Lightroom or editing in Camera Raw

[Jola]

I read that a lot of people use Lightroom.
I use camera Raw first to edit my photo's, before I go to Photoshop.

Can someone tell me the diference between those two? Am i missing out on something ?

[katrinak]

I use both Photoshop and Lightroom for editing my photos.

I load my photos from the card into Lightroom. In Lightroom I can:
give each a keyword
flag for printing
flag for scrapping
delete any blurry/unusable

After importing them I can go to the Develop module to:
Set the white balance
Exposure
Black levels
Contrast
Vibrance
Add a preset
Resize or straighten

The benefit of these steps in Lightroom over PS is they are literally all on one screen with each being a simple slide to adjust. PResets are a one click and done step. Once I edit one photo in a series I can SYNCH every other photo in the series by selecting them and clicking the button synch.

Lightroom also has Smart Collections which lets me set a keyword or attribute for a photo and they are automatically placed into a group I can sort through. I use it for my POTD, Fave photos, and photos I want to give to others.

From Lightroom I choose Edit in PS and open my photos in PS. I sharpen, use noiseware and get rid of any extra features from my 4 year old's nose as needed. I then save as JPG and I'm done The PS steps can be performed in LR as well but I prefer using PS for them.

HOpe this helps!

[roxygirl78]

So I have a question for you Katrina, when I upload my pics now, I do it through Windows and then I edit them either in its program or in Photoshop later. But there is just one copy on my computer...if I were to upload them through LR and then edit them like you say, will there be a set saved like normal on my C drive under photos or whatever and then another set under an Adobe/LR folder? Does this make sense? will it save my pictures twice and take up space? An EHD is so far out of my realm right now that I'm trying to keep my memory within check and with all the photos I've been taking lately...well, you know!

I played with LR once and am now very intrigued to try it with your breakdown of your flow. Manuals can tell you how to do stuff, but you gave it a real personal how-to spin on it. thanks!

[deanie]

Maybe I can answer this for you- your photos are saved wherever you desire, be it your C drive or an EHD. Your work in LR is done on a virtual copy and when you are finished with your edits in LR and PS and make a jpg. for the web, printing, etc. that is stored with your original photos in the original folder.

[DesignerDigitals]

One thing that I do on import to LR is convert my RAW images to DNG files AND have the RAW images saved to a separate place (EHD for me).

[ccblue]

I've been using raw to do a lot of the things that some people do in LR. When you make changes in Raw you don't actually change your photo it creates an XML file that stores what changes you asked for (xml files are very small). Those changes are also reversable. I did download the free beta version of LR and while it had some of the newer features (that I would have if I had CS4) I struggled working with it. I haven't been using Raw that long, but I guess I've found my groove with it. I've found that most of the time the changes I made in Raw are enough and I don't need to get a separate DNG or PSD or PNG file saving that much needed space. Raw allows you to save as DNG, PSD and PNG if you want to. I did get a book Raw 101 from Amazon that was very helpful and gave you all the steps. I should probably do the same for LR to figure out what I'm missing or just get comfortable with it.

[Jola]

Thank you all for the information. After I read it, I don't know if Lightroom gives me more extra. I have CS4 and download all my pictures in Bridge. In Bridge I can tag my pictures to .In Raw I do al those things you can do in Lr . ( whitebalance, exposure, etc. ), after that, I edit in Ps. But I will download the free trial from Lr and see if it works out for me :>)

[katrinak]

Synching is A LIFESAVER and SO much easier to edit than in Bridge. Give the trial a try, ask questions, see what you think