Photophys.com: The Science of Photography

Well exposed images from a DSLR usually do not look very good right out of the camera.  Accordingly, most of us have learned that post processing is necessary to get the most out of our images.  I have used Photoshop for many years to process my RAW images, but I did not have a good way to handle my growing collection of images.  Adode Lightroom seemed to provide an answer for database management and, in addition, offered developing and printing capabilities.  However, my initial attempts to use Lightroom were not very successful because I did not know how to use its many features.  I tried to read books about Lightroom, but my attention span is not very long when I don't know what I am looking for.

For me this problem has been solved.  I took a chance and ordered The Luminous Landscape Guide to Lightroom 2 by Michael Reichmann and Jeff Schewe.  I am not big on training videos, but this one is a winner.  There are nine lessons in 40 parts that guide the user through the the five modules (Library, Develop, Print, Slideshow, and Web) in seven hours.  I watched all seven hours working along in Lightroom, and now I refer back to individual parts as I need them.  As a result my workflow has completely changed.  I load images from my camera onto my harddisk and then import them into my Lightroom catalog.  The images are first rated and keyworded.  Then I open the winners, one by one, in the Develop module and work through cropping, exposure adjustment, etc.  The beauty of this is that every step is reversible and the history of steps is saved.  Furthermore, additional large image copies are not being created and saved along the way because we are just making a list of modifications to the RAW file. Occasionally, I find the need to edit an image in Photoshop when major changes, such as large scale cloning, are required.  Also, I go to Photomatix through the Lightroom plugin, but I basically do everything from Lightroom.

Finally, the Print module is great!  I make presets for printer settings, print sizes, and paper types.  I can also make virtual copies of the image in Lightroom for different crop sizes.  I am still learning, but I can't imagine going back to the old ways for printing images.  I have not mentioned the Slideshow and Web modules because I have not used them.  My slide shows are still Powerpoint presentations, and I make web galleries that do not require the Adobe Flash Player.