The myth was that the electronic age would usher in more ‘free time’. Remember that? The opposite is the case for tasks grow – Parkinson’s Law fashion – to fit the time available: just think of all we have been prepared to put up with in the great ‘work flow’ fiasco. And for those of us involved with publishing we now have to get 98% of things ready to go before sending it off: great savings have been made to publishing costs but, strangely, not passed on…well, well.
The arrival of Lightroom has revolutionised things for me at home: as time passes I find less need to exit the program for a growing variety of image-related tasks. I know some readers will be au fait with all I have to say but, for those who are not, this is not just a boring old filing cabinet on a screen. Yes, it does that brilliantly but…a lot more to boot.
I bought my first Mac (an SE back in 1990 having written three books on an Amstrad PCW) and, with successive Macs did more and more of my own layout work for posters, cards and the like with those snap-to grids on screens. I don’t pretend I would have won any design awards BUT then neither would some of the people who did it for real in publishers I encountered…one or two having recently been promoted from monitor in charge of photocopying.
My photographer/geometer’s background with an eye for pattern functioned well for everyday stuff and more. I also found it highly therapeutic at times in just tinkering and producing something that looked good. For brochures a local printer in Cowbridge, S Wales was Mac – equipped, a bonus.
LAYOUTS
For some time I have worked with the range of layouts in Adobe Lightroom using the PRINT module which has become even more effective in Lightroom 3. It copes with much more than prints – there is an easy-to-use series of templates in the module plus a versatile custom facility. On a busy day there is not a great deal of need to leave Lightroom…not only can I select and modify RAW files for agencies but also make the contact sheets, web pages and DVD covers as well
NB all the screenshots below were made with Grab, the Mac utility and give some idea of how the module functions: it is quick.
The Lightroom 3 Workspace: Sources LEFT and Controls RIGHT
As in the example above , I started by using the ‘triptych’ template to produced materials for an exhibition where I wanted to show a series of local ‘bee orchid’ (Ophrys) species for comparison.
- Registration is quick and perfect – things do not creep as they used to in the days when I prepared things in Appleworks.
- With Lightroom 3 you can select (or create a layout) adjust the size and spacing of cells for your images and then add stroke borders if you like them. If you like it you can save for future use.
- You can leave the background in white or change it to shades between within a grey-scale palette. You can add a personalised nameplate and data should you wish.
This was the straight 'print' to a JPEG file the size was selected for web use
BLOG PICS
What I have tended to do when producing comparative blog illustrations, is to create a layout with images on a black background avoiding a white border by selecting a paper size (File >Page set-up) that gives borderless prints OR you can crop later when you have created the JPEG.
The captioning for Pixiq is on black anyway and so these images merge seemlessly. I make a selection of images to include (possibly from within a collection already made) – with or without a that white/grey stroke border of 1 to 1.5 points added from within the module and view the result. NB. Very fine borders (less than 0.5point) visible on screen are almost invisible in the final JPEG.
Here the cell size is reduced slightly, margins changed, stroke border together with plus my nameplate... space and text at top or bottom can quickly be added by opening the JPEG in Photoshop and creating a typing layer.
You can export the file directly to a printer OR best of all as a JPEG and then…
- Change the border. I often increase the black border to suit, usually at the bottom, where I can put in a caption of sorts. To do this open the JPEG in Photoshop proceed to Image > Canvas size and then add as much as you like.
- Create a New Layer(s) for text: This lets you put in a title, captions and so on. Finally, flatten the image and export at the image size you require. I usually do this at A4 and then reduce for use eg 980 pixels wide for the Pixiq Blog and 1920 for full screen width slides on the MAC.
- Title slides with several images are really easy to generate in the Print Module - add anything you want in Photoshop and then re-import into Lightroom.
- PDF slide shows are easily produced from within Lightroom via the Slideshow Module.It is quick and reliable and now, with Lightroom 3, you can add music easily.
- Printing at Home with black drinks ink – but JPEGS from Lightroom are perfect to send to a print house.
- A business card can be designed in any program you prefer, saved as a JPEG and imported into a Lightroom layout: same for CD/DVD covers and so on.
Lightroom is not as flexible as some slide-show programs for those who like the querky transitions, but it is quick and functional and it looks good. It is great, too, for working in the field: I mentioned last year how I had been out with a local group of school children, did a quick edit and had the slide show ready to go…great for those of us who lead tours, too and want to show something of the highlights of the day or go over points raised in the evening.
Contact sheets are easy when you have made a collection - you can adjust numbers of rows and columns with the sliders and choose background
If you have not explored the potential of the PRINT module it can quickly and easily provide you with a plethora of potential layouts that you can send to your own printer or have bulk printed from the JPEG you created.
Lightroom is far more than the cataloguing program it seems at first sight
- ebooks There was an interesting Pixiq post by Jose Antunes on how Lightroom 3 could be used to create ebooks….seems useage is limited only by your imagination with this one.
- Instruction – there is a downloadable pdf and is backed up by excellent on-screen instructional videos by Julieanne Kost and others.
Cards, CD or DVD Covers ....and much more just with a series of clicks.
