Who wants to help smooth my Transition to Lightroom?

Bonobo · 02-26-2014, 08:45 AM

Will take any and all tips. W/out K-3 support, I couldn't justify using Aperture anymore. I tried the adobe converter workaround but felt it altered the image ever so slightly and reduced the IQ a fraction. I've been watching the videos on Adobe's official tutorials but 17 minutes of video for only 1-2 pieces of info is not efficient. Thought I'd go to you all to see if I could pick your brains. Any information is helpful. Many Thanks.

**TER-OR** · 02-26-2014, 09:03 AM

I transitioned to it last year. I find it mostly intuitive. The bulk of my modifications are just exposure, some contrast - including bumping blacks, reducing highlights sometimes and bumping the vibrancy and saturation when required. I like using the side-by-side comparison while doing this. I'll use some sharpening occasionally, but I admit I'm no expert at those techniques.

I also find the lens profiles useful, and have saved some as presets so I don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom.

I like Lightroom 4 a lot.

Na Horuk · 02-26-2014, 09:21 AM - **2 Likes**

Which version of Lightroom?
With Lightroom, you should first think about the cataloging system (folders by date, whether you will "import" or "copy as dng"). Then make a default action for that camera - so that Lightroom will automatically apply some things that you want. Make sure it uses the "embedded" camera color profile (instead of the Adobe one), adjust NR (you can probably lower it from the default), and sharpness (don't be afraid to add some)..

**Canada_Rockies** · 02-26-2014, 09:46 AM

I've just upgraded to LR 5, and find it has better noise control than 3.6 that I was using before. It is rivaling my old favourite DxO now to the point that I might not use it as much.

**Miguel** · 02-26-2014, 09:52 AM

Get Martin Evening's book and read it. There are also lots of YouTube tutorials out there.
If you already have hierarchical metadata in Aperture, then learn how to replicate that in LR. Same goes with collections. Getting a good foundation of an organization is your first step and labor intensive.

M

Deedee · 02-26-2014, 09:55 AM

Follow Serge Ramelli on youtube.

He is the boss!

---------- Post added 02-26-14 at 05:56 PM ----------

You could also watch Laura Shoe's video. She is pretty darn good.

Bonobo · 02-26-2014, 10:01 AM

Originally posted by Na Horuk

Which version of Lightroom?

I'm in LR 5. I should have noted that.

---------- Post added 02-26-14 at 11:10 AM ----------

Originally posted by Miguel

If you already have hierarchical metadata in Aperture, then learn how to replicate that in LR. Same goes with collections. Getting a good foundation of an organization is your first step and labor intensive.

I'm in the beginning of this process now.

nosliwmit · 02-26-2014, 10:58 AM - **1 Like**

There are a lot of settings and preferences in LR (including catalog settings that Na Horuk discussed above). I know there are tons of articles around the web including on this site regarding preferences. I started with LR at version 3 and found the SLR Lounge tutorials to be quite helpful. They haven't overhauled them for LR 5 but I think most of the info still applies (and there are other LR5 tutorials, tips etc. on the site). You can find the LR3 tutorials here. I've since upgraded to LR5 but haven't gone back and looked at these tutorials again. I probably should, but I think LR keeps all of the settings and preferences (at least those that still apply) when you upgrade.

**Canada_Rockies** · 02-26-2014, 11:15 AM - **1 Like**

When I bought Lightroom 2, I also bought Scott Kelby's book. If you ignore the chapter introductions you can avoid nausea from his alleged humour (and he admits it) and then there is a collection of instruction snippets on how to do specific things. For LR 3, I bought Nat Coalson's book, and it is laid out in a more traditional way, but is helpful. LR 5 is laid out similarly to LR 3, and I probably won't bother with a book and just use the help on line to handle the new gadgets.

As written above - get your import working right first. I have some 20,000 photos in my current catalog, and there is no way I could find the pictures I took of Cameron Falls in Waterton without the keywords.

I have a set of keywords that are linked to smart collections. Examples are: birds, mammals, reptiles, parks, etc. These smart collections are triggered by adding the word bird, mammal, reptile or park anywhere in the keyword list of an image. These are one of the most useful sorting devices I have.

slipdm16 · 02-26-2014, 11:44 AM

Originally posted by Na Horuk

Make sure it uses the "embedded" camera color profile (instead of the Adobe one)

I've been playing with this - LR has an "Advanced" profile for the K-30, which I really like, but nothing yet for the K-3. I can't really see much of a difference for the "Embedded" profile vs Adobe (maybe punchier?). Can you tell me what the difference usually is or does it depend on the pic?

