FMC Review - Adobe Lightroom 2 – Make your ordinary photos extraordinary with a few clicks

For $300 dollars I can take my wife to a nice show in Vegas, pay half my car payment, or make my photos look like a professional took them. Ever since the birth of my son I have a renewed sense of photography. Yes I took classes in college but that way ages ago and we use something called film in those days.

Thankfully a lot has changed since those times. With everything digital now, why not have a virtual digital assistant help you make your snapshots or even lit and prepped shots looked even better? The good folks at Abode have done just that with Lightroom 2.

Sure Adobe makes the great Photoshop application but with that there is a learning curve and to master it takes time. With Lightroom 2, you can do some amazing things with a few clicks of the mouse. Don’t like the color? No problem just change it. Too dark? Lighten it up! The program does all the hard work leaving you to be creative.

What’s inside?

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available for Mac and Windows and I tested it on both to satisfaction. When launching the application you have 5 modes to work in: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web. Each is extremely customizable and powerful.

What do the modes do?

In the Library Mode you will can import your files, create collections, and most importantly add keywords. Meta data is so important these days when trying to remember important information that may have happened long ago. Add your keyword tags and they are attached to the photo forever. Also in Library Mode you can white balance and work on tone control. A histogram sits atop for easy visual aid.

Next is Develop Mode where the fun really begins. Choose from Presets such as Aged Photo or Sepia. If that is the look you wanted great. If you want to add to it there are some great tools: Crop Overlay, Spot Removal, Red Eye Correction, Graduated Filter, and the Adjustment Brush. Let your creativity show no bounds as the handy History panel is available if you want to retrace your steps. The amount of control you wield over a photo is remarkable.

Slideshow is next where you can, yes you guessed it, create a slideshow presentation. Add an identity plate, change the layout, rating stars and much more. IT is all very straight forward and simple to do.

Next up is Print Mode where you can layout your prints. Need wallet sized prints of junior’s first baseball game? Lightroom 2 provides many different templates to choose from.

Lastly, have you ever wanted to create a web page of photos to send to family members or friends? Many of my friends always ask my advice on this. Since I know html and flash it’s easy for me but how can I explain it to them in 5 minutes? With Lightroom 2’s Web Mode I won’t have to. All they need to do is pick out a template that indecently includes a great Flash gallery, add text such as the title and contact info and off you go. Lightroom 2 created a Flash gallery for my 135 photos in seconds. This is too easy folks. Great job Adobe.

Final thoughts

Sure its not Photoshop but Lightroom 2 doesn’t need to be. The amount of manipulation you can do to your ordinary photos is amazing. For the new photographer or even the old pro Lightroom 2 is a valuable application to add to your workflow. It will allow your creative genius to come out and in a simple and straightforward manner. FMC gives Adobe Lightroom 2 5/5 stars for price, easy to use, and power. For more info or to download a demo visit here.