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171 of 174 people found the following review helpful:
Full Featured Workflow
I am not a professional but I have alot of photos I need to keep organized. I used iPhoto, but between it and Photoshop, there were some steps that just slowed down the process. Basically Lightroom is a combination of an organizational application with basic photo editing capabilities. It integrates well with Photoshop for more advanced editing. For my family snapshots...
Published 23 months ago by Nikon131
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116 of 128 people found the following review helpful:
Lightroom 2 vs Aperture 2
I can only tackle a review of Lightroom 2 from the perspective of a Mac user, since I do all my photo editing on a Macbook Pro. I also must confess at the outset that I am primarily an Aperture user, so I'll keep my brief comments focused on comparing LR vs Aperture.
First, unboxing... upon opening the LR2 box, I was greeted with a couple of ads for some...
Published 21 months ago by Guy Elden Jr.
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171 of 174 people found the following review helpful:
Full Featured Workflow, September 26, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
I am not a professional but I have alot of photos I need to keep organized. I used iPhoto, but between it and Photoshop, there were some steps that just slowed down the process. Basically Lightroom is a combination of an organizational application with basic photo editing capabilities. It integrates well with Photoshop for more advanced editing. For my family snapshots though I rarely have to edit outside of Lightroom.
Navigating:
==========
Basic key commands:
G - Grid view, thumbnails of your photos
E - Loupe, highlighted photo fullscreen
D - Single photo in Develop mode
C - Compare, see two photos side by side, nice when you are looking for the perfect shot.
Command+Option+5 - Web module, I use this frequently to upload behind my site, via Lightroom's ftp upload option.
Command [ or ] - rotates image CW and CCW
Organization:
==========
I am an organization obsessive, especially about my family photos. I have all of my photos on an external drive and LR is pointed to them. There are basically two types of "folders" in LR Folders and Collections.
-Folders
are just that, they refer to the physical folders/subfolders on your hard-drive and reflect the same structure in LR. If you have a folder named 2008>January>01 on your hard-drive, it will be so within LR. When you import into LR you can choose to 1. add photos without moving. 2. copy them to a new location. or 3. move them to a new location.
-Collections
are "virtual folders" within LR and these actually do not move the photo physically on your hard-drive. This is nice because you may have some photos you want to print, you just drag the thumbnails into a collection folder and you don't have to worry about it floating around somewhere on your computer. (when you actually delete a photo in LR it gives you the option of removing from Lightroom only or remove it from completely from your hard-drive) A new feature of LR 2 is the addition of smart collections. There are many options of smart collections, I use them to collect top rated photos. Here is how. You add a new smart collection which takes you into a little sub menu, where you can set how this folder collects photos. I have one called "top rated" which any photo from my folders rated 4 or 5 stars goes into this collection. So where you can drag and drop your favorite photos into collections you can also set these parameters and LR will do the organization for you. Love this feature. You can set smart folders my rating (0-5 stars) color label, dates... and a couple more options I haven't explored yet. As you can imagine there are countless different ways of making these...
-Importing
I basically plug my memory card into my computer and LR asks if I want to import. I have it set to create a physical folder on my hard-drive and import there. So my photos are organized on import. At this time there are options of renaming the whole set of photos with a custom name for example "las vegas 2008 vacation_etc......jpg"
Editing:
==========
This is basically the photoshop part of Lightroom, you have basic editing tools in the Loupe (E) but you need to go to Develop Mode/Module (D) for more advanced editing. You basically have control of color in LR, for example, white balance, hue, temperature, tint, brightness, saturation, curve...etc There is also allowances for Lens correction, noise reduction, sharpening, etc. You can do cropping in develop mode as well, which is very simple.
