I am sure we are all eagerly awaiting the new version of Lightroom, but as we wait I will be one of the first to admit that I have been tempted by Aperture 3.

Having used Aperture 3 – and yes it is the 3.01 version – for over a week I am now convinced that I am staying firmly with Lightroom.

I have had many attempts at using Aperture during the last few years as I need to understand both Lightroom and Aperture in order to be able to contrast it with Lightroom.

Lack of Synchronisation … the deal breaker

I keep my images on an external hard-drive and reference them. This works flawlessly with Lightroom. Resynchronising folders works like a dream. I can remove images from the folder structure  and add new ones. Then a quick synchronisation and Lightroom sorts it all out.

In Aperture the only way to do this is to use ‘Import as Files and Folders’. What results is new Aperture project which contains any new images. You then have to manually move the new images into there corresponding projects. Deleted images are not flagged. This is way to time consuming for me.

Lots of new features but way too slow…

Aperture has a lot of exellent editing tools and has always had the edge in terms of image organisation – it is complex to use but very powerful.

Lightroom on the other hand has a simple Folder and Collections system. You can do the vast majority of Apertures’ complex filtering using Lightrooms’ collections feature.

It seems that all this complexity means slow performance. Even on high end hardware its slow. Lightroom has never had a performance issue like this.

Lightroom makes it really easy to apply the same edit to multiple images. You could do this to increase the exposure of a whole sequence of under exposed shots. The same method can be used to adjust the white balance of a whole shoot in one go.

You start by working in the Library Grid mode. Select all of the images that you want  to edit.

Now use any of the quick develop tools in the right hand panel. Your edits will be applied to all of the selected images.

This functionality has always been in Lightroom. Simple and easy to use.

If you use the crop tool with a fixed aspect – such as 4×6 – you will have noticed that it is not easy to quickly switch between portrait and landscape cropping modes. You have to select custom and make a new setting of 6×4. Then save and finally select that custom setting.

A quicker way is to first choose your custom crop. The crop aspect will be the same as the image.

Now grab the top right of the crop rectangle and reduce the size of the crop. When the crop area becomes small you will notice that the aspect suddenly switches.

This is much easier than setting up custom aspect versions of the tool!

The new Lightroom beta 3 has some significant new functionality but I don’t think it warrants a new 3.0 version. It seems to be more of an upgrade to the already very capable Lightroom 2.5.

Here what I like …

Sharpening effect now shown at all magnifications

At last you can see the effect of sharpening at magnifications other than 1:1.

Photoshop has been able to do this for a long time and I never really understood why Adobe hid the sharpening in Lightroom. Other than they want us to be aware that the sharpening effect we see on the screen is not a true representation.  This is fine but I like to have a visual clue which at least shows me that I have overcooked my sharpening.

All new import dialog

The new import tool has a lot going for it. One feature I will use a lot is the ability to view images from Subfolders. This is not rocket science from an image browser viewpoint but it is great to have this capability inside of Lightroom.

Adobe have moved many of the the actions which where buried in menus onto the dialog box and which are now accessible via a single click. The whole import interface feels slicker and is much easier to use.

Export Video from Slideshows

You can now save your slideshows as a video directly from within Lightroom. This is very useful as before a third party tool such was needed.

Lightroom video export supports a good variety of standards from 240 to 1080P HD.

So overall a good update to come but I am not sure it is worth paying for a full 3.0 version. Hopefully there will be more new functionality – such as book ordering – by the time the full release is available.

If you have not seen it already then check out the new Lightroom 3 beta.

The new beta has the following:

• Noise reduction
• Watermarking
• Portable sharable slideshows with audio
• Flexible customizable print package creation
• Film grain simulation tool
• New import handling
• More flexible online publishing options

Here is the link Lightroom 3 beta

There is a very handy quick list of Lightroom recently used folders which can be found at the top left hand side of the Filmstrip.

Information on the selected photos will be displayed by default but if you right click on the file information you will get a list of recently visited folders. Saves you having to navigate your way through the folder hierarchy.

When I change the size of the thumbnails in Lightrooms grid view I usually use the slider on the Toolbar.

This is  ok,  but often either the toolbar  is not visible or I have turned off the display of the thumbnail control. I then have to activate the thumbnail slider.

A much quicker and easier way is to use the keyboard shortcut of plus (+)  or minus (-). Changing the size of the thumbnails is one of the most often actions I do in Lightroom so this has really helped me.

A little used function of Lightroom is  “Enable Painting” which can be found under the Metadata main menu item. Enable Paining will activate the Spraycan mouse cursor as well as a series of Paintable options from the Toolbar.

If you now examine the Toolbar at the bottom of the screen you will see a click-able menu next to the word Paint. If you do not see this then try pressing the ‘T’ key as you may have toggled off the toolbar.

You have a lot of flexibility as to what can be painted. Note painted here means applying edits to images by clicking with the Spraycan cursor. Keywords, Settings,Metadata etc.

Note you can further refine the chosen settings with the right hand menu. The example here shows the options available for the Develop Settings.

Once you have chosen your settings just click on an image thumbnail to apply it.

Very simple but not often used I suspect!

Adobe have updated Lightroom to version 2.5.

Mainly new camera model updates plus a few bug fixes.

• Lightroom 2.4 on Windows continued to display the import dialog when a memory card was detected regardless of the preference setting “Show import dialog when a memory card is detected.”
• Lightroom 2.5 includes a correction to the demosaic algorithms for Bayer sensor cameras with unequal green response.

Get your copy

If you want the sliders in Lightrooms Develop Module to be more sensitive there is a really simple trick.

Move your mouse cursor over the left hand edge of the Develop Module panel until the cursor changes into a horizontal double arrow. Now drag the mouse to the left which will increase the width of the whole Develop Panel.

You will now have much greater control when adjusting the sliders. Just how effective this is, depends on your screen size, but it works well during fine edits.