<div>I recently discovered Adobe Lightroom thanks to a free beta from Adobe. I thought, if its free, I should try it out. I can’t believe this program has been around for a few years and I never used it. The beta will work until June 10, 2010 but I don’t know if they will stop giving it out for free before then.</div><div>
</div><div>I’m not a professional photographer, so I dismissed lightroom as one of those extra software packages that I didn’t need to learn. Besides, photoshop does everything I ever need to do right? Wrong! Sure, photoshop is a great tool. Its powerful and can do anything lightroom can do editing wise. But what its really missing is an easy workflow.</div><div>
</div><div>Lightroom’s power is in its easy to use workflow and its simple yet powerful tools. I can import all my photos, edit some exposures, make slideshows, print my photos, and export photos to web galleries all within a few minutes. Lightroom brings together all the simple things that I wanted to do but didn’t have time to do with all the other tools. </div><div>
</div><div>Sure I can use several software packages to accomplish the same tasks lightroom does, but the time and money I save are priceless. Lightroom also have a few advantages over other software packages.</div><div>
</div><div>One big advantage lightroom has is the ability to save editing history. Unlike photoshop, when I’m done editing a photo I can go back weeks later and look at the editing history. I can undo changes or make new ones. I also never have to save a file since its automatically saved every edit. Lightroom also has the ability to go back to the original file at any time. Lightroom doesn’t just stand alone as a tool either.</div><div>
</div><div>With lightroom I can make changes to a photo, but if I need to do something it can’t do I just click a menu item, and its in photoshop ready to edit. Then when I’m done with it, lightroom picks up the new changes. Its amazing!</div><div>
</div><div>I’ve only had lightroom for about a week, but I’m sold. For less than a third the price of photoshop, you get all the tools you need to fix, organize, and publish your photos. There’s really no reason not to have lightroom, unless you really like doing things the hard way.</div>