A couple of new tools in LR 2.0, I have only started to play around with are Spot Removal and Adjustment Brush. Spot removal tool comes up like the stamp tool in photoshop, where if you have a spot of dust or a pixel you want to get rid of. This is a two step tool, where you first choose the spot you want to remove, (say a dark spot on someone's cheek) next you choose the area of the photo you want to replace the spot with (a clean area of the person's cheek) and voila the spot is gone. The adjustment brush is nice to have because you can overexpose, underexpose, adjust the contrast, brightness, saturation with a brush tool. This is something I didn't expect out of LR so I will definitely be exploring this tool.
You can also edit in Photoshop pretty seamlessly out of LR. You can edit the original (100.jpg will be the one you will be editing in PS) and see the effects back in LR. Edit a copy in PS (100-edit.jpg will be created in your hard-drive and see it next to the original in LR. Also Edit in PS with LR adjustments, any edits in LR will be exported out into PS.
One thing to keep in mind is that any edit done in LR are NOT HARD EDITS. Meaning, you do not affect the original image until you export that image out of LR. The edits are stored in LR until you do an export out into PS or into a folder on your desktop. Until then all photos can be restored back to their original state.
-Presets:
This is a fun part of LR. Lightroom comes already with some basic presets, which instead of remembering all the steps you took to edit one photo, you can save these steps into "presets". So in Develop mode you adjust the, hue, curve, temperature, detail, saturation..etc. of a photo, and you can save it as a preset, call it "preset outdoor" or something and then you can apply this preset to one or dozens of photos at once. Voila. There are lots of free presets already out there. (do a google search. the flickr lightroom group is a good source for learning) You can also cut and paste the edits of a particular photo and paste in onto a group of photos as well.
Web Module:
==========
This is also fun too. Basically you enter in your web ftp info into LR and tell it to point to a subfolder on your site. (www.website.com/gallery1) and this is where you upload the galleries too. LR comes with a few prepackaged galleries and flash galleries, you select your photos, choose the web template, edit the template (background color, type etc. and upload. and it's really that simple you have uploaded a gallery behind your site. Obviously you need to learn the basics, but before I had to upload with a ftp client, create the html etc.
All in all, Lightroom really is a fantastic tool. I am still learning alot about it. And I know there are people who prefer Aperture and I will try it out to compare, but LR just felt right for me. Try out the 30 day free trial, test out as much as you can, It is not a cheap program but if you are as excited about this stuff it really is a great tool. Cheers.
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57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
Great resource, August 30, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
Lightroom 2 is a great resource for photographers, combining cataloging, development and print capabilities. The develop module is the knockout here. It's similar in many respects to Photoshop's Camera Raw, but in my opinion the Lightroom interface is superior. Though it's easy to open images in Photoshop, Lightroom's local adjustment brush often makes that additional step unnecessary, and the saving in file size is significant. I'm also a fan of Photoshop, but given its high price, those who don't have it already should consider whether Lightroom alone satisfies their needs.
The lack of a printed manual is regrettable, but a pdf version is available from Adobe at http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Lightroom/2.0/lightroom_2_help.pdf.
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111 of 120 people found the following review helpful:
Weird, Wild and Wonderful, October 15, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
This is the story of three bears. Papa Bear, AKA Photoshop, Mama Bear, AKA Lightroom, and Baby Bear, AKA Bridge. Papa Bear carries the weight and does the heavy lifting. Mama Bear organizes everything and gets lots of important work done behind the scenes. Baby Bear is smaller, but still important to the family. Together, the three bears are a powerful family, especially to the photographers who revere and adore them.
Okay, lets kick the bear metaphor to the curb and take a look at this marvelous thing we call Lightroom 2. Who needs it? You do, if you are an enthusiast amateur or professional photographer. You need it if you take hundreds of photos every week and you have thousands of photos in your archives. You need it if you shoot events--reunions, weddings, mitzvahs, company events--and you have to output hundreds of photos in a relatively short time. Lightroom is that part of your workflow.
