Photographers use various programs to process digital photographs. In fact, most photographers do post-processing with computer programs. Several options are available, including LightZone and Lightroom. While both offer certain editing capabilities like monochrome and sharpening, they also have different features and advantages. Consider factors such as cost and quality when choosing which program you want to use. In addition, you might want to refer to the websites for each.
Cost
LightZone costs $99.95. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 costs $299. Programs often upgrade, and the cost for upgrading your existing version to the most recent varies. LightZone currently offers the upgrade for $49.95. Lightroom offers the upgrade for $99. Lightroom costs more up front, and it will probably cost more to keep up to date.
Exposure Modifications
LightZone offers a tool called "Relight" that automatically adjusts the image to improve the lighting within the photograph. LightZone also provides other exposure editing tools.
Lightroom has standard exposure editing tools, and it allows you to edit the exposure in the library or develop view. However, it does not have an automatic fix button for exposure, but it does for white balance and tone.
Photo Sharpening
LightZone has options for sharpening all or parts of an image. Lightroom offers basic sharpening and enhanced output sharpening, which is sharpening a photo that is exported or to be used in print or on the web.
Unique Features
Both Lightroom and LightZone offer batch processing, which is not available in all programs, and saved preset photo edits like black and white. However, they have additional features unique to each.
LightZone is the only photo-editing program that lets you edit RAW files without having to convert them. This saves space on your computer.
Lightroom offers you enhanced integration with Photoshop CS4 and a strong organizational structure. It helps you edit photographs and store and share them. It also provides you with the option to save all the edits you make on a photograph and then apply those changes to other photographs with one click.
Preset Styles
Both programs provide preset styles you can apply to your photograph with one click. LightZone's styles include infrared, sepia, contrast and pop, black and white and high dynamic range. Lightroom offers grayscale, punch, various black and white options and sharpening options. You can use either program to modify an existing preset and create a new one.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a power tool for cataloging, managing, processing and exporting digital photographs. Starting with exporting your photographs from your camera to publishing and printing your work of art, Lightroom helps you automate your workflow, enhance your photos, and keep your work organized.
Workflow
From the moment you plug your camera into your computer, use Lightroom to manage your photos. You can save time later when using Lightroom to import your photos from your camera. During the import, you can apply keywords, build preview images, apply development settings and perform other actions applicable to the entire set of photos you are importing.
Lightroom makes batch processing easy. In the Library, metadata and keywords can be set on multiple images at the same time by selecting all the images you want to update and editing the metadata, and adding or removing keywords. In the Develop panel, development settings for one image can be applied to other images using the copy-paste development settings commands, synchronizing selected photos to the highlighted photo, or applying presets.
Organization
One of Lightroom's primary functions is as a cataloging tool. In addition to tagging photos with keywords and adding descriptive metadata, such as titles and captions, Lightroom offers collections, labels, ratings, and stacking to help you organize your photos and workflow.
Collections are virtual folders that can be used to create sets of photos. Use collections to create sets of photos you want to publish in different ways or to different destinations. The five different color labels can be used to indicate the status of each photo, labeling photos that need developed, required individualized attention, or are not going to be used now. Stacking is a great way to group shots and reduce clutter, particularly for exposure bracketed photos you shot for high dynamic range (HDR) photography, and shots you took for panorama stitching.
Use Lightroom to move, delete, or rename photos so it can synchronize the changes to file names and locations automatically and keep its catalog up-to-date.
History, Snapshots, and Virtual Copies
The History panel in Develop provides a way to let you go back to a specific step in the development of a photo. If you want to experiment with some different tweaks, you can save the current development settings by creating a Snapshot. If you prefer the original settings, you can easily reset your photo by going back to the snapshot. Virtual copies are a great way to create several developed versions of the same photograph for comparison or different applications.
Developing
In addition to applying brightness, contrast, saturation and other enhancements across an entire image, two handy tools let you control where and how enhancements are performed. The Adjustment Brush lets you touch up and enhance a specific area of an image. Graduated filters in the local adjustments panel lets you adjust enhancements gradually across the image. Graduated filters are particularly useful for landscape photography, where you may want to apply brightness and saturation to the foreground landscape without losing detail in the sky.
Presets and Plug-ins
Presets are saved development settings. Often, you will find that you develop all the photos from your camera using the same settings. Creating a preset lets you call up and use those settings quickly, and apply them during the import process. Many Lightroom users share or sell their presets. Instead of creating your own presets, you can save time by downloading special effects presets created by others.
Plug-ins are specialized actions that add functionality to Lightroom, and streamline processing and exporting. There are plug-ins available that add functionality like geotagging photos with GPS tracks, exporting catalog data, and adding watermarks to photos. Export plug-ins let you send photos directly from Lightroom to flickr, Gmail, TwitPhoto, Gallery and other destinations. In addition to Lightroom plug-ins, Photoshop actions can be used for post processing in Lightroom by creating a droplet of the action and applying it as a post-processing action during export.
Presets and plug-ins can be found online on sites like Adobe Lightroom Exchange.
