Whether you're just now getting into underwater photography or if you are a seasoned photographer just now learning how to use the latest in digital imaging tools, Adobe's Lightroom is for you. Not only does it help you stay organized, it assists you in processing your images so they look their best before you share them with the rest of the world, whether that means you post them on your Facebook profile, or you offer them for sale or publication. Lightroom takes the mystery and many steps out of the process of preparing photos for presentation, and it's easy to use, as well. Let's take a closer look at this near-magical computer software.
Adobe Lightroom Offers Powerful All-In-One Processing
Lightroom is part of the Adobe Photoshop family of software, and is not designed to replace Photoshop; instead, it is designed to augment it. You can do most fixing in Lightroom and use Photoshop only for photos that need serious fixing; for example, Photoshop is the best tool available for removing backscatter.
There are three main functions you should learn to use. First, Library offers easy backup as well as lightning fast image retrieval. It creates links to the location you specify as it copies and moves images from one place to another; for instance, from your camera to an external hard drive. In addition, you can see previews of the images, all in an easy to see central catalogue. This works much more quickly than the old method of writing to separate xmp files. You can copy, move, and add images, make backups at the same time, rename, add metadata, incorporate keywords, add copyright information and more, all in the name of staying organized so you can find the photos you want when you're ready to work with them.
The second function to learn to work with is Develop, which offers some nifty tools for spot removal, cropping, noise reduction, and lens correction. In addition, there is an adjustment brush in the Develop module, which is used for contrast and saturation as well as for masking exposure and more. Thanks to Develop, you can finish most of your images without the need to open them in Photoshop. This lets you develop photos faster, and once you learn your way around the basics, you can create preset adjustments to save even more time.
Finally, you should familiarize yourself with the Web function, which includes not only the publish services and export window, but slideshow, print, and web modules that allow you to make slideshows, mp4 videos, and more. You can even add music or dialogue with this tool, and there are quite a few third party plugins you can use to enhance its capabilities even further. Finally, you can use publishing services in Lightroom 3 and later editions. They allow you to upload your photos directly to sharing sites like Facebook, SmugMug, and Flickr as soon as you've made them ready to be seen by the rest of the world.
Keep in mind that great photos begin with proper photography techniques; you still need to get the lighting right for the most part, and it's up to you to capture and compose appealing images. But, with Lightroom, you can enhance and improve your photos, stay organized, and spend less time on editing; not only does this give you a better finished product, it also provides you with more time to get out there and take photos. Keep practicing, and soon you'll be using Lightroom like a pro.