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Adobe
Photoshop Lightroom 2 Your
next photo software buy by
Bob Singer If
you’ve been following our writings and recommendations on a regular basis over
the last decade or so, you know by now that we don’t rush into reviews based
on vendor press releases or early use of premature beta software. We wait for
and work with the real thing, the package’s commercial release. And we work
with it pretty thoroughly before we give it our blessing or kiss of...well, you
know what. The result is a review
that our regular readers have learned to trust. Once
in a very great while, we encounter a software package with the potential to
create a “sea change” in its marketplace. When that happens, we want to be
as sure as possible that what we perceive is more than an illusion.
Market-changing software packages have appeared only rarely during the many
years we’ve evaluated software. With Adobe’s release of Photoshop Lightroom
2 -- the second edition of their workflow-speeding, multifunctional digital
asset manager (DAM) and digital darkroom software – Adobe has introduced a
product with the real potential of displacing Photoshop as the most preferred
and most used digital darkroom software package across the spectrum of
enthusiast and professional photographers. They will have fomented another
“sea change” in photography. Photoshop
Lightroom 2 has gathered lots of steam among many amateur and professional
photographers whose work and knowledge have earned my respect. There was no way
to ignore their unbridled enthusiasm over a well executed software program
written from the ground up specifically for photographers. A
program like Photoshop Lightroom 2 won’t displace Photoshop as my choice for
an editor capable of helping me create my more whimsical photographic fine art
images. But, when my work falls into the realm of more traditional photography,
especially with a time-critical project…well, that’s a different story.
Without holding out on my verdict about the value and capabilities of Adobe’s
latest Photoshop Lightroom version to the very end of this review, I’ll tell
you right now that I give it a solid 4½ stars out of 5 and do so without
hesitation. If you’re serious about your digital photography, don’t think
about it buying it. Buy it! I’ve
said that my transformation in rethinking my workflow began with hearing the
unbridled enthusiasm of not some, but many of my photographer friends. Their
enthusiasm captured my attention. I
became intrigued. Anna M., a professional photographer, can’t speak more highly of
Photoshop Lightroom 2 and the major role it plays in her studio. Photoshop
Lightroom 2 helps speed her digital darkroom workflow and quickly deliver the
order. She loves its tight integration with Photoshop.
I
was asked to shoot the off-Broadway performance and cast of 1776
when they opened on Since
Adobe had added some significant new tools to refine Photoshop Lightroom 2 and
speed a digital photographer’s workflow, I decided use it as my primary
assignment software. Adobe’s improvements are significant. For instance, in
Adobe’s original version of Lightroom, you had to make local adjustments
(versus global adjustments) to your picture in Photoshop. If you were working in
the original Lightroom, this required you to export, change and re-import your
image file. Now, though, you can nondestructively
apply a local adjustment brush to burn, dodge, sharpen and make other
modifications without ever leaving Photoshop Lightroom 2. Not
only does that hugely enhance processing speed, but also lets you go back to
just about any previous editing point in an image and pick up from there. While
this can greatly reduce the need for switching between the two programs,
Photoshop Lightroom 2 easily integrates with Photoshop CS3 and CS4 to still let
you easily do more complex editing. I
had to leave town for a few days after the shoot before I could process the
results. When my return was delayed,
I faced a shortened window of just two days left to deliver selected, edited,
retouched cast shots and a digital album of the show. In the past, this would
have taken me four or five days, but using Photoshop Lightroom 2 as my DAM and
light table, I flew through image selection easily and finished the entire
project – including production of the digital album -- within a day! Client
delivery was right on schedule. That kind of software performance “under
fire” makes you a convert quickly.
Photoshop
Lightroom 2 is divided into four main modules that appear as tabs on the top
right of the workspace. Each module or tab represents an important step in
managing, editing (processing), printing and distributing your digital image
files. The four modules are, in sequence, LIBRARY, DEVELOP, PRINT and WEB.
Clicking on each one of these tabs brings up a different workspace with the
appropriate tools and functions for that module. You can move freely back and
forth between the modules as needed.
·
Create virtual copies of photos to
save hard-disk space
Among easy-to-use editing slider
controls like these (inset over the Photoshop Lightroom 2 DEVELOP module’s
screen above), you’ll find new and enhanced editing functions and features
that let you…
·
Retrace your editing steps to
return to any version of a photo ·
Photoshop
Lightroom 2 won’t displace Photoshop as my advanced image editor when I create
many of my fine art images. But, I’ve moved it to the forefront in my digital
studio for editing traditional images, especially in time-critical professional
assignments and projects. Its ease of use, stability, professional output
quality, excellent integration with Photoshop and its significant impact in
speeding my workflow, Photoshop Lightroom 2 earns my very solid rating of 4½
stars out of 5. If you’re a serious photographer, it belongs in your digital
darkroom and I strongly suggest that you buy it. Adobe
Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available as a free trial, as a new full software
package for US $299 (MSRP) or as an upgrade to Adobe’s original Lightroom
(Version 1) from US $99.99. recommended minimum
requirements
in
addition, for Windows systems:
in
addition, for Mac systems:
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