Lightroom ... A Must For PhotoShop Users?

Rock Daddeo

Senior Member
Just got serious with my photography. I have an extensive background in PhotoShop, but am wondering if it is best to learn Lightroom and fit it into my workflow. How do experienced PhotoShop users incorporate Lightroom into THEIR workflow (or do they)? I have never used Lightroom, but have access to the software. Although I am a new photog, I bring home a few hundred shots from each shoot.

I was using Apple iPhoto, but I have reached the limits of what iPhoto can do for me.

Thanks for the tips!
 

Ijustwant1

Senior Member
Hi Rock Daddeo and welcome to Nikonites ! I used Photoshop until I got Lightroom, now I only use photoshop to make borders and whatever I cant do in Lightroom ( not much now :) )
 

egosbar

Senior Member
i spent a lot of time learning ps , i have given lr a couple of goes but just find it easy use what i know as im concentrating on getting better at my photography , everyone says its a must so must be something in it , the one thing i dont like about organising your images in lr is you have too keep importing them unlike bridge , is there an auto import for a specific folder?
im sure ill go back too lr at some point but for now im sticking with the photography tutorials and ps
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I would think the normal progression is the other way, from LR to PS. I am not at all familiar with Bridge, but my understanding is that if you're already using that as your organizer then for the most part LR is superfluous. The have introduced some functions in the LR5 Develop module that are above and beyond just the Camera RAW functions it formerly carried, but I don't know that it's enough to justify purchasing it if you're using Bridge. If you aren't, then as a workflow manager and catalog organizer it's essential - for me at least. Just be aware, unlike Bridge it is setup by default to store RAW adjustments in the catalog, so if you start moving images around on your own, outside of LR, you will break the links between the RAW file and the edits, so it's a commitment (you can set it up to use sidecar files by default, so if you've got a bunch of them already just make sure you do that before importing anything).
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
I used Photoshop until I got Lightroom, now I only use photoshop to make borders and whatever I cant do in Lightroom ( not much now :) )

Welcome Rock Daddeo! I started with Photoshop as well. Once I started using LR around version 2, my use of PS is minimal. You'll be surprised how much it will speed up your workflow.

Greg, why do you need to use PS for borders? Check out this old thread regarding LR/Mogrify2 as it might enable you to do everything out of LR.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I had LR/Mogrify on my list of things to check out ages ago and never did. It's back on my list. Free is good. :)

And just so I'm clear, I'm not saying that LR is not worth switching to if you already use Bridge - it's just not quite as "necessary". I do believe that it will eventually become an indispensable tool in the Adobe suite for photographers, so if you're thinking about adapting you might as well bite the bullet.
 

Rock Daddeo

Senior Member
Thanks all! I will assume PS is the most flexible & powerful image editting software, but Lightroom is best for organizing your many shots and for quick & simple batch adjustments. Sound about right?

I'm comfortable with PhotoShop - but since I'm just getting started I don't want to ignore Lightroom and regret it later after I compile a large catalog of shots.
 

Rock Daddeo

Senior Member
Off topic but ... where exactly you from Eduard? There is a Mainline near my old hometown of Johnstown, PA. I moved to Ridgecrest, CA in 2012. Just curious.
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
Thanks all! I will assume PS is the most flexible & powerful image editing software, but Lightroom is best for organizing your many shots and for quick & simple batch adjustments. Sound about right?

Ummmm sort of. Lightroom allows you to organize and non-destructively edit your images. In PS you edit and save as JPG, TIFF, etc. LR saves the editing instructions in the catalog. When you export, print, email or whatever it applies the instructions to the original file prior to output. You have the option of taking the image with or without the LR modifications into PS. You can define the file format (usually TIFF) that is brought into PS. When you complete any mods in PS, the resulting image and file will be added to your LR catalog.

The majority of edits that you can do in PS are available in LR. The level of controls in PS is sometimes finer but each new major version of LR reduces my need for PS. Major difference is that LR doesn't support layers (without a plugin).

Off topic but ... where exactly you from Eduard? There is a Mainline near my old hometown of Johnstown, PA. I moved to Ridgecrest, CA in 2012. Just curious.

I'm just south of Valley Forge so it is probably the area you are thinking of near your hometown. JDEG is also nearby.
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
To get an idea of the power of Lightroom, you might want to check out Matt Kloskowsi's Lightroom Killer Tips site. He is a PS guy who also teaches LR. He is trying to go a whole month without PS to illustrate the power of LR. Pretty good so far.
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
It took me forever to remember where I saw it, but Terry White from Adobe posted a video called "How To Get Started With Lightroom 5 - 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do". You might find it helpful. I've embedded the video below.

