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Lightroom 3: First impressions from an Aperture user

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MarathonMax

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Jun 29, 2011
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Location
Montreal, Quebec
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
I am still trying to deny the fact that I am about to switch away from an Apple product. Not that all Apple software are the best (would I go for Pages instead of Word?) or that Apple does a good job at maintaining them (read the iWeb sad story).


I already spoke of the reasons why I am looking at switching. Namely, support by a wider community (for example the great book by David duChemin about his LR workflow) and, ironically, the little support for the iPad and workflow integration (read my story on a mobile version of Aperture).


So, first thoughts?


Read my blog:


http://maximegousse.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/lightroom-3-first-impressions-from-an-aperture-user/
 
Welcome, Max!

I think it would serve for better discussion in this forum, if you gave a synopsis of your thoughts as presented on your blog here, instead of asking us to read else where and then respond here. :bluegrin:

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Don
 
It is also a thought that your first post here comes across as seeking publicity for your blog just like it did in the Flickr Lightroom Discussion. That discussion topic was closed by one of the moderators and the link to your blog removed. You can rest assured that neither of those are likely happen here. If you have something to share, then do share it here. I will caution you that this is a forum that will not tolerate Adobe vs Apple, or Apple vs anything else debates or trolling.
 
It is NOT my intention to do a Apple vs. Adobe thing. I am a Mac fan, an Apple fan. I also prefer LR, hence this post. A number of people have noted some good reasons why they prefer AP and, true, AP does have its advantages (like Facebook posting?).

You will find that in other forums like DPreview and the AP Flickr one I do contribute to a good number of user questions (a very good number actually). I have not yet reached this level with LR... but it will come.

Max
 
Max, I certainly look forward to you contributing here. Keep in mind our mantra at the top "dedicated to the support of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom". I did check out your blog.:)
 
It is also a thought that your first post here comes across as seeking publicity for your blog just like it did in the Flickr Lightroom Discussion. That discussion topic was closed by one of the moderators and the link to your blog removed.

I just saw an identical post on another forum a few hours ago. I don't know exactly why, but I hate it when the same thing is posted in multiple forums. Spam?
 
That was the original definition of Spam, posting the same message to multiple Usenet news groups, without inserting a crosspost reference code. (Which would allow news reader software to mark a message read in all groups simultaneously.) Green card lawyers anyone? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Canter_and_Martha_Siegel
 
Spam?

Yes the same entry was posted twice by me.

Did not want to spam.

I am truly sorry about all that.

Please look forward to more constructive positive from me in the very near future.

Max
 
We'll look forward to seeing you around Max. It sounds like an honest mistake, and now you're aware of how it can look, so don't worry about it.

Now, shall we get back to the original topic? In your blog post you mentioned "I am still not sure if Lightroom’s Collections are as powerful as Aperture’s Projects and Albums". Would you like to tell us a little more about what you felt with Apertures strengths on that? It's still on my to do list to play with properly.
 
Victoria, thank you for your kind words.

In Aperture you have folders, projects, albums, and light table.

folders are like groups of everything. Projects are normally your shoots. ALbums are often sun section of yours shoots (i used them for best of) but album can also be across many shoots (ex: a collection of all church pics). as for light table, remember the old slides days of your parents? well, you can play with virtual slides that way. neet but never found a use for them.
 
This doesn't really seem to address your original comment: "I am still not sure if Lightroom’s Collections are as powerful as Aperture’s Projects and Albums". What is it about Lightroom's capabilities that doesn't do what you just said Aperture does? Inquiring minds want to know. Inquiring minds would like you to be specific.
 
Victoria, thank you for your kind words.

In Aperture you have folders, projects, albums, and light table.

folders are like groups of everything. Projects are normally your shoots. ALbums are often sun section of yours shoots (i used them for best of) but album can also be across many shoots (ex: a collection of all church pics). as for light table, remember the old slides days of your parents? well, you can play with virtual slides that way. neet but never found a use for them.

Max,

If you play around in LR a bit, I think that you will find the same types of organizations tools at your disposal. LR recognizes your OS folder structure, you can create all types of collections, and the Library module is very similar to a light table. There may be minor differences around the edges, but having not used Aperture, I cannot specifically say what they are. But, I do not believe that LR is radically different in terms of the specific features that you have mentioned.

--Ken
 
"I am still not sure if Lightroom’s Collections are as powerful as Aperture’s Projects and Albums"

I tend to agree with this comment. Smart albums can query many more fields than can be queried by Lightroom smart collections, they include calendar-style controls for entering dates, and you don't need stupid workarounds for "is empty". Secondly, they "cascade" - ie a smart album only queries images in its parent project/folder. You can of course name your Lightroom collections "projects", so they amount to the same thing as Aperture's projects. But overall Lightroom's collections are, to damn them with faint praise, good enough.

However, you do need to balance Lightroom's immediate visibility of your OS folders (which Aperture lacks) plus good enough virtual folders (collections) against Aperture only having virtual folders (projects, folders, albums). So you're getting two important features of an asset management program versus one. Also Lightroom's collections are multifunctional - a collection quietly stores its web, print and slideshow settings and you have no need to create a web album for instance.

John
 
I have yet to fully explore the Smart Collections of LR. I kind of like the Aperture Smart Albums, much like John mentions.

One thing I can say about LR's Collections: the fact that they can not be within a Project's hierarchy structure is a limitation. In AP, you can have Albums under a Folder and/or a Project. In LR, Collections are in their own hierarchical structure while AP allows you to choose.
 
I think you've got to be careful not to see Aperture projects as analogous to LR folders. Although folders' exposure in LR's UI does encourage people to use old-style ways of organizing, they're really not the same as Aperture projects - that's what I meant about LR providing visibility of OS folders plus virtual folders while Aperture only has virtual ones.

It's really the collection set that's closest to the Aperture project. They're optional though rather than the primary/compulsory container as in Aperture. If you want to organize by projects in Lightroom, you could just create a collection set and call it a project.

John
 
Lightroom collections are fairly analogous to Aperture's Folders and Albums but the main downfall for Lightroom is it's lack of implementation of stacks within the collections. If your not a heavy user of stacks you won't see any huge obstacles in your workflow. When I moved from Aperture this was a big pain in the a$$ for me but I have managed to get used to it :)

It took me a good while to get used to Lightroom and there is still plenty I miss from Aperture but I do think in the long run its worth the effort to convert. I do hope that LR 4 will improve some of the 'management' features. LR3 concentrated more on image quality and a core code re-write so it still lacks a bit in the management area in my opinion.
 
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