Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4
Publisher: Adobe
Platforms: Mac and Windows
Description: Photo Editing Software
MSRP: $149 New, $79 Upgrade
Expected Release: Available Now
Official Website: Adobe.comSamples: N/A
Demo: http://tv.adobe.com/product/lightroom/
Special Discount: Click Here
Critique Issue: Issue #76 (06/12)
Critiqued By: Justin Pugh
Final Score: 8.25
It’s already been 2 years since the last Lightroom was released. When LR3 came out the 5D Mark II was the hot camera on the market, photographers wanted to shoot video, and everyone was using Facebook and Twitter. LR3 did a great job of catering to these advances, but what has changed since then? We aren’t shooting 50 megapixel images with DSLRs, and we haven’t gone through 5 social media platforms. Lightroom doesn’t have as many reasons to upgrade as you might think.
As a result, Lightroom 4 is a bit of a different upgrade to the popular platform. For the first time we see significant shifts from the editing and workflow side to the distribution, social media, and print side. The interface has largely stayed the same, save minor additions and new modules.
For those who may still be unfamiliar with the program, Lightroom is a photo editing program that is set apart from it’s counterpart giant Photoshop by being photography specific. The idea is that your workflow is broken up into a series of modules that help simplify and streamline your editing process while giving you the most powerful options available. (Check out my other reviews of Lightroom 1, Lightroom 3, and Kari Ann Morgan’s review of Lightroom 2)
- The drag and drop templates make designing a photo book quick and easy in the Book Module
New Features
The adjustment brush is a feature that was added to Lightroom 2 as a way to spot edit specific areas of a photo. As versions of the program have progressed, the adjustment brush has been given more options. In Lightroom 4 those additions are a white balance slider and a shadow slider. The white balance brush (as it’s name suggests) allows you to spot edit different color temperatures. This is a really great tool that is easy to use and works quite well. The second addition is the shadow slider which is a nice tool to be able to lighten up some of the darker areas of a photograph and minimally effect highlights.
There are two new modules also added to Lightroom: Map and Book. The the latter is an addition of a photo book feature that is a nice upgrade. Using it is fairly straightforward. It uses the familiar drag and drop templates to give you control over what paper type, size, page layout, and other features you want. Books can be exported to PDF or printed through Blurb.com. As a photo book it’s a nice option that’s on par with it’s competitors.
The Map module brings location based photo organization to Lightroom. This is basically a Google Map plugin that allows you to geotag your pictures. The cool thing about this is that it’s a creative and very direct way to find pictures associated with a specific location. Google Maps actually loads in the Map module and you can either use a search window or manually find the locations you are looking for. You can assign an entire collection of photographs to a general area like a city, or you can assign each picture to a specific coordinate. If your camera automatically stores GPS information it can easily be imported.
Soft proofing is another major new feature in this version, and was one of the most requested additions. The idea behind soft proofing is to get your printed image to match what you see on the screen. This may not be useful for everyone, but it is a must have for those who need it. By clicking the soft proof button in the develop module you can see what the image looks like against white paper, and see any areas outside of the color gamut of the selected color profile. You can then make necessary adjustments to the image to get within the gamut you need. What really makes this tool great is that you can load a color profile for print, web, or even your own printer, provided it is available.
- Soft Proofing allows you to see your image against paper white, and adjust out of gamut colors
Video
Being that DSLR video is in the midst of taking the world by storm, and Lightroom has always been a photo editing program for still photographers, I feel there can be a bit of tension regarding this subject. Granted, there has always been a difference between photo editing and video color correction, but the advancement of technology has been blurring these lines as of late.
The Lightroom team has given a fair but modest upgrade to the video capabilities. Clips can now play and be trimmed inside of Lightroom instead of being opened by a third party playe. Presets can be applied and adjusted in the library module, but that is the extent of video being edited directly. While video is not supported in the develop module, a work around is possible. You can create a capture frame of the clip and make desired adjustments to that capture frame then sync those adjustments.. The modifications applied will still be very basic (a window will appear and show you what will and will not be applied), but will give you much more control if you are matching clips or going for a very specific look.
Keep in mind that this is a program designed for still photo editing, not color grading and video editing. While one could theoretically use this in place of a program like Color it will ultimately result in very inefficient workflow that will not give you the results you are seeking. Even if you are on a budget you should always have the right tool for the job.
Performance
I always tend to get a bit nervous when I see more sliders added to a photo program, and I fear that Lightroom is starting to head in that direction. Lightroom’s beauty has always been in it’s simplicity, but unfortunately it’s simple workflow is starting to be weighed down with redundant tools. The post crop vignetting tool is superior in every way to the lens vignetting tool, but the lens vignetting tool is still taking up panel space. It is also confusing because of it’s position next to the the post crop vignetting tool. Now that we have been given the noise reduction slider under the adjustment brush, do we still need the noise reduction tool that is in the details panel? Another undesirable side effect is that these redundant tools steepen the learning curve for new users and can make the program more intimidating and confusing to learn.
- Set or import coordinates to your pictures in the Map Module, so you can find collections by location
Final Comments
Lightroom 4 is another solid update from Adobe. They did a great job making useful updates to a program that caters to every kind of digital photographer. This installment doesn’t bring significant changes in editing performance; it expands your options regarding how you want to edit your pictures. However it is potentially to the point to where the multiple options make things murky. LR4’s strongest additions give significant options for managing a larger library and getting the best representations of your work out there in any way you can. This may not apply to every photographer out there, but if you think it’s for you then you’ll probably be happy with your investment.
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Breakdown
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Ease of Use
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8.0 |
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Depth of Options
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9.0 |
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Performance
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9.0 |
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Value vs. Cost
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7.0 |
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Overall Score |
8.25 |
Justin Pugh
Justin Pugh is a director, cinematographer, and camera technician. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is completing his 2nd short film.