Lightroom is a bit of a hybrid between digital asset manager and photo processor. It’s not Photoshop and it’s not Extensis Portfolio. In version 2.0 and later of Lightroom, the retouching tools are sufficient to give you good results for many images without getting into Photoshop. The filing and filtering tools are good enough to keep pretty organized.
A Suggested Workflow
After noodling around with this for a bit, I’ve settled on the following philosophy: “Do what makes sense in Lightroom’s Develop Module. If there is any remaining work, edit in Photoshop.” So, here’s what I do as I go over a photo shoot:
- Edit. Use whatever flagging you like — color coding, stars, whatever. When you have decided on an image…
- Crop/straighten if necessary.
- Color correct if necessary.
- Exposure correct and watch the edges so highlights and shadows are not clipped.
- Look at edges for chromatic aberration — this applies primarily to high-resolution digital cameras like the Canon 5D Mark II or 1Ds Mark III. Correct if necessary.
- Use the keen spot-removal tool at 100% to make sure there is no sensor dust in the image.
- Move on to the next image. It’s that simple and quick!
There are a number of other adjustments you can make in Lightroom, and your image might benefit from them. Here’s the catch. If there is a stray object that borders on an important object, the spot-removal tool may not produce good results. This is the primary reason I ever take an image into Photoshop anymore. Precise cloning and healing. To do this, simply use Lightroom’s Edit In Photoshop command.
Once you’re done partying on the image in Photoshop, just save and close. Switch back to Lightroom and there, right beside the original, is your new copy.
Finally, export the JPEG to a location you can remember so you can upload the image.
Summary
Switching tools is time consuming. Do it as infrequently as possible. Stay in Lightroom when possible, but bail into Photoshop where it is obvious.
