davidc wrote:Actually while I wait for the trial to download, maybe you might be able to answer some questions?
The "develop" module. I gather one of the big selling points for Lightroom is that you never edit an image but rather save all your changes to an accompanying file which are used to final create say a JPG if you like the look of the finished version and want to use it? If that's the case I'm not sure how that's different to having a raw file, opening it in ACR to make initial changes, exporting as a JPG and then finishing it off in Photoshop perhaps? I'm probably missing something but at the end of the day do you not have a RAW and a JPG file and not have saved any space? Probably missing a subtlety there!
Lightroom and Photoshop CS share the same Raw processing engine, so there are many similarities between the two. The main difference is that LR maintains a history of changes, so it is always possible to revert to a previous state, which is not posible in CS unless a snapshot has been created. You are correct that neither LR nor CS make any changes to the original Raw file, but apply the adjustments made during the conversion process to create a new file. With CS (and Elements), there will not be a physical file as the image will be opened in the the CS editor. That option exists in LR, which can open the file in CS provided that both have the same version of the Raw processing engine, i.e. LR4/CS6 at present. It is also posible to open the file in earlier versions of CS, but the adjustments specified in LR might not be fully reflected. There are also options to output the file in JPEG, TIFF, PSD, DNG or the original Raw file formats. LR can be configured to open the output file in any image editor, not just CS.
davidc wrote:The library module. I gather you setup a catalogue of your images here? Do you know how it would cope with images split across the HDD in my laptop and a major image store on a shared network hard drive array? Is it recommended I have all image files on my laptop for instance?
LR creates a catalogue of all the images which are imported into it and can track files across multiple drives, which could include local and remote storage. LR does not store the images in the catalogue and these are held in the original location. If LR has been used to download the images from the memory card, the files will be placed in the location specified in the Destination panel of the Import dialogue.
Should you store your images on a NAS system, you could access that from your laptop as well as your main PC, if you have separate machines. The adjustments made to Raw files are saved with those files, but you will probably need to create and maintain separate catalogues on each machine which you use to access the NAS. I would imagine that copying the catalogue to another machine is feasible, but it would be laborious and subject to constraints such as ensuring the same drive letter for the NAS was used on each machine and no images are held locally. Personally, I keep my main LR processing on one system and only use the laptop to store and review images when I am away from home, so I cannot really comment on the multiple machine aspect.
davidc wrote:Also, in terms of adding and reviewing new images, if I took 100 photos and wanted to delete 80 of them, presumably even though it's non-destructive editing you can tell it to permanently delete junk files from your PC (rather than just the lightroom catalogue?) The example I'm thinking of is the daily dump of 365 project images - can I quickly filter through, rate the ones I like and permanently delete the rest, or do I have to do that outside of lightroom?
From within LR, it is possible to delete images either from just the LR catalogue or from the hard drive. If you move or delete files outside of LR, the catalogue does not automatically track this and they will still be present in the catalogue, but LR will not be able to retrieve the images and you will get an error message. Best practice is to do everything from within LR, although you can ask it automatically to find files which have been moved.
davidc wrote:These are a few of the questions I've been mulling over most - while I see the value in the image management LR offers I'm trying to think of specific instances which might mean it's perhaps not the optimum choice for me.
Thanks50% download to go!
Good luck with the trial. If you stick with LR, I would recommend getting either Scott Kelby's or Martin Evening's books. As with all his books, Evening goes into the subject in great detail (700+ pages for LR4!), which I find invaluable as it gives the "why" as well as the "how". Kelby is probably better for the complete beginner as it is more of a step by step guide and is designed to be easy to follow.
