The purpose of this post is to convert you to Lightroom. In no means does it even come close to illustrating all the possibilities of Lightroom, but highlights a few of the key elements. I could easily list off 50 reasons why Lightroom is amazing, but to explain everything to you in one post is way too much.
Let's talk to PC users first. I'm guessing most of you have your images into the Pictures library, and stuff is all over the place. It's not pretty, the disaster has come to a point where its not even worth trying to organize. You can generally find what you need after a few minutes of searching, and it does the job - or so you tell yourself.
Problems with Pictures Library:
-Looking through RAW files takes ages, because thumbnails take forever to load, if they ever do load.
-You can't easily tell if a RAW photo is good without opening it in another program that supports the file type, which takes forever.
-Admit it, your Pictures library is really messy, with pictures of everything from your cousin's wedding to that awesome sunset two days ago, and studio project pictures from the last three weeks (which are conveniently located in five different folders, for no logical reason).
It's not a good situation. The time you are wasting searching for photos would be much better spent perfecting your pinkyplate lettering.
Mac users - luckily for you, iPhoto is on the right track, but its definitely not there yet.
Problems with iPhoto:
-iPhoto uses custom databases which makes backing up pictures very difficult. You basically have to select pictures one by one to export to a backup. Not good when we're supposed to document everything.
-There is no easy way to transfer your photo library to a non-Mac computer in case your laptop crashes.
-iPhoto has basic editing options, but let's be honest guys, its like you're shooting is P mode on your camera, and its really not what you want to be doing, even if you can click one button and "enhance" your photo (whatever that actually means). Guess what - your 14 year old neighbor does the same thing to her bathroom mirror selfies, and it looks greaaaat.
Now, if you are a bit more technologically advanced, you Mac users may have heard of this thing called Aperture. If, after reading this article, you still refuse to believe that Lightroom is an absolute necessity, at least upgrade to Aperture. Its basically iPhoto on steroids, which, while steroids are illegal in professional sports, the average person can buy them on the black market use them at his or her own risk. Basically - if you want to do professional work, Aperture won't be acceptable, but if you want to be an amateur, go for it, but you probably don't want to brag about it.
Let me now tell you how Lightroom fixes all of the above problems, and it opens a new world to things you never even dreamed about.
Lightroom has six modules - that means 90% of anything you need to do with your images can happen in one program.
Library module: This is your database, where you sort through your pictures. You will most likely be spending most of your time here. Generally your photos will be in folders according to date. There are Collections where you can drag and drop photos if you need to sort them by something other than by date (I have subject collections - one for each studio project, ones for projects from other classes, one for personal photos, etc). You can easily rate your photos in three ways: a system of 1-5 stars, color coding (7 colors to choose from), or by a simple "pick" or "reject" system. You can also easily export, or publish, to different places (ie hard drive for backup, Facebook, Flickr, etc). There's tons more you can do in this module (keywording, metadata, etc), but we'll go into that in another post.
Develop module: This is your Photoshop, but in some ways, its better than Photoshop. Along the bottom, you have a filmstrip of images to choose from. On the left are some presets (quick filters, vignettes, etc), and your photo editing history (which never goes away like it does in Photoshop). On the right are your basic editing options. Things that you will do frequently here: cropping, basic spot removal, white balance correction (seriously, how many of us actually remember to custom set our white balance every time), basic exposure correction, vibrance/saturation... there's tons of quick editing options here. The best part of editing in Lightroom is everything you do is non-destructive. This is really important. More details of the develop module will come in another post.
Map module: Landscape designers - this is going to be your BESTEST FRIEND EVER. Step one - turn on the GPS option of your camera. If your camera doesn't have GPS option, you can manually put in GSP coordinates, or you can import a track log from a GPS device. Basically, you can see where your pictures were taken on a Google map. That's basically all you need to know right now.
Book module: This is fun to play around with, but it's a new module and still has a lot of problems. You can try making your portfolio in this module, but I would suggest sticking with InDesign for now.
Slideshow module: Another super important aspect of Lightroom to know about. Imagine having slideshow capabilities built into the same program that handles all your other picture needs. Yeah yeah, iPhoto and stuff has slideshows too, but I think we've all learned the hard way that it doesn't perform well under pressure (ie studio crits, and for some reason it won't do what we want it to!). Lightroom will produce super professional slideshows that always work, that you can export. All the capabilities are available: complete creative control on borders, layouts, backdrops, overlays, titles, etc as well as ability to play soundtracks.
Print module: I'm guessing you won't be using this too often, but its great for if you want to print from your printer at home. It deals with things like margins, watermarks, resolution, color management, etc.
Web module: Again, I'm going to say that most of you won't even go into this module ever. However, for those of you who are tech savy and make websites and things - this will make you happy. You can create image galleries on your website directly out of Lightroom. This makes it really easy to changes images in your online galleries, and it does all the annoying stuff, like programming, for you. I know a lot of professional photographers that use this option because it allows them to easily add fresh and new content to their websites at ludicrous speed.
The jist of this: if you don't use Lightroom, you're wrong. Bump it to the top of your Christmas list if you don't have it yet, of all the things Santa could bring you this year, Lightroom is guaranteed to be one of the most valuable and life-changing.
Questions? Let me know! I plan on writing more in-depth posts on various aspects of Adobe programs (specifically Lightroom and Photoshop) in the future.
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