Since Adobe has been making available Beta versions of its new product, Lightroom, I couldn't resist the temptation to see its potential for myself. The current release of Lightroom, Beta 4, may be downloaded from Adobe Labs, where an overview in the form of video tutorials can also be found. The final retail version won't be ready, apparently, until sometime after February 2007. The following observations give my general impression so far of features in this  product that might be useful to the amateur photographer, so please don't expect too thorough a review here.

Initially, before trying it for myself, I thought Lightroom might not have much to offer the amateur photographer, having read that it was developed with the workflow practices of professionals in in mind. Further, like many others, I am familiar with its sister application, Photoshop, which by and large, satisfies most of my requirements. So, what does Lightroom provide that may also be of benefit to the photography enthusiast?

As it stands at the moment, Lightroom extends the functionality of Photoshop, providing a powerful means of cataloguing, organising, and presenting your images, including most RAW formats, as well as JPEGs and TIFFs. It also has many advanced non-destructive editing features, but does lack the familiar Photoshop tools such as clone, healing, dodge & burn, unsharp mask, layers, artistic filters, etc.. Although Lightroom does have an edit link back to Photoshop, as well as a means of exporting altered files, I suspect it may be preferable to perform retouching and more creative edits in Photoshop before moving on to Lightroom.

Lightroom consists of five modules altogether: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web, which are accessed via the Module Picker strip located in the top, right corner of the Lightroom window. These are just visible in the screenshots, shown on the right.

Library
At the heart of Lightroom is a relational database, which makes it possible to group images in various 'Shoots' and 'Collections' without altering the file structure or content of your source images. All this is managed in the Library Module, shown in the first screenshot. This is an important first step in using Lightroom, as it enables you to import a folder of images into a 'Shoot' before proceeding to rank and sort them into various 'Collections' as appropriate. Keywords may also be applied, to help filter out types of image at a later date. Basic image adjustment tools are provided in the right-hand panel, presumably to assist in evaluating the material in hand. It is possible to view one image at a time for this purpose.  Once selections and basic adjustments have been made it is necessary to move to the 'Develop' module for further enhancements. See second screenshot.

Develop
In the second screenshot a single image has been selected. Notice that this item has also been highlighted in the filmstrip which runs across the bottom of each module window. Clicking any image here will change the selection. The right hand panel contains a more advanced  set of editing tools, mainly affecting white balance, tonality, and colour. There is a useful histogram at the top of this panel that also displays Exif exposure information. The left panel houses a number of Presets, to which you may add your own sets of adjustments, as well as a useful History list of your edits. Cropping and rotation can be applied via a button at the bottom of the centre panel, and split Before/After views are possible here. The efficient control that can be obtained in this module is ideal, especially when preparing a collection of images for a web gallery or slideshow.

Slideshow
The Slideshow module (screenshot 3) generates a simple to use sequence of images using fade transitions, but at the moment can only be exported as a PDF file. The size of this file can be quite large, depending on the quality chosen when exporting, but could easily be written to CD if you want to share your work with friends. To some extent the appearance of the show can be customised using a limited choice of templates from the left-hand panel and a few controls in the right panel. Fortunately, custom templates can also be added to the Template Browser. The Preview and Play buttons at the bottom of the right-hand panel enable you to run the slideshow, but whereas Preview only runs in the centre panel, the Play option appears in full screen mode. In the screenshot the Caption & Rating template is shown, which allows the addition of text, and camera data. Temporary white guide lines can be seen on the backdrop which, when dragged, resize the image proportionately.

Print
The Print module (see screenshot 4) provides a very convenient and easily accessible array of print options - everything from Page Setup to custom templates and colour management - all in one screen. The only thing that concerns me is that whilst it is possible to choose a print resolution, it seems to be devoid of the resample option and output information I have become accustomed to in Photoshop. Consequently, it is not obvious how much interpolation, if any, is being applied when an image is maximised for different paper sizes. In the screenshot I have chosen a 2 x 2  Grid layout for an A4 page setup. The preview in the left panel, however, shows a 4 x 5 Contact Sheet - one of several existing templates to be found in the Template Browser. Clicking an image in the film strip inserts it into the next available cell in the layout. Any number of cells may be created using the sliders in the right panel, from a single cell to a 15 x 15 grid. Provision for text overlays allows photo information and page numbering to be included.

Web
Finally, we come to the Web Module. In this screenshot I have shown the Flash Gallery template with the left panel of the module temporarily removed. This feature is possible in all modules and may be applied to both left and right panels. Basically, there are two types of Gallery template, Flash and HTML, though custom variations may be added to the Preset Browser in the left panel. One of the nice things about the Flash Gallery is that the user also has the option of running it as a slideshow. To see it in action, try the link below. For comparison, I have also created two examples of the HTML type of gallery. Unlike the Flash gallery, the HTMLs create an index grid of thumbnails from which the main viewing area is reached. The size of this grid may be changed, but in doing so it also determines the size of the main viewing area. Text and other data can be inserted in all galleries using the right-hand panel, and background colours may also be altered to suit personal style requirements. To make my examples available here, I simply exported each gallery to a separate folder on my website.

My experience of using Lightroom, brief as it is, leads me to conclude, that it is destined to find a place in most photographers workflows, whether amateur enthusiasts or professionals. Certainly, I shall continue exploring the potential of Lightroom. I just hope the retail version isn't prohibitively expensive.

Flash Slideshow  (Use Back or Return when finished)

HTML Gallery 1  (Opens in new window)

HTML Gallery 2  (Opens in new window)

1 Lightroom in Library Mode

2 Lightroom in Develop Mode

3 Lightroom in Slideshow Mode

4 Lightroom in Print Mode

5 Lightroom in Web Mode (Flash Preset)

6 Lightroom in Web Mode (HTML Preset)