**maxfield_photo** · 02-26-2014, 12:21 PM - **1 Like**

An important thing to realize about Lightroom is that once you start using it to manage your photos, it's best to let it do everything. If you start moving files around on your own, it won't know where to look for them. Think of it like a card catalog at a library. The books are on the shelves, but you can look up information like title, author, and subject in the card file, and then it tells you where to find the book. IF you put the book back on the wrong shelf though, the system breaks down, so it's best to let the librarian do it.

Spend some time learning to use the import function. By default it does some things that I didn't want it to do, and I had no idea where it was storing my RAWs. Now not only do I know where it's putting them, I have it rename my files on import to reflect year, month, day, and time that I took the photo, the camera body and index #. I also have it apply my custom metadata, copyright, location of the shoot, subject name and age if applicable, release information. Then I have it apply lens profiles and color calibrations. You can also have it apply keywords, though I don't use them because I use a different system (it's confusing to some so I won't make matters worse for you). Oh, and you can also tell it to back up your files on import to another location, which is a good habit to get into.

Once all the metadata is in place, you can go through and group your files, so for instance, if you took 10 shots of a particular building back to back, you might group those into one "stack", then pick your favorite from that stack to edit. If you shoot in manual like me, then the exposure should be pretty much the same for all 10 shots, so you can make exposure adjustments to one, and then hit the "sync" button and apply it to the rest. If you shoot in the studio and have 1000 photos of the same exposure level this really gets to be a time saver. You can also give photos a star rating 1 to 5, flag them as picks (to be edited), or assign them color ratings. I use the color rating to let me know where I am in the editing process. Yellow are my favorites, blue are my client's faves, both of those will be edited in LR, Reds are picks that have more serious issues and will need to go to PS, Greens are ready to print or deliver.

Once your done picking and flagging photos in the Library module, you can go to the develop module and do your editing. Work your way down the right hand column, but realize that you don't have to use every slider. For instance I hardly ever use the tone curve pallets, I just do it with the basic sliders, but there are times when I need to make finer adjustments. You'll develop your own favorite editing touches, for instance, I am a junky for post crop vignetting, just a touch though, and highly feathered.

There are brushes and other local adjustment tools across the top of the right column just under the histogram, these can have very dramatic or very subtle effects. The nice thing is if you find that you've "overcooked" an image using the local adjustment tools, you can just click on the offending pin and fiddle with the sliders to bring it back into the tasteful realm.

Once you're done editing, you can highlight your final images from the filmstrip in the bottom (easy to do if you've flagged them as picks, or given them star ratings) and right click to export them to file, or go into the print module if you plan to do your own printing. There are some presets in the export window for if you plan to burn to CD, prep them for viewing on a web browser, or upload print sized versions to a web server, or you can also make your own presets. The print module is pretty self explanatory, but when you get down to the bottom, I would recommend telling it to let Lightroom manage the color, and where it says "Profile" choose the printer/paper profile you will be using, and the rendering intent. If you don't know about color management, it would be worth doing some research to understand what all the options mean and do, it's a little beyond the scope of this thread.

One other thing to remember is that all editing in Lightroom is non-destructive. All the commands like "increase exposure +0.2", "crop to 8x10" tell the computer how to alter your original file to get it looking the way you want, but it never changes your original. For instance, if you crop an image to 3x4 aspect ratio, but then later want to print it as an 8x10 (4x5), you can just re-crop from the original image, it's still all there. My guess is Aperture probably does that too.

Good luck!

-

---------- Post added 02-26-14 at 02:34 PM ----------

Originally posted by slipdm16

I've been playing with this - LR has an "Advanced" profile for the K-30, which I really like, but nothing yet for the K-3. I can't really see much of a difference for the "Embedded" profile vs Adobe (maybe punchier?). Can you tell me what the difference usually is or does it depend on the pic?

I make my own profiles using an Xrite Color Checker, so they are spot-on accurate. From what I've seen, my images tend to change the least from the "Embedded" profile vs the custom profiles that I make. The Adobe Standard profile is punchier as you say, it's also a little more saturated. If 100% accurate color is important to you, get a color checker, but if that's not in the budget, the "Embedded" profile is still reasonably close. If 'accurate' is not as important to you as 'aesthetically pleasing', use which ever profile you like the best, but realize that saturated colors are harder to print, so you may end up loosing that color information in the end anyway.

Na Horuk · 02-26-2014, 01:42 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by slipdm16

Can you tell me what the difference usually is or does it depend on the pic?

