Don't tell Photoshop, but I am in love with Adobe Lightroom2. It's beautiful, it's easy, it's.. it's just awesome. Lightroom is the brainchild Mark Hamburg's "Shadowland" project. Unlike past Adobe image processing programs such as Photoshop, Lightroom focuses on RAW processing and a very user-interactive interface.
Adobe Lightroom 2 Interface. Thumbnails on the bottom,editing controls on the right, navigator on the left.
Lightroom's beautiful interface is what got me to consider using it, but using it is what I fell in love with. What makes Lightroom so interactive is how adjustments can be made directly on the image rather than just through drag bars on seperate panels. This makes adjustments like white balance, tonal curves, and dodge/burn more than just trial and error. The user can directly adjust the image and see results as adjustments are being made. Its like putting paint on canvas, except better; the paint can be taken clean off if need be. Adobe Lightroom 2 is a non-destructive image processing program, meaning that adjustments don't directly alter the original image file. Anything can be undone because the original integrity of the image is left unaltered. So go crazy! Experiment with adjustments without worrying about damaging the original image.
Anyway, lets get back to some of Lightroom's direct adjustment features.
White Balance:
White Balance is EASY! I didn't think that I could ever say that, but Lightroom's "eye drop" white balance feature makes it possible. To adjust white balance you simply grab the white balance eye drop tool and drag it over the image. The eye drop tool then turns into gridded loupe which allows you to pick a neutral point from the image to base the white balance on. Okay, but how do you know which point is neutral? Well you actually don't really even need to know; with Lightroom's real time preview panel you can see exactly what the image will look like if you were to select a particular point.
Curves:
The Tonal Curve tool has always been a powerful tool in the Adobe Photoshop series. It allows for very selective tonal adjustments, and Lightroom's take on the curves function makes it even more selective. Lightroom's curve function features a selective tonal cursor. With it, you simply click a specific point on an image and adjust. Sky blown out? Simply click a point on the sky, and adjust that specific tonal range. For me personally, this new feature has made accurate skin tones a lot easier to achieve.
Brushes:
Lightroom's brush tool is extremely versatile. It can be used to adjust everything from exposure, brightness, clarity, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. Along with the brush tool's versatility, it is also easily adjustable, even after the brush has been set. Simply click the brush point and drag left or right to adjust the amount of effect. The brushed regions can easily be seen with a red highlight.
After using Lightroom, I no longer use Photoshop CS3's RAW processing feature. Lightroom's easy and interactive interface has made it easier for me to produce the final product that I had in mind. I would recommend it to anyone who primarily shoots RAW format. It is available through Adobe's website for $299, and a free trial is available for download.
Link to Adobe Lightroom Website
Anyway, lets get back to some of Lightroom's direct adjustment features.
White Balance:
White Balance is EASY! I didn't think that I could ever say that, but Lightroom's "eye drop" white balance feature makes it possible. To adjust white balance you simply grab the white balance eye drop tool and drag it over the image. The eye drop tool then turns into gridded loupe which allows you to pick a neutral point from the image to base the white balance on. Okay, but how do you know which point is neutral? Well you actually don't really even need to know; with Lightroom's real time preview panel you can see exactly what the image will look like if you were to select a particular point.
Curves:
The Tonal Curve tool has always been a powerful tool in the Adobe Photoshop series. It allows for very selective tonal adjustments, and Lightroom's take on the curves function makes it even more selective. Lightroom's curve function features a selective tonal cursor. With it, you simply click a specific point on an image and adjust. Sky blown out? Simply click a point on the sky, and adjust that specific tonal range. For me personally, this new feature has made accurate skin tones a lot easier to achieve.
Brushes:
Lightroom's brush tool is extremely versatile. It can be used to adjust everything from exposure, brightness, clarity, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. Along with the brush tool's versatility, it is also easily adjustable, even after the brush has been set. Simply click the brush point and drag left or right to adjust the amount of effect. The brushed regions can easily be seen with a red highlight. After using Lightroom, I no longer use Photoshop CS3's RAW processing feature. Lightroom's easy and interactive interface has made it easier for me to produce the final product that I had in mind. I would recommend it to anyone who primarily shoots RAW format. It is available through Adobe's website for $299, and a free trial is available for download.
Link to Adobe Lightroom Website
No comments:
Post a Comment