Part 16 - Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture

The last two posts covered the topic of organizing digital image files. The capabilities and search flexibility of programs like Adobe's Lightroom and Apple's Aperture have brought a new level of image organization and retrieval to the individual photographer that was previously the exclusive territory of sophisticated corporate image storage systems.

What's currently muddying the waters are the enhanced editing features that these organizing programs are bringing to the market. The question now being asked is: "Do I need a dedicated photo editing program, like Photoshop, or are the editing features now included in Lightroom and Aperture enough for my needs?"

This post will lay the basic groundwork towards making that distinction apparent, and ultimately help in making your "buy - no buy" decision. The best place to start is to understand the editing features these new programs offer. I will use Adobe's Lightroom for my examples, but similar features and tools can be found in Apple's Aperture. (These editing tools will be briefly described in this post. How and when to use each of these editing tools will not be covered in this primer.)

Main Lightroom Workspace

Shown above is Lightroom's primary workspace. The various modes of Lightroom are located at the top of the screen as Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web. The previous two discussions took place in Library Mode (yellow box). This mode contains the organizational features of this program including keywording, metadata, image ranking, film strip, preview area and the image search function.

But even in this Library Mode some limited image status and editing operations are available. So, as an image is selected (click on image in central preview area or on an image in the film strip at bottom), an image histogram is displayed (shown in yellow) and several coarse editing functions become active (shown in green box). The histogram in Lightroom displays the levels for all the primary colors (red, green and blue) as well as the secondary colors (cyan, magenta and yellow) for a more detailed look at the digital make up of the selected image.

Quick Develop Function in Library Mode

Here are the controls available for coarse image corrections in Library Mode. These controls are not nearly as elaborate as their sister function in the Develop Mode, but they do provide a quick way of making initial adjustments to individual or groups of selected images. For example, if a particular group of your images have a slight green cast, all of the images can be selected at once and their white balances adjusted to add more magenta (magenta is the opposite of green) and reduce the green cast. In the same way, a group of images that are too dark can be lightened as a group using the coarse exposure control.

To make more critical corrections, Lightroom users select the Develop Mode in the top bar of the main workspace.

Lightroom's Develop Mode Workspace

Although the above picture is small, it does help orientate you to the Develop Mode workspace in Adobe's Lightroom. Here a picture was selected in the Library Mode to be adjusted. "Develop" (see green box) was selected from the top bar to reveal this image editing workspace.

Lightroom's Histogram and Treatment Tools in Develop Mode

That's better. In this close up view of the right-hand side of the Develop Mode workspace, the first of Lightroom's editing tools can be seen. Again a histogram is always visible and will reflect -- in real time -- any changes you make during image editing. Among the tools available are:

• White balance control (color temperature and tint)
• Recovery, fill light and blacks
• Brightness and contrast
• Presence (controlling overall clarity, vibrancy and saturation).

All of these tools are represented as sliders to allow precise control of the adjustment. Any adjustment made using these tools is immediately reflected in the large preview image in the center of the screen.

Tone Curve, Hue, Saturation, Luminance, Color and Grayscale control panels

The editing tool bar on the right of the screen has its own vertical slider to provide access to more editing options. Here the Tone Curve is shown as well as the slider controls for Hue, Saturation, Luminance, Color and Grayscale. Again each slider control allows for very precise control and any adjustments are previewed immediately on the large center-screen image. A helpful feature is available on several controls that makes visual adjustment much easier. In the above example, Saturation is shown to be active. Notice the small circle to the left-hand side of the word Saturation. Clicking on this button converts your pointer/cursor to an on-screen saturation tool.

Cursor Saturation Tool Example

Here's the cursor saturation tool (within the green circle) as it appears on the large preview image. I can now be very specific about the color that I'm adjusting. In this case, the cursor is located on top of a yellow portion of the sunset. With a combination of click/hold, I can drag the cursor up or down to increase or decrease the saturation of the yellow in the entire picture. While performing this operation, the sliders in the Saturation portion of the tool bar will move to reflect precisely the change being made. Pretty cool. This feature is available with several of Lightroom's image editing tools.

Detail and Lens Correction Options

The final two editing controls in the right hand options bar are "Detail" (for precisely controlling image sharpness) and "Lens Correction" (to adjust for or simulate imperfections common to lenses). The sharpening functions of Lightroom are very precise and flexible. See the Sharpening post in Part 13 of this iDarkroom primer for more information.

Cropping, Red Eye and Straightening Controls

Immediately below the large central preview image are the controls for setting the preview image (i.e. full screen, side-by-side before and after view, etc.). In addition, a Red Eye function is available as well as all cropping and straightening functions. Cropping and straightening are very intuitive within Lightroom and performed in real time with guidelines on the large preview image.