I think it has an effects especially in the highlights, with red and blue colours. It can make a big difference in some photos, especially with sunsets. Its important to do this before you start post processing.
Edit: But yes, it also depends on the camera you are using.

**Kerrowdown** · 02-26-2014, 04:18 PM

Originally posted by maxfield_photo

I make my own profiles using an Xrite Color Checker, so they are spot-on accurate

+1 on that, saves bundles of time in PP getting stuff spot on.

**monochrome** · 02-26-2014, 05:52 PM

Originally posted by maxfield_photo

Spend some time learning to use the import function. By default it does some things that I didn't want it to do, and I had no idea where it was storing my RAWs. Now not only do I know where it's putting them, I have it rename my files on import to reflect year, month, day, and time that I took the photo, the camera body and index #. I also have it apply my custom metadata, copyright, location of the shoot, subject name and age if applicable, release information. Then I have it apply lens profiles and color calibrations. You can also have it apply keywords, though I don't use them because I use a different system (it's confusing to some so I won't make matters worse for you). Oh, and you can also tell it to back up your files on import to another location, which is a good habit to get into.

This helps!!

Bonobo · 02-27-2014, 09:40 AM

Originally posted by nosliwmit

You can find the LR3 tutorials here. I've since upgraded to LR5 but haven't gone back and looked at these tutorials again. I probably should, but I think LR keeps all of the settings and preferences (at least those that still apply) when you upgrade.

(the LR5 info is here)

This site is looking like a good quick resource. Thanks. easier to skim text/lists than it is videos. I was going through this Learn Lightroom 5 | Adobe TV at first but it just wasn't time efficient to find videos with new info for me.

Thanks to everyone for all the tips. It's already been a big help.

02-26-2014, 08:45 AM	#1
Bonobo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Miami Posts: 226	Who wants to help smooth my Transition to Lightroom? Will take any and all tips. W/out K-3 support, I couldn't justify using Aperture anymore. I tried the adobe converter workaround but felt it altered the image ever so slightly and reduced the IQ a fraction. I've been watching the videos on Adobe's official tutorials but 17 minutes of video for only 1-2 pieces of info is not efficient. Thought I'd go to you all to see if I could pick your brains. Any information is helpful. Many Thanks.

