Can I Just Ignore The Library Module?

[Mike Guilbault]

Jim, sometimes all the books and tutorials in the world won't help (but I do hope the one's you've recently acquired do).  My suggestion is to find someone nearby that can sit down with you for an hour or so and show you. It's hard to ask questions to a video. Often, there's one or two little things that will trigger the lights to come on and it will all make sense.

[JimAscher]

Jim, sometimes all the books and tutorials in the world won't help (but I do hope the one's you've recently acquired do).  My suggestion is to find someone nearby that can sit down with you for an hour or so and show you. It's hard to ask questions to a video. Often, there's one or two little things that will trigger the lights to come on and it will all make sense.

Mike:  I've told myself the same thing many times.  I'm slowly on my own, with references as necessary, beginning to make some peace with the beast, and establish a tentative relationship that allows me to utilize what I can understand and employ and choose to ignore the rest and do without for the time being.  You're correct that sitting down side-by-side with someone truly conversant with the module's intricacies would prove an enormous help, but where to find such a one in the wilds of Seattle...  I must constantly resist the temptation to fall back solely on Photoshop and Windows Explorer, which worked fine for me before I sensed the higher but elusive potentiality of Lightroom.     

[JimAscher]

Mike:  I've told myself the same thing many times.  I'm slowly on my own, with references as necessary, beginning to make some peace with the beast, and establish a tentative relationship that allows me to utilize what I can understand and employ and choose to ignore the rest and do without for the time being.  You're correct that sitting down side-by-side with someone truly conversant with the module's intricacies would prove an enormous help, but where to find such a one in the wilds of Seattle...  I must constantly resist the temptation to fall back solely on Photoshop and Windows Explorer, which worked fine for me before I sensed the higher but elusive potentiality of Lightroom.     

As an addendum to my last posting above, here is a comment with some resonance for me that I noticed from Paul Roark on another forum today:

"I ... don't often use Lightroom. I'm a Photoshop and QTR guy. Learning new software is not what I do for entertainment. I understand LR's attraction for many, but it doesn't have the tools I need, and PS CS5 has the same raw converter -- which I really like. I don't have a database problem that is serious enough to need that LR function."

[Hans Kruse]

As an addendum to my last posting above, here is a comment with some resonance for me that I noticed from Paul Roark on another forum today:

"I ... don't often use Lightroom. I'm a Photoshop and QTR guy. Learning new software is not what I do for entertainment. I understand LR's attraction for many, but it doesn't have the tools I need, and PS CS5 has the same raw converter -- which I really like. I don't have a database problem that is serious enough to need that LR function."

Actually this is what I thought when I saw your original post today. ACR that comes with Photoshop is the same as in Lightroom. So for Lightroom 3.4 the exact same editing functions exist in ACR for Photoshop CS5. The user interface is different, but the functionality is the same. All edits you have done in Lightroom can be used in ACR if you turn on xmp write in the catalog settings in Lightroom under the metadata tab. If you do this then wait for a while until Lightroom has written all the xmp files. After that you can open a RAW file in Photoshop or Bridge via ACR and all edits are included.

Your wife should be able to help you in understanding the concept of Lightroom! The reason you need to import your pictures into Lightroom is simply to that Lightroom can put an entry into the database (aka. Lightroom catalogue) to reference that particular image. For RAW files you have on your HD in a folder Lightroom will only reference this RAW file. The RAW file itself is not in the database. The database only contains information about the RAW image. That information includes all the metadata in the exif data, the location on the HD and all the edits you have done in the develop module on the RAW file. If you turn on xmp write in the catalog settings all this information (except the location on the HD) will be written to the XMP file and the XMP file will be placed in the same folder as the RAW file so ACR knows where to find it when you open a RAW file.

I see Lightroom as what Bridge in Photoshop could have been (and maybe should have been!). Lightroom is my control panel that I almost never leave. I can edit my pictures in the develop module, I can edit in Photoshop from Lightroom and get back into Lightroom when I have done the Photoshop editing. I can group my images in collections. I can edit pictures in different variations using virtual copies. I can also call many other external editing programs like e.g. HDR programs that will be invoked via a plugin in Lightroom. I can publish my pictures to web galleries like Flickr and Smugmug directly from Lightroom. I can print my pictures from Lightroom. I can search all my pictures across HD's and folders without the need to know in which folder a given picture is located.

Remember when you turn on XMP write you will only have a XMP files for each RAW file. Any virtual copies will not have a XMP file. Also there are no XMP file for JPG, TIFF or PSD files you have edited in Lightroom.

[JimAscher]

Hans: Many thanks for such a clear and detailed explanation, which has added further to my evolving understanding and appreciation of Lightroom. All such further information staves off any inclination, in frustration, on my part to abandon Lightroom entirely.  That, and the considerable sum I have already invested in books, tutorials and the software itself. Thanks again. Jim