Review - Adobe Lightroom beta

[Andy]

Review – Adobe Lightroom beta - January 9, 2006

Today, Adobe announced Adobe® Lightroom™ beta. Adobe hopes this product “will be the complete, elegant environment for the art and craft of digital photography, from raw capture to creative output.”

I’ve had the opportunity to work with Lightroom for the past several days. Will it? Let’s find out.

Adobe hopes this will be what pros and serious amateurs have been waiting for – an application that will allow them to easily sort, cull, rate, keyword, caption, show, print and edit large volumes of photos. What’s that you say? You already have that with CS2 and Bridge? For some folks, this application will replace them – for others, it will augment – used as the first step in the post-processing workflow.

Photoshop will still be required for detailed image editing. However, Lightroom is a great tool for many photographers – who quickly want to review a shoot, rate, keyword and make image edits – singly or as a batch – from simple white balance to complex color and exposure adjustments.

First and foremost, this is beta software – something which Adobe hasn’t really done much of, this public beta thing. This product is not yet “feature complete” which means that Adobe will continue to fine tune it, and improve it based on beta user feedback.

INSTALLATION – couldn’t be easier. Drag Lightroom to your Applications folder and click on the Lightroom icon to launch. Currently, Lightroom is Mac only, but Adobe intends to have both Mac and PC versions available. The system requirements are not overwhelming: G4 or G5 processor (PowerBooks are OK!), Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher, 512Mb RAM (more is better) and 1Gb of disk space. Adobe states that the final shipping version of Lightroom will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, as well as PCs.

STARTUP – fast. You’ll get a splash screen, which Adobe hopes you’ll read – and you probably will, even though reading is hard – it’s called “Five Rules.” Lightroom’s interface is very intuitive though, so you can blow this off for later, if you wish. You will want to come back to it, to quickly learn the few keystroke commands that you’ll find yourself using all the time.


IMPORT – The very first thing I did was simply to drag and drop a folder into the Lightroom area – hoping it would work! Adobe didn’t disappoint, this is, in fact, a very easy way to import files into Lightroom. You can, of course, use the familiar menu bar at the top of your screen, or the nicely-positioned “Import” button in the Lightroom app itself. File formats? Plenty. Over 100 native camera RAW formats, plut TIFF, DNG, and JPG.


Above, the main view when you startup Lightroom, and import some photos into the "Library." On your left, menus that you easily show/hide by clicking on the menu titles. Search, Browse (by shoot, collections, or keywords), Keywords, Options (to set how much info is displayed on-screen for you). On your right, a larger thumbnail view of the selected photo, RGB histogram, and some "quick develop" settings (apply a preset, white balance, adjust basic exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation). You can also go right from here to "Develop." On the bottom of your screen is a filmstrip of the photos in your current library. You can easily adjust the size of this filmstrip (bottom right) and also show/hide it with by moving your cursor to bottom of the screen.

Lightroom is setup with four main functional areas, to closely mimic what photographers need to do in their workflow:

Library (review the shots); Develop (fine tune exposure, white balance, color, and more); Slideshow (see your proofs, show off to clients); Print (contact sheets or final output)

LIBRARY

There are very easy to use tools now, to work on images singly or as a batch. You can rate the photos, either by hitting a number key 1-5 or by clicking on the ratings dots beneath the thumbnail. Once rated, you can then easily adjust your view of the shoot by ratings: only the 4 and 5 star photos, for example. Keywords? Easy – type them in the box. Once they are there, easily apply them to multiple images or the whole library.

Adding captions is a simple task. Ditto for copyright info, if your camera does not already record it.

OK I confess now, I went and hit the help button, to review the “Five Rules” again. And I was glad I did, the keyboard shortcuts are very cool. Easy to toggle between full screen mode and normal mode, “dim the lights” (which is a very cool way to view your images – dims all the clutter around your photo, so you can see your photo clearly – I really dig this feature. The interface and usability of Lightroom is very good. Unlike Photoshop, there are only a few menus, and most everything is slider-driven. Doing (and, un-Doing) is really quite simple.

Still in “Library” mode, you can apply basic exposure, white balance, color adjustments and more. You can stop with Lightroom right now, if you wish, and further edit (singly or the whole lot) in Photoshop CS2, Photoshop Elements, or the external image editor of your choice.



The Loupe tool is very easy to use. You simply click on the pic once, and it goes to 100% mode. You can then use the hand tool (which, is nicely automagic when you do this) and left click, move the photo - or - you can use the magnifyer on the thumbnail, upper right. Here in this capture you also see some of the other features of the "Library" view, on the right: Caption, Keywords, Rating, EXIF, etc. Rating is very easy - you can either just type the number of the rating (1 to 5) by hitting the number key on your keyboard, or you can use your mouse and drag the cursor or click on the dots in the rating area underneath the pic when in grid mode in "Library" view.

You can move from “Library” to “Develop” now, as well – for further image adjustments right in Lightroom.

