Post processing ..

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rayonline

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#146649 24-May-2014 21:26

I have had Lightroom for some time but spending some time learning the adjustment brush. I seldom use it. What are your guys opinion on this, do you use it much for your photo's and how much different area per photo do you employ it?

I find that I might prefer global changes than specific changes unless I have something small like a face to just brighten up. Been trying out b/w conversion but it's different to real b/w film.

timmmay

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#1052531 24-May-2014 21:29

I use it all the time, as fill flash. I use a lot of actual flash too. Helps compress dynamic range.

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Batman

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#1055236 28-May-2014 16:35

I have lightroom and have no idea how to make use of it ... keep reverting back to an old Adobe Camera Raw ...

timmmay

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#1055239 28-May-2014 16:36

I hate LR, I love ACR/Bridge. I'd rather quit photography than have to use LR. Does much the same things.

Fred99

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#1055781 29-May-2014 11:26

What are the Nik plugins for LR like?
I have been using the (now end of line) Nikon Capture for PP. Being able to drop a control point on a selected part of an image to make adjustments, adjust diameter of the feathered selection and/or use the brush to erase/add to selection, combined with applying gradients etc "directly" (as opposed to blending down layers etc) seemed a far less tedious and more natural process than using Photoshop. Many people didn't like CaptureNX because it was buggy and slow (particularly when using typical hardware of say 5 years ago) but also because they were stuck in the Photoshop paradigm of "this is the way you should do it".
I've never used LR. The Nik plugins aren't cheap, but if Capture NX is going to be dead, and the single best feature of it was the u-point / control point technology, then perhaps LR with Nik will be a good option.
IMO Nikon have done themselves a deep disservice by not continuing to use the Nik plugins with their new software, and also abandoning their system of embedding editing metadata in raw files which allowed for portability of "edited" raw files across systems without use of sidecar files. It was not the standard way of doing things, but it had some real advantages. Mostly I think they did a bad job of selling it. Nikon were also pathetically slow in releasing their raw codecs - long after 64 bit Windows OS became the norm you couldn't view *.nef thumbnails in Windows explorer - unless you bought a third-party codec.

Jaxson

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#1055793 29-May-2014 11:44

timmmay: I hate LR, I love ACR/Bridge. I'd rather quit photography than have to use LR.

Sounds a little harsh there lol!

Lightroom obviously has lots of modules, and with some they've made assumptions that don't necessarily align with the work flows people want to take.
The Develop module specifically has come a long way though and the latest versions are pretty good now.

With regards to the adjustment brush, yes, this allows you a method of adjusting for the background and then adjusting the subject to return to normal skin tones/exposure etc.
It's use is obviously to make localised adjustments that require different parameters than the whole picture overall. This is useful in the likes of landscapes where the hills are quite washed out etc.
There are other tools though, such as the gradient that allows you to simulate a gradient ND filter, or to create a tiltshift/dramatic in focus to out of focus step, without the need to jump to an external editor like photoshop.

Lightroom doesn't do layers though, so there's still a place for many tools in your work flow, such as HDR programs etc.

Batman

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#1056019 29-May-2014 15:29

can someone give me a link to a good layers tutorial? I have never understood it and every site i manage to click on hasn't made it any better ... maybe i'm dumb

Fred99

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#1057529 1-Jun-2014 13:51

joker97: can someone give me a link to a good layers tutorial? I have never understood it and every site i manage to click on hasn't made it any better ... maybe i'm dumb

Perhaps this:
http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/layers-1/layers-1.htm

Batman

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#1057535 1-Jun-2014 14:00

thanks - reading now