I keep meaning to explore what Lightroom has to offer because I know there are a lot more options available than what I use it for. I have used it to create contact sheets and slideshows though and I agree that it’s very easy to use with the results looking really professional. One thing I’ve struggled with is to customise the captions on a contact sheet and I’m not sure if it’s possible?
I really like the collection of shield bug images. You’ve used Lightroom really well to create a striking set.
Mike
Hello Mike,
Thanks for your comment. The Bugs selection was something done in seconds – it’s so easy when you have lots of images and are browsing to out together sample sheets – I have done it with dragonfly ‘faces’, insect eyes …Thees things look nice and they are so easy to create. If you have a blog combinations like this don’t take time – for me an important consideration because I find myself spending too long on things otherwise.
If you have not seen them/used them the series of videos mentioned begin to reveal the capabilities. It is not cheap butI find much of my post-production work is based around Lightroom. Niall has some very good stuff on his DVD: I find everyone who uses these programs finds different things!
best
Paul
Hi Paul,
I’ll definitely be giving the technique a go and I’ll look out for the videos.
Thanks,
Mike
Paul
As a confirmed PC user, oh how I wish I was trendy and had a Mac, I am a fairly recent convert to Lightroom and what a revelation it has been!
Before converting, I struggled with Nikon’s own proprietary raw converter, Capture NX2. Whilst it may probably be the best raw converter for Nikon files, and it has some very useful features such as Nik Software’s Upoint Technology, it is an absolute disaster of a programme to use. Even with one of the latest Core i7 processors and 12Gb of RAM (which is way above the recommended operating specification for this programme), NX2 would clunk along and would invariably crash just before I was about to save my work.
By comparison, Lightroom is a positive joy to use. Not only is the raw processing fast but it is indistinguishable from the results that can be achieved in NX2 (when it works). The digital asset management capabilities of Lightroom have replaced the requirement for an expensive separate programme that only serves this one purpose.
I now find that 95% of my work can be achieved in Lightroom alone. I still use Photoshop for certain specific tasks as well as printing, given its soft proofing abilities. I am also a big fan of the new content aware fill in CS5 which provides a quick and easy way to remove unwanted items (very naughty I know) from images – something which the current Mrs Mason will find very useful if and when she decides to upgrade to a newer and improved model!
As you, and others, have kindly pointed out for free, there is so much more that Lightroom can do.
Andrew
PS: The contact sheet of flowers brought a welcome reminder of what Summer is like to a dank and miserably Staffordshire.
Hello Mike,
The details are in the training video that goes with Niall’s latest book ” Outdoor Photography Masterclass” (unashamed plug here for my friend and co-blogger) and you will find details here on this site in an earlier blog…I can’t include a working link: cut and paste this: ihttp://imagesfromtheedge.com/blog/?p=6188.
By the way, for Mac users the cost of Apple Aperture has just plumeted according to a post yesterday on the Pixiq site. That program has its aficionados, too.
Paul
Hi Andrew,
We all have our crosses to bear..especially we ‘trendy’ folk! I just liked the drag and drop so went for Mac. There are times when it exasperates me, though…as any computer I have ever worked on since punch card days does.
Lightroom is a revelation in the senses you mention. When you get used to it things are fast. I have a few catalogues and the largest is 30,000+ and things hum along. When I went to L3 from L2 I had problems in that, although it boasted a speed increase in the adverts this could seemingly only be realised with more that 2GB of RAM…I had to beef that up in my iMac. There was a wealth of justified on-line griping about this.
The Nikon software does have its good points but, like you I found it moved very slowly. I have quite a few Sigma RAW files too but found after I had opened them via the RAW engine in Lightroom 2 they would no longer function in Sigma PhotoPro. I never resolved the dilemma and, for working purposes converted to Adobe DNG with no drop in quality that I could discern.
The Nikon software is often high on features but not optimised to the same level as that from people like ADOBE. I have also used Nikon Camera Control 2 software for Live View for a time. I am hoping that when the newest software from Helicon appears in a mac format control of the camera might be better…
Hi Paul,
Today, I sat and worked through this – together with a Lightroom book I have I was finally able to sort out the way to do this, and save the finished product as a JPG – thanks to your post, I looked at something I’d not even thought of before.
I can see now that I can create and save templates that I can drag and drop images into, and resize as I go – and as a MAC user (a convert from the PC about 18 months ago) it’s pretty simple.
As Andrew said above, I now find that I can do pretty much all my work in Lightroom, with PS for the more complex stuff.
Thanks again for the tips !
Diane
Hello Di,
The only problem I find with Lightroom is that ‘playing’ with it and calling that work can become addictive.
It is good to feel that all you need to access and tweak images is on the Lightroom desktop and the whole business of processing selections for web agencies (though with these I do the final work in Photoshop) is no chore. There was an interim period with ‘workflow’ where I wondered how it was that we had all been prepare to put up with some much compared with just selecting trannies!
Paul
Gulp !
Don’t talk about Lightroom ‘playing’ or even CS ‘playing’ – it’s still a learning curve, and I do try to spend some time ‘learning’ – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it… LOL. On the other hand, since the advent of Lightroom my workflow has speeded up by leaps and bounds, which has to be good news. Always up for new ideas though – and the more I can do in Lightroom, the quicker it will be – leaving more playtime !!!