Bob, I disagree on a few points. First, it's too simplistic to just say that Lr and Ps are built around different metaphors: that's like comparing a Swiss Army knife and a paring knife; they are targeted to different audiences and so are built differently and behave differently, though they can both slice fruit.
Lightroom was a product focus and feature reduction exercise. They chose to target photographers and create a product that would attend to the needs of _just_ that segment in a much friendlier way. They took technology from Photoshop (especially ACR) and built something from the ground up that wouldn't be lumbered with unnecessary stuff. They also made it much less configurable; it applies its image processing in a fixed, unalterable workflow. A workflow very sensible for photographic images, I'd add. Lr and Ps have more in common that you might think. Lightroom uses layers and masks internally, and Photoshop can do non-destructive editing. What Lightroom hides under the hood is a processing stack of layers and layer masks that perform Photoshop processing using only non-destructive techniques. Every time you adjust your image Lightroom has to re-render the result by applying all the processing steps starting from the raw image. (I'm sure there are optimizations to avoid unnecessary reprocessing where it can.) You can expose the effect of the Lightroom layer masks if you need to. Eg: press the Option key while adjusting the Detail->Masking slider to see the calculated mask. Regarding the layers paradigm: layers are well known to film darkroom enthusiasts. The original Unsharp Filter technique was done by stacking negatives. See also the Orton Effect, done with stacked transparencies. > What results can you achieve with layers etc. that you can't achieve > in LR by a more 'darkroomy' means? Since we know that Lr uses layers, this could be restated as what can you achieve in Ps that you can't in Lr? Well, anything that requires going beyond what Lr provides. Being able to build up multiple processing steps in an arbitrary order is the key one. Here's a simple (contrived) example. Suppose you want to add some grain to the image -- easy in both Lightroom and Photoshop -- and then sharpen the result? It's not possible in Lightroom since it applies the grain effect last after sharpening is already done. It's trivial in Photoshop since you can apply any effects in any order you please. On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 3:15 AM, Bob W-PDML <[email protected]> wrote: > On 6 Dec 2014, at 01:11, John <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> [...] >> >> I hadn't considered Photoshop Elements because I've not used it, but a >> quick search tells me the later versions of Elements have at least some >> of the tools I want that Lightroom doesn't seem to have - i.e. LAYERS, >> layer masks, blending modes ... >>> > > LR and PS are built around different metaphors. Layers are a graphic design > concept, not a photography concept. LR is built around the idea of a > darkroom, where there are no layers as far as I recall. This I think is key > to understanding LR. > > What results can you achieve with layers etc. that you can't achieve in LR by > a more 'darkroomy' means? > > I think these things often come down to people preferring what they're used > to. When they're used to doing something one way in a system, that can > sometimes seem like the only way. So if a new system achieves the same > outcome differently people can struggle to adapt, and find themselves > fighting against the new system, trying to force-fit it into the old > metaphor. I've been watching people do this at work for 35 years and I've > been through it myself a few times, notably when I first encountered a > computer mouse, and also when I discovered relational database theory, which > I eventually decided is the dog's bollocks and the secret of life itself > (well almost - that accolade goes to discrete mathematics). > > B > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