Hot Keys
Learn the hot keys for the tools you use the most commonly so you can move through your workflow quickly. The Cmd, Ctrl, Alt, Opt, and Shift keys--depending on whether you use Windows or Mac OS X--are used not only for keyboard shortcuts, but can also be used to access alternative tool behaviors for the mouse.
Adobe Lightroom offers the photographer a quick place to do some fixes and catalog images. It does not have the full range of controls and tools that Adobe Photoshop does, but it does offer some of them. It allows you to work relatively quickly with a set of images and set them up for further detailed work in Photoshop.
Basics
To get started, open Lightroom then create a new catalog by going to File>New Catalog. This will give you a browser window where you can name and place the new catalog. Next, go to File>Import Photos From Disk. This opens a browser window where you can select one or many images to include in your catalog. You can select multiple contiguous images by using shift-click or noncontiguous images by using command-click (Mac) or control-click (Windows). This browser window gives you the option of including the images in the catalog with or without moving them from their original location or copying them into the new location. The window also provides an option to add Metadata to all the images. This allows you to add information such as captions, who took the photos and when, and added information to all the images being added to the catalog. This can save many steps for the photographer.
Working
Once you have imported your images into Lightroom, they will appear in a long strip at the bottom of the Lightroom screen. They also will appear in the center of the screen when you are in Library mode. Library is one of five basic modes in which you can work. They are listed at the upper right of the screen and are: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web. In the Library mode, you can add keywords, if you didn't in the Metadata, and you get a look at the histogram of any image you click on. To change things such as Exposure, Contrast, Vibrance and Hue, click the Develop mode button and select an image from the row at the bottom. The Develop mode produces a sidebar of tools on the right. These tools are mostly sliders, but there also is a red eye correction button and a spot removal button among others. If you click the Basic arrow to the right, you may use the tools to adjust colors, temperature and other standard photo editing properties. There are also subpalettes for a Tone Curve, Color or Grayscale, Split Toning, Detail, Vignettes and Camera Calibration.
Other Tools
You can use the Slideshow mode to add your name to the slides, create special effects such as an a drop shadow or a border. You also can use the Preview and Play buttons at the bottom right to see what the show will look like. You can use the Print mode to set up how you would like the image to appear when printed by setting the margins and the resolution. To change the resolution, for example, you click on the number next to "ppi" and type the new number. With the Web mode, you can design Web pages by adding a Site Title, a Collection Title and setting contact information including a website or email link. All of these tools appear in the right toolbar depending on which mode you select.
Adobe Lightroom 2 is a basic digital photo organizational tool. Aside from organizing your photos, Lightroom 2 also allows you to perform some basic photo editing. It is not as advanced as Adobe Photoshop with these tools, but it can be a quick way to make basic changes after a photo shoot. Since you can set metadata and other information in Lightroom 2, you can have your photos all set for full editing later.
Basics
Don't think of Lightroom 2 as a full photo-editing software package. It isn't. It does give you more options than low-end photo-editing programs, but it is designed to be an additional tool for the photographer who uses Photoshop. If, however, you shoot nearly perfect digital images, you may be able to get away with basic processing in Lightroom 2 and forego Photoshop. You also can prepare photos for a slide show by adding your name or other information, printing photos from it or preparing them for the Web as a gallery. To begin with, start Lightroom 2 and then prepare to create what Adobe calls a catalog. You need to do this to work with images, and it is a way to organize your shoots. Go to "File" and then "New Catalog." Name the catalog and save it to your hard drive. Then click "File," "Import Photos From Disk." In the pop-up browser, select the photos you want to be part of the catalog. Another good organizational tool here is the option of combining photos into a catalog, yet leaving the original images where they are.
Metadata
One of the primary tools in both Photoshop and Lightroom 2 is metadata. This is essential for working photographers and amateurs alike because it gives you the tools to add data you may forget in a week or a year. Metadata includes such information as keywords, captions, who shot the photo, who edited the photo, what the copyright status is and many other things. It also includes information that you can't edit, such as the aperture and shutter speed settings of the original image. To get to the Metadata panel, click "Library" at the upper right, then scroll down the right sidebar until you see the Metadata palette. Here, you will see the basics of the image, including what camera shot the image, what the dimensions are and even what the focal length of the lens used was. You also can click in any of the boxes such as "File Name" or "Caption" to add or change text. This, in combination with keywords you can set, can allow you to easily find all your similar photos later.
Output
You can use the "Slideshow" button at the upper right to create a slide show of your photos and add your name and other data to each slide. You can click "Print" to set up your images with or without borders for printing. You can use the "Web" option to arrange your photos in a gallery to output to your website.
The world of digital photography has come a long way since the first digital cameras appeared on the market. Today there are many professional software application solutions available for the purpose of editing and managing photography. One popular application for professional photographers is made by Adobe and is called Photoshop Lightroom, although it was originally known simply as Lightroom. There are also software alternatives to Photoshop Lightroom, some of which are listed here.
