|
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
|
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a photography software program developed by Adobe Systems for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows, designed to assist professional photographers in managing thousands of digital images and doing post production work. It is not a file browser like Adobe Bridge, but rather an image management application database which helps in viewing, editing, and managing digital photos (including those on backup DVDs).
History
Early stages
In 2002, veteran Photoshop developer Mark Hamburg began a new project, code-named “Shadowland”.[1] The new project was a deliberate departure from many of Adobe’s established conventions. 40% of Photoshop Lightroom is written using the Lua scripting language. Hamburg chose Phil Clevenger, a former associate of Kai Krause’s, to create a new look for the application.[1]
Photoshop Lightroom’s (LR) engineering talent is based largely in Minnesota, comprised of the team which had already created Adobe’s ImageReady application. Troy Gaul, Melissa Gaul, and the rest of their crew (reportedly known as the “Minnesota Phats”[2]), along with Hamburg, developed the architecture behind the application. George Jardine, a skilled photographer and previous Adobe evangelist, rounded out the early team, filling the Product Manager role.[1]
Beta development
On January 9, 2006, an early version of Photoshop Lightroom, previously just called Lightroom, was released to the public as a Macintosh-only public Beta, on the Adobe Labs website. This was the first Adobe product released to the general public for feedback during its development. This method was then later used in the development of Adobe Photoshop CS3. Further Beta releases followed. Notable releases included Beta 3 on July 18, 2006, which added support for Microsoft Windows systems. On September 25, 2006, Beta 4 was released, which saw the program merged into the Photoshop product range, followed by a minor update on October 19, which was released as Beta 4.1.
Official 1.0 Release
On January 29, 2007, Adobe announced that Lightroom would be shipping on February 19, 2007. US list pricing was set at $299. The UK retail price was £199.
Lightroom 1.1 update was released on June 26, 2007, update 1.2 was released on 15 September 2007, update 1.3 was released on November 15, 2007, and update 1.4 was released on March 14, 2008. Release 1.4 was taken off line on 19th March 2008 because of serious bugs that could alter the original images; release 1.3.1 was put back. Update 1.4.1 was released 10th April 2008.
A 30-day trial of Lightroom 1.4.1 is currently available.
Version 2.0
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Beta was advertised in official emails from Adobe in April 2008. New features include:
- Localized corrections (edit specific parts of an image)
- Improved organization tools
- Multiple monitor support
- Flexible printing options
- 64-bit support
For further information, see http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/
Features
Unlike traditional image editing software, Photoshop Lightroom is focused on the following workflow steps:
- Library - image collection review and organization - similar in concept to the 'Organizer' in Adobe Photoshop Elements
- Develop - non-destructive RAW and JPEG file editing
- Slideshow - tools and export features
- Print - layout options and preferences
- Web - automatic gallery creation and upload
The Develop mode has a number of presets for colour correction/effects. Apart from the regular presets, there are a huge number of presets available for free download on the internet, which makes it a very useful tool for professional photographers.
Criticism
The following criticisms have been common:
- Released too early. Version 1.0 had a relatively large number of bugs for a commercial release, and many users were angry about paying for what many viewed as just another beta release. Adobe supporters counter that many 1.0 commercial releases also have problems with bugs. Adobe has been forthcoming about the bugs and has said that it is being diligent about correcting them.
- Digital Asset Management (DAM). The software is advertised as being a start-to-finish program in which to manage-edit-print-publish ones photography. However its DAM featureset is not as extensive as other image management software. Critics content that this limits LR's use as a one-stop solution. Supporters counter that Adobe is actively improving the DAM capabilities and that future releases will bring it to the level of other dedicated DAM software.
- Processing of RAW files. Major camera companies (Nikon and Canon, for example) often store photographs in a proprietary format rather than an open-source format such as DNG. This gives the manufacturer's software an advantage over Adobe in processing the raw files and is generally seen as a move by the camera makers to lock users into buying their software. The result is that the underlying Adobe RAW-converter engine used in LR is not always able to render an image as cleanly as the manufacturer's engine. It is particularly noticeable in low-light images, where noise reduction from Adobe is not as strong as, for example, Nikon's proprietary software. Supporters point out that each version of the Adobe engine (Adobe Camera Raw) has made improvements in this area. Critics complain that there is still a significant gap.
References
See also
External links
|
