If you are anything like me, you have opened Lightroom a few times, tried to use it, and then scurried off to the security of Photoshop.  I have opened Lightroom only a handful number of times, and even uninstalled it at one point.  However, when the chance came up to sit through an informal workflow class on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, I jumped at the chance.  After all, if it is free, it is for me. The program has been a mystery to me since I downloaded the first beta, and sadly, never used it.  I thought that it would take too much time to learn another Photoshop-like program than it would to just do the work in Photoshop.  Man, was I wrong.

First, props to Frank for taking time out of his Saturday morning to sit down with some fellow photographers and give us a run-through on the greatness that is Lightroom. While I will not give you every last detail about this program, for those who have been in the dark there are two parting points before you click your way off this page:

1) Lightroom is not necessarily a replacement for Photoshop.  While they both contain some similar features, they are not meant to do exactly the same thing.  Learning Lightroom does not mean you will no longer need Photoshop.  However, from what I heard today, your workflow could easily change if you are processing volumes of photos.

2) Lightroom is a wonderful organizational tool.  Up until now, I simply had all of my photos stored on an external drive that I would access and process.  Lightroom categorizes your photos, offers keywords, ratings, and many other filing features on top of the ability to edit.  Frank clearly stated that if you plan to do some editing, Photoshop is still the best way to go.  Still, Lightroom can shave volumes of time, which is critical when you are on the clock.

If you want the details of Frank’s class, I would encourage you to read more about it from the Frank himself.

Another great feature is a Flickr plugin which lets you export an image directly to Flickr, tag it, title it, etc.  Since I have become a Flickr addict, this is something I plan on taking full advantage of.

Lastly, for other Lightroom goodies, hit up www.lightroomkillertips.com for that info.

Frank knows his stuff.  Period.  You dont have to listen to his class to figure that out; but just listen to his casual photography-related conversation.  I really enjoyed the class and couldn’t wait to get back and start organizing.  I owe it to that bit of OCD that appears from time to time.