Aperture
The application that is likely most often compared directly to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a product called Aperture made by Apple. Both of the software applications have similar graphical user interface and general concept for the purposes of streamlining the efficiency of a professional photographer's production pipeline. This includes relatively quick and easy editing of RAW format digital photography. Both products also include the ability to do quick batch file conversion and output to various filetypes. Additionally, both Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture feature the ability to output photos to stylized online galleries. It should be noted that Aperture is a product that only runs on the Mac operating system (OS X and above ).
Photoshop
Another alternative to Adobe's Lightroom product is the company's flagship image editing application: Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop features a wealth of additional features, which make it a clear choice for a professional seeking more advanced editing tools. It is important to note that Adobe Photoshop may list for around double the value of Lightroom or higher, depending on the version number of each of the products and also the software distributor. Photoshop is still the industry standard image editing application, though not as niche targeted for some professional photographers as its name may make it sound. Photoshop is made for much more than editing and managing photographs, although it is certainly capable of accomplishing most of what Lightroom does.
iPhoto
A more cost-efficient alternative to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, at least for those running Mac OS X, is Apple iPhoto. It is likely a good option for hobbyists looking for something similar to the concept of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture. Recent editions of iPhoto have included the ability to edit RAW format photography and this has made iPhoto a more reasonable alternative to Lightroom. iPhoto also features photo organizing features and also rating tools for easier organization of digital photos. Additionally, iPhoto includes the ability to, relatively quickly and easily, output photos to an online gallery for easy sharing of photography.
When choosing the right photo-editing software, you should take into account not only the features you want to utilize but also the platform in which you are working. While many programs run on multiple systems, the program are often better suited for the system for which is was designed.
Picasa
Picasa works on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. For those who do not want to download the program, you can choose to run it online. A software download from Google, Picassa is free, and if you use it online it allows storage up to 1 GB for free. The online version is Picasa Web Albums and can be synchronized with your local folders. This program will allow you to fix red eye, straighten, and fix the color and contrast.
iPhoto
iPhoto runs on Mac computers. It comes standard with all Mac systems and works as a photo editor and organizer. With shortcuts to making your photos compatible for Facebook, Myspace and other networking sites, many users find it convenient for keeping up with friends and family. For work, it also helps for posting to new websites or organizing email blasts with photos attached.
XnView
XnView can be used to view and convert graphic files. This program is offered as freeware and can even create or edit multipage TIFF, DCX and LDF files. It will run on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. More advanced users can take advantage of the animated GIF file formats, allowing for motion in your photos.
Paint Shop Pro
Paint Shop Pro was designed specifically for Windows. You can fix brightness, color and photo imperfections with simple click features. For the more skilled user, this program offers precision photo editing, allowing you to change shading, remove blemishes and manually change the saturation of all colors separately.
digiKam
digiKam runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux and allows you the ability to organize your photos in collections. Open-source photo management editors can allow you to adjust color and gradient however you see fit. With a "hot spot" detector, this program will offer you choices, but ultimately you can design your own exposure wheel. This program was designed with Linux/KDE in mind, so it tends to run best in that environment.
Aperture
Aperture, which handles photos best in RAW format, is often the choice of professional photographers. It takes all the data from your camera, including shutter speed, aperture and focus points, allows for you to manually adjust any of these settings after the fact.
Photoshop Lightroom 3 is a photo editing software application made and distributed by Adobe. The software allows you to reduce the noise in your images, correct lens problems and create image watermarks. To operate the photo-editing software, you computer must have a few basic specifications.
Processor and Operating System
Your Windows computer must have at least an Intel Pentium 4 processor or the equivalent. If you are running a Mac, you must have an Intel processor installed in the machine. Your operating system must be Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Vista or Windows 7. You can also run Lightroom 3 on Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6.
Memory and Hard Drive
Your computer, whether it is a Mac or Windows machine, must have at least 2 GB of RAM installed and at least 1 GB of hard drive space available.
Display and Disc Drive
Your display must be 1,024x768 and you must have a CD-ROM drive on your computer. A mouse and keyboard are recommended.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, released by graphics giant Adobe, allows digital photographers to both manage their photographs and do light post-production. Adobe released Version 1.0 of the software in early 2007. The system requirements vary depending on whether you run Lightroom on a PC or Mac.
Processor
On PCs, Lightroom requires a Intel Pentium 4 processor. Mac users need a PowerPC G4 or newer chip.
Operating system
Windows users need to have Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed or any newer operating system such as Windows Vista. Any OS newer than 10.4.1 will run Lightroom on a Mac.
Memory
On both PCs and Macs, Adobe recommends at least 1 GB of RAM to run the software; however, only 768 MB of RAM are required.
HD space
Lightroom 1 takes up 1 GB of hard drive space on both Macs and PCs.
Other requirements
Users need both a monitor with a minimum of 1,024 by 768 resolution and a CD-ROM drive to install the software.
Using Photobie coloring to adjust the picture's color if you have already downloaded photobie.
Firstly, clone the background image and apply the advanced curve panel, the second option of color adjustment tool.
While adjust the color curve, check the corresponding RGB color underneath the curve panel and drag the corresponding color line. Keep eyes on the right hand preview box to see whether it was the color you want to make.
Give it a try. Photobie will help a lot to make a new look picture. Have fun.