Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom versus CS3/Bridge

[Patrick_Toomey]

Howdy all,
I'm pretty new at this and own Photoshop CS3 but not Lightroom and am processing images on an iMac with 2 GB of RAM. This morning I upgraded my Bridge/CS3 with Adobe's latest Camera RAW release and am now on version 4.4.1. HAving never seen or used Lightroom can some of you clue me in a little on the present differences between what I now have for a Camera RAW version versus the one that is contained within Lightroom? Are they the same or not? In talking to a few photographer dogs out in the field they tell me that one can tell the difference because Lightroom's version has more and different sliders. Not having Lightroom makes it pretty hard for me to make that comparison. Any advice would be welcomed.

Patrick Toomey
Charlottesville, Virginia

PS:  I was not sure whether to post the question here or in the Digital Processing forum so I posted in both places.  Hope that is okay!

[digitaldog]

Current shipping versions of LR and ACR use nearly identical controls and the same processing pipeline. I say nearly identical, there are a few tiny differences (point curve in ACR, not in LR, ColorMatch RGB as an option in ACR, not in LR, numeric readouts etc).

LR 2.0 however is now a public beta and its got far more options and is not in parity with ACR.

[Patrick_Toomey]

Andrew,
    Thank you very much for the help.

Patrick

Current shipping versions of LR and ACR use nearly identical controls and the same processing pipeline. I say nearly identical, there are a few tiny differences (point curve in ACR, not in LR, ColorMatch RGB as an option in ACR, not in LR, numeric readouts etc).

LR 2.0 however is now a public beta and its got far more options and is not in parity with ACR.
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[JeffKohn]

Current shipping versions of LR and ACR use nearly identical controls and the same processing pipeline. I say nearly identical, there are a few tiny differences (point curve in ACR, not in LR, ColorMatch RGB as an option in ACR, not in LR, numeric readouts etc).

LR 2.0 however is now a public beta and its got far more options and is not in parity with ACR.
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What does LR 2 beta have besides the localized dodge/burn tools that isn't in ACR 4.4?

Thanks,

Jeff

[francois]

What does LR 2 beta have besides the localized dodge/burn tools that isn't in ACR 4.4?

Thanks,

Jeff
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Negative clarity and post-crop vignette control. Also, localized tools are not restricted to dodge/burn.

[Philmar]

Does LR allow one to further process the converted file in CS3 as a smart object? i.e. can one return to LR from CS3 to re-adjust some of the previously made adjustments?

[DavidB]

Does LR allow one to further process the converted file in CS3 as a smart object? i.e. can one return to LR from CS3 to re-adjust some of the previously made adjustments?[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=189962\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yes and no.
Even in LR1, as long as you've saved the metadata (XMP) info out, if you drag the RAW files from LR to PS CS3 it will open them up in ACR using the settings you've set up in LR.  If you do embed that as a Smart Object inside a PSD, those settings are copied with the RAW data to the Smart Object.
But you can't access that copy of the settings from LR (although you can access it from within PS via the ACR controls).

[Potus5]

I'm not certain I follow DavidB's response to that part of your question about going back into LR once you've done some CS3 adjustments. Certainly, amongst other sources, you'll see in Scott Kelby's book on "LR for Digital Photographers" his workflow example, using a landscape shot, of doing inital overall corrections of a RAW image in LR, jumping into PS to do some finishing specifc area adustments, then jumping back into LR for final actions and printing, with at each step in the flow both LR and PS fully recognizing and incorporating the adjustments from the other. C.F. Kelby's book, chapter 11, especially pages 378 where he moves back into LR from PS.

Michael Reichmann and Jeff Schewe video tutorial, in the Luminous Landscape store download area,  also show and guide you through this in and out of PS from LR step workflow.

[DavidB]

The usual workflow when people talk about passing images between LR and PS is to have LR generate PSD/TIFF files, PS then manipulate the files, and then have LR layer further changes on top of those files.
It all interoperates cleanly (as long as you enable Maximise Compatibility in PS when saving PSD files).

The issue of opening RAW files from LR as Smart Objects inside PS documents is slightly more complex, and is what Philmar was asking about.

[Alter Nereus]

In LR 2.0 beta, and presumeably also in the final release, is the option to take your image into CS3 as a Smart Object. Right click on the image in the Library > click Edit in Adobe Photoshop 3 > click on Open as Smart Object in Photoshop.

[Jim Z]

Also dual monitor support!