandoned it after a few very frustrating weeks trying to use it. Elements lets me click on a file and use the Windows 'open with' feature, which is ideal for me since I've already got my pictures in sensibly named folders and sub-folders. However, Lightroom wanted to take over my entire library of images, and opening a particular image was tedious because it had to be 'imported' into a Lightroom folder first. I don't know if current versions still work like this, but suspect they are even more complex. |
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Post by peterob on Jan 17, 2023 22:16:30 GMT
When AP gave a rave review to Lightroom 5, I made the mistake of buying it (I still have the disc and box), but abandoned it after a few very frustrating weeks trying to use it. Elements lets me click on a file and use the Windows 'open with' feature, which is ideal for me since I've already got my pictures in sensibly named folders and sub-folders. However, Lightroom wanted to take over my entire library of images, and opening a particular image was tedious because it had to be 'imported' into a Lightroom folder first. I don't know if current versions still work like this, but suspect they are even more complex. Lightroom is a data management tool (DAM) with a raw processor embedded. There is no question of it "taking over" the library of files. They are untouched. They need to be imported into the database to enable the organisation capability of the DAM - but what is imported is just information on the file locations, the filenames, meta data etc.. To this LR adds any edit instructions and keywords, ranking scores or other attributes you may wish to associate with the files. The editing features are not those of photoshop or of elements. In version 5 they basically covered curves/levels, spot removal, shadow/highlight recovery, application of graduated filter effects, white balance adjustment, mono-conversion as one of a number of colour balance options akin to the in-camera profiles. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2023 22:23:14 GMT
I have Lightroom as part of my Adobe package but I find it very un-intuitive and feel the need for some instruction. Any good 'how to' guides that you've come across? I am the opposite, I find PS very difficult but LR intuitive. I think it depends on how your brain works. I started to use LR because of its database but over time it’s editing capabilities have increased considerably. The Lightroom Queen forum is very good as are its FAQ books. Scott Kelby’s books are also good but soon become out of date. I find I can leave LR for months but pick it up very quickly. I cannot do the same with PS. |
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Post by nickr on Jan 17, 2023 23:23:19 GMT
Back when I first got a DSLR, I looked at various software for RAW conversion. I decided what I liked best was RawShooter Professional, having tried the free RawShooter Essentials. I bought that, and after a while, Adobe bought it and folded it into Lightroom. And gave me LR v1 free. And - well I liked it, it seemed completely intuitive because it was very much like how I worked with slide film, a lightbox and a loupe.
These days, I use it extensively for paid work - it's ideal for batch processing a day's conference shooting. The way I use it allows me to get 80-90% of shots processed to a good enough standard in the shortest amount of time, then I tend to work on the tougher shots in PS, because I've been using that for over 25 years now.
I use a similar workflow for personal stuff if there are lots of shots. For a handful, I go straight to PS.
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Post by peterob on Jan 18, 2023 7:09:51 GMT
I just realised that I should qualify that I use Lightroom Classic. The adobe photography plan includes licences for both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC as a web-based tool that runs across both desktop and mobile platforms and for which images themselves are stored “in the cloud”. I’ve not used the cloud version. Once upon a time it had less functionality than the “classic” - which is ACR and an extended Bridge in one package - but I understand it has been catching up. Nevertheless there maybe differences.
As a thought. I’ve not tried it but I’m fairly sure that if you edit an image in ACR and save a sidecar file then import it into Lightroom the edits should come too. You should then be able to step through the various tabs in the develop module and see the setting changes. This might help. Feel free to PM me if you have a question.
Like Nick I found LR quite intuitive. I came to it from the free Canon DPP software (DPP Version 3 -> LR 3 or 4) which, from an editing point of view had a very similar organisational layout. Both programs did fairly similar things and enabled batch processing so, as Nick said, if you had a day shooting under similar conditions you could do basic corrections to the first image, e.g in the early days dust removal, then apply to all images and tidy up on an image by image basis.
I never understood elements let alone photoshop other than for global corrections. Layers remain a mystery to me although now Lightroom Classic has more complex masking ability for local adjustments I better understand how layers work.
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Post by beatnik69 on Jan 18, 2023 9:19:13 GMT
As peterob said, it's very similar to ACR. Use the library for adding keywords and organising. In the develop module, I usually tick the lens correction box first and I have sharpening set to zero. I'll work down, cropping first and cloning out any dust bunnies etc. Then I'll work through exposure, contrast etc and finish with a vignette.
Check out this channel in YouTube
and also look for Julianne Kost. There aren't many who know more about LR than she.
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Post by skyehammer on Jan 28, 2023 16:55:00 GMT
Kath - I've tried a few online tutorials and the very best one in my opinion is a chap called Anthony Morganti - he used to be anthonymorganti.com but now goes by the name of Mr Photographer or some such name - I'll try to find a link - He does CS6 , CC , Darktable , Capture One , anything you can name more or less he gives you a free tutorial in it - that's where I earnt Lightroom and a bit of CS6 . Ok , just found it , he calls himself I Am Mr Photographer . com - here's a link iammrphotographer.com/# www.youtube.com/user/anthonymorganti In my opinion the best tutor out there and it's free . |
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Post by pixelpuffin on Jan 28, 2023 20:43:11 GMT
Lightroom…😳
I think my laptop would melt !!
I make do with the built in photo editing on Win10 as I only shoot jpegs
I dislike being stuck in front of the computer. Think I’m just getting old 😂
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Post by geoffr on Jan 29, 2023 10:44:39 GMT
Lightroom…😳 I think my laptop would melt !! I make do with the built in photo editing on Win10 as I only shoot jpegs I dislike being stuck in front of the computer. Think I’m just getting old 😂 I'm sure my MacBook Pro could cope but I don't want Lightroom or, more accurately, I don't want to pay for it. I don't use, or want, Photoshop either, Nikon's software does enough for what I want.
Having said that the only way to learn a piece of software is to use it and YouTube tutorials are one way of getting started. Some software companies actually make their own videos instead of providing manuals, renewedvision certainly do it that way.
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