UPDATE: 31st July 2008: Lightroom 2.0 was released worldwide on 29th July 2008. Remarkable improvements. Really love the new version. However, Adobe is selling the donwloadable upgrade version of the program by jacking up its pricing for international users. Really unfair to Lightroom users outside USA. The Australian price for the upgrade should be around AU$ 106.00 but Adobe is charging users AU$165.00. More here and here. Make sure you make your voice heard.
The new Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a professional photographers software. It provides one easy application for managing, adjusting, and presenting large volumes of digital photographs all in the one workspace.
Watch the 2.5 min Flash video.
I’ve downloaded a copy and still running my trial version of Lightroom and am quite pleased with its performance so far. Its fast, catalogging is easy and fun. Working with its user interface is dead easy as opposed to DxO, Capture 1, and Aperture. I think the best advantage of using Lightroom for your RAW files is that you get Adobe’s CS3 engine in the background. You can always jump in and out of Lightroom to Photoshop CS3. More as I try it out. I’ve also ordered a copy of Scott Kelby’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers. Watch the video on the linked page, Scott goes to explain breifly why this book is important if you want to jump into Lightroom real fast.
I’ve put together a list of links I consider handy and this is bound to give you a quick headstart. Mind you Lightroom is addictive. Very addictive. Make sure you revisit this page for updates.
- Lightroom Killer Tips* — loads of lovely tutorials, I do like this site.
- Inside Lightroom
- Lightroom tips from Oaktree imaging
- Lightroom Focus
- Photopresets
- Lightroom Presets — a collect of ready to use Lightroom presets
- Inside Lightroom — heaps of information here, worth the time if you’re serious about the product.
- Sean McCormack’s Lightroom blog
- Lightroom News — keeps you uptodate with adobe Lightroom and the happenings in the lightroom world
- New podcasts for Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop — John Nack
- Lightroom Tips & Tricks — Joe Barrett’s personal site and weblog offering some good tips and workaround with Lightroom
- Project Photoshop Lightroom
- Lightroom Extra
- Lightroom Tour — Scott Kelby, the Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine shows how to use Lightroom start to finish using it both for editing and cataloging.
- Group on Flickr — look out for Photos edited/catalogued with Lightroom or read on interesting discussions and post your questions to get help*
- Using Lightroom At Etel — James Duncan Davidson
- Lightroom Journal
- Photoshop Lightroom Action Videos
* are worthy reads.
Books
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers — Scott Kelby explains why this book is priceless. Watch the video.
- Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Mastering Adobe’s next-generation tool for digital photographers
- Adobe Lightroom Photographers’ Guide — John G. Blair
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips
- Digital Photographer’s Guide to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for Digital Photographers Only
- The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers
For Aperture users
If you already have Aperture, and want to compare Lightroom to Aperture, here is a handy read, and the conclusion. Wait, there is more at Digital Freak.