The moment you pop the installation DVD into your computer, you'll want to start playing with your photos. Resist the temptation. Take a few minutes to personalize the interface by customizing the Identity Plate and Module picker. You can also set up the Panel End Marks and image background. (This is especially handy if you occasionally have clients looking over your shoulder.) Don't forget to set up the interface preferences to suit your style.
Lightroom is a collection of five specific modules: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web.
The process begins by importing photos into the Lightroom 2 Library. You'll recognize a process similar to bridge. You'll add keywords and import your photos. There are Grid and Loupe views. You can compare two photos or view multiple photos. In the greater scheme of things, you'll create catalogs of large collections of your photos.
One of the features which is often underutilized but wonderfully helpful is the rating system. You have the option to sort your photos by giving them a 0-5 star rating. You can also add more specific keywords to individual photos or specific groups of photos. Taking time early on an paying attention to these mundane labeling tasks pays off big time down the road. Weeks, months and years pass, but thanks to your diligent attention to keywords and ratings, you are able to pull up just the photos you want quickly and easily.
The Develop module is where you can get in there and play with your photos. Time for processing. Go wild and change the color temperature and tint, adjust the exposure, brightness and contrast. Make changes with the Recovery, Fill Light, Blacks, Clarity Vibrance, and Saturation sliders. If you're still not satisfied, you can call up the adjustment brush and lighten shadows by changing the exposure in a specific
area. If that's not enough, you can open up and use the Detail tool. Next, you have the Vignette tool to separate the background from the foreground.
Wait, there's more. You have a crop tool as well, and with a few keystrokes you can enlarge the virtual image and view it against a plain, black background.
The range of possibilities in the Develop module is stunning. You have to pinch yourself every-once-in-a-while and chant, "Lightroom is not a stand-alone product. It doesn't replace Photoshop." The line where Lightroom ends and Photoshop begins can get a little blurry.
Now that your image is the picture of perfection, you can head to the Print module. Here you'll find a nice selection of Lightroom templates for various printing options like 2-up Greeting Card, Contact Sheets, Triptych or Fine Art Mat to name a few.
So, what's new in this version of Lightroom? I mentioned the Adjustment Brush and the Post-Crop Vignette. Lightroom 2 also has improved speed, better and stronger integration with Photoshop, better printing, the keywording feature has more muscle, you can use multiple monitors and the Library, Slideshow, Web and Print modules are beefier and more useful. One particularly important area of improvement is in the Find, Filter and Sort features.
I don't want to give short shrift to the Slideshow, Web and Print modules. Like other modules in Lightroom 2, they are deliciously rich and full-featured. One of my personal favorites is the Slideshow feature. I use it frequently and enthusiastically. There are so many amazing ways to utilize your photos in slideshows.
Lightroom 2 is fantastically feature-rich. You'll probably buy it for Library module, but don't cheat yourself by not taking advantage of all the other Modules. Consider it your license to creatively liberate yourself. It can be your photo-fun place. Lightroom truly is a weird, wild and wonderful thing. Download a free, 30-day trial at www.adobe.com and give it a test drive.
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116 of 128 people found the following review helpful:
Lightroom 2 vs Aperture 2, November 25, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I can only tackle a review of Lightroom 2 from the perspective of a Mac user, since I do all my photo editing on a Macbook Pro. I also must confess at the outset that I am primarily an Aperture user, so I'll keep my brief comments focused on comparing LR vs Aperture.
First, unboxing... upon opening the LR2 box, I was greeted with a couple of ads for some Photoshop magazine, and a standard DVD case with the disc inside. Nowhere did I see any documentation - no manual, no "quick start" guide, not so much as a scrap of paper indicating what Lightroom was, or what I was supposed to do with it once I stuck the disc in my Mac's drive. This is in stark contrast to the Aperture user experience, which includes a very nice, comprehensive getting started guide, as well as the full 400+ page Aperture manual on disc. Yes, that's right, Adobe doesn't even include the manual on the disc! It does include many versions of the Adobe reader, 40MB or so for each language, all there to read the whopping 40KB readme file.
