After a public Beta earlier in 2008 Adobe has released Version 2 of Lightroom, its photo management and processing software package. Originally launched in 2007, Lightroom is now well established as a RAW image processor and picture organizer, designed by and for photographers. Version 2 marks a significant step forward that, according to Adobe, responds to all the main requests from the user community.
Photo Organizer
Its ability to organize large numbers of photographs has always been one of the program’s main strengths, taken a step further in Version 2. A new filter bar above the grid view makes it easier to browse by multiple criteria including flags, ratings, metadata or keywords, and to save a compound filter as a pre-set. And the addition of “Smart Collections” means users can now set up and modify their collections far more conveniently, based on keywords or other metadata. Smart collections are updated automatically as new photographs are added.
It is now possible to open a new window to show, for example, a grid view while working in the develop module. And the newly introduced multi-monitor support means the second window can be on a second monitor, a feature requested by many users.
RAW Image Processing
Many users will find Version 2’s most significant improvements in the Develop module where two new tools have been added. The graduated filter tool allows different degrees of change in exposure, saturation, brightness, clarity and other picture qualities to be made vertically, horizontally or at any angle across the whole frame or part of it, very handy for fixing an under- or over-exposed sky. The local adjustment brush allows similar changes controlled by a feathered mask that can be painted on parts of the picture.
The post-crop vignette feature is also new. It enables users to control the degree of vignetting after taking account of cropping, recognizing that photographers may use vignetting creatively to enhance their pictures rather than only as a problem to be minimized. And the clarity slider can now be set to negative values to introduce a degree of blurring that was not possible previously. All these changes are made non-destructively, one of Lightroom’s most fundamental features.
Even with the new and enhanced features, Photoshop will still be needed for some kinds of tweaking and finishing, and Version 2 strengthens the integration of the two programs. The “Edit in Photoshop” sub-menu now offers the choice of sending pictures from Lightroom to Photoshop as Smart Objects on which adjustment layers can be added. And groups of photographs can be sent directly to be merged as panoramas or high dynamic range photos. After editing, images are automatically added back into the Lightroom catalog.
Picture Output Modules
The Slideshow, Print and Web modules have been improved. In each of them it is now possible to save settings for repeated use with collections. The provision for output sharpening has been enhanced. “Packages” of pictures can be printed on a page. As an important improvement for some, Mac 10.5 users with the right printers and drivers now have the option of 16-bit printing.
Version 2 also introduces improvements to Lightroom's overall capability. It can now handle huge files of up to 512 megapixels. It supports the latest 64-bit Mac and Windows operating systems. And managing photographs on several drives is now much easier.
Significantly for the future, Lightroom 2 provides for plug-ins and Adobe has released a supporting Software Developers Kit (SDK). So far very few plug-ins are available but that will certainly change. This version also provides for flexible camera profiles, allowing advanced users to customize the initial processing of RAW image files.
Books for Lightroom 2
There are still features that users have requested but are not yet included in this version, including support for CMYK files, soft proofing and greater flexibility for placing images on the printed page. Some Version 2 changes only bring Lightroom into line with Apple’s Aperture, the main competition. And to supplement Adobe’s on-line help, new users should consider one of the several Lightroom books that are being released in the second half of 2008 by Martin Evening, Scott Kelby and others.
At $299 / £175 for the full package or $99 / £69 for the upgrade Lightroom 2 is not cheap. But the changes in this version bring significant improvements in its functionality that many photographers will consider worth the price.
