Digital BW, The Print

I see a lot of posts here relative to editing with Lightroom.   A few general comments that I think a lot of people miss.

1.    If your processing RAW files you should be aware that the RAW engine in Lightroom is equal to or better than that in Photoshop.    If your using anything less than CS 5 you are missing out on a lot of benefits in the RAW processing of Lightroom 3 or Photoshop CS5.   The Beta of Lightroom 4 has a new RAW processing engine which I would expect to show up in CS6.    If your using pre Lightroom 3 and Photoshop less that CS5 then you are missing out on some significant improvements in terms of general RAW processing and in particular Noise Reduction and Sharpening.   Going to Lightroom 4 brings a whole new level to RAW processing.     I believe in the digital age how your software process RAW files is at the heart of creating great images.

2.   Going to Lightroom 4 brings a whole new level of capability in terms of local adjustments in terms of selective noise reduction and many other local editing.

3.  Certainly photoshop is really the only way to for in-depth local editing but getting a batch of images ready for PS I believe Lightroom to be invaluable.

Paul




On Feb 10, 2012, at 11:01 AM, Andrew Darlow wrote:

> Hi Frank:
> 
> I agree that LR 2 is not up to task for serious image editing, but I believe Lightroom 3 can do the job well. It's not as full-featured as Photoshop, but it is very powerful. If you'd like to view a one hour video that I recorded recently on tips and techniques for using the Develop module in LR3, you can view it here:
> 
> http://vimeo.com/36076968
> The password is: d14a5
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Andrew
> 
> Andrew Darlow
> Editor, The Imaging Buffet
> http://www.imagingbuffet.com
> Author, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques:
> An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers - http://www.inkjettips.com
> and
> Pet Photography 101: 
> Tips for Taking Better Photos of Your Dog or Cat - http://www.PhotoPetTips.com
> http://facebook.com/andrewdarlow
> 
> On Feb 10, 2012, at 11:44 AM, njfranknj wrote:
> 
> > As a mostly hobby photographer with a small amount of exhibition work, I find it most useful as a fast import device with the ability to do my first cut editing before using APS6 for heavy-duty editing, final adjustments and printing.
> > 
> > Like some of you, I obviously don't want to spend the time it takes to have to learn a new program every time something *NEW* shows up, thus the APS6 and LR2.7 - they have what I need, I know and can use effortlessly, with a decade of experience in the case of APS6 (I've tested versions of CS and found it to be unbearably slow, in comparison, and too different to re-learn; there are some tools I wish I had, but they aren't worth the cost).
> > 
> > LR is useless for serious image editing, but great for importing hundreds of images quickly and making initial adjustments of images with right-shifted exposure out of the camera, light initial sharpening and keep/delete decisions.
> > 
> > I tested LR3 on my Intel Core 7 PC and found it to be no improvement over 2.7, but 4 beta on a Win7-64 clean install on the same machine might be a worthwhile upgrade for me, being faster and having a simplified top-down editing workflow that actually makes sense to me.
> > 
> > My take-away experience is: use what works for you, not what you think is supposed to be the hot-shot setup.
> > 
> > 
> 
> 



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