Ok... so Adobe doesn't get the whole end-user experience... fine. On to the application itself. Metadata tagging seemed sufficient, if not a bit tedious. I've found that the tools provided in Aperture for metadata manipulation work really well, and provide a lot of flexibility for different situations. I often tag images to indicate what state they are in, and can assign them to hotkeys to make that process go by very quickly. I couldn't quite figure out how to do that in LR - perhaps it's possible, but it wasn't obvious, particularly without any documentation.
The develop tab is probably the most powerful feature of Lightroom, and in that respect, it absolutely outshines Aperture. Adobe has built by far the most comprehensive graphic manipulation software ever in the form of Photoshop, and they incorporate elements from it that most photographers want in a very elegant, streamlined interface. The same standard of applying edits on top of a master image apply both in LR and Aperture, so you never need to worry about damaging your originals. I think some of the tools in Aperture for comparing images side by side, stacks, picks, etc would do well in LR, but apart from that I like the overall output generated by LR from raw files compared to Aperture.
The only other tab I really examined is the Print tab - this is where I was hoping LR 2 would completely obliterate my need for QImage, a Windows program I still use (on a Parallels / Bootcamp partition) for printing images. Unfortunately I could never get any of the picture package type layouts to work the way I want them. I think again that lack of documentation killed any motivation I had for even trying to figure this out, but I did play around with it for a good 15 - 20 minutes. All I wanted was to have different sized images layed out in an optimal arrangement on a large 8.5 x 11 glossy sheet, but it just didn't work for various reasons - either I had to use only one image, repeated multiple times, or the layout wasn't tightly spaced, wasting lots of paper. This area showed lots of promise, but I just couldn't manage to get it to work.
Go ahead and give LR a try before you buy - you may have more patience / time than I did for the learning curve, but without documentation, it is really ridiculous for Adobe to expect anybody to give LR a second glance when there are much better and more fully developed alternatives available.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Finally! A working version of Lightroom!, December 4, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I'm sure many advanced/experienced Photoshop CS3 users are wondering if they should purchase CS4 or switch to Lightroom 2.1 as their primary image processing application. Without making you read further, I'll state now that for me, Photoshop is and will continue to be absolutely necessary; Lightroom is what many will recognize as a "90% application" (meaning you can handle 90% of your processing needs) but it's not a complete PS replacement; or at least not yet.
*IMPORTANT* - There is NO real Help information in the application itself. Please go to Adobe's site and download the Lightroom 2.0 PDF help file for more information.
Answering the LR purchase question is best understood by knowing what you'll gain and what you'll lose with a LR only solution. In some cases, for advance users, the loss can be significant.
Skilled CS3/CS4 ACR users will understand Lightroom's Develop module without trouble. The controls are all there, plus a few more. While LR offers a few new tools, its primary benefits are a unified interface and streamlined workflow, or way of working. It's not revolutionary, but more of a refinement of how photographers work with images. Again, remember that while LR gives some things to you, it also takes some things away.
Here are a few things you'll GAIN by using LR either alone or in conjunction with PS CS3/CS4
1) Streamlined workflow. The LR interface is attractive, modern, clean, organized, and designed for photographers. As opposed to viewing in Bridge (and hoping it didn't crash), adjusting in ACR, and finally opening images in PS for final processing/saving, you'll work in one unified application and easily switch between modules (i.e., Library module to Develop module) with a key stroke or single click. It's very nice.
2) The "Adjustment brush". This new feature - which provides targeted/localized modifications to exposure, sharpening, etc. all without the use of visible masks and layers - is probably the most notable new tool in LR (N.B. it's also in PS CS4). The adjustment brush helps makes up for the loss of selections/layers. See "what you'll lose" below.
3) A great set of Creative preset "looks". Adobe allows you to easily convert your photos to new a look such as Cyanotype, Cold Tone, Sepia, Direct Positive, et. al. This can open new avenues for your work and it's quite fun. Update - This really is a great feature.....
