by JadenThere are so many photo editing tools out there, some free (Picnik) and some insanely expensive (Photoshop). While I did invest in Photoshop ($ouch!$), I rarely use it anymore. The tool that I rely on every single day is Lightroom, also made by Adobe.
Lightroom is a photo managing tool as well as photo editing tool. Well, maybe I should say photo “enhancing” instead. Lightroom is not about cropping your pet hermit crab’s head and pasting it on your sister-in-law’s body. Nope. I’ve never done that before. Noooosirrreeee.
Because I take thousands of photos every year, I needed a good way to catalog, tag and find photos. Plus, I also enhance my final shots with adjustments of sharpness, exposure and saturation. Lightroom does it all for me. And if I have multiple photos that need the same adjustments, it’s a quick copy-paste of the settings.
It’s not cheap – Lightroom sells for about $270 on Amazon, HOWEVER, if you’re a student, teacher or have a child who is a student and would like to use Lightroom, someone out there sells it much much cheaper. (pssstt….my “friend” said they don’t check proof of student status….but I don’t know nothin’ about nothin’)
ANYYYYWAYS, I wanted to show you one feature of Lightroom – the healing tool.
The situation: I needed to take this photo QUICK! The oooey gooey melty brie cheese was calling my name and I starving. There was only time for me to set it on a cutting board and click 10 shots. The shot is messy and I was too hungry to clean the cutting board.
(note: you can click on the screenshots for larger image)
To the right is the toolbar for Clone and Healing. Cloning makes a carbon-copy of the selection, and I’ve found that it’s too harsh for large areas. What we’re going after is healing. Choose your circle size and the opacity.
Now click on a part that you want to fix. Then click on a clean area that you want to mimic. Lightroom will analyze the selection – find the differences (those wet spots) and do some fancy algorithm to “heal” the wet spots.
Poof! It’s gone.
Within 60 seconds, I finished the rest of the healing.
Now I’ll made my photo adjustments. Increased saturation, contrast, clarity, vibrance and saturation. Export the jpg and done.
BEFORE:
AFTER (though I would also crop the image as well. Looks like my panini is floating in space)
For student discounting to be applied, even if they don’t check up on your status, you still have to provide academic proof and some other websites that I have purchased from are quite stringent about it.
I have been looking into photo editing software and so far was looking at photoshop but it seems a little intimidating!!! I don’t think I have a need for all the stuff in photoshop. Thanks for the information.
I have both Lightroom and Photoshop. I do easily, 99% of my editing in Lightroom. Its a fantastic piece of software and the images come out amazing. I typically use Photoshop for my digital collage art work. All food photography gets taken care of in Lightroom, and its also got a great way of storing and cataloging all the photos in your library which I prefer over Bridge any day.
I love lightroom but I’ve been doing my touching up in Photoshop. This is a great quick fix – although I think your cutting board started out nicer than mine, which helps.
Thank you for the tip, really. I’ve been using Lightroom for over two years now, but I was too lazy to find out what that little circle with an arrow would do for me. Every time I needed that tool, and thought I would need to switch to PS, instantly would convince me to give up on an image and move onto another. Not anymore. Thank you, thank you for sharing. This sandwich must have been good!
This is Great information! I was just researching photo software. Perfect timing!
Great tips- I need some photo editing software.
Wowie Jaden! Thanks so much for the tips. I just ordered my discounted Lightroom using my .edu email address. I was just about to send in my academic verification, but my order status is already set to “Shipped,” so I’m thinking they don’t really check
Lightroom is a steal and your tutorial is awesome! Can’t wait!
I am in looove with lightroom, esp for it’s user presets, but I think Photoshop is just so much better for general healing!
I have LR2 and PSCS4, and I use LR FAR more for everyday.
I’ve been working with Gimp (www.gimp.com), so far I’ve found that it does most things that LR does, but it’s freeware. Bonus!
I’m not so familiar with Lightroom but I heard that it’s expensive. But it can do amazing jobs as well. For now, I’ll stick with the photoshop I have at the moment. Mmmm, the sandwich is calling my name.
Great tutorial! Thanks lady
The screen shots won’t let me click on them… I’m in Safari. Doh!
It all looks very cool but when you say clone and all the other technical things … my brain just stops working and goes huh? I use Picnik, I actually pay for the premium since I like to use the additional tools that premium offers — it is just easier for me.
I’ve recently fallen in love with LR and was just playing around with the healing tool…thanks for the tips!
You’re making me really want to invest in Lightroom, even though I have Photoshop. I’ve wanted it for a while, but when I bought the CS4 in December none of the packages I was looking at included Lightroom, and I couldn’t justify getting both. It just seems to be much faster for simple fixes when you don’t need all the extras that come with Photoshop.
Just o-for 99$ that is cheap. I think i sould use my daughters student card, she is 17.
Jaden – when you say “export the JPG” at the end, does that imply you are working on RAW files? Can you edit both RAW and JPG in Lightroom?
Yes i like the way you explain it!
After my shots always trying methods to enhance the quality of picture.
And because photoshop is a heavy aplication for my computer, why not set up a Lightroom!
frabala
Wonderful! I’ve been thinking about Lightroom and this line really, really helped, “While I did invest in Photoshop ($ouch!$), I rarely use it anymore. The tool that I rely on every single day is Lightroom, also made by Adobe.”
Thank you!
Any chance you might be posting some camera info? I’m about to purchase a new one and the options are making my head spin!
I use Lightroom every day for my job as an art director and could not live without it. Lightroom does wonders on skin tones in addition to food. If you’re looking for a good basic tutorial, check out http://www.zarias.com > tutorials. He incorporates Photo Mechanic that is great for importing photos in a flash, even RAW.
Jaden, would love to see more info on cataloguing images in Lightroom and how you manage your files.
Thanks for the healing tips! i have owned Lightroom for years and also never knew about this capability!
I LOVE Lightroom as well. I own both Lightroom and Photoshop, and I also use Lightroom for about 95% of my photo editing. The only time I got to Photoshop is if I need to make collages.
I use Google Picasa to edit my photos and it has a similar tool to Heal. They call it Retouch, but it’s the same thing. You click on a spot you don’t like, then click on what you want it to look like and it gets magically fixed! Best part about Picasa is that it’s free!
I’m hanging onto my iPhoto for dear life right now, as my imac reaches the grand old age of 4. I haven’t tried anything else yet, but the edit tool in iPhoto has really helped me with the lighting issues I have in my dank apartment. I’m going to accept this as the cheap version of LR.
Um, please don’t take any of the pictures on my blog as evidence of what iPhoto can do, as I have only recently discovered that I should edit my photos, none of which I’ve posted yet.
Thanks for the post, Jaden!
Reading this tutoria has been extremely helpful. Thank you!
I typically use PhotoShop but I am definitely going to have to download the trial for LightRoom and give it a whirl. I love that it also provides a way to categorize/organize. I need all the help I can get.
wow I have photo shop and still learning it, this sounds more like what I want… you have taught us the lighting is everything
I guess I have to save up for Lightroom instead of Photoshop. I have not taken the leap to purchase a photo editing program/software. But it’s on my list. As much as I want to rely on the “natural” shot, I find myself losing light after baking all day or like you Jaden, I am hungry and want to try the stuff I made. I agree that it comes in handy in some situations. Another great article.