Lightroom for weddings?

[italianfemmy]

I know some people use lightroom with photoshop.

If you use lightroom, can you please share the benefits of having it when you already have cs2 or cs3?

What can lightroom do that photoshop can't?

Some people have mentioned a highlight slider. Can you not use this function in photoshop?

My girlfriend is a student and they are offering this to her for only $110.00 brand new never opened. So.. we are thinking now might be the time to jump and get it. But, first I'd like to be sold on why I should get it.

Thanks!

[csm328]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=315590

[italianfemmy]

Thanks Wayne - Oh boy. That's going to take me an eternity to read. I have bookmarked it though. lol.

I'd also appreciate any personal feedback from those here in the wedding forum.

[picturecrazy]

wow, $110. That's a good deal. I would just get it. I have CS2 and found it heaps better at raw processing than ACR. But I haven't used CS3 ACR yet so I don't know if it's much better or worse than that. But since i've gotten lightroom, i use CS2 much less than ever. There is so much you can do in lightroom. Even removing blemishes non-destructively on RAW files! That's worth the price right there!

[kbbruner]

Hi Alicia,

I use Lightroom almost exclusively and turn to Photoshop only as necessary. For me, the biggest advantage is speed. The fact that you can "sync" the settings between similar photos (lighting, etc) really eases up the editing stage for me. Also, culling down the number of photos is super easy with Lightroom, with a variety of "picking methods".

Generally, my workflow is to create "proof" quality photos, which I use Lightroom alone to do. I can edit a wedding in 6-8 hours with Lightroom. That goes from loading the photos into Lightroom, culling down the number to a usable number, editing, white balance, etc, as well as exporting the photos back out.

I only use Photoshop when someone actually orders a photo and I need to do more extensive editing on it.

Ksenia

[Kai]

I just looked through all those links. Wow! However I didn't see anything about if it only works on cs2. I have 4 elements and photoshop 6?

[italianfemmy]

Someone else posted something about exposing for the dress. And they were told to expose for the dress, lighten the face in lightroom and use a highlight recovery slider to bring back the detail in the dress. Can you only do this in lightroom? Not cs2? Is it that much better at this? Because if so.. I need it! lol

[sm1rf]

I just looked through all those links. Wow! However I didn't see anything about if it only works on cs2. I have 4 elements and photoshop 6?

Lightroom is a standalone product, and very good:D, so far so good anyway.

[wilky95]

I use lightroom for quick edit proofing and 1st stage work to print pictures, which I then fine tune if needed in cs2.
Get it you will love it, you can down load a trial version from the site if you wish lasts 30days I think.

Martin

[italianfemmy]

I went ahead and purchased it since that special price from her school is only good for this week. Worst case scenario, if I don't like it.. I can sell it and am sure someone will jump on it brand new for 110 bucks.

[joruiz]

You'll love it!

[Ulfius]

I went ahead and purchased it since that special price from her school is only good for this week. Worst case scenario, if I don't like it.. I can sell it and am sure someone will jump on it brand new for 110 bucks.

FYI, any student, staff or faculty member can get Lightroom for $99 on a regular basis. It's part of Adobe's academic pricing like many others have.

http://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=20061036

[italianfemmy]

Now you tell me, now that I paid 110! lol. It's cool though. 10 bucks isn't that big of a deal.

[liza]

FYI, any student, staff or faculty member can get Lightroom for $99 on a regular basis. It's part of Adobe's academic pricing like many others have.

http://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=20061036

Here's another link for academic discounts:

www.academicsuperstore.com

Last time I checked, you could get CS3 with all the bells and whistles for $589. That was for teachers, but I assume students get the same discount.

[AMeyer]

I lurve me some Lightroom! :lol:

Alicia, I've gotten to where I only open CS2 to do creative editing - actions to tweak color, etc. The big plus for me was that Lightroom allows you to edit the white balance on JPEG's. And the sliders are so much more easier to use - a lot less clicking than I was doing in CS2.

[GertS]

Alicia,

I'm using Lightroom (LR) now after DPP 3.0 and have used it for two weddings and heaps of other shots so far.
LR is great for sorting images, I don't use the other library functions at all, as I create for all new jobs a new library (at the same location). Huge libraries with over 1000 images slow LR down, you need RAM in your computer (2 GB is fine).
At first I had heaps of problems (not shooting weddings so far) that the colors were not the same as in CS2. :( Found a solution after several tries and combinations.

My work flow with LR and a wedding is that I download all files from my cameras and merge them in the correct order (with a self written tool).
After backing up all files on an extra HD, I create a new library with LR and import all files. You can't import large numbers of images in one step, best are steps of about 800 images. Important is sorting by name if your cameras don't use the same time base (as mine).
After all images are imported, I turn the portrait ones in the correct order, I don't use the functions of the camera, as it's not useful for a quick review in portrait mode, as you mostly have the camera still the same way.
After this I start reducing the images. Therefore I increase the size of the lower thumbnails and remove the upper headline that I get more space for viewing the image (I have a 24" TFT which is still to small with 1600*1200, just kidding)
With larger thumbnails at the bottom I have the overview of a series and above I can see whether the image is ok or not. Something I see that it's useless is immediately gone. If I have a series, I select the best shots of the series, the rest is gone.
After removing all shots I don't want to keep, I sort the remaining with a one character and a four digit continuous number like A_0001, A_0002, .... . The reason is that LR doesn't delete completely (unless you use the menu and waste time with many extra clicks), it removes them only and this way I can see clearly which is gone due the different name and delete them outside.
My next step is finding sections and I jot the ranges down.
Then leaving LR and creating directories for the different sections and copying the file into these.
For each section I delete the old LR library with all files and backups and create a new one. Import the files of the section and edit them. Renaming them at the end of all and deleting the no longer used files. The last step is that I rename all files in that way that the first section starts with A_, the second with B_ and so on.
The reason is that this way I can copy all files at the end together and rename them with a new name like "Img_####". This way the sections have no name conflict when copying together. ;)
Always adding files to a library creates a lot of overhead files which is not longer valid. I noticed it when a backup showed me the file names when copied to the external drive. :confused:

All files are exported as 16 bit Tiffs and sRGB for corrections in CS2. This can demand a lot of disk space. I don't mind as I have 1500 GB HD space in my desktop.

Most of the work is done in LR, then I do corrections in CS2 if necessary. Mostly there are minor points.
Finally all Tiffs are exported to JPeg.

From time to time LR produces an out of memory error. Just close it and restart with the same library again.

That's my workflow. Others may use it a different way.

Regarding your other question regarding highlight recovering, LR has more options than the raw converter in CS2. It works, but don't expect wonders, best is exporting several images of the same raw file and merging them as HDR together.
Unfortunately in LR 1.0 the export of clones DOESN'T work well if you export a set. So I gave up that option too. :(

LR is no matter of the bugs in the version 1.0 a useful tool for working efficient when converting images. ;) It takes some time / tries to know the options and how it works, but other tools need this too.
At the first moment I was very unhappy with LR but after finding the correct color combination with CS2, it's fine.

Gert

[liza]

From what I understand, Lightroom is sort of a jazzed up version of Raw Shooter Premium. And there are a number of free Lightroom presets out there, also.

[PuR HART]

Last wedding i shot I did 90% in Lightroom it is not my substitute it is tool for editing multiple photos quickly i luv it

[thebrewer]

don't forget the free presets available here

http://www.ononesoftware.com/photopresets-wow.php

Rich