4) A "preserved" history states panel. In PS, once you close an image the history states are gone. LR preserves them and this is a big step forward. It's almost like having a "smart object" in PS.
5) New ways of working with your printer, creating a slideshow, or putting your images on the web. You've been able to do all this in PS for years as well, but these were sometimes more difficult for new/intermediate users and may have required extra features such as AMG (Adobe Media Gallery).
Here are a few things you'll LOSE with a LR only solution.
1) Layers --- You'll lose layers; both real and adjustment layers. This can be a major loss to some experienced users.
2) Alternate color modes --- such as LAB and CMYK. If you've become fluent in LAB and love all its associated power, you'll be disappointed to be without it. CMYK is also gone, but that's not going to affect many photographers today using RGB printers.
3) Selections --- of any kind and access to individual channels (e.g. no alpha channels). See LR's Adjustment brush above for a partial offset to this problem.
4) Fine tuning in curves --- There's no ability to move the end points (think using levels) for quick curves adjustments. Obviously there is no levels adjustment either.
5) Perspective correction --- Some of us use TSE or perspective correcting lenses, but sometimes you may need to correct something in an image if you're not aligned correctly. It can't be done in LR.
6) HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Photomerge (for panoramas) capabilities --- Granted, there are stand alone applications that perform these functions and probably do it better than PS, but at an added expense.
Conclusion - LR 1.0 was a destructive fiasco, and is the worst commercial application (bar none) I've ever used. On a Vista PC I experienced every disastrous error possible (took weeks to recover from the "importing" mess) and that experience left a bad taste in my mouth for LR and Adobe.
LR 2.0+ has changed everything. I believe Adobe has redeemed itself nicely and at this point, I'd suggest that anyone thinking about buying it, and willing to give up the more advanced image control PS provides, should go ahead and buy it. Adobe has released an exemplary application (though still containing some bugs)that should please most, even tough customers like me. It took them an extra 18 months from their LR 1.0 release, but this application is focused, competent, and fun to use. So why am I rating it 4 stars and not 5? The reason is that LR is not a PS replacement; it's a very capable front end (Bridge/ACR replacement) that can handle most of your image processing needs. If an image requires something extra though, it's still off to Photoshop for the heavy lifting.
Other thoughts - If you also do print layouts requiring text, web development, minor 3D or time-lapse photography, you really don't have a choice and must continue using Photoshop. Remember, for image processing you can do everything in PS CS4 that you can do in LR. If cost is no object, definitely buy both. If you're interested in doing video work too (some of the new cameras have it) then you may be better served by PS/ACR/Bridge and the video application of your choice. It takes time to master applications, so focusing your efforts on those that allow you to do your work quickly and efficiently are wise choices.
Warning - Lightroom may still have issues sharing files with Photoshop. If you didn't save your previous PSD files with "Maximize Compatibility" turned on(I turned this off long ago) LR 2.0 is not going to be happy. What this means is that LR falls short as an image manager. Bridge can handle them all, but LR? Not so much.....
Dec. 2008 CAVEAT - PS CS3/RAW file users hoping to buy a newly released DSLR will either have to purchase PS CS4 or Lightroom 2.0 (or 2.2 later this month) to get native RAW file support. Adobe, in what can only be considered a sleight to a large customer base, has dropped all PS CS3 ACR updates. CS3 customers must either convert their RAW files to DNG (adobe's Digital Negative format) to continue processing in CS3, or must buy CS4 or Lightroom to get new camera support.. Unsupported CS3 cameras include Canon's new 5d Mark II and Nikon's just announced D3x. The number of cameras not supported will increase significantly in the next 3 months (by Q1 2009) and effectively abandons CS3 photographers. Upgrade or die....
