User Interface (UI)
If you have been using Lightroom for a while you'll immediately
notice that the UI has undergone a significant facelift. The silver
look of Beta 3 is replaced with much more subdued grays. Likewise, the
panel headers have also been cleaned up a lot with each now including
context menus for switching them off. Whether users will like the new
look or not is open to debate, but I think it has improved things a
lot. Anyway, before getting too distracted by the updated development
controls I suggest that you spend some time familiarising yourself with
the new the UI, especially the context menus - Crtrl/right click
everywhere and see what you find. Especially useful are those that
allow you to configure side panel open/close behaviour and those
accessed by clicking on a panel header (e.g. Quick Develop) that allow
you to disable individual panels.
Enhanced UI in Library
Module
The toolbar in Library has undergone something of a
facelift, with lots of functionality being added. For example, you can
now apply and remove ratings from the toolbar, run an Impromptu
Slideshow, change the size of the Thumbnails, Rotate an image, and set
your preferred Sort Order. You can maximise screens real estate by
turning off the toolbar using the "T" key. To switch it back On again
press "T" again.
Alternative Toolbar views in
Library module
Image Ingestion (Import)
Importing images is an aspect of Lightroom that users
have always found wanting. Beta 4 improves things a bit but probably
still has some ways to go before it's nearly as slick as the
competition. That said, the changes that have been implemented are to
be welcomed. For example, you can now choose to use the preview
embedded within the image (i.e. Use Embedded and Sidecar Previews)
or previews rendered directly form the RAW images during import (i.e.
Render Standard Previews). There is another preview option, but
it's currently only available after import (i.e. 1:1 Previews).
This last preview type is rendered using the default sharpen and
denoise settings, so takes a while longer to create if done in a batch
(Library module: Library>Render 1:1 Previews). If you've already
imported images using either of the two options found within the import
dialog then simply zooming into an image (press "Spacebar") is enough
to create the 1:1 preview. Anyway, whatever preview type you choose to
use you should find that import and preview generation in Beta 4 is
significantly faster than in previous betas. By way of example, using
my Apple Dual 2.5GHz G5 I imported 6000+ Canon EOS 1DMKII images in 2
hours 20 minutes using "Standard Preview"; the same process took in
excess of 17 hours with Beta 3. Using the embedded preview option it
took less than 35 minutes. Obviously, lower powered computers than mine
will take longer, but should still be a lot faster than earlier betas.
Import Module - new
options for choosing size and quality of preview thumbnails
The options to import into a managed library or simply
reference the images in their existing location remains. However,
managed files can now be moved around within the Lightroom Library.
Also, Shoots within the managed library now reflect real folders, so
moving a Shoot really is the same as moving a folder. Likewise, images
that are moved from Shoot to Shoot within the Managed Library also move
in their respective folders. Shoots can also be named during import -
double click the current shoot name and amend as required (e.g.
highlighted Iceland 2004 in above screenshot).
Another welcome addition to the import process is the
new progress viewer. In the screenshot shown below you should be able
to see that the viewer not only includes the progress but also has a
small thumbnail of the image along with its name. The same progress
monitor is used when exporting images or uploading them to the web.
Progress Monitor now shows the
file name and thumbnail
Preferences and User Definable
Information
Like the Import dialog Preferences (see below) has
undergone a few changes. Some users will immediately notice that the
ability to switch off background processing is gone, well, that's
because choosing to import using the Embedded or Sidecar previews
option means that you no longer need it. Notice also that I've chosen
Photoshop Elements as an External Editor. Making this choice in the
Preferences dialog means that it will appear as an export processing
action in the Export dialog.
Lightroom Preferences -
General
Once you get images into Lightroom it's time to get
down to the real work of: Rating, Keywording, etc. In previous betas
there was no visible indication of these tasks having been carried out,
but Beta 4 has changed this for the better. In Grid view you can set
Lightroom to display Badges, which denote whether an image has been
edited, rated, etc. The badges are also be visible in the filmstrip,
which means that you can quickly check the status of an image from
within module rather than switching back to the Library or Develop
modules.
View Options
Determining what and how information is displayed is
the job of the new Library View Options dialog shown in above
screenshot. The "J" key can be used to cycle through the various Grid
view options. As an alternative to opening View Options you can
right-click the 4 corners of the top section of the expanded type
thumbnails and a context list containing all of the info options will
appear.
Expanded Thumbnail Cells with
Info Context Menu
The "I" key can be used to cycle though the various
user definable Information Overlays (also available in Develop module).
The following screenshot shows a sample of the Info choices available
in Loupe View (Library and Develop modules) along with how they will be
displayed.
Loupe View Information Overlay
Ratings or at least the method by which they can be
applied has also undergone a few welcome changes. For example,
Lightroom now supports auto advance, which is activated by pressing on
the "Shift" key as you press the rating value between 0 and 5.
However, an even better method is to set "Caps lock" key to On and thus
avoid the need to hold down the "Shift" key.
Library and File Management
The ability to rename images already within the
Lightroom Library was a really annoying omission from previous betas,
but with the release of Beta 4 I think most users will be pleased to
see that renaming of images is now supported. The token based approach
used in the Import and Export dialogs has been reused within the new
Rename dialog, which should mean that most users are up and running
fairly quickly.
Rename images within Library
The application of metadata to multiple selected images
is now fully functional, so, adding a Caption or Title to the most
selected image means that it will automatically be applied to all of
the other selected images.
At some point you'll probably want to burn part or all
of your image Library to DVD, export it to an external disk or load it
onto another computer. All of this is now possible from within
Lightroom. The screenshot shown below is of the new Burn to disk as a
Photo Binder dialog.
Archive your images to disk
using Burn Photo Binder
The Export Photos as Photo Binder option enables you to
move "Shoots" from one computer to another with all adjustments,
keywords, metadata, previews, etc intact. To load them onto the
recipient computer you use Import Photos from Photo Binder command. The
actual process is really quite straightforward, but can be time
consuming on lower powered computers. Photo Binders are apparently
intended to provide the means by which the libraries on two or more
computers can be synchronised. However, until such times as we know for
sure I think that the unitary library method is a safer bet than
committing too much to Photo Binders.
15
November 2006
The Unitary Library and Off-line Storage
tutorial has been updated to reflect the UI changes found in Lightroom
Beta 4.1 -
Link to
tutorial
Image Adjustment
The last aspect of the Library module that I want to
discuss is the Quick Develop panel. This panel seems to have its fair
share of dissenters, which is a bit surprising when you consider the
unique set of features that it provides. For example, lots of requests
have been made for Lightroom to include a facility whereby Relative
adjustments could be made to images rather than the more conventional
Absolute adjustments. Well, Quick Develop already provides this
functionality. Also, love it or hate it the Quick Develop panel sports
the new Recovery, Fill Light and Vibrance controls, although I'm that
sure of their utility in Library.
Quick Develop Panel
The ability to Crop an image or apply an arbitrary
rotation is still not available within the Library module, but a menu
option that enables you to jump directly to the Crop controls with the
Develop module can be found in the View menu. Alternatively, you can
just press the "R" key.
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