02-26-2014, 12:21 PM - 1 Like	#11
maxfield_photo Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 1,216	An important thing to realize about Lightroom is that once you start using it to manage your photos, it's best to let it do everything. If you start moving files around on your own, it won't know where to look for them. Think of it like a card catalog at a library. The books are on the shelves, but you can look up information like title, author, and subject in the card file, and then it tells you where to find the book. IF you put the book back on the wrong shelf though, the system breaks down, so it's best to let the librarian do it. Spend some time learning to use the import function. By default it does some things that I didn't want it to do, and I had no idea where it was storing my RAWs. Now not only do I know where it's putting them, I have it rename my files on import to reflect year, month, day, and time that I took the photo, the camera body and index #. I also have it apply my custom metadata, copyright, location of the shoot, subject name and age if applicable, release information. Then I have it apply lens profiles and color calibrations. You can also have it apply keywords, though I don't use them because I use a different system (it's confusing to some so I won't make matters worse for you). Oh, and you can also tell it to back up your files on import to another location, which is a good habit to get into. Once all the metadata is in place, you can go through and group your files, so for instance, if you took 10 shots of a particular building back to back, you might group those into one "stack", then pick your favorite from that stack to edit. If you shoot in manual like me, then the exposure should be pretty much the same for all 10 shots, so you can make exposure adjustments to one, and then hit the "sync" button and apply it to the rest. If you shoot in the studio and have 1000 photos of the same exposure level this really gets to be a time saver. You can also give photos a star rating 1 to 5, flag them as picks (to be edited), or assign them color ratings. I use the color rating to let me know where I am in the editing process. Yellow are my favorites, blue are my client's faves, both of those will be edited in LR, Reds are picks that have more serious issues and will need to go to PS, Greens are ready to print or deliver. Once your done picking and flagging photos in the Library module, you can go to the develop module and do your editing. Work your way down the right hand column, but realize that you don't have to use every slider. For instance I hardly ever use the tone curve pallets, I just do it with the basic sliders, but there are times when I need to make finer adjustments. You'll develop your own favorite editing touches, for instance, I am a junky for post crop vignetting, just a touch though, and highly feathered. There are brushes and other local adjustment tools across the top of the right column just under the histogram, these can have very dramatic or very subtle effects. The nice thing is if you find that you've "overcooked" an image using the local adjustment tools, you can just click on the offending pin and fiddle with the sliders to bring it back into the tasteful realm. Once you're done editing, you can highlight your final images from the filmstrip in the bottom (easy to do if you've flagged them as picks, or given them star ratings) and right click to export them to file, or go into the print module if you plan to do your own printing. There are some presets in the export window for if you plan to burn to CD, prep them for viewing on a web browser, or upload print sized versions to a web server, or you can also make your own presets. The print module is pretty self explanatory, but when you get down to the bottom, I would recommend telling it to let Lightroom manage the color, and where it says "Profile" choose the printer/paper profile you will be using, and the rendering intent. If you don't know about color management, it would be worth doing some research to understand what all the options mean and do, it's a little beyond the scope of this thread. One other thing to remember is that all editing in Lightroom is non-destructive. All the commands like "increase exposure +0.2", "crop to 8x10" tell the computer how to alter your original file to get it looking the way you want, but it never changes your original. For instance, if you crop an image to 3x4 aspect ratio, but then later want to print it as an 8x10 (4x5), you can just re-crop from the original image, it's still all there. My guess is Aperture probably does that too. Good luck! - ---------- Post added 02-26-14 at 02:34 PM ---------- Originally posted by slipdm16 I've been playing with this - LR has an "Advanced" profile for the K-30, which I really like, but nothing yet for the K-3. I can't really see much of a difference for the "Embedded" profile vs Adobe (maybe punchier?). Can you tell me what the difference usually is or does it depend on the pic? I make my own profiles using an Xrite Color Checker, so they are spot-on accurate. From what I've seen, my images tend to change the least from the "Embedded" profile vs the custom profiles that I make. The Adobe Standard profile is punchier as you say, it's also a little more saturated. If 100% accurate color is important to you, get a color checker, but if that's not in the budget, the "Embedded" profile is still reasonably close. If 'accurate' is not as important to you as 'aesthetically pleasing', use which ever profile you like the best, but realize that saturated colors are harder to print, so you may end up loosing that color information in the end anyway. Last edited by maxfield_photo; 02-26-2014 at 12:34 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
HELP! Moved from PC to MAC- need Lightroom and HD help	jennverr	Digital Processing, Software, and Printing	7	01-13-2013 12:53 PM
CA correction who wants to participate in a comparison of software	Lowell Goudge	Digital Processing, Software, and Printing	61	07-12-2012 11:42 PM
Who wants to see an ISO80 RAW file pushed +10 stops?	JohnBee	Digital Processing, Software, and Printing	14	11-09-2010 01:58 PM
Who wants to see a Pentax 4:3 system or...	Portland Pete	Pentax Compact Cameras	5	04-12-2010 08:37 PM
Who wants to be the third wheel?	proudtoshootpentax	Pentax News and Rumors	18	03-03-2008 11:45 PM

02-26-2014, 09:03 AM	#2
TER-OR Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Dundee, IL Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,699	I transitioned to it last year. I find it mostly intuitive. The bulk of my modifications are just exposure, some contrast - including bumping blacks, reducing highlights sometimes and bumping the vibrancy and saturation when required. I like using the side-by-side comparison while doing this. I'll use some sharpening occasionally, but I admit I'm no expert at those techniques. I also find the lens profiles useful, and have saved some as presets so I don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom. I like Lightroom 4 a lot.

02-26-2014, 09:21 AM - 2 Likes	#3
Na Horuk Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Slovenia, probably Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,186	Which version of Lightroom? With Lightroom, you should first think about the cataloging system (folders by date, whether you will "import" or "copy as dng"). Then make a default action for that camera - so that Lightroom will automatically apply some things that you want. Make sure it uses the "embedded" camera color profile (instead of the Adobe one), adjust NR (you can probably lower it from the default), and sharpness (don't be afraid to add some)..

02-26-2014, 09:46 AM	#4
Canada_Rockies Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Sparwood, BC, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,385	I've just upgraded to LR 5, and find it has better noise control than 3.6 that I was using before. It is rivaling my old favourite DxO now to the point that I might not use it as much.

02-26-2014, 09:52 AM	#5
Miguel Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Near Seattle Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,743	Get Martin Evening's book and read it. There are also lots of YouTube tutorials out there. If you already have hierarchical metadata in Aperture, then learn how to replicate that in LR. Same goes with collections. Getting a good foundation of an organization is your first step and labor intensive. M

02-26-2014, 09:55 AM	#6
Deedee Veteran Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 307	Follow Serge Ramelli on youtube. He is the boss! ---------- Post added 02-26-14 at 05:56 PM ---------- You could also watch Laura Shoe's video. She is pretty darn good.