DEVELOP

The basic edits in “Library” mode are fine, for many uses, but I wanted to see if I could get the same result with Lightroom as I could with Photoshop – and the answer is – yes. “Develop” gives you complete control, slider-drive, of white balance, exposure, color, lens aberrations, sharpening, noise reduction. Now I’ve grown very accustomed to doing all this in Photoshop – but let me tell you – doing it in Lightroom is a breeze, and I can see that this will appeal to many photographers who think that the curves dialog box in Photoshop is too daunting.



You can really fine tune a lot with Lightroom. The controls are all just "there" right at your fingertips. Undos are easy - keystroke or menu command. The sliders are very responsive. Speed is not an issue as the software is very fast. Here, you see the full screen mode, left pane is tucked away.

The white balance controls are similar to what is in most RAW converters. But the rest of the adjustments – totally slider-driven – are a fresh change from the multi-step multi-dialog box approach in Photoshop. You can set the exposure range, blackpoint, brightess and contrast; on the tone curve, you have sliders for the highlights, midtones and shadows. The histogram and the image onscreen will show you when you’ve clipped.
You can split-tone adjust, and then have total control over hue, saturation, and luminosity of all the color channels: reds, yellows, greens, cyans, blues, and magentas. You made a mistake? No problem, “reset” to the rescue and you can start anew. Finally, you also have the ability here to sharpen, de-noise, and adjust color fringing and lens vignetting.

Presets – here is a nice feature, that again required no help… I was working up a Black and White conversion, using the Greyscale Mixer in “Develop” mode. I got the channels just the way I wanted, adjusted the exposure, and saved this as a custom preset. Now, it’s available to me in the presets browser, on my left pane, in “Library” or “Develop” modes.

Any or all of these adjustments can be applied singly or to the whole batch. Once you are done with “Develop” you can export these photos, to a new location, with the following choices: destination, file format (JPG, DNG, TIFF), Color Space (sRGB, Adobe 1998, ProPhoto RGB). You can even export/downsize at the same time, making the photos, or you can leave them full-size. Exporting to JPG was very fast.

SLIDESHOW

Well, now you’ve got the best shots out of 500 from that wedding, you’ve applied some basic adjustments to all of them, fine tuned a few, and are now ready to sit with your client and review some shots. Or, in the case of a fashion or product shoot, perhaps it’s your editor. Or maybe your wife! Perhaps you want to put the slideshow up on your website. Lightroom’s slideshow to the rescue. Full-screen, with your captions/exif or without, and you can set various parameters as to drop shadows, zooming, speed, background, transitions, and more. You can export the slideshow to PDF, HTML, or Flash.


PRINT

What you’d expect, and then some. Easily make contact sheets or single prints. Set the margins, paper size, bleed, color management. If you are making printed proofs, easily apply your proof mark (customizable). Assign info to be printed on the contact sheets, too. Easy to understand, use, and it works.



CONCLUSION

Adobe has come out with a product that will appeal to many photographers. It’s easy to use, intuitive, and fun to work with. It makes quick work of sorting, culling, keywording, and adjusting your photos. Edits are done to RAW files in a non-destructive manner. It can be used by itself, to create final output for web or print. It can be used in conjunction with Photoshop CS2 or Elements, or your image editor of choice. For my work, it suits my style and workflow. Does it have a place in yours?

More examples in Reviews You Can Use on dgrin.smugmug.com

Some key resources you may find useful:

Adobe’s discussion forum on Lightroom

Release Notes

[Andy]

I enjoyed this article:

http://photoshopnews.com/2006/01/09/...lopment-story/

[rutt]

I have a really simple requirement for the culling function and so far I haven't found many programs which will do it. I the program to present the images one by one as large as possible; full screen is best by far. Then I want to be able to press just one key to delete or accept and go on to the next shot FAST.

Pretty simple, eh? But never really found it. First I wrote something myself, then I found CocoViewX which is close, but not as FAST as possible and needs 2 key strokes to delete and go to the next shot.

Can Lightbox do this?

[jfriend]

Originally Posted by Andy

For my work, it suits my style and workflow. Does it have a place in yours?

Does Lightroom have a light table feature where you can temporarily organize a group of photos across many directories This is something that Bridge is horrible at and it sounds like Aperture is great at and even Photoshop Elements is OK at.

Here's a classic example. I've got 10 directories of soccer photos (several hundred photos each). I want to be able to browse through the 10 directories collecting candidate photos for a particular output (holiday card, poster, collage, to put in a family gallery, etc...). In Photoshop Elements, I can assign all the candidates to a "collection" and keep track of them that way. In Aperture, I can drag them to the light table and keep track of them that way. In Bridge, I have to assign a keyword or label to them and then do a very time consuming search to find them again (a search that takes 3-5 minutes).

EDIT: I answered my own question by watching one of the videos on Adobe's site. Lightroom has "collections". They look kind of like collections in Elements in concept in that they can hold any arbitrary set of images. They aren't tags on the image, but containers. An image can be in multiple collections. It sounds like RAW files will even be able to have different RAW settings in each collection if you want.

