Perfect Layers for Lightroom

[shazza]

Did a search and didn't see this mentioned yet. For those of you who use Lightroom, you may be interested in a new program by onOne software called "Perfect Layers."

Looks like it allows you to now do Layers in Lightroom. For me, at least, this would almost eliminate the need to edit in Photoshop.

Here is a link to the free beta/trial: Perfect Layers for Lightroom trial

I haven't downloaded it yet, but will be doing so shortly, since Lightroom is my main tool for organizing and editing photos.

[labs23]

Interesting; I'm not to fond of LR yet I found PS to be too much for what I needed for simple postprocesses.
Anyway gotta try this, iirc there's a comprehensive pdf tutorial for this soft floating around, or I could be wrong..

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Looks like a nice addition as long as it doesnt slow the software down too much.

[hieuhef]

I've always felt the plugins to lightroom are a bit clunky, but this seems nice if I cant negate PS from my workflow.

[Lestat]

as much as i see people loving lightroom i just dont like it, its not user friendly at all, the interface and its constant wanting to import crap along with the adjustment menu system... blah... you almost have to have Lightroom actions to get anything done.

photoshop is so much easier to use, to me and i have not even touched 1% of what photoshop can really do.

LR on the other hand... just seems so... messy, and lacks any type of controls, to me at least.

[NFC]

Lightroom has its place, but I think you are right, Lestat--and I think they make it clunky on purpose to force you into photoshop.

Lightroom really can help me out when I come home with 1500+ RAW files and helps me sort and make quick changes which I can use like a preview. Then even if I close Lightroom and come back later my temporary settings are saved and I can continue sorting. Then I take the best files and work them in PS.

As useful as this is, they make it so clunky that Bridge can sometimes be better--I like the RAW controlls in Bridge much better, and it is slightly easier (which adds up with alot of files) to export to photoshop.

Either way, I couldn't live without Bridge or Lightroom. That being said Bridge is free so unless you can get lightroom cheap...

[shazza]

Interesting points on Lightroom and Photoshop. I use Lightroom primarily for organization and quick edits, Photoshop for other stuff. I find Lightroom easier to use, but that's probably just because I use it more. From what I understand, the controls in Bridge are essentially what's used in Lightroom (at least they seem very similar to me), and I imagine what's easier is whatever we use the most.

I've been playing with the current version of Photoshop Elements (9) - I actually think I can do 95% of what I need to do with it.

It will be interesting to see where we are a few years from now ... I'd expect to see one Adobe product for the photographer that combines the best of all of these.

[NFC]

If I was going to place money on anything--it would be that Adobe never combines anything into one go-to product. =)

Bridge is awesome at managing many different types of files from all over your drives and getting them into the programs they need to go into. Lightroom is awesome for importing and sorting LOTS pictures and making general (and very ai smart) adjustments, and Photoshop reigns supreme at editing said pictures.

I'm not against Adobe making some kinda super LR--that would be sweet. But they probably have a good thing going making us by as many separate products as possible. It's like the b*****s that make us buy all those prime lenses.

[shazza]

You might be right, NFC. But, I'd guess Adobe will ultimately be forced to have a better all-in-one solution at some point. Lightroom is beginning to get close. If they add Layers, Content-aware fill, and Photomerge (HDR, Blending, Panoramas) to Lightroom, it would do it for me.

The fact that people like Scott Kelby are pushing the Perfect Layers plug-in for Lightroom makes me think Adobe will ultimately get there.

[vulcZ]

I hated LR at first also (for all the reasons mentioned by Lestat), but once I got used to the interface it wasn't that bad. I feel their method could be simpler, but in the end it works really well. Took me a while to figure out exactly what catalogs are and how they relate to HDD space and actual imported and exported photos.

LR is pretty much perfect for all the batch work. Have 2000 NEFs in your SD card that you want to import, auto-tone, resize, convert to JPEG, and add watermarks to? LR is perfect for that. You can do a lot more than that obviously.

Gonna check out this layers thing, thanks OP!