Bridge or Lightroom or both ?

leinsterman

Hi ... I've been using both applications a lot more lately ...

In my old XP system I really liked Lightroom ... mostly for its ability to tag lots of files in one go and also the auto import feature ... I have to admit a preference for using CS3 to do most adjustments so I never really explored its capabilities in this area to any great extent ... and I prefer picasa for slideshows for its simplicity ...

Now in my new Vista system the auto import feature is not reliable ... though I still use it for block EXIF tagging ... and the database is a bit onerous ... it can't distinguish between jpeg / RAW / psd unless you use different directories and regularly seems to get out of sync ... Lightroom and Vista are not working as well as I'd hoped ... though they do work.

So as a result I have started using Bridge ... which does exactly what I want it to do in that I can screen images prior to CS3 work ...

I'm interested in the opinions of others ...

Do you use either or both of these apps ?
For what role do you use each ?

elven

Both

Bridge has just started going flakey for me after a few days with the non-beta version of CS3, although when it does work it's a hell of a lot quicker than the beta one. So I'm back to using it for all my importing & sorting - I never realised before that it could do the copying off the card for you, instead of having to mess about with those stupid folders you get with the card reader and manually create new folders blah blah blah.

Once I have the pics off the card (I don't rename or tag them, I'm just not that organised :rolleyes: ) I hit ctrl & L and do a slideshow, rating them 1 as a keeper and 5 for deleting (out of focus, mis-framed, etc). Then I can use the filter to select the 5 star ones and delete them (seems contrary to logic but I'd never rate anything 5 stars so i won't get mixed up, heh), and then I move the keepers to a folder of their own within the main folder, and work on them from there.

I tried to do the same workflow in lightroom and got hugely frustrated, because I couldn't do a simple slideshow and rate, then filter by ratings. And running both LR and PS is just a joke, and not a very funny one at that...

leinsterman

You may have a point Julie ... having set this post up I started looking a bit closer at Bridge ... which I only started using in the past few weeks after getting my Vista system ...

It seems to do tagging and rating as well ... and every bit as good as LR ...

Hmmnnn ... what are Adobe up to ? ... dressing mutton as lamb methinks ...

As a point of interest ... who rates their images ?

I use a simple system - keep it and adjust it in CS3 if I like it ... keep it if I'm not sure but do noting in CS3 ... delete it otherwise ...

Jools do you keep everything ??

nilhg

Bridge

elven wrote:

I tried to do the same workflow in lightroom and got hugely frustrated, because I couldn't do a simple slideshow and rate, then filter by ratings.

Elven, Import your folder of images to Lightroom, then engage capslock, select the first image and then press L twice (to get lights out mode) Then you can rate each picture by pressing P (pick), U (unflagged) or X (exclude). Engaging capslock moves you to the next picture when you rate the current one.

elven

Both

I think adobe have realised that there's a serious amount of people out there who are more willing to buy something like LR which just does global adjustments, but also has the raw processing, tagging etc capabilities, with a new kind of interface - dare I say a more 'mac' style - with presets and stuff like that, that don't want the faffability of photoshop. But they have improved bridge & ACR to include the same processing capabilities, in a slightly different and more familiar interface to PS users.

Cheers for the tip nilhg, if I do give LR another go at some point it's a relief to know that I can do that after all. For the moment anyway, I'll be sticking with bridge & ps because I think lr is overkill as an importing solution.

mloc

LR is great, no doubt about it... but as of today I really admire CS3's new ACR and the flexibility of photoshop once the image is imported... bridge just serves as the more flexible version of LR's library section.

I'd imagine once I got used to LR i'll probably enjoy using it a bit more, but the immediacy and familiarity of PS and ACR just win it for me... example photos up soon from todays rather enjoyable modelling shoot... i've been so busy with finals my flickr has been rather neglected!

Valentia

CS3 is buggy. Lightroom is buggy. Aren't we silly paying(?) mad money for stuff that's not finished. SHAME Adobe I say!

mloc

Oh yes, paying mad money....


...................

I love CS3 just for the recovery and vibrance controls alone!

Valentia

elven wrote:

I think adobe have realised that there's a serious amount of people out there who are more willing to buy something like LR which just does global adjustments, but also has the raw processing, tagging etc capabilities, with a new kind of interface - dare I say a more 'mac' style - with presets and stuff like that, that don't want the faffability of photoshop. But they have improved bridge & ACR to include the same processing capabilities, in a slightly different and more familiar interface to PS users.

Cheers for the tip nilhg, if I do give LR another go at some point it's a relief to know that I can do that after all. For the moment anyway, I'll be sticking with bridge & ps because I think lr is overkill as an importing solution.

Truish enough. But I have realised, in the old fashioned way, that it is possible to develop a photo in Lightroom without touching PS. Though if you have CS3, buggy and all as it is, with the new Raw 4.1, you really dont need LR.

Paulw

Bridge

I use Lightroom and CS2.

I downloaded the trial Lightroom and then went to buy, but it won't let me. It complains that my address doesn't match that of my credit card, but yet I can't seem to get it to accept my address. Damn online forms.

Any ideas? Where did you get your copy of Lightroom? (in case you don't want to post the answer, just PM me.)

PaulieC

you can get Lightroom on Amazon.co.uk for about EUR 200. That's where I got mine as I missed the introductory price from Adobe