02-26-2014, 10:01 AM	#7
Bonobo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Miami Posts: 226 Original Poster	Originally posted by Na Horuk Which version of Lightroom? I'm in LR 5. I should have noted that. ---------- Post added 02-26-14 at 11:10 AM ---------- Originally posted by Miguel If you already have hierarchical metadata in Aperture, then learn how to replicate that in LR. Same goes with collections. Getting a good foundation of an organization is your first step and labor intensive. I'm in the beginning of this process now.

02-26-2014, 10:58 AM - 1 Like	#8
nosliwmit Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Pacific Northwest Photos: Gallery Posts: 913	There are a lot of settings and preferences in LR (including catalog settings that Na Horuk discussed above). I know there are tons of articles around the web including on this site regarding preferences. I started with LR at version 3 and found the SLR Lounge tutorials to be quite helpful. They haven't overhauled them for LR 5 but I think most of the info still applies (and there are other LR5 tutorials, tips etc. on the site). You can find the LR3 tutorials here. I've since upgraded to LR5 but haven't gone back and looked at these tutorials again. I probably should, but I think LR keeps all of the settings and preferences (at least those that still apply) when you upgrade.

02-26-2014, 11:15 AM - 1 Like	#9
Canada_Rockies Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Sparwood, BC, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,385	When I bought Lightroom 2, I also bought Scott Kelby's book. If you ignore the chapter introductions you can avoid nausea from his alleged humour (and he admits it) and then there is a collection of instruction snippets on how to do specific things. For LR 3, I bought Nat Coalson's book, and it is laid out in a more traditional way, but is helpful. LR 5 is laid out similarly to LR 3, and I probably won't bother with a book and just use the help on line to handle the new gadgets. As written above - get your import working right first. I have some 20,000 photos in my current catalog, and there is no way I could find the pictures I took of Cameron Falls in Waterton without the keywords. I have a set of keywords that are linked to smart collections. Examples are: birds, mammals, reptiles, parks, etc. These smart collections are triggered by adding the word bird, mammal, reptile or park anywhere in the keyword list of an image. These are one of the most useful sorting devices I have.

02-26-2014, 11:44 AM	#10
slipdm16 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Minneapolis, MN Photos: Albums Posts: 159	Originally posted by Na Horuk Make sure it uses the "embedded" camera color profile (instead of the Adobe one) I've been playing with this - LR has an "Advanced" profile for the K-30, which I really like, but nothing yet for the K-3. I can't really see much of a difference for the "Embedded" profile vs Adobe (maybe punchier?). Can you tell me what the difference usually is or does it depend on the pic?

02-26-2014, 01:42 PM - 1 Like	#12
Na Horuk Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Slovenia, probably Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,186	Originally posted by slipdm16 Can you tell me what the difference usually is or does it depend on the pic? I think it has an effects especially in the highlights, with red and blue colours. It can make a big difference in some photos, especially with sunsets. Its important to do this before you start post processing. Edit: But yes, it also depends on the camera you are using.

02-26-2014, 04:18 PM	#13
Kerrowdown PEG Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Highlands of Scotland... "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand" - William Blake Photos: Gallery Posts: 57,818	Originally posted by maxfield_photo I make my own profiles using an Xrite Color Checker, so they are spot-on accurate +1 on that, saves bundles of time in PP getting stuff spot on.

02-26-2014, 05:52 PM	#14
monochrome Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Working From Home Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 26,276	Originally posted by maxfield_photo Spend some time learning to use the import function. By default it does some things that I didn't want it to do, and I had no idea where it was storing my RAWs. Now not only do I know where it's putting them, I have it rename my files on import to reflect year, month, day, and time that I took the photo, the camera body and index #. I also have it apply my custom metadata, copyright, location of the shoot, subject name and age if applicable, release information. Then I have it apply lens profiles and color calibrations. You can also have it apply keywords, though I don't use them because I use a different system (it's confusing to some so I won't make matters worse for you). Oh, and you can also tell it to back up your files on import to another location, which is a good habit to get into. This helps!!

02-27-2014, 09:40 AM	#15
Bonobo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Miami Posts: 226 Original Poster	Originally posted by nosliwmit You can find the LR3 tutorials here. I've since upgraded to LR5 but haven't gone back and looked at these tutorials again. I probably should, but I think LR keeps all of the settings and preferences (at least those that still apply) when you upgrade. (the LR5 info is here) This site is looking like a good quick resource. Thanks. easier to skim text/lists than it is videos. I was going through this Learn Lightroom 5 \| Adobe TV at first but it just wasn't time efficient to find videos with new info for me. Thanks to everyone for all the tips. It's already been a big help.