Help with Statistics (Lightroom)

[smoke665]

@Ysare and @Derrel snapped several Christmas shots today, and decided to try some in LR. Won't say I'm converted but I did find some parts of it quicker than ACR/PS workflow. The file management part still seems confusing, but I was able to learn enough about it that I think I need to explore it in more detail.

 

[JonA_CT]

@Ysare and @Derrel snapped several Christmas shots today, and decided to try some in LR. Won't say I'm converted but I did find some parts of it quicker than ACR/PS workflow. The file management part still seems confusing, but I was able to learn enough about it that I think I need to explore it in more detail.

Scott Kelby explains the file management well, imo. I read his book on LR, and it definitely got me started in the right direction. Youtube and specific help from here have continued that progression.

 

[Derrel]

Yes Lightroom can be a little bit odd in the way it interfaces with the photographer. Once in the development rule one of the best techniques is to create a virtual copy every time you undertake a major change. The best part of a parametric editing program like Lightroom is that each virtual copy is just a small set of instructions and not a huge 168 megabyte PSD or Tiff file.

For me the adjustment brush tool is one of the keys to light rooms efficiency and speed. I do not know what version of Lightroom you have-- mine is old, but for me the ability to use the adjustment brush to adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, Clarity, darkness, and to do burning in, dodging, Iris enhancement, and skin softening and teeth whitening with a very fast,easy-to-use adjustment brush,well that's just remarkable to me.

 

[smoke665]

I do not know what version of Lightroom you have

On the monthly plan so the latest and greatest. Really doesn't make sense to not use all the tools I'm paying for.

 

[Desert Rose]

Lr is ok but is no where near the best or most powerful editing software out there but because it is so cheap it's pretty popular among people not spending a lot on photography like hobbyists and amateurs. But I doubt it's number one with professionals making over 6 figures a year in the business.

 

[JacaRanda]

The file management capabilities are seemingly endless. The editing keeps getting better and more useful even since I started dabbling with photography 5 years ago.

Lightroom is the reason I haven't learned PS well.


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[smoke665]

@JacaRanda the one thing I've learned in PS is that there's more than one way to make an adjustment and like that flexibility each module likely holds advantages for different tasks.

 

[Derrel]

Not sure if you are "into" the use of Lightroom Presets yet: they can be used as-is, or modified, and also saved and named by their user/creator/borrower. Lightroom Presets are fantastic tools, and can be created on-the-spot, for a specific type of shot, and can easily be saved, and then pasted-on, to entire series' worth of photos, if needed. There are many Lightroom presets for sale, from well-known shooters who specialize in portraiture,weddings, landscapes, etc.

Lindsay Adler has a nice, short video on how to create/modify, and then save and name one's very own Lightroom Preset. Once you "get into" the idea that a well-chosen preset can save huge amounts of time, and can actually improve certain types of photos on a consistent basis, it becomes a massive time-saver AND an artistic improvement.

A Lightroom preset offers the option for the user to simply "Scroll Down the List" on the left, and to literally SEE/preview the effects of various presets on the image being worked on. The B&W color filter effects that come with Lightroom are very,very good. Former Lightroom guru Matt K (spelling on K is multi, silent-syllable type name) used to offer a large set of his pre-sets, about 15 of which I find indispensable. He had some great vignettes, and some nice "color effects" that people actually LIKE. Again, the user can custom-modify ANY preset!!!

You can also select on, and then modify it: you can save that, or just copy it to the clipboard, and "paste it on". A preset is not locked-in: it can be modified, then saved, or just copied and pasted, and then discarded.

Watch Lindsay Adler's video on how to create a custom preset. Once you have tried LR presets, and saved or borrowed or bought a few, you will begin to understand how much space, time, and disk space parametric editing saves.

 

[crimbo2047]

Hmm Industry Standard ... How about Capture One ?

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[Ysarex]

Hmm Industry Standard ... How about Capture One ?

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I originally said most used which is subtly different than industry standard. In any case go to Amazon and search the Books department first with "Lightroom" and then with "Capture One Pro" and if you still think Capture One is the industry's most used Pro-processing software rather than LR then I think you're way out further than left field. And let's not take this into which you think may be better or not -- that wasn't the question.

Joe

 

[crimbo2047]

Interesting Sampling method ... okay someone else said Industry Standard ...

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[smoke665]

Not sure if you are "into" the use of Lightroom Presets yet:

I have a working library of LR Presets, from free to paid and custom created. I have tried to learn LR this past year, and from an editing standpoint, feel comfortable enough to use it.

With that said, I find adjustments created in PS with Actions equally workable, (I also have a library of PS Actions, free, paid and custom). All of the adjustments you talk of in the LR adjustment brush, from exposure to teeth whitening are also available in PS as a layer adjustment or Action with the added advantage of selectivity of masking. Part of the reason I'm more comfortable in PS may be the fact that Adjustments/Actions create editable layers with the ability to not only modify those layer but turn off the view of a layer to fine tune other layers. PS allows me to compartmentalize editing (which makes it less confusing for me), if that makes sense, rather than using the sliders in LR.

I will admit the ability to sync settings across multiple images is a lot slicker in LR than in PS, and the files in PS can become monstrous but the file management "collections" aspect still confuses me. I'm sure your experience both length of time, and from a production standpoint is far superior to mine so I'm remaining open minded, as I delve into LR more.

 

[Ysarex]

Interesting Sampling method ... okay someone else said Industry Standard ...

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For what it's worth, Capture One is my go to raw converter and has been for many years. I use it daily for most of my work. But I'm not blind to the behavior I see around me. LR is so popular that it's nearly reached the same stage as MS Word where everyone just assumes you can send someone a .docx file and if they can't read it something must be wrong with them. Nearly the same thing now with LR presets.

Joe

 

[crimbo2047]

Do not disagree

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[Derrel]

With the shift to shooting on digital we now tend to have large numbers of photos that need to be edited. We are no longer working from one, single film slide or film roll that was scanned and brought into our computers and which we now need to edit.

The simple fact is that the new Lightroom has noise reduction, skin smoothing,cloning, and sharpening, as well as burning and dodging capabilities, built into one simple handy tool that is much much faster to use than the old fashioned tool set Photoshop originally used to address all these common issues.

It is no longer the year 1999. Lightroom has far surpassed Photoshop in terms of common, widespread, everyday use among the entire industry of people involved in photography. Capture One? Maybe one in a thousand use it. Photoshop? It's lost its position. Adobe created Lightroom as a way to handle the increased volume of images that all-digital shooting has brought. The vast majority of Adobe customers need speed and ease-of-use and efficiency. And that is what they get when they use Lightroom.