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Well-designed versatile productivity tool for digital photographers, September 14, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
Version 2 of 'Adobe Photoshop Lightroom' (LR2) is a worthwhile expansion of last year's successful introduction -- in particular, the welcome capability of enhancing selected regional portions of an image (as against the prior more restrictive global tweaks); a Finder bar that consolidates previously separate searches for dates, keywords and metadata (eg: capture date, camera make, location, etc) into one accessible central location; capacity for huge files (up to 512 MB); as well as dual-monitor support. The option for 64-bit execution in both Mac and Vista will further speed processing (but nowhere near the doubling you'd anticipate) for users having more than 4MB RAM memory.
LR2 is a combination photo cataloging and processing application geared to high-quality high-volume workflow in the wide-gamut photoRGB color space -- the platform-neutral CD installs either the Win or Mac version with minimal hassle; whether Win or Mac, the LR2 screen has a virtually identical look and feel.
If you just want to spruce up family and travel snapshots, LR2 isn't for you; PSE6 autofix would be all you'd need and want -- saving time, space and yet another steep learning curve. If, on the other hand, you want the very best you can squeeze out of your digital camera, and don't mind investing a bit more time and effort, then LR2 comes as close as you can to high-volume production.
If you use the RAW ('digital negative') capability of a DSLR, nothing else beats LR2 which 'develops' the RAW file as it imports the file into the catalog, and retains its 12- or 14-bit per color channel precision throughout ... without ever altering the original 'negative'. This is a far faster process than either Photoshop or PSE6 can deliver. In fact, LR2 has pretty much become the standard for those professional photographers who favor RAW capture. This feature will become all the more meaningful as camera development relentlessly moves towards 16-bit pixels on a full-frame sensor (recall LR2's 512 MP capacity!).
While the great majority of your photos will be print-ready after LR2 'development' a few images might still need some targeted touchups from a dedicated application. Adobe would dearly love for you to use their flagship Photoshop cash cow. But, for most of us using photo inkjet printers, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 (either Win or Mac) should prove more than adequate, a heck of a lot cheaper, and far easier to use. Conversely, if your photography demands heavy-duty professional CMYK press printing, then Photoshop (or similar) still is the big gorilla. Otherwise: healing, cloning, retouching and even adjustment layering are much the same in PSE6 as in Photoshop; because LR2 has already squeezed out most of the benefits of 16-bit color processing, the PSE6 8-bit/channel RGB limitation is no great handicap.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
What it does well, it does really well., October 3, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
After using Photoshop for years, Lightroom 2 is my tool of choice for most areas of photo editing. The slideshow is very accurate in tone, contrast and detail, much better than Bridge. I like the non-destructive element and being able to go back at any time and undo work done in previous sessions without having to create the memory hogging layers of Photoshop. The print module is the best I have ever used. I am viewing the images more accurately than ever, everything in my system is the same, Lightroom is the only change. The "clarity" tool is excellent in giving the image punch and I love the "zeroed" filter which as I understand it, presents a "raw" image and that's what it looks like to me. I do very little if any sharpening these days. However, when necessary this sharpening tool doesn't turn the grain into salt and pepper or negatively change the look of the grain. It is more like using the grain sharpener while using an enlarger in the darkroom without a digital fingerprint in other sharpening tools I have used.
The downsides, are for some reason even with a quad core 64 bit, 4 gig ram, 2-500g hard drives, images in Lightroom can take a very long time to load. I have found that cleaning windows seems to solve this problem and speed Lightroom up again. In addition, some of the images I work with, scans from medium format film (80 megapix) need to be shrunk closer to actual print size especiall when working on a body of images at the same time. Also the excellent brush tool can sometimes have a mind of its own and if drawing too quickly a stright line appears instead of the curvy line drawn. So far I've solved this problem by downloading the most recent Wacom software for the pen and tablet and drawing a bit more slowly.
In conclusion, with the few faults that I hope Adobe will patch sooner rather than later, I now use Lightroom 2 for most photo edit and print work with very little work in Photoshop CS2
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
WONDERFUL program. SERIOUS bug, January 19, 2009
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
Lightroom is a 5-star product, with a serious bug in this version. Hence the 3-star rating. I will definitely buy version 2.3, which Adobe says should correct this bug.
