The Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software from Adobe is a complete photo management and editing suite for Mac OS X and Windows. Perfect for enthusiasts and professionals alike, Lightroom takes a nondestructive approach to photo editing. When editing your photos, the original files are left unmolested. All of your adjustments and edits are stored in a database and applied to an image on the fly, so that you'll always be able to go back to the original image. This lets you perform as many post-processing adjustments on a photo as you'd like, without making permanent changes to the original image.
Lightroom also serves as a powerful organizational tool for your photographs. You'll be able to organize photos to suit your needs using a powerful folder-based data structure. Lightroom lets you store images on multiple storage devices, and it stores low-resolution previews of each and every image in its central database, allowing you to browse your photos even when the original files are offline. You'll be able to search through your images based on any number of criteria, helping to speed the process of locating a specific image.
Lightroom's interface is broken up into five major components: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web. Each screen serves its own purpose, and you can go back and forth between them with ease. Of course, there is some overlap in functionality, but for the most part they are compartmentalized.
The Library screen is where you'll be able to organize and browse your photos. You'll have full access to all of the folders in your library from this screen, allowing you to reorganize them as needed. This is also where you'll apply keywords, ratings, color labels, and metadata additions to images. You can create custom searches to create "Collections" based on any of these criteria. There is even a "Smart Collections" function that updates on the fly as additional images meet your criteria. For example, this will allow you to have an up-to-date collection of all images that you have rated with 5 stars. There is also a "Quick Develop" panel which allows you to make minor adjustments to an image, without having to venture into the Develop screen.
The Library also serves as the gateway to import and export images. Clicking "Import" brings up a redesigned screen that will be unfamiliar to users of previous versions of Lightroom. The Import window now expands to fill your entire display. You'll be able to browse through your hard drive or a memory card to locate images for import. You have the option of leaving the images in their original location, copying or moving to a different folder, or copying them and converting to Adobe's DNG format. You can apply Develop settings, add metadata, and add keywords during import -- perfect for users who like to add a keyword for the camera used to capture the photos. You can also rename files and make a second copy to a backup drive during import.
Getting your photos out of Lightroom is just as important as bringing them into the program. When you've finished editing, you can use the Library screen to export them with ease. You have the option of using the "Export" function, which brings up a window with numerous settings -- including image size, sharpening, file format, and the like -- which you can customize. There is also a new "Publish Services" section, which allows you to send images to your hard drive or Flickr with ease. You'll be able to create as many presets for Publish Services as you'd like, giving you one-click access to frequently used export operations. This section can be further expanded by use of third-party plug-ins, available from Adobe's Lightroom Exchange website.
The second major component of Lightroom is the Develop screen. This is where you'll do the vast majority of your photo editing and toning. You can perform any sort of adjustment imaginable here -- color temperature, exposure, black levels, contrast, sharpness, and brightness are just a few examples. You'll be able to make adjustments via sliders or tone curves, discretely modify color channels, and convert images to black and white. Numerous presets are available, allowing you to quickly apply a certain "look" to a photo, and you can create your own presets based on your favorite settings.
The Develop screen also features powerful History and Snapshot functions. History allows you to browse through all of the adjustments you've made to an image, in the order that they were made, so that you can revert back to any stage in the image process. You can create a Snapshot of an image at any time, which saves all of the settings that you've applied -- this allows you to continue to experiment with a photo after you've found a look that you like for it.
You'll also be able to remove dust spots and red eye from photos thanks to Lightroom's spot editing tools. Create image masks to apply graduated filter adjustments to a photo, or use the brush tool to dodge, burn, and make other spot adjustments. You'll also be able to add vignettes and simulated film grain to images, perfect for breathing analog life into your digital photos.
Distortion correction is one of Lightroom 3's most impressive new features. Owners of fisheye lenses previously had to export photos to Photoshop in order to "defish" their images. Now, it can be done from within the program. You can correct for both fisheye and rectilinear distortion, perfect for users of extreme wide angle lenses. Numerous lens profiles are included with the software, and you can save your own presets for your own oft-used lenses.
Lens corrections can also be used to eliminate the keystone effect that can be caused when your camera is not straight-on with a subject when shooting. Of course, basic crop and rotation tools are also available for quick and simple adjustments. If there is anything that can't be handled by Lightroom, it's easy to export a photo to Photoshop CS4 or CS5 for editing -- any changes you make to an image in Photoshop will be automatically reflected in Lightroom.
Lightroom's other three screens are all about sharing your images with others. The Slideshow screen gives you all the tools necessary to create digital slideshows of your images, complete with transitions and music. You can view these from within Lightroom, or export them to a PDF or video file to share with others.
The Print screen allows you to print your images in any way imaginable. It can be adjusted for many standard paper sizes, and it lets you visually lay out photos on them. This allows you to maximize the number of photos on a single page, helping to reduce your printing costs. Lightroom can automatically position photos so that space on a page will be utilized in the most efficient manner. You can adjust prints for different paper types, color profiles, and add a signature plate if desired.
