Lightroom 2 Questions

[Mgrmitch]

I just purchased Lightroom 2 full version from ebay. Is this a stand alone program or do I have to purchase Photoshop as well?? Am I losing anything by not having photoshop for processing RAW images and just using Lightroom? I Was going to use the Pentax photo browser 3 program or picasa for photo browser. I am new to DSLR and processing but everyone has been talking about the ease of use and excellent results of this program .


Thanks

[Venturi]

Lightroom is a standalone DAM (Digital Asset Management) and image processing application.
It also interfaces directly with PS/CS and indirectly (by passing TIFFs back and forth) with other image editors - like GIMP.

[K McCall]

It all depends on what you want to do. Lightroom can handle all the basic stuff easily: contrast, satuation, curves, brightening the shadows or recovering from (moderately) blown highlights. You can even do some funky stuff, like adding split toning and vignettes. It's true that it is primarily an organizer and RAW converter and batch editor (editing large amounts of photos at one time), but there's a lot more to it than that.

What it cannot do: HDR (high dynamic range, where you layer photos taken at different exposures), anything involving layers (this is where Photoshop is your best friend), anything involving multiple photos. So you can't swap your dog's head for your head in Lightroom

You might find you need another application. I was a Photoshop-Fireworks-Illustrator girl (I was into graphic design before photography) before I got Lightroom and now I use it exclusively.

You can download presets that other people make and apply them to your photos and then tweak them to your liking. I'm actually one of those people that makes presets, so if you need any help, let me know!

And by the way, if you check out my flickr photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/aravis121, all the newest ones (like the first 1000) were done solely in Lightroom, just to give you an idea of what can be done.

[Mgrmitch]

Originally Posted by K McCall

It all depends on what you want to do. Lightroom can handle all the basic stuff easily: contrast, satuation, curves, brightening the shadows or recovering from (moderately) blown highlights. You can even do some funky stuff, like adding split toning and vignettes. It's true that it is primarily an organizer and RAW converter and batch editor (editing large amounts of photos at one time), but there's a lot more to it than that.

What it cannot do: HDR (high dynamic range, where you layer photos taken at different exposures), anything involving layers (this is where Photoshop is your best friend), anything involving multiple photos. So you can't swap your dog's head for your head in Lightroom

You might find you need another application. I was a Photoshop-Fireworks-Illustrator girl (I was into graphic design before photography) before I got Lightroom and now I use it exclusively.

You can download presets that other people make and apply them to your photos and then tweak them to your liking. I'm actually one of those people that makes presets, so if you need any help, let me know!

And by the way, if you check out my flickr photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/aravis121, all the newest ones (like the first 1000) were done solely in Lightroom, just to give you an idea of what can be done.

Thank you both for all your information. Photos look great!!!

[WMBP]

Originally Posted by Mgrmitch

I just purchased Lightroom 2 full version from ebay. Is this a stand alone program or do I have to purchase Photoshop as well?? Am I losing anything by not having photoshop for processing RAW images and just using Lightroom? I Was going to use the Pentax photo browser 3 program or picasa for photo browser. I am new to DSLR and processing but everyone has been talking about the ease of use and excellent results of this program .

Lightroom 2 is a stand-alone program. You do not have to purchase or own regular Photoshop to use Lightroom. I don't.

I do nearly all of my processing in Lightroom 2. I have licenses for several other programs, including Adobe Photoshop Essentials, Bibble Pro and LightCrafts Lightroom, and I will use one of these other programs occasionally to see if I can get different or better results with hard problems. But most of my work is done in Lightroom. It's tremendously powerful if you get to know it well. If you really want to "Photoshop" your images (you know, tipping Uncle Fred into a photo that he wasn't originally part of), then you'll need Photoshop. But as long as you don't need to copy/cut and paste parts of photos, then Lightroom can do nearly everything. I think it's a fine program for all those who think of themselves as photographers rather than digital-image artists, in other words, it might suit landscape shooters very well. But Lightroom is particularly suited to the needs of wedding and event photographers, or anybody who shoots and needs to process LOTS of photos in a hurry. When I want to take time on a picture, Lightroom has tons of tools for me to play with. But it also allows me to zip through 1000 photos in a few hours, pick the 200 best ones and give 'em a quick process so I can get 'em online for a client.

Picasa is a very good photo browser and really a fantastic program for consumers, and not just because it's free. I used to export from Lightroom 1 to Picasa, then use Picasa for uploading to my web site. But Lightroom 2 now supports plug-ins and there's an uploader for SmugMug, so I use Picasa very seldom now. Still it's a great program.

Will

[Edvinas]

Originally Posted by K McCall

What it cannot do: HDR (high dynamic range, where you layer photos taken at different exposures)

It is possible to do HDR directly from Lightroom.
Timothy Armes' LR/Enfuse