HOW–TO

Digital Horizons: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Lightroom is a program designed for photographers and the way they work

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has grabbed the attention of many photographers, and for good reason. It’s a significantly different way of approaching images than Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or any other traditional image-processing software.

Is it right for you? I can’t say, because every photographer will respond to the program’s features differently. But I can help by giving you an overview of how the program works and offer a few thoughts on how it might help the nature photographer.

Lightroom is immediately impressive because of its interface. This is a program definitely designed for photographers, with its distinctive black and dark gray background that sets off the photos. Controls are split up into easily identified groups.

First, there are the five modules: Library, Develop, Print, Slideshow and Web. You enter each by clicking on the words (there are also keyboard commands to move you through much of Lightroom, but that’s beyond the scope of this column). These modules define the way you interact with images in a way that most photographers immediately understand without going to the Help menu.

Second, each module has a left and a right panel that hold specific categories of controls labeled by clickable ID bars. The left panel typically includes a preview pane along with templates or presets that automate how you work with images. The right panel is where you usually find specific adjustments and settings.



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