Finally, the Web screen gives you numerous means to output your photos to the web. Adobe includes a number of HTML and Flash galleries, allowing you to create a web gallery without having any knowledge of programming. These can be customized to suit your needs, and third-party galleries are available via the Adobe Lightroom Exchange website.
Note! Subject to the terms of the software license agreement, the primary user of the computer on which Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is installed may install a second copy of the software for his or her exclusive use on either a portable computer or a computer located at his or her home, provided that the software on the second computer is not used at the same time as the software on the primary computer. Lightroom is sold as multiplatform software, which means it can be installed on either Mac OS X or Windows.
| System Requirements |
Computer: Pentium 4; Intel Mac Operating System: Windows XP SP3, Vista Home Premium (32/64-bit), Vista Business (32/64-bit), Vista Ultimate (32/64-bit), Vista Enterprise (32/64-bit), 7 (32/64-bit); Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6 Memory: 2GB Hard Drive: 1GB Display: 1024 x 768 Hardware: Optical drive |
| Languages | Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Swedish |
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Most Liked Positive Review
Intuitive and easy
I used to think, "I don't need Lightroom, I have Photoshop, plus I do a good enough job organizing my photos on my own." While those two statements may be a...Read complete review
I used to think, "I don't need Lightroom, I have Photoshop, plus I do a good enough job organizing my photos on my own." While those two statements may be accurate, I was really missing the point... Not only does Lightroom have the basic tools that photographers need on a regular basis, but it also helps me to stay organized and uncluttered.
Since this is the first version of Lightroom I have really worked with, I can't say much about the improvements from version 2... I can tell you that Lightroom 3 is easy and intuitive to use, and that all of the basic "everyday use" features are easily accessed, including rotating, cropping, spot and red-eye removal, brightness/contrast/curve control, color correction, toning, lens correction/distortion control, vignetting, etc.
Of course, for more advanced and precise editing (intricate masks or selections, multiple layers, etc) Photoshop is still my best friend, but since I don't do a ton of that I can now accomplish over 90% of my photo editing in Lightroom, in far less time than it used to take me in Photoshop alone. You just can't beat that.
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Most Liked Negative Review
Needs work
Adobe version of a photo management and developing software. Well, the developing aspect is extremely good, with tools like the dust remover which is seamless and the lens correction. It also offers a ...Read complete review
Adobe version of a photo management and developing software. Well, the developing aspect is extremely good, with tools like the dust remover which is seamless and the lens correction. It also offers a plethora of options for color balancing, sharpening etc. No need to turn to Photoshop for most photography needs.
The output section is also very complete and easy to use.
The database function on the other hand still need much work. For instance, just move a folder on your HD and look at Lightroom get completely lost, or the way it deals with duplicate files; awful. Trying to sync multiple computers is a nightmare as well.
Also, version 3.3 is quite buggy, at least on PC. One often get corruption on displayed images, necessitating a shutdown cycling of Lightroom, and it has problems detecting system fonts on Win7 x64.
The software is also very expensive for hobbyist, so are the upgrades.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
As a professional wedding and portrait photographer, LR3 has made my life amazingly more streamlined. I have increased the efficiency of my workflow by creating my own presets (while the auto settings are fabulous, I'm a fan of doing the work myself). Wedding galleries take far less time to edit, and I love the control I have over the image during import/export. I have since purchased a plugin that just makes this software unbelievably invaluable to me for my boudoir sessions. Because I couple this product with a more advanced software for the detailed and intricate retouching, I give it a 5 star. On it's own- there isn't much one can do quickly to retouch or manipulate an image. For basic photo edits in terms of levels, color, white balance, and clarity control? It's pretty amazing.
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If you are going to download your photos you need some way to track them and do basic adjustments. You will not find a better program than Lightroom.
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I use LR3 to edit and organize all my photographs.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
Overall this is a very powerful program that is taking me to that next level as a photographer. I take a fair number of pictures weekly and organization is crucial.
I got it to coordinate with my Nik Software Complete Collection set (Silver Efex, HDR Efex, Viveza pro, etc). Learning how these work together is an ongoing learning experience for me.
I'm finding that I'm obviously having to change how I do things in my workflow to work with the Lightroom system. This program DOES NOT come with any sort of instructional book. It is not as intuitive as I was hoping but the Adobe website has many instructional videos are helpful and fairly short.
I know that once I get this completely figured out it will be a very helpful and powerful organizational tool. Thanks Jeff!
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This is my first photo management software, and it does not disappoint. Although it took over three hours to import my 34,000 photos, the process was fairly painless. I have just begun to scratch the surface with the various functions, but look forward to years of fun to come!
