I’ve been spending some time learning Adobe Lightroom 2 when I realized Capture NX2 leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to cataloging images. I have a fairly adequate folder structure, but if I have similar folders, it’s difficult to know which one a certain image is in. An example of that is some of my flower photos that I’ve taken around Vienna.
I’ll often take photos at work during my lunch break, so with my file structure of “<TODAY’S DATE> Vienna Flowers” If I’m looking for a particular daisy shot, which folder do I look to? Another benefit to Lightroom is I can edit multiple photos in a more streamlined fashion, since they’re all loaded up in a filmstrip sort of method. I can quickly pick and choose which ones to make the cut, working my way to the best of the series. I can then edit them as a whole or individually, and export at once. In Capture NX2 each one needs to be open and saved/exported individually (you could batch it, but there are extra steps), and even share some of the settings, but in Lightroom it seems so much easier. I can still use NX2 for some filters that I have with it, exporting the file directly from Lightroom to NX2 for editing, upon saving it and closing it, it appears back in Lightroom stacked with the original. Pretty cool! For heavy “pixel pushing”, I still use Photoshop Elements, which is superior for cloning and touch ups. And now that PS Elements 8 has been announced, it’ll be even easier.
The selection brushes are quite good as well, actually. In NX2 I can select areas to brighten and darken (among other things) but Lightroom 2 allows exposure adjustments with the brushes as well! The shots below had some issues with dynamic range, so I used the exposure brush to decrease exposure on the sky while another brushed increased it in the foreground. Even using a ND filter in NX2 couldn’t save these as well as the brush in Lightroom did. The color one had a fair amount of noise, which is still evident in the clouds, but the image was able to be recovered, so I’m quite happy!
We’ll see how it goes! I really enjoy using Lightroom, and with some of Matt Koslowski’s presets and tips, it’s getting a lot easier.
edit: Here’s a good tutorial on LR2.
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