Lightroom's Pallet of Preset Effects

The final feature to be mentioned in this primer are Presets. Adobe has included a selection of predefined effects that can be applied to any image (shown above). The presets in Develop Mode are listed on the left-hand menu next to the large central preview image. As the user passes the cursor over each optional preset a small preview image is displayed (red box above) to provide visual feedback on the effect each preset will have on the selected image. In the example above, the preset labeled "General - Grayscale" is selected and all of the Lightroom corrections required to convert the selected image to a grayscale (B&W) image are applied. The result is immediately shown in the center-screen image.

Lightroom as well as Apple's Aperture - not covered here - also have significant additional features that make them a nearly universal imaging product:

• Slideshow production including music and multiple export options
  
• Web gallery production including a broad selection of gallery styles
  
• Extensive Printing Options offering unique printing formats for numerous purposes including contact sheets and fine art layouts.

The distinctive feature unique to Lightroom and Aperture is contained in how all the corrections made during editing are applied to your original digital file.

They aren't!

In photo-speak, all of the actions (regardless of how dramatic or extensive) that you make during image editing are NOT applied directly to the original image. This is called non-destructive editing. Although you see the changes being made on-screen -- before your very eyes -- all corrections made are held by these programs as a set of instructions that are applied when the image is subsequently viewed, edited, exported as a new image file, viewed as a slide show, or printed. The original file is NEVER altered. The corrections are contained in a small text file that becomes permanently associated with each image file in your collection. (Consider this information as "image editing" metadata.)

Unlike the standard procedure of saving an original file, making corrections and then saving the new edited image under a new file name to preserve the original, Lightroom and Aperture save all that hard drive space and file organization chaos by maintaining a very small text file that allows these programs to apply the corrections within the program each time the image is accessed.

Then which type of program should a photographer choose -- a dedicated image editing program like Photoshop or an all-in-one software package like Lightroom or Aperture? Much of the answer is determined by the photographer and the images he/she wants (or is required) to produce. Although it's highly likely that a professional photographer's computer will have both types of programs, it is also becoming more and more frequent for these photographers to do the majority of their work in Lightroom or Aperture.

Why is this?

Most working professionals -- especially commercial and studio photographers as well as photojournalists -- have become extremely proficient at capturing a technically and compositionally accurate image in the environments they typically encounter. Their need for extensive image editing is minimal. However, their need for organizing and editing speed as well as the ability to meet tight deadlines is extremely high. So a typical workflow (under "normal" conditions) for these pros might be something like:

• Download all images from camera's storage card and generic metadata into Lightroom or Aperture
• Review all images and determine images to be used for the assignments (selects)
• Apply image-specific metadata to selected images
• Perform any corrections that can be applied to all images
• Perform any corrections necessary to specific images
• Export images in required format (with Lightroom corrections applied)
• Transmit images to their editor or client.

Remember this is only an example. Each photographer has his/her own personal workflow. But they will generally include similar steps. For these pros or any skilful photographer, Lightroom or Aperture is capable of performing all the steps in their workflow. So, many photographers have drifted to using Lightroom or Aperture the majority of the time.

However, other photographers in the industry or in the non-professional ranks -- including fine art photographers, architectural photographers, photographers shooting for illustrations or advertising, etc. -- have a critical need of performing fine adjustments throughout the entire image. As a result, stand-alone imaging programs like Photoshop are a necessity in their work.

The strength of dedicated image editing programs like Photoshop is found in the almost limitless image control they provide to their users. Unlike Lightroom or Aperture where the corrections made are almost always to the entire image, Photoshop-like programs allow control over the individual components of a digital image -- down to the individual pixel level. Layers can be applied. Actions can be utilized. Cloning can be achieved. Delicate masking can be accomplished. HDR and panoramas can be accommodated. Paths can be constructed. Text can be introduced. These are some of the options not currently available in Lightroom or Aperture that are considered essentials to the work of many photographers.

In the end, the photographer must choose based on his/her image editing requirements. Because of the different strengths of each type of program, both are likely to be found in a photographer's iDarkroom.

It will certainly be interesting to watch the evolution of Lightroom and Aperture as Adobe and Apple continue to add more and more dedicated image editing program features. Who knows, we may be heading towards an all-in-one software solution.

Which would I recommend?

That's tough. But if I were just starting out -- and understanding the importance I place on keeping digital images organized and accessible -- I would probably buy either Lightroom or Aperture first. Putting organization considerations aside, the editing features of Lightroom and Aperture are extensive and certainly powerful enough for newcomers.

