Lightroom

I cut my teeth on film photography. Time spent in the darkroom was enjoyable for me. It just seemed like magic as a sheet of paper was placed into a tray of developer and the image slowly appeared. I enjoyed the entire process. I even created a makeshift darkroom in my apartment where I could develop my film and therefore save some time in the darkroom at Temple University. That was then, and now we enjoy digital photography.

The darkroom has been replaced with Lightroom. For those of you who don’t know, Lightroom is an Adobe software package that allows us to catalog, edit, print, create slideshows and web galleries. Yes, it is all done in the light! No longer do we need a darkroom to process our photographs.

I was introduced to Lightroom by my good friend and colleague, Dick McCreight. At first, I wasn’t too keen on purchasing another software package. But when I saw Dick moving around so easily and quickly in Lightroom, I sat up straighter to take a closer look. Then, when Dick showed me all the powerful features of Lightroom I was sold. I decided to download the free 30-day trial and the rest is history.

I now use Lightroom after every event I photograph. Web galleries are created for my website in Lightroom and the process is quick and easy. Just like in the old darkroom, I can crop, dodge, and burn an image. I also catalog my photographs in Lightroom, keeping track of my best photos and creating a variety of collections to use for slideshows or print orders. Lightroom has become my favorite photo software!

If you haven’t tried Lightroom yet, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.