I am a Mac user -- I don't know if this bug also exists in the PC version.
First, the great product:
I have thousands of photos (including many duplicates) in disorganized folders all over my disk After using the trial versions of both Lightroom 2 and and Aperture for several weeks, Lightroom was my clear winner.
Big reasons:
1) Lightroom's internal catalog corresponds directly to the Finder's folder/file structure. You can change the name of a file, or move it to a new folder, all within Lightroom.
2) Lightroom can keep several edited versions of one master photo. These are stored as edits, which saves space, and makes it easy to keep several versions for special purposes (e.g., web postings, email, printing).
3) The photo editing is awesome. I suspect I'll have very little need for PhotoShop.
Now the problem: Version 2.2 has a very serious bug (for me).
If you mistakenly import non-standard files, in particular the "shapeimage.." files Mac uses in websites, Lightroom crashes and cannot be restarted without deleting the entire catalog and reimporting all the photos.
When I called Adobe they were very helpful. I quickly reached a knowledgeable person, who says this is a known bug, to be corrected in version 2.3, out in a few months they hope.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
All you need for 95% of your editing, October 29, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
I started with Lightroom 1.0, survived its quirks and have now grown to love the more mature 2.0 version. Here are some of the features that make this program indispensable: Able to make fundamental edits, assign key words, and place the photos into an existing or newly created folder all on import; Can make all edits on one photo and then copy these edits to all or selected photos - the first time I corrected the white balance on a whole photo shoot with only a couple of clicks, the angels started singing (who hasn't forgotten to take the camera off the incandescent setting!); 95% of all corrections can be done without exporting to Photoshop.
Above is only the tip of the iceberg. Two features that must be mentioned: 1) Lightroom does NOT change your original photo - all changes are kept in a metadata file, so you don't have to make copies of your originals as they are untouched - no more making copies and keeping them in another folder as "originals" This allows you at any time to step back through your corrections or return to the original file to restart editing. 2) The program handles multiple file formats seamlessly. I can now shoot exclusively in the RAW file format for optimal editing capability without the old hassles of converting the RAW file for editing.
While documentation is pitiful, there are tons of excellent free video tutorials available - I use iTunes to find them and have watched dozens. Open one of these videos alongside your open copy of Lightroom and you will learn quickly as you practice the techniques.
Lightroom can be used simply for organizing your photos or complexly to manipulate to your heart's content. You will be richly rewarded for any time spent learning the more sophisticated features of this truly magnificent program.
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37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
Review for complete novices: From a complete novice., August 19, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)
OK this review won't be for everyone but...
Install onto vista was easy and pain free. Once installed it took only a couple of hours to start making some worthwhile use of the product in processing and improving my raw format photos. So the product is well written and mostly easy to use and to understand.
But some of the interface seems quirky: For instance when labeling a photo there are quick keys ALT+ (1-9) to add keywords from a list without having to retype them every time. But if you chose a photo and then type the ALT 1 too quickly it doesn't work, instead trying to remove the keyword. There may be some sane reason for this behavior, but it is far from intuitive. Also selecting multiple photos then pressing Alt 1 did not label them all with that keyword.
The lack of any paper documentation for a product costing $250 ish is a let down, especially since being new the third party text books are still a few months away from being published.
So I'll give it 4 stars for now. Noting that this is not from the prospective of someone who used lightroom 1.
OK, been using it for a while. Interface still seems a little less than perfect, but it does the job well enough. Connecting to photoshop is pretty easy but seems slow (I have CS, so CS3 might connect much better). The RAW processing is great and an absolute requirement with my older version photoshop which didn't support my camera's raws. I still think 4 stars is fair. Though I finally got how to add a keyword to a group of photos. You must select the photos from within the 'grid view' and not from the scrollable list of images at the bottom of the page.
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