A Review of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0

Adobe has really pulled out all the stops to come up with a really good photo workflow management tool that is unsurpassed in the market at the moment. I find that managing digital photos and the digital photography 'workflow' (i.e. image capture, editing, sharing) is a tedious task.

There are not many software tools out there to help manage your digital photos yet provide in-depth editing capabilities.

Adobe Photoshop Elements provides some capabilities, but it is essentially a 'lightweight' program that is more suitable for novices. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 compares well with ACDSee, which is a more 'prosumer' image editing and digital photo workflow program.

1. Introduction

What is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom? Well, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is 'a tool to simplify photography from shoot to finish'. At least that is what the sales literature says. On the whole, the software does a good job in fulfilling that promise. With modules like Library, Develop, Slideshow, Web, and Print, you can do basically anything you want to a digital photo in the program. The Library and Develop modules are the meat of the program, while the rest are more secondary features.

2. The Library Module

The Library Module in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 is the part of the program where all images are displayed and managed. If you want a bird's eye view of all the digital photos in your system, this is where you lay it all out.

This is a good feature, but I do find it slightly less intuitive than Apple's iPhoto - which is first-class in its ability to navigate thousands of photos at once. The Library Module allows you to use multiple monitors to display photos if you so wish.

3. The Develop Module

If you're interested in non-destructive editing of JPEG, TIFF, PSD, DNG (and more than 200 camera RAW formats), then Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is the tool for you.

One thing good about Adobe's products is their intensive integration with Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is no exception - you can easily search and find images, then edit them with full integration to the larger Adobe Photoshop editing program. Lightroom lets you very easily edit images with some built-in functions of its own. But for more heavy duty image editing and layering effects, you should still use Adobe Photoshop.

4. The Slideshow Module

What good is a digital image workflow program if it does not allow you to create photo slideshows to share with others? Well, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 allows you to easily do that. You'll be amazed by the simple point-and-click way in which you can set up a bunch of digital photos to be incorporated into a slideshow. You can then burn those slideshows onto CD or DVD if you wish.

However, I do find that the slideshow capabilities not as intuitive and simple as Ulead CD & DVD PictureShow (which is THE tool I use on a day-to-day basis to cut out quick DVD copies of my photos for my friends and family).

5. The Web Module

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom also allows you to send your digital photos off to the web to show a client (or anyone else) pictures online. This is a good way to share your photos if you've got an broadband access to the Internet. Of course, nothing beats setting up your own domain and setting up a digital photo website or getting an account with a professional photo sharing community like Smugmug.

6. The Print Module

Ok, the final module we will look at in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is the Print Module. The Print Module allows you to print out your photos in a variety of layouts. In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0, print quality and versatility are improved over version 1.0. You can also print photos to JPEG format and there is a print sharpening system to create better looking prints. Of course, make sure you get a good photo printer for printing those pictures.

Conclusion

Well, and that's it! I hope this article has given you some good insight into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 and how it helps you as a digital photographer. Until next time, good luck to you and have a good time taking pictures!