I would learn the ins and outs of these programs including all the image editing tools and functions. Then when I had conquered the tools and as my finances allowed, I would purchase a dedicated image editing program like Photoshop to cover the full range of my editing needs. Virtually everything I learned while using Lightroom or Aperture would transfer to shorten the learning time associated with most dedicated image editing programs.

Part 15b -- Organizing, Storing and Retrieving Image Files

This article is a continuation of Part 15 - Organizing, Storing and Retrieving Image Files.

The last post explained how to import images from your camera or stored on your computer's hard drive into image management or organizing software -- in this case, Adobe's Lightroom. Once the images have been imported, the next step is to provide the information that these programs require to organize the individual images and make their later retrieval a simple matter -- regardless of how many images you have in your entire collection.

Adobe Lightroom's Workspace

Seeing the entire Lightroom workspace is difficult using images that fit within the blog template. So sections of the workspace will be enlarged in each segment of this post.

The picture above shows the entire Lightroom workspace. I've attached descriptive words (in yellow) to this full workspace view to highlight the areas that are common to most image management software.

• Library Mode: Only the organizing and storage features to this class of software will be discussed in this post. For Lightroom, these functions take place in the Library mode -- shown in white lettering at the top of the screen. Other modes in Lightroom include: Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web. (These modes are topics for future articles.)
• Thumb Nail Window: In the center of the workspace is the area reserved for larger thumbnail images of the images in either the folder you've selected or as a result of an image search you have performed.
• Image Folders: The left hand menu bar displays a complete list of the image folders you've created and stored in Lightroom. In this section resides the folder created in the last post.
• Scrolling Filmstrip: At the bottom of the workspace is a film strip that can be scrolled to show all the pictures selected. Users can scroll through their images quickly using this feature. Clicking on any filmstrip image will result in showing a larger thumbnail in the center pane for closer inspection.
• Keywords: This is the area that displays current keywords associated with the selected image. Additional keywords that are specific to this image can be entered in this box.
• Metadata: This area is reserved for displaying and modifying the metadata of the selected image. (Click here for the discussion of Metadata in Part 14 of this iDarkroom blog.)

The "folders" pane (circled in yellow) in Lightroom's workspace

It's probably becoming obvious from these descriptions that we are now at the level of organizing each INDIVIDUAL image. The importing accomplished in the last post provided a basic gross organization of the images. All files were placed in a folder unique to a particular shot or event (shown in "folders" pane above). At the same time, images were provided metadata and keywords that were common to ALL images in this folder. Now we can describe individual photographs to identify what makes each unique. It all begins with information entered in the right hand column of panes.

Lightroom Histogram Pane

The top pane contains a histogram of the image that is currently selected. Although this histogram won't be altered, it does provide a graphic that is several times larger than your camera's version as well as an opportunity to take a closer technical look at the exposure made in the field.

The pane for viewing, changing and adding keywords

The keyword window below the histogram shows any keywords that are currently associated with the SELECTED image. These initial keywords were assigned to this image (and all others in the group) by the photographer when the file(s) was originally imported into this folder in Lightroom. Now's the time to enter words that specifically define this image. For example, this folder contained pictures of landscapes, people, scenery, water falls, babbling brook, towering trees, sunrise, etc. taken at the Old Grist Mill in Clark County, Washington in 2008. So every picture in this series shares these keywords. The picture that is currently SELECTED is of a waterfall in the park. By adding the keyword "waterfall" to the list for this image, it's now different from all the others. This is the first step in locating this image two years from now. Enter keywords that identify/describe this particular image.

Lightroom's Metadata Pane Showing EXIF Metadata

As explained in Part 15a, two forms of metadata are commonly associated and travel with each image -- EXIF and IPTC. The picture above shows the EXIF metadata (as selected in the yellow hightlighted pull down menu). This information isn't editable. EXIF data describes exactly how this SPECIFIC picture was taken (i.e., camera name, f/stop, shutter speed, ISO, shooting mode, etc.). Instead of taking notes, the camera records this important reference material automatically and includes it with each picture file. You'll see later that you can even use this information to find particular pictures. For example, if you wanted to locate all pictures that were taken with your Nikon D200, you can do that based on each picture's EXIF metadata.

IPTC Metadata Window

You might not be able to read all the "fill in the blanks" in this picture, but you can see there's room for lots of information that's specific to this picture. IPTC metadata was originally created with photojournalists in mind. Here all the information about the photographer, the assignment, location, dates, captions, etc. can be entered. You may not need all this information for your photography, but several fields are useful for everyone -- like photographer's name, address, date, etc. You decide what information is important and use these fields to permanently assign this data to THIS specific image.

These are the critical data entry areas and information required to make later retrieval of a specific image a snap.

You mean I have to do all this work for every picture I take?

If you want to maximize the effectiveness of your image organizational software the answer is YES. But, don't panic. Software manufactures have included shortcuts to speed up the process.

