Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 took everything you weren't fond of in Lightroom 2 and fixed it. Lightroom 3 is an extremely powerful program that runs faster and puts even more control into the hands of the photographer. When looking at the new features in Lightroom 3 I'm reminded of the opening lines of "The Six Million Dollar Man," when they say "We can make him better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster." "Better, stronger, faster" sums up Lightroom 3 perfectly.
Organization
Lightroom 3 offers support of a wide variety of formats including most camera RAW files, JPEG, DNG, TIFF, and PSD. Easy importing and extremely powerful organizational tools quickly turn your jumbled images into easy to find collections. Even for organizationally challenged photographers, like me, Lightroom 3 makes filing and finding your images easy. Improvements in Lightroom 3 to the importing process make this feature even simplier with redeigned interface and clear visual keys on where your photos will be stored. Mass metadata and keyword tagging help to eliminate the need for the endless subfolders many photographers use in an attempt to stay organized. Powerful search tools make sure you find your images quickly and easily.
The thumbnail film strip at the bottom of the screen in the Library feature is easy to access to swap between images and the thumbnails are large enough to quickly scan for the "right" image.
The thumbnail film strip at the bottom of the screen in the Library feature is easy to access to swap between images and the thumbnails are large enough to quickly scan for the "right" image.
Developing
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 allows you to digitally develop your photos rather than "edit" them. Precision control over colors, light, shadows, tonality, and even vignetting polish your photos in seconds. While Lightroom has always offered beautiful results, Lightroom 3 adds even more intuitive control features for the novice and advanced user. Speed of the program is drastically increased as well with little or no lag between changing a setting and the actual change on screen. Presets for multiple processing are powerful and easily created. Wave "bye bye" to hours upon hours at the computer screen tweaking multiple images of the same bride over and over and over again.
Exporting of images as a group or singles is also quickly accessed and simply controlled. Color space, bit depth, maximum size, resolution, and watermarks are all available export options. For pixel-based edit work, Lightroom allows access to Photoshop (provided you already have the program of course) and it's tools as well.
As always, Lightroom 3 developing utilizes non-destructive editing so that your original image is preserved during the developing process.
Especially exciting is Lightroom 3's new noise reduction feature. With controls for both luminance and color noise can easily be drastically reduced.
Exporting of images as a group or singles is also quickly accessed and simply controlled. Color space, bit depth, maximum size, resolution, and watermarks are all available export options. For pixel-based edit work, Lightroom allows access to Photoshop (provided you already have the program of course) and it's tools as well.
As always, Lightroom 3 developing utilizes non-destructive editing so that your original image is preserved during the developing process.
Especially exciting is Lightroom 3's new noise reduction feature. With controls for both luminance and color noise can easily be drastically reduced.
Output
Lightroom 3 creates polished and professional level slideshows as well as web-based albums in HTML or Flash. Again, the controls are very easy to use and do not require a lot of technical knowledge to create beautiful results.
The print feature offers nice presets and customizable layout features. Single images and packages can quickly be created and printed. Draft and regular printing is supported as well as the easiest contact sheet creation I have seen. Lightroom 3 improves further by adding more customizable package options to fit the photographer's needs.
The only thing that might trip up new users is that Lightroom doesn't use a traditional "save" feature. There is an "export" function that takes the place of the "save" button everyone has grown accustomed to in other programs.
The print feature offers nice presets and customizable layout features. Single images and packages can quickly be created and printed. Draft and regular printing is supported as well as the easiest contact sheet creation I have seen. Lightroom 3 improves further by adding more customizable package options to fit the photographer's needs.
The only thing that might trip up new users is that Lightroom doesn't use a traditional "save" feature. There is an "export" function that takes the place of the "save" button everyone has grown accustomed to in other programs.
New Features
Lightroom 3 is truly a giant leap forward in digital developing.
Some of the great new additions/refinements are:
Improved Import Process
Faster Performance
Lens Correction
Perspective Correction
DSLR Video Support
Flikr Integration
Noise Reduction
Film Grain Simulation
Another new feature that is truly phenomenal is the tethered shooting support. Tethered shooting allows you to display images on your computer screen as you shoot them. This in a nearly invaluable feature for studio photographers who will be able to offer previews of digital proofs instantly to customers.
Some of the great new additions/refinements are:
Another new feature that is truly phenomenal is the tethered shooting support. Tethered shooting allows you to display images on your computer screen as you shoot them. This in a nearly invaluable feature for studio photographers who will be able to offer previews of digital proofs instantly to customers.
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