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Posted on 11/04/20 12:11:30 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5554 Reply  |
Struggling With Lightroom
I have Lightroom as part of my Adobe Photographers subscription. I have never managed on my own to get to grips with it. So I decided to take advantage of Adobe's COVID discounts and get their classroom in a book lessons for it. Now with help from the lessons I can come to grips with it .... sort of. Frankly, although I can manage it now, I find it unfriendly, un-instinctive and over complicated. I am far too frightened of making a mistake or just generally getting confused to want to actually use it. In addition to which I don't need or want any of its correction tools as I am quite happy to do that in Photoshop itself. I just want to catalogue. Now I admit that this is rather wimpish of me but I have far too many other things I would like to do rather than struggle with something that profoundly irritates me and quite honestly saps my confidence. So can anyone recommend a simple DAM that will help me do basic organising and cataloguing without all the unneeded bells and whistles? Or am I better off as I am now with a reasonably well organised file system? _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 29/04/20 7:50:08 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 6994 Reply  |
Re: Struggling With Lightroom
Bridge? |
Posted on 29/04/20 8:21:50 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5554 Reply |
Re: Struggling With Lightroom
Yes. That's exactly what I do now with a relatively well organised (well I like to think so) file system. But, you know, one always wonders if there's something better waiting round the corner? It may be very wimpish but I found Lightroom really intimidating ......  _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 01/05/20 04:58:40 AM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply  |
Re: Struggling With Lightroom
I do love using Lightroom for its catalogue, I do some minor editing in it. About a year ago, Adobe wanted to nearly double my subscription fee for PS and Lightroom, I tried a lot of other programs. I do my main editing in Skylum's Luminar these days, but their catalogue leaves a lot to be desired. I couldn't find anything to match what I could do with Lightroom and PS. There was always something missing. I finally solved my problem by cancelling my subscription and take out a new one. _________________ Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. |
Posted on 16/05/20 08:36:11 AM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply  |
Re: Struggling With Lightroom
Have to say I'm surprised David, particularly from a talented man with such technical expertise. The beauty of Lightroom is the speed with which you can process images, make virtual copies instantly and all without affecting the original file. Have to say I've never bothered with the catalogue, because I prefer to use my own filing system, which also has benefits when not using Lightroom. So, let's suppose I go out for the day to photograph an air show. Many unusable images will have been deleted at the time, so I return home with just the 'hopefuls' on the CF card. These are then copied into a new folder called say 'Duxford 16 may 2020'. I then open up Lightroom and import from the chosen folder and the name of that folder will appear in the list on the left. All digital images need some sharpening and lens correction, so I select the first file and make the necessary adjustments. Once happy with the result, select Copy and then Shift click the final image in the thumbnails at the bottom. Select Sync and hey presto all the images are applied with the same recipe instantly. I then go through each one making individual adjustments, i.e. exposure, highlights / whites / blacks etc. If a number of images are similar, then copy the first, click on the second and select paste, or use Sync as mentioned previously. "I am far too frightened of making a mistake" As said, the original RAW is not touched because Lightroom merely makes its own numerical adjustments, which is what you see on screen. If you don't like what you've done, then simply click in the step before the error in the history panel and Lightroom will take you back. That step becomes the new starting point. You can do this with any step in the process. Clearly, Lightroom doesn't have the fancy editing ability of PS CC, so once the basic editing has been undertaken, go to Photo / edit in and select PS CC. The image with all changes made will open up in PS and any changes you make there will not affect the Lightroom version I could go on for hours about virtual copies etc, but all I would say is persevere with it, watch online tutorials and in three months you'll wonder how you ever managed without it. I'm sure Vibeke will agree. |
Posted on 16/05/20 12:46:13 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5554 Reply |
Re: Struggling With Lightroom
Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed reply Nick. The thing is that all the advantages of Lightroom for you are of no interest to me. I don't want or need its correction tools. I can do all that in my sleep in Photoshop. I really have no motivation to learn a new set of tools simply to re-invent a wheel which I already have and which rolls perfectly. What I DO want is a simple accessible way of cataloguing and organising. At the moment I use Bridge and a well organised disciplined file system. I wondered if there was an easier or better way. I looked at Lightroom in the hopes that it might make a good DAM, even though I don't need its adjustment tools. In this particular respect I find it a complete overkill. It does everything I don't need and complicates the very little I do need to a point that I find completely enervating and unhelpful. So, for now I'm sticking with Bridge. But I'd still like something really simple to help. Thanks again Nick for replying at length. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 16/05/20 2:28:24 PM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply |
Re: Struggling With Lightroom
I quite understand David and I have to agree that I've never really explored the catalogue system, for the very reasons you state. I use an alphabetical file system based on subject. So, for example, if I was photographing animals for many different owners, my main folder would be Animals and then sub folders would be say: - Mrs Jones cat and date - Mr Smiths dog and date etc The editing tools in Lightroom are virtually the same as in Camera RAW ( I never shoot Jpeg) and I seem to recall that you can copy and paste settings, or use last conversion, but personally I prefer the efficiency of Lightroom when dealing with a large number of files. I've shot numerous weddings for friends and colleagues and LR was invaluable for this, particularly when you come to export files to drive without having to save each one individually. I also like the one to five star rating system. I usually star the 'keepers' with a five and you can tell LR to show just those. Of course the other images are still there and you can rate the 'also rans' with say a three, if you want to review these for re-consideration. In all these things it's horses for courses and one must adopt the approach which suits their needs best. With my simple filing system I know exactly where to look and I too cannot be bothered to learn complicated new tricks at my age. Good luck in your endeavours. Nick |
Posted on 16/05/20 6:15:30 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5554 Reply |
Re: Struggling With Lightroom
Yes well strangely we are very much on the same page.
Yes. Pretty much exactly what I do.
I do very little 'stand alone' photography per se. Most of my photography is not photographing complete images in their own right but photographing 'elements' destined for large composites. They are cut out and go into the composite as photographed and are then adjusted in place within the context of their new environment. I was raised with film, starting as a darkroom printer, which gave me a good understanding of negative, and then later shooting movie. Before the digital era the only adjustments available to a movie cameraman were overall print density and overall colour cast. That was it! No dodging or burning of selected areas, no softening with crumpled cellophane, no tilting enlarger baseboards to correct parallels. You lived with your original negative. There was no choice. You can't bracket exposures (no major actor is going to tolerate extra takes for that), you simply had to get it right in your negative. Not just technically in terms of a perfectly exposed negative but artistically in terms of exactly how you want the end result to look. In addition, you can't light and expose each shot on its own individual merit alone, you have to photograph consistently so the shots will edit together smoothly into a single scene. Re-shoots are not an option. (They happen in cases of disaster of course but, by then, have probably cost you the loss of the movie.) Such unforgiving principles and disciplines stick and when I take photographs for their own sake I aim to originate in the camera what I want to end up with. Not because I think it is better but simply because after years of being obliged to do this it becomes instinctive. I don't mean to ramble but the point of this history is that I do very little RAW manipulations and most of my post work is just final refinement on a few chosen images.
Snap!! ............. but there's always that sneaky little feeling that there's something I'm missing just around the corner ......... so I keep looking ........... _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |