LR5

damianmkv

damianmkv

Uh oh, a fruit basket!
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At the moment, I have PSE11 which has been good but I was beginning to want a bit more from the software so i downloaded the LR5 trial.

I'm halfway through the trial period and really kind of struggling to get to grips with anything apart from the basic "develop" menu ( like I have no idea how to even close a file )

Clearly, its a great tool but is it worth ( abt ) £75 ? Am I best sitting watching youtube guides or a book or...?


Help / guidance appreciated as I'm a PP novice ( and thats being generous )
 
Look at the B&H Lightroom videos they are among the best starting out as they go into plenty of detail, quite lengthy and don't go too fast.

LR is a cataloguing tool so all the changes you make in the develop module aren't destructive, they are saved into the LR database (catalogue) only. To make it simple to explain, convert an image in LR to BW, then close LR. Open the original image from your folder in Windows Picture Viewer or similar and the image will still be in colour. Only LR knows you've changed the image to BW. To get a copy of the image in BW, in LR you have to export the image to a new file.
 
OK, understood. I meant close the file i'm editing- in PSE, you get the option to close the file and then a " do you want to save your changes ..." pop up. I just assumed you could do the same ? So, if i edit a file and decide i dont like it, do i just close LR and it changes nothing ?

Likewise, if I edit something and mess it up ( say, careless brushwork for example ), does the backspace undo it ? In PSE, there's an "undo" button
 
lr can undo each step too. so if you mess upi you can go back.. and yes if you just close the original remains untouched as it just edits a "copy".. and to save that edited copy you have to choose the export option.
 
thanks Dean - so i undo with a back space ? or via the history that appears on the left of the screen ?
 
The changes you make will stay active if you close it down but if you don't save it the file will be untouched and still a RAW file. You can clixk reset on the bottom right hand side and it will give you your original file or the history box on the left.

Adam Moorganti on YT has some excellent LR vids.
 
you dont "save" changes in LR, it has a non destructive editing suite.

therefore the original file is still there but each "change" is applied in like a preview until you export it. you can undo the changes at any time within the develop module.
 
Hi it does take a while to get comfortable using Lightroom but once you get used to it it makes photo editing an absolute joy! I hardly touch photoshop now.

You can undo by pressing CTRL (or CMD on mac) + Z. CTRL + SHIFT + Z will go forward again. Or you can go Edit --> Redo. You can do this as many times as you want. When you try it out pay attention to the "history" menu on the left, in the develop tab. You'll notice it changing. If you click on any stage in this History menu it will take you to how the photo looked at that point. If you like it you can save it as a snapshot - click the + sign next to the snapshot menu and name it whatever you want, B+W edit or whatever. It's then saved for ever so if you undo that particular step and can't recreate it it's not an issue. You can take as many snapshots as you like and compare them.

Also, when you shut down lightroom you don't lose any of the edits you made as it saves your position and when you re-open Lightroom it'll open up exactly as you left it. So if you need to go out just shut down your computer, no need to save anything.

Terry White on Youtube has a very good video about 10 things beginners want to know about lightroom or something like that, it tells you all about importing and all that stuff.
 
Yeah the only thing I miss from LR is layers and layer masks, i only ever go into PS to use them. Also i love the graduated ND filter at the top, no need for expensive filters now!
 
yep, found that one..seems to work pretty well. Now i've got to scour t'internet for the best deal
 
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I think i read on petapixel recently that if you sign up for adobe creative cloud, when it expires after the year is up you get to keep the program. Might be worth looking into.

Or someone on here will probably have a copy if you put a shout out
 
I'm a bit reluctant for £9/month to be honest - not sure I can justify it
 
Yeah i know what you mean, especially since the Yanks get it for $9 a month! Hardly seems fair that...
 
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