Metadata Synchronization Button in Lightroom

The "Sync Metadata" button at the bottom of Lightroom's workspace is one of Adobe's methods for making your metadata life easier. By selecting one image that contains all the metadata you've entered and then selecting all others that require the same information and clicking on the "Sync Metadata" button, your metadata is automatically entered into the fields you specify. For example, in the "waterfall" example above: If you had taken 20 pictures of the waterfall, then you only need to enter the data into one of the waterfall images, select the remaining images and let the "Sync Metadata" feature automatically write the information into the other 19 picture files.

Every program has shortcuts for entering metadata. Check out data entry shortcuts when you are evaluating different software programs.

Most programs also include a few additional options that make the initial job of organizing, sorting and editing pictures even easier and faster.

As hard as it is to believe, not every picture is a winner. But instead of trying to determine which pictures to save before importing them, I recommend you import EVERYTHING. Good and bad. It's actually much easier to make these decisions at the same time you are entering keywords and metadata. Any image can be selected and deleted at any time. So, import everything to save time.

Additional options for classifying or editing your newly imported pictures include:

Color Labeling

These features are presented in the order suggested by Adobe for Lightroom. Color labeling can be used to quickly review ALL of your images. You can apply a color coded label to any of the thumbnail pictures to indicate their importance to your project. (Notice the "red image label" applied to the picture above surrounds the thumbnail picture.)

"Pick" Flag Applied in Lightroom

Once you've made your first cut by color labeling important pictures, you can then make final selections by selecting a "Pick" flag. The flag (upper left corner of thumbnail picture) indicates that this image is your "pick" for final use.

Lightroom's Star Rating System (circled in yellow)

At the bottom of each thumbnail image is a series of stars. Choosing "stars" ranks your images from poor to best (5 stars usually indicating best). It's your call. Rank the image according to your photographic taste. You will also be able to search and sort images based on these star rankings.

Notes: Additional information available on the thumbnail images includes:

• the size of the image file and its sequence number in all the thumbnails being displayed (shown in green circle)
• the file name and the f/stop and shutter speed used for this picture (shown in blue circle)
• information showing if the image has been altered in any way using the program's image editing features (shown in the red circle).

All of this information is customizable. A list of items to display with each thumbnail is available for you to customize these "corner" information displays.

At this point, you've created a complete database of images that can be quickly searched to find individual or groups of pictures that meet your search criteria.

The Lightroom "Find/Text" Menu

Let's walk through one simple search. In Lightroom in Library mode, the Find function is located on the left hand scrolling menu. For this search, I'll look for an image based on a specific keyword, "Clark County". From the "text" pull down menu, I select "Keywords". Notice I could have searched for pictures based on many choices -- title, filename, metadata, etc.

The "Find/Text/Rule" pull down menu

Next I tell Lightroom to search for keywords that match all the keywords I entered from the "Rule" pull down menu. Then I type in "Clark County" in the text field below the "rule" line.

Completed "Find" with results of the search

The results of the search appear almost immediately (this search took less than one second). All of the images found that match the keywords I entered are displayed in the thumbnail window and in the filmstrip at the bottom of the workspace. The details of the search are shown in the yellow circled area. I performed this search on my Grist Mill folder and 65 images matched my request. (I could have searched on multiple folders or the entire picture collection as well.)

The searching features of these programs are extensive and fast -- making it virtually impossible to lose a file that has been properly identified when brought into the program.

For most photographers, these sophisticated image organization programs are worth their weight in gold. Finding a single image among thousands has been a photographer's nightmare since George Eastman was a kid. Today, we can attach image-specific information and permanently include it with the picture. And then leave the grunt work of finding the files to our computers. It's not a miracle, but it is a godsend.

Is this just for professionals? Well, imagine your daughter is getting married and you're in charge of creating a scrapbook of images from delivery room to college graduation as a wedding keepsake. If you had been entering your family pictures into an image management program for all those years, just typing in your daughter's name as a keyword would display her entire photographic history. Pretty cool.

The amount of information you add to your images and the ways you rank your files are totally within your control. However, whatever choices you make, be consistent -- forever. By standardizing your importing and organizing process you have defined your own image management "workflow".

Finally, don't forget that the Lightroom process I have described is only ONE software solution on the market. Check out others -- like Apple's Aperture -- to determine which is most comfortable and usable in your iDarkroom.

But wait! There's more! Although the organization that these programs bring to the chaos of managing thousands of individual images is well worth the price, there's more to most of these programs. Future iDarkroom articles will discuss why many professional photographers are using these programs to perform the majority of their digital image editing and enhancement as well.

As always, if you have questions or comments, please drop me a line.