A Game Changer Approaches
Original Post September 14, 2008
As a long time Adobe Photoshop user and educator, I am almost loathe to say it: Lightroom will make Photoshop obsolete for many photographers. Mark my words, the power in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 is revolutionary-not evolutionary. It is revolutionary because of it’s focus on photographic workflow, non-destructive editing, and control over every visual nuance in the image. Every tool is geared towards photographic control rather than just graphic control and herein lies the difference. Adobe Photoshop is indeed the 900 lb. gorilla in the room-capable of doing everything Lightroom can do and then some, but so many of the techniques in Photoshop are buried deep in an arcane but necessary understanding of layers, masking, channels, and selections. Lightroom offers up the controls photographers need and want all in an easy to understand and access interface. Add a non-destructive workflow, smart file handling, and reduced file sizes, and you begin to see that making images quickly and efficiently is more appealing than figuring out what an alpha channel is and how to use one.
As a photographic educator, I have to wonder where Photoshop will be in 5 years. I won’t go so far as to proclaim “Photoshop is Dead!” as Paul Delaroche declared about painting when photography was born, but I’m tempted to say that Photoshop may not be king for too much longer.
Tags: Software, Technology