Digital BW, The Print

While there are many nice things about LR, there are also some MAJOR
disappointments. It may have become more stable with 1.3, but 1.2 was an
unstable beast. It has limitations, and not to be over looked one, for
cataloging an archive. If you have many large files that you’d like to keep
track of it may leave you wanting. As a processing tool it is very nice. As
a data management/digital asset management tool I believe it has a long way
to go. I continue to use it, though not much for B&W conversion as I use
Real Grain to do much of that. 

 

Eric Neilsen Photo

4101 Commerce Street, Suite 9

Dallas, TX 75226

214 827-8301

 

http://ericneilsenphotography.com

SKype ejprinter

 

  _____  

From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of James
Haney
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 11:38 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Adobe Lightroom?

 


My opinion of Lightroom:

I have totally changed my workflow with Lightroom at the center.

Importing:
I use it to import my images from my DF cards.
In one step:
Copy as DNG to a main folder defined for the current year
Lightroom automatically creates a folder here named however you 
want, but I have it make a folder named YYYY-MM-DD
(Lightroom automatically determines the correct entries for these 
date values.)
Renames in coming files using capture date and unique ID
(you can define this a million different ways to suit your 
purposes as user-defined presets)
Make a backup copy to a server directory (or another drive etc.)
Apply a basic set of values as a good baseline
I include copyright, date, my name, address, phone, web address, etc.
Batch apply and embed meta-data and keywords
I quick-tag using the subject of the shoot or anything that 
applies to the whole shoot
At this point they are represented in the Lightroom database as a 
Folder

Reviewing:
I move through the shoot either promoting or demoting individual 
images. (Flags)
(Keyboard command to batch-delete demoted images)
Multiple, powerful compare modes help select the best images

Rough edit, visualization
At this point, I use one of the most powerful tools of the system, I 
create VIrtual Copies of the images I want to convert to black and 
white.
A virtual copy is a set of meta-data that points to the original 
image source data, but filters it through a separate set of values.
This Virtual Copy I open in the Develop module where I convert it 
to Black and White, apply sharpening, cropping, rotation, and a 
million other options. - This Virtual copy is not a duplicate of the 
source image, it is just a set of XML data that specifies how to 
process the file. each virtual copy takes up about 32k of space and 
there is no limit to how many you have.

I put the Virtual Copies for the project into a Lightroom Collection.
This is just a shopping basket of sorts that allows you to group a 
set of images (or Virtual Copies) into a manageable and meaningful set.

Batch export for review
Export rough edited images as jpegs (or any other format) if I need 
to show them to clients or to post on the web. Lightroom has some 
absolutely amazing Web export modules.

Production
I use the tools in the Lightroom Develop module to do all of my 
global color and tone control.
High light and shadow point setting (Levels)
Basic tone curves
B&W conversion
Capture sharpening
This is done with a very critical eye. The tools in this module are 
basically identical to those in Adobe Camera Raw, but I think work 
better and are far more easily accomplished in the context of the 
Lightroom interface.

Export to Photoshop
Every tool has its purpose and its limits.
Even though you can do cloning in Lightroom, it is only useful for 
very basic edits.
I do all local, regional or pixel based editing in Photoshop.

I control-click on the image in LR and choose "Edit with Photoshop"
This presents me with a dialog box where I choose "Edit a Copy with 
Lightroom adjustments", "16 bit TIFF" and "Stack with Original"
You end up with a TIFF image in the same folder as the source 
image. You can specify how you want LR to name files that it creates. 
I append "_v01" to the end of the name.
The file opens as an RGB TIFF file in PS. (If your image was 
converted to pure black and white in LR then Red, Green, and Blue 
values are all identical. conversion to Greyscale will not change the 
tone of the images) Discussion of LR split toning is another discussion)
All of your LR adjustments have been applied to this image, so it 
will look just like it did in LR.
I created a Photoshop action that:
Converts to Greyscale
Creates some basic curve layers that I always use with the names I 
want them to have
Now I am off to the races!

In PS I have way more control of the image, I can softproof (not 
available in LR), etc.

When you save the file and go back to LR you will find a new image in 
the folder, and collection you were in before. This is the TIFF file 
you created.

You can re-open it from LR with "Edit with Photoshop" and choose 
instead "Edit Original." This will launch the TIFF version.

Interestingly, you can make additional edits using Lightroom Develop 
tools on the B&W TIF file. This gets a little strange and complicated 
to understand but basically, it just works!

In previous version of Lightroom I could not get QuadTone RIP to 
print properly. However, suddenly, with version 1.3, I use the QTR- 
RGB profile and I can use the truly outstanding Print module of 
Lightroom to print individual files, groups of images, crop on the 
fly without changing the image in Photoshop, without even opening the 
file in Photoshop.

If I sound like a true believer, I am.

I spend so much more of my time editing and producing images and far, 
far less time managing files, creating scripts, investigating various 
tools and re-inventing my process every 2 months to incorporate an 
change in technology.

In my portrait work, I used to spend 2 hours getting a batch of 
images imported, renamed, in iView, tagged with meta-data, roughly 
edited to make them presentable and exported to the software I use 
for client presentation and editing. I used three Applescripts, a 
shareware program and iView Media Pro. Now this is all done in about 
15 minutes, with one program.

I have used all of the RGB-B&W conversion utilities out there and 
there is nothing that is any better than the tools in LR in my 
opinion. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Besides purchasing Photoshop, Lightroom is the best money I have ever 
spent on software.

my 40¢

James Haney

 



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