Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iphoto and lightroom

B

brenda TN

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 26, 2010
23
0
I am now using the lightroom beta 4 and have been trying to learn it. I don't have a previous version. I think I have decided to buy lightroom 3 when beta plays out and maybe upgrade later.
My question. Right now I have my pictures imported from my camera into iphoto then eventually move some of them to an external drive in folders. I have also photoshop elements 8 for post processing. Where does iphoto fit into this? Do most import into folders on your hard drive with labels on them and not have them in iphoto?
I am not making catalogs yet in lightroom till I buy it.
It is at $149 now, I wonder if that is the lowest? I understand Black Friday it sold for $99.
 
iPhoto won't fit into process unless there is a specific reason to use iPhoto it will be redundant. Photo Stream is the only reason that I can think of to keep using iPhoto. I recently made the LR/Aperture decision and moved all of my photos out of folders and iPhoto into Aperture.
 
Dornblaser is right.... iPhoto and LR (or Aperture) are not a good mix. As much as this pains me (as a LR user) make sure you know now much LR is going to cost before purchasing. It is considerably more expensive than Aperture. You can't be sure that Adobe won't charge an upgrade fee on top of LR 3 when the time comes, either.

My suggestion is to just move to Aperture and do library upgrades. I believe Apple will upgrade Aperture soon, now that they've had a chance to see what Adobe is doing with LR.

Luck.
 
before Lightroom 3 came out, I was using the Beta version for free until LR3 came out. You should just continue using Lightroom 4 Beta until the full version comes out. When the Beta version expires you can still access your photos in Finder.


The price for LR3 went as low as $89, not just for black friday. If you go with STaples.com they occasionally send out $25 coupons. You can use that towards your purchase.

Check out Adam Lerner on youtube. He has some great tips on learning LR.


I use all three. Its all depends on your workflow. Well actually 4. Lightroom, iPhoto, Aperture, and Photoshop. iPhoto I use cause its connected to my Gallery and iPhone. Occasionally I will compose a photobook. Aperture same thing, and maybe some editing. LR3 for everything. Organizing and editing. PS for serious fixes on photos.
 
I use iPhoto as my main photo dump from the camera, then pick out the pictures I want to work on and copy those to LR. iPhoto keeps everything untouched.
 
MacNut said:
I use iPhoto as my main photo dump from the camera, then pick out the pictures I want to work on and copy those to LR. iPhoto keeps everything untouched.
Click to expand...

Why?

Except for face recognition, LR does just about everything iPhoto does. Does it not make it more difficult trying to remember whether a particular photo is in iPhoto, or in LR?

I have to admit I keep iPhoto/Aperture around, but only to create books. Everything gets dumped into LR - which also keeps everything untouched - and if I need a book I export the images to iPhoto/Aperture.

But I'm curious about why you don't harness the power of LR for everything.... and I'm serious.... not trying to pick a fight.
 
snberk103 said:
Why?

Except for face recognition, LR does just about everything iPhoto does. Does it not make it more difficult trying to remember whether a particular photo is in iPhoto, or in LR?

I have to admit I keep iPhoto/Aperture around, but only to create books. Everything gets dumped into LR - which also keeps everything untouched - and if I need a book I export the images to iPhoto/Aperture.

But I'm curious about why you don't harness the power of LR for everything.... and I'm serious.... not trying to pick a fight.
Click to expand...
A lot of it is force of habit, before I got LR everything was dumped into iPhoto and I never bothered to change the settings. I guess its a security blanket sort of thing. I know LR can handle my workflows and I don't need iPhoto at all but I have a lot of older stuff still in iPhoto and I don't want to bother to move everything over.
 
MacNut said:
A lot of it is force of habit, before I got LR everything was dumped into iPhoto and I never bothered to change the settings. I guess its a security blanket sort of thing. I know LR can handle my workflows and I don't need iPhoto at all but I have a lot of older stuff still in iPhoto and I don't want to bother to move everything over.
Click to expand...

Fair enough.... Though I think it would be fair to point out to the OP that this workflow may not meet their needs since they are coming at it from a different place.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm in the process of scanning all of my loose film negatives into LR. Most of them I have contact sheets for, but there enough un-catagorized loose negs that I'll still be doing this when Apple has introduced their quantum powered 68 core Mac Pro. Sigh.
 
As a long-time user and huge fan of Lightroom, my advice is to wait till 4 before buying if you go that route. It's not too far off, and Lightroom tends to make some big additions with each version. Adjustment brushes/gradients in 2, and lens correction in 3. I read that white balance is being added to the brushes/gradients in 4, and that alone is worth waiting for.

Otherwise, you'll spend $300 now, and then another $100 to upgrade.
 
This past Friday, Newegg had LR3 for $139.00 with promo code and free shipping.
I have seen it there off an on for $149.00.

To get the promo codes you just have to sign up with your email.
 
I'd recommend using LR3 completely and wait for LR4, or since you are using the beta for LR4 stick with that. The danger of going to LR3 is that LR4 may have different structures in the catalog then LR3 causing issues.

Personally, I prefer not using beta software for my DAM application just because my images are too important to use on a beta no matter how stable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back