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FAQ

Answers to your questions about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

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What is Photoshop Lightroom?

Photoshop Lightroom software is a new, exciting product built from the ground up for professional photographers. It is an efficient, powerful way to import, select, develop and present large volumes of digital photographs. It allows you to spend less time sorting and organizing images, so you have more time to actually shoot and perfect them.

Who will use Photoshop Lightroom?

First and foremost, Lightroom is the product professional photographers have been demanding, especially those who deal with large volumes of digital images. These include fashion and portrait photographers, photojournalists, wedding, landscape and commercial photographers. To these add the passionate personal photographers who aspire to achieve the same results as the pros, and who demand the same level of quality in their tools. You can also expect to see Lightroom in use by educators and students, as the next generation of professional photographers hone their skills in the classroom.

What's new in Photoshop Lightroom 1.1?

In response to industry feedback received since the initial release of Lightroom, we are happy to now be able to include flexible image management for multiple computer workflows. This means photographers will now be able to move images and information more quickly and easily between their computers. Lightroom 1.1 also features improved Noise Reduction and Sharpening technology, compatibility with the new Windows Vista operating system, and support for new digital camera models, including the Canon EOS-1D Mark III; Fuji FinePix S5 Pro; Nikon D40x; Olympus E-410 and SP-550 UZ; Ricoh Caplio GX 100; Sigma SD 14; and the Phase One H 20, H 25, P 20, P 21, P 25, P 30, and P 45.

How does Photoshop Lightroom differ from Adobe Photoshop CS3?

Adobe Photoshop CS3 software is the industry standard in digital image editing. Photoshop holds an important place in the pro photographer’s toolbox, for detailed pixel-level editing and compositing, but photographers face a variety of workflow concerns beyond image editing. Lightroom addresses these needs in a photographer-centric way. Each module in Lightroom is dedicated to an essential photographic task—the Library for importing and managing photos; the Develop module for processing even hundreds of photographs at a time; the Slideshow, Web and Print modules to easily present photos on your screen, online, or in print. Lightroom also goes further in allowing you to manage raw files even if they are offline, with automatic importing from the folder on your computer used for tethered shooting.

Does Lightroom replace Adobe Bridge or Camera Raw?

For some, it might. Having an interface that is 100% tuned to the photography workflow, plus the unique features that will be in Lightroom, will mean some people will use Lightroom in place of Bridge. On the other hand, some photographers will need or want the broad image capabilities of Adobe Bridge—such as integration with Adobe Creative Suite® 3, previewing PDF, InDesign® and Illustrator® documents, and workgroup management tools. Some or all of the time, these people will continue to use Adobe Bridge.

Will my raw images look the same in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop Lightroom?

Yes. Photoshop Lightroom leverages the same, core Adobe Camera Raw technology used in Photoshop CS3. This means that not only will raw images look the same in either application, but also that changes you make in Photoshop Lightroom will appear automatically in Camera Raw, and vice versa. To complete this interactivity, changes in both Camera Raw and Lightroom need to be written to XMP metadata. This is so that each software application can recognize the other’s edits. This functionality is set in the preferences in each product.

How are the different versions of my photographs stored when I edit them with Photoshop Lightroom?

Photoshop Lightroom is a completely nondestructive editing environment, because in fact, your photographs are never changed. Instead, the changes you make to your photographs are stored in metadata as a series of instructions. Whether you are viewing them on screen, creating a web gallery, or making prints, Lightroom is simply applying those instructions to the original, untouched photo file. This allows the photographer complete flexibility, control, and creative exploration, with the knowledge that any change applied to an image is 100% reversible at any time—today, tomorrow, or years in the future.

Is Photoshop Lightroom compatible with Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements?

Yes. Images handled by Photoshop Lightroom are editable in Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements. Some non-photography file formats usable in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements will not be supported by Lightroom, but this is in keeping with the mandate of Lightroom as a photographer’s application.

What are the minimum system requirements?

For Windows®, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom requires Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2), an Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, 768 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended), and 1 GB or more free hard drive space, and a monitor with 1,024 x 768 screen resolution. For the Mac OS, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom requires Mac OS X version 10.4 (Tiger) or higher, a 1GHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor or Intel Core Duo processor (including iBook G4 or PowerBook G4), and 768 MB of RAM (although more is recommended), and 1 GB or more of free hard drive space.

Are the features the same in the Windows and Mac OS X versions?

Yes. Photoshop Lightroom contains the same features, and delivers the same professional, best-of-class results, no matter which platform you choose to use.

Is Photoshop Lightroom an photo editing tool or a workflow productivity tool?

Lightroom provides a single environment that has all of the functions photographers most commonly need to perform on their images, in the cleanest, least cluttered, easiest to use package. Lightroom contains a focused set of features that are just right for photography, and which are intuitive, powerful, and easy to learn. It is an image editing tool, and it’s a workflow productivity tool. Photographers who require extensive painting and compositing tools, and editing of their images at the pixel level, will still use Photoshop CS3 to achieve their additional goals.

Are there any training materials available?

Photoshop Lightroom is designed to be so easy to use that photographers can focus on their images instead of on technology. Lightroom includes a Getting Started guide as well as a comprehensive Help function. Additional materials can be found on the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom.

Is Lightroom available in languages other than English?

Yes. Adobe is a leader in delivering high-quality, localized versions of its software. Initially, Photoshop Lightroom is available in English, French, German, and Japanese versions.

How will developers create modules of their own? What kind of third-party support will Adobe offer?

Photoshop Lightroom is built on an entirely new open modular architecture. In the future, third-party vendors will be able to develop modules that plug directly into the Lightroom workflow, and work as first-class citizens with the Adobe-built modules. This will enable developers to deliver valuable enhancements and custom workflows for specialized digital photography requirements. Development of a software development kit (SDK) for Lightroom will be continuing in 2007, and will be announced on the Lightroom pages at Adobe.com when it is available.

What file formats does Lightroom support?

Over 150 native camera raw file formats, in addition to DNG, TIFF, and JPEG—in other words, the formats primarily used in digital cameras, and more of them than any other developer. In addition, Photoshop Lightroom also supports the Photoshop PSD file format, for enhanced integration with Photoshop CS3. For a complete list of manufacturers and models supported in Camera Raw, please see www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.

Does Lightroom run on Intel-based Macintoshes?

Yes. The Macintosh version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a Universal application that runs natively on both PowerPC systems and the newer Intel-based Macintoshes.

Does Lightroom run on Windows Vista?

Yes. Photoshop Lightroom is designed to run on both Windows XP and Vista.

What is the pricing for Photoshop Lightroom 1.1?

The normal retail price of Photoshop Lightroom is $299.

How many computers are covered by a single license of Photoshop Lightroom 1.1?

Subject to the terms of the End User Licensing Agreement, the primary user of the computer on which Photohop Lightroom (the “Software”) is installed may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exclusive use on either a portable computer or a computer located at his or her home, provided that the Software on the portable or home computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary computer. You may be required to contact Adobe in order to make a second copy. Photoshop Lightroom is sold as multi-platform software, which means it can be installed on either Mac OS X or Windows.

Does Photoshop Lightroom have educational pricing?

Yes