Lightroom 4 AND Photoshop?

I sense there is some mistrust amongst people of programs that offer to 'catalogue' your photo collection, certainly those that perform theses functions automatically and seemingly at their own will. I've certainly had bad experiences when downloading something that on first running launches into a complete takeover of the computer and tries to find and catalogue every image it can find and refuses to stop until you kill the computer!

The ideal cataloging program would allow you to designate both specific folders (which it can 'watch', (or not)) as well as individual files that might be 'imported' from any directory. If this program is also an editor (like Lightroom) then it should be able to 'save out' to any alternative directory and folder as well. All of this should be able to be controlled entirely manually. Of course, Lightroom would surely provide all of this, I am confident of that.

I did not find the Elements Organiser this flexible, so I don't use it. The Elements Organiser and Lightroom catalogue are maintained via an internal database, so you need to be careful about the backup processes for these and ensure you have every file component required.

There are alternative and very flexible options - for example, I use imatch (photools.com) which uses a different system. It provides a database file entirely separate from the main program, which you can save and copy (backup) anywhere. This file has a unique extension and stores the thumbnails, all the metadata associated with each image as well as detailed user assigned categories for easy searching and organizing. You create each database uniquely, and each one has your own category assignments as you create - so you can create different databases for different workflows, say professional or personal for example.

It does.

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I think the point I was trying to make has been missed. I am happy to agree that Lightroom is good at what it does. If I'd have started out with it I probably would say the same. But having become familiar with Photoshop it is a very big learning curve to change to a different concept. I would add of course that my files are saved as raw and so can be reworked at a later date.

Lightroom is an attempt to merge a number of distict photo management, processing, manipulation and output functions. More traditionally these individual functions have been provided by entirely different products or sub-programs - eg Adobe Bridge (Organiser) / PS (Editor) / ACR Raw Converter) - Elements Organiser / Elements Editor / ACR, or completely different softwares, eg imatch (database manager / cataloger & organiser), PDCU (Pentax DSLR Specific RAW converter), Sagelight (Editor)
etc etc etc.

Whether you want to introduce a new database & image organiser system onto your computer and into your workflow really depends on how your images are already organised. If you can always find the shot your need, can search using various metadata criteria, launch your images efficiently into your editing programs and otherwise efficiently manage your workflow, then you wouldn't naturally consider Lightroom.

I started off with both PS and LR. Both are powerful programs. I have the intimidatingly long Martin Evening 'manuals' for both, but of course followed the male habit of plunging in and then looking up what I couldn't fathom out. LR, by this experience, is much the more intuitive of the two programs and I felt comfortable with it very quickly. PS, by contrast, has a more forbidding interface and I use it only when I have to -- ie on those occasions when I must make a substantive change to an image. I will need to read that manual some time, to unlock the full range of its versality; meanwhile LR (3.3) is pretty much the bees knees for me and keeps me (or rather my photos) organized, which is a minor triumph. I particularly appreciate the way it prevents me from messing up the original raw image

Aha! so it's not just me then

Agreed on Learning Curves, but on the plus side at least if your familiar with ACR in photoshop you'll have no problem with lightroom as it's develop module is almost exactly the same

Read both M Evening and S Kelby books and they both tell you how to import files from folders out side of lightroom but i can not find any reference on how to export them out again, just to photoshop for any work then they go back to lightroom.
CHEERS
Dave

So many people seem to think that Lightroom and Photoshop are the only programs worth bothering with. I find it very tedious that you have to import and export photos in Lightroom. I use ACDSee Pro 6 which has probably the best integration of database and editor of any program. It simply selects from the directories on your hard disk without any need to import. or export as it saves your finished work in its original directory. The RAW converter has exactly the same 'develop' process as for any other file format. Its editing process is however fairly basic and I export any photo which requires detailed, pixel level adjustments to PSE 11. It makes for a fairly smooth work flow.

Quick question.....how do people who don't use Lightroom get their photos on Flickr or Photobucket or whatever (if you do)?

Register then...Just upload them

Thanks, Stan.

I used to do it that old-fashioned way too!

In Lightroom you simply select your photos from your chosen directory(s) and Lightroom's import process adds those photos to it's database. If ACDSee Pro 6 uses a database then it's going to have to add ( Import ) those photos to it's database somehow. IOW it also imports the photos just like Lightroom.


In lightroom you can save ( export) your finished work in the original Directory just like you can with ACDSee Pro 6.

Same with lightroom. Exactly the same for RAWs or other formats.

In Lightroom it's easy to launch an external editor such as Photoshop, Photopaint, Nik Software Plugins and so for more detailed pixel work fronm with Lightroom itself. i.e save your work in those editors and your straight back to Lightroom. As Lightroom's editing isn't fairly basic there's actually less of a need to launch external editors.

Have you actually used Lightroom?

Sorry, Stan, my reply could be seen as being a bit flippant. It wasn't meant to be directed at you.

But for those people who find exporting a difficult process, Lightroom saves you all that trouble. Once you set up Flickr in Lightroom...and it takes 2 minutes.....then all you have to do is drag any photos you have editted and want to publish to Flickr into a collection and then click on Publish, and then Lightroom will create all the jpegs in the background and send them to Flickr. No need to create jpegs of your own before uploading them.

It seems to me, having looked back at this thread, that many of the problems people foresee in using Lightroom are complete misconceptions. I have found it easy to use, and have never read a book or manual, just learnt as I went on. I really don't see why some have such negative vibes on it.