 

wud

Senior Member
Thanks all! I will assume PS is the most flexible & powerful image editting software, but Lightroom is best for organizing your many shots and for quick & simple batch adjustments. Sound about right?

Except organizing, I use bridge for that, then yes.
But I am running into problems now - I am beginning to fill up my computer harddisk :/ I backup yes, but it can take some time finding the right backup date and I like having the images I've given away close to me.. Problem is, when I use LR sometimes, I copy the files from bridge to LR, then export and make the last adjustments in PS. I mostly use LR when I got a lot of images to go trough.

I like using both programs, but for multiple basic adjustments, LR is really good, quick and easy, imo.


When you complete any mods in PS, the resulting image and file will be added to your LR catalog.

Do you use LR as your main catalog? And what about the changes made in PS, can you still work with the adjustments you did in LR after saving and updating the file in LR?

Maybe that would be an idea for me, changing bridge out with LR for sorting the images.. or at least move them to LR when I finish going through which is maybe's, keepers and goodbye's.

I already made a huge mess in 2013, I forget to name the different folders, now would probably be a good time to start sorting correctly in LR, for 2014.
 

wud

Senior Member
Doh :) Just watched the video Eduard posted, I can just say 'Add' instead of copy to LR..

I also see the adjustments made in PS will be saved in LR as a .psd file - do you really do this? Those files are so large?
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
Do you use LR as your main catalog? And what about the changes made in PS, can you still work with the adjustments you did in LR after saving and updating the file in LR?

Maybe that would be an idea for me, changing bridge out with LR for sorting the images.. or at least move them to LR when I finish going through which is maybe's, keepers and goodbye's.

I already made a huge mess in 2013, I forget to name the different folders, now would probably be a good time to start sorting correctly in LR, for 2014.

Yes, I use LR as my main catalog. I have my main catalog on a Mac Mini, backed up to a NAS in my office and a portable HDD stored offsite.

Workflow wise, I download my files using Downloader Pro as described in this thread. The files are placed where I want them at a filesystem level.

Depending on whether I'm traveling or not I will either import into the master on the Mac Mini or a temporary catalog on my Macbook Air. (Watch this video by Julianne Kost to learn how to do this.)

You can absolutely work with a file after moving between LR and PS. (Watch this video, also by Julianne Kost, to see how this works.)
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Do you use LR as your main catalog? And what about the changes made in PS, can you still work with the adjustments you did in LR after saving and updating the file in LR?

Maybe that would be an idea for me, changing bridge out with LR for sorting the images.. or at least move them to LR when I finish going through which is maybe's, keepers and goodbye's.

I already made a huge mess in 2013, I forget to name the different folders, now would probably be a good time to start sorting correctly in LR, for 2014.


There are some lighting tweaks that are so much easier to do in LR that I often do final adjustments to my PS images there before exporting. TIFF and PSD files are both much larger than the NEF/DNG counterparts, but my experience is that they are about the same size as each other.

Aside from Printing I use Lightroom for EVERYTHING else. And even for printing, when I want to have different print size crops for a particular image (4x6, 8x10, 5x7 ratios) I can create Virtual Copies of the final photo and save the individual crops, which gives me 3 or 4 copies of a photo stored at the cost of only 1 file in storage. When I want to print I just choose "Open In Photoshop With Lightroom Adjustments" and it creates a working copy there for me to print from.

From a catalog and workflow management standpoint I'd be lost without it.
 

wud

Senior Member
There are some lighting tweaks that are so much easier to do in LR that I often do final adjustments to my PS images there before exporting. TIFF and PSD files are both much larger than the NEF/DNG counterparts, but my experience is that they are about the same size as each other.

Aside from Printing I use Lightroom for EVERYTHING else. And even for printing, when I want to have different print size crops for a particular image (4x6, 8x10, 5x7 ratios) I can create Virtual Copies of the final photo and save the individual crops, which gives me 3 or 4 copies of a photo stored at the cost of only 1 file in storage. When I want to print I just choose "Open In Photoshop With Lightroom Adjustments" and it creates a working copy there for me to print from.

From a catalog and workflow management standpoint I'd be lost without it.

Hmm, my psd files are from 30-100mb.... thats to much. I only save a few psd's, the once I really made progress in, so I can go back and look again.

For print I save in jpg, I know tiff is better but I really think the jpg's looks awesome from the lab I use, so for now I think I'll keep it like that.

I was just looking at the print section in Lightroom this morning, looks like it could be very useful for proofs if I was ever to do that.
I'll try printing from LR sometime, when I get my A3 printer some glorious day, it would be easy peasy printing directly from LR. Those who doesn't go by PS, I mean.
 
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