[Leica] Aperture, Lightroom and Photoshop

[rbaron at concentric.net (Robert D. Baron)]

We haven't tried Apple's Aperture, but the Oklahoma City LUG Chapter 
(OKLUG?) has been discussing the relationship between Adobe Lightroom 
(now out in Beta 4.1, soon to be out in v1.0) and Photoshop (both CS2 
and the beta version of CS3).

The question before the group (well, Ken Carney and me) is which one do 
you need, or do you need both.

I'm still confused, but these posts in this thread 
http://tinyurl.com/y4hyrz  may help explain it.

 > 12/15/2006 07:28:22 AM
 >
 > Reply  | Quote  | Top  | Bottom
 >
 > In view of the release of Lightroom v1.0, Adobe needs to define
 > precisely how this application will differ from Photoshop CS3. From
 > what I see, a lot of what Lightroom offers is available in CS3's
 > Bridge. Why should I buy Lightroom, as opposed to upgrading from CS2
 > to CS3? Sergio



-------------------------------------------------
 > 12/15/2006 01:00:29 PM
 >
 > Reply  | Quote  | Top  | Bottom
 >
 > Sergio, Great question. You'll see that Camera Raw 4.0 beta has a
 > number of the controls that are available in Lightroom's develop
 > module. Why the redundancy? Not everyone feels the way that Lee Jay
 > does about using Bridge and Camera Raw. And as shown on these forums,
 > not everyone is convinced that a database-centric solution is right
 > for them. Bridge and Camera Raw is a proven and effective workflow
 > tool and Adobe will continue to support photographers and creative
 > professionals who prefer that solution. Lightroom has the benefit of
 > extending the workflow capabilities established in Bridge and Camera
 > Raw and provides a dedicated solution just for photographers. You'll
 > see that the Bridge CS3 has a few new tools for photographers. Those
 > new features have to be balanced against new features for InDesign
 > users and Illustrator users and all of the other applications
 > included in the Creative Suite. Lightroom can be selfish and focus
 > just on the tools that photographers want.
 >
 > That's the general background, now lets focus on the details: -Bridge
 > is a file browser that supports the entire Creative Suite. Lightroom
 > is a database-centric tool that supports only imaging formats. 
-Camera Raw is a "modal" dialog that can be launched from Bridge.
 > Lightroom integrates organizational and editing tools into a seamless
 > workflow environment. -Both solutions provide the same
 > non-destructive editing technology for JPG, TIFF and raw files. 
-Bridge is designed to present many different file formats. Lightroom
 > is designed to help photographers view and refine a large collection
 > of *images* as quickly as possible. -As we extend Lightroom's
 > functionality we'll be able to help photographers in ways that a file
 > browser is not designed to accommodate. Many users on these forums
 > have asked for functionality like Virtual Copies or versions,
 > improved multi-image compare mode, more advanced search and query
 > functionality. These are areas that Lightroom will be able to excel
 > at going forward where a file browser would fall short.
 >
 > It's your workflow so the choice is up to you. The general guidance
 > that I provide is that if you?re a photographer working predominantly
 > with images, Lightroom and the powerful pixel editing capabilities of
 > Photoshop are the right combination of products to use. If you're a
 > photographer working across the Creative Suite with tools like
 > InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop-- Bridge and Camera Raw may be a
 > more comfortable solution for you.
 >
 > The same team of amazingly talented engineers write the raw
 > processing code that serves both tools so you know that you'll
 > receive the same quality regardless of what choice you make. And if
 > you work with individuals who prefer one solution over the other
 > you'll be able to share image editing work without having to start
 > over or convert to a non-raw format.
 >
 > As always, this forum is a great place to share feedback and your
 > thoughts on which solution is right for you and why.
 >
 > Regards, Tom Hogarty Adobe Systems (Lightroom Product Manager, Adobe
 > Camera Raw Product Manager)

As for me, the 'database-centric' description of Lightroom is most 
interesting; it implies the ability to use Lightroom to catalogue (by 
keyword!) my images.

However, it appears at this point Lightroom won't take the plugins that 
I use most (Photokit; Photokit Sharpener; BorderIt; Convert to B&W Pro) 
so I'll need to use Photoshop to 'finish' my images.

The next question to be addressed is whether I need to continue to use 
Photo Mechanic to quickly view and edit and select the keepers from my 
digital shoot.  If the new version of Bridge is fast enough I may not 
need to.

Hope this helps, although I suspect it will just add to the confusion.

I'm trying to get this workflow and cataloging thing simplified, but I 
keep getting further into the swamp it seems......

--Bob