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good software for photo editing
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
Used it to replace iPhoto. Works great and will never go back to iPhoto.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
This is my first purchase of any type of software for my post processing. I love photography and along with hiking it is my favorite passtime/hobby. The first thing I noticed after loading it us was how intuitive the program was. In just a couple of minutes I was able to import a catalog of photos, tweek them by adjusting tone, brightness, etc., setup some presets for export, put in a copyright and then export back to their original file folder. I am a Nurse Practitioner and computers are not my strong suit but by just viewing the opening window I saw all of the tools in a flash that I needed to get started. AND I love the workflow "agenda" of the program. No more saying to myself "well now what do I need to do and which window do I go to to do it". I give the company Kuddos for giving such incredibly professional help in their "help" section. To have the person instructing to be a published expert on using this software gives the product integrity and also gave me confidence that I learning the product from the best in the field, not simply following uninspired directions from a software programmer. This truely is a jewel of a product and well worth the money spent. My photos have never looked better and I have never been so excited to find the time to sit in front of a computer. I am afraid I have not had enough time with the product nor the comparable experiences to give any negative feedback or constructive criticism.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
Big improvement over manufacturers raw developer (Olympus Viewer) with non destructive editing on Mac. Easy transition for Oly shooters since Viewer obviously borrowed many UI concepts (except the non-destructive part). Tried Aperture which had some nice features but performance was unacceptable. Lightroom is much quicker, more flexible, more powerful. Hopefully LR 4 will borrow some concepts from Aperture like focus point display. LR provides a great all-in one workflow and there are tons of presets, plugins, and help on the internet. Easy to move up the learning curve in small bites. Why didn't I do this 2 years ago?!
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use lightroom along with PS4. works great!
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I used to use my Mac's built in iPhoto to import and catalogue photos. It is a good program provided you have a small catalogue of photos and use a point and click camera that shoots in Jpeg and you seldom process the pictures in Photoshop. Lightroom is not only getting my catalogue in order but is also making it much easier to create an efficient workflow to process RAW files and save to multiples hard rives for primary storage and backup.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I love lightroom. I had photoshop first but found it to be very hard to use.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I love Lightroom. A friend of mine introduced it to me a few years ago and I finally own one. It's very easy to use! Love how I can manage my photos. I'm still learning so I'm sure I will enjoy it. And it was on sale, so awesome deal!
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
Easy to use, incorporates appropriate workflow, show tethered for immediate feedback.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I can't give this a high rating as I have not really gotten accustomed to using the software yet. However, I was very pleased with the discounted price! In fact, that's why I made the purchase. I'd been hesitant up till this point because price was an issue. I am looking forward to learning to use LR!
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I'm a professional photographer and I've been using Bridge with Photoshop for years. Bridge along with camera raw and photoshop is enough to get the job done. However, one of the problems with bridge is that its extremely slow. Especially so if you have to deal with thousands and thousands images. This is where lightroom really shines. It is even able to keep track of images on external drives as it works like a database. This is big for a professional like me who has to deal with over 200k images and counting. I now use lightroom with photoshop.
If you are an amateur who doesn't own photoshop, lightroom will help you get most of the things you need done. However, if you need to do serious stuff like liquifying (slimming) etc, you will still need photoshop.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I use the Adobe Lightroom 3 software to edit my wildlife photography, and can't say enough good things about it. There is a slight learning curve at first, but after a week or so of dedicated use, I can say I am pretty comfortable with the Lightroom experience.
Photos import and export easily with this software, and there are many ways to keep your work organized. Lightroom runs fairly fast on my 4 GB dual core notebook computer, and it has proven to be very stable. I have not experienced any crashes or freeze ups at all.
I really like the control I have when editing my photos. It is very easy to adjust white balance, lighting, saturation, sharpening, and noise reduction. My images usually do not require many edits, but for the ones that do, Lightroom does a very good job. I have used several other packages for editing, but none come close to the performance I get from Lightroom.
The only real complaint I have is there is no HDR capability with this software. If HDR were included, I would give this a five star rating.
I recommend this product for anyone who is serious about photography, but does not have the cash to purchase its big brother!
I would like to thank B&H photo and Video for their professionalism. I have made several purchases from them, and have every experience has been top notch. I wouldn't consider purchasing from anyone else! I just wish I lived closer to NYC so I could visit their showroom!
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I am a photographer and was turned on to this product by several fellow photographers. This product takes some time to get used, but after working with it for awhile it has made my workflow so much easier and faster! I'm glad I purchased it to use alongside Photoshop.
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
Crash, crash, crash. Windows 7, 64 bit, 8 gig of memory. Not much else to say. It's Lightroom and anyone reading this knows what it's supposed to do. Except maybe Adobe...
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Comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows:
I use Lightroom more for the convienience of color correcting, exposure, yadda yadda...., I only use photoshop to clean up blemishes and for the major lifting if something needs to be removed.
The shipping was fast, I am sure the service is great as well-evertyhing comes in good shape and so fast that I've never needed to use the customer service number.
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