[DoctorIt]

Andy, thanks for the review... this is looking very nice.

And will it be cheaper than CS2 (which I'd like but can't afford)?

[Andy]

Originally Posted by DoctorIt

And will it be cheaper than CS2 (which I'd like but can't afford)?

No $$ have been announced but yeah, IMO it'll be less than CS2.

[Bandit959]

Well, I suspect that it will need to have a price point that is comparable with Aperature. If not, it will need to have some overwhelming feature(s) that would encourage a photographer pay more for it. Although I have to admit that I haven't really worked extensively in either just yet.

Originally Posted by Andy

No $$ have been announced but yeah, IMO it'll be less than CS2.

[dkapp]

I started playing with lightroom last night, and I'm pretty impressed so far. My only concern will be the price. While I really don't need this piece of software, if it's priced right I'll buy it.

The best part is the system requirements. My laptop doesn't meet the minimum system requirements for Apples Aperture, and it runs Lightroom quite nicely.

I put some screenshots on my blog this morning, but Andy has pretty much covered it all. I'm going to try printing from the app today and see how well that works.

Dave

[DoctorIt]

Originally Posted by dkapp

I started playing with lightroom last night, and I'm pretty impressed so far. My only concern will be the price. While I really don't need this piece of software, if it's priced right I'll buy it.

The best part is the system requirements. My laptop doesn't meet the minimum system requirements for Apples Aperture, and it runs Lightroom quite nicely.

I put some screenshots on my blog this morning, but Andy has pretty much covered it all. I'm going to try printing from the app today and see how well that works.

Dave

You've hit pretty much all my concerns. I've come to realization that I'm NOT a photoshop wizard. I'll rather spend my time shooting more and better. I want a lighter (as in, less strain on the Pbook), faster, cheaper alternative to CS2.

All I ever do is light tweaks and print.



can't wait to get home away from this PC dominated lab and load it up.

[FAU4U]

Andy, great preliminary review to this beta.
When will it be available in Windows ?

JimWilson www.416-1100.com

[Andy]

Originally Posted by FAU4U

Andy, great preliminary review to this beta.
When will it be available in Windows ?

JimWilson www.416-1100.com

By the end of 2006 according to Adobe.

[colourbox]

whoa...dgrin/Andy made it to Slashdot front page!

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/09/2044210

[Andy]

Originally Posted by colourbox

whoa...dgrin/Andy made it to Slashdot front page!

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/09/2044210

Very cool. Wireless - please don't leave the data center

[Wireless]

Originally Posted by Andy

Very cool. Wireless - please don't leave the data center

I guess I can't play with cables today, eh? ;)

On a serious note, hooray for Andy being /.'ed and writing a great review! I've been envious of those who have the ability (macs) to play around with this! ;)

[colourbox]

Originally Posted by Andy

Very cool. Wireless - please don't leave the data center

I knew I forgot to mention something in the previous post...the whole point was supposed to be to mention the possible "Slashdot effect" on the way...

[wxwax]

Jeepers, Andy, terrific work, I know that must have taken some time.

How'd you get an early copy?

[Andy]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Jeepers, Andy, terrific work, I know that must have taken some time.

How'd you get an early copy?

Thanks Sid! I really appreciate that. I have a tremendousnewfound appreciation for the reviews done by Phil Askey, Michael Reichmann, Uwe (Outback Photo), Ars Technica, and the rest of the usual suspects. Reviewing, is damn hard! I honestly spent 40+ hours over three days with the product and writiing all yesterday. I wanted to be thoroughly familiar with it, before I started writing.

We got a copy from Adobe, early, and I had to keep mum about it until this morning

On to the next big thing! Thanks Waxy

[lynnesite]

Nice review, and if you were under NDE I guess we can't yell at ya.

I about died, processing 629 raws in the last 24 hrs using Bridge and iView. out of 1200 shots in 2 days. Need industrial strength stuff! Wouldn't pay for the iView3 update, way overpriced.

[DoctorIt]

Just spent about an hour with Lightroom.

I'm disappointed, but mainly because of speed. Changes in the develop tab take quite a while to take effect. I think maybe the old Pbook has bitten off more than it can chew?

And why do I yet again feel like an OCD driven fool because Lightroom is trying to organize stuff for me? Ugh. I feel like my desire to drag files from one window (cf card) to another window (new folder I make for a certain shoot/set of photos) is outdated and I should let it go. But, then I look in my finder and I see that even though I asked it to just reference my photos, the few folders I imported have been cataloged somehow and I'm done over 400mb in space. Where did it go? to some aglib file? And what are all these unviewable thumb files for in this new Lightroom folder in my Pictures directory?

Fresh start tomorrow should fix issue 2, but i don't know what to do about issue 1, speed. People complain about File Browser being slow, on this machine, Lightroom is waaaay slower.

[W.W. Webster]

Originally Posted by Andy

On to the next big thing!

Which is?