Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is a photo editing software app that provides a database-style solution for professional photographers to import, edit, organize and manage the many pictures they take during shoots. The software, available for both Windows and Mac, doesn’t just offer basic edits, it also provides a great toolset to help fix and improve photos quickly and easily.

Ease of Use

The software isn’t hard to use, but the interface can be a little challenging to anyone new to this type of professional photo editing software. However, beginners will have no problem with it once they take advantage of the variety of tutorials available. Lightroom 3 makes it fairly simple to import photos from a digital camera or memory card and begin processing RAW images. Performing edits and organizing photos into collections for management and searching is also straightforward with this software.

The software has been optimized to run faster than previous versions of Lightroom, which is a big plus when dealing with hundreds, if not thousands, of photos. It’s also quicker and easier to search for specific photos, perform edits and generally organize pictures, thanks to 64-bit optimization with current Windows or Apple computers and operating systems (Windows 7, Vista or XP; Mac OS X 10.6 or 10.5). The software also supports 32-bit optimization.

New Features

Adobe introduced several new features to Photoshop Lightroom 3 photo editing software, including lens correction, excellent noise reduction, support for HD video (captured with newer DSLRs), easier image-importing tools, watermarking, tethered shooting and more.

Toolset in Depth

Photoshop Lightroom 3 allows you to streamline the process of importing photos from a camera or memory card. There are also tools that help you process RAW images, perform non-destructive edits and organize, manage and search quickly through collections of photos, even if they number the hundreds or thousands. In fact, being able to organize, manage and search through various photo collections, even if they’re on different hard drives, is a major feature within Photoshop Lightroom 3. Camera tethering is also supported, which allows you to connect your camera to your computer and instantly import photos into Lightroom 3 as you snap them.

Even though Photoshop Lightroom 3 has photo editing tools, you may want to take advantage of the more robust Photoshop CS5. Both Adobe apps provide a great roundtrip experience, so sending photos from a collection in Lightroom 3 to Photoshop for edits, then back to Lightroom again is no problem.

The noise reduction tool is probably one of the best we’ve used. We’ve all been there: It’s dark and the only way to get a decent photo without using a flash or a tripod is pumping up the ISO settings. But you’re also increasing the noise and grain level in the photo. Photoshop Lightroom 3 expertly removed noise from some of the uglier pictures we took with high ISO.

No matter what lens you use on a DSLR, there is going to be some sort of defect, even extremely minor, that can affect the image. Defects can include the shapes in the picture looking offa small shadow in the corner of the photo(vignetting) and more. One click, and Photoshop Lightroom 3 fixes these lens issues, and does it well.

Other editing features include common tools such as those for processing RAW images; adjusting exposure, contrast and vibrancy; adding creative filters and more. Plus, you can set up presets to save time when you're adjusting a group of photos taken under similar conditions, such as wedding pictures taken in the same location. You can also add in a custom watermark to quickly and easily identify photos you’ve taken.

There has been a big rise in HD video recording as a feature in both point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras. In fact, many videographers and filmmakers are taking advantage of using DSLRs to shoot movies, TV shows and commercials, thanks to the quality of the video and incredible selection of lenses. Photoshop Lightroom 3 photo editing software supports video from many of the newer DSLRs, and you can import and manage both video and stills at the same time.

Sharing

There are many sharing options in Photoshop Lightroom 3 photo editing software. You can share photos on the web (Facebook, Flickr and SmugMug) or upload them to another hard drive. You can create a slideshow with music and video, arrange your photos with a variety of print layouts and more.

Help & Support

Adobe provides a variety of tutorials, both video and text, to help users get started and to get the most out of Lightroom 3 photo editing software. Online you'll also find a user manual and access to user forums, an FAQs page and a variety of support options for individuals or enterprises.

Summary

Photoshop Lightroom 3 is a unique photo editing software app that can import, organize and manage a large number of photos and collections. Performing edits and processing RAW images is quick and easy, and the software provides fast and efficient roundtrip features to send pictures to Photoshop CS5 for more in-depth editing, and back again.