Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Review

December 14, 2008 by admin

Photo technology has advanced more in the last five years than it probably has in over a century. For me, the unfortunate side effect of all of this digital wizardry are the hundreds of gigabytes that are crying out for easy organization and efficient editing. Thankfully both Adobe and Apple have stepped up with heavy duty apps that largely solve the many challenges the digital revolution has thrust upon advanced amateur and professional photographers.

Mac users find themselves with a difficult decision between Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom 2. Both products are focused on efficient workflows for organization and editing but take dramatically different approaches to getting that work done. As an Aperture user I was excited to be sent a copy of Lightroom to review for the Amazon Vine program. After several hours of poking, prodding, and a whole lot of photo editing, I came to the conclusion that both are superb for what they do. While there are a few things that I like better on Lightroom and vice-versa (I much prefer Lightroom’s file management for instance), nothing stood out for me as a deal maker or breaker for either product.

And while this wishy-washy conclusion may sound like a cop-out, it really comes down to how you, the photographer, edit photos and which workflow will best fit into how you approach that work. The problem is that once you’re committed to Lightroom or Aperture it is difficult, if not impossible, to switch and maintain all of the editing and organizational data. Neither Adobe or Apple provide a pathway to import a library created on their competitor’s product.

So here’s my suggestion: try before you buy. While Apple and Adobe are locked in the grips of deadly competition we the consumers benefit not only from two great products to choose from but also 30 day fully featured free trials of each. Download both and begin experimenting to see which of the two will best fit your needs.

You can find Apple’s Aperture trial here, and Adobe’s Lightroom 2 trial here.

The decision is easier for Windows users. That’s because there’s nothing better for Windows than Lightroom. Users in a mixed Mac and PC environment will also find that Lightroom’s libraries are also completely cross-compatible, so work can be started on a Mac and finished on a Windows PC. Users upgrading from Adobe Photoshop Elements as well as the older Photoshop album can import their existing album structures into Lightroom with relative ease.

Adobe continues their proud tradition of redefining photography with this product. It’s clear that everything they’ve learned from two decades of Photoshop, combined with feedback from their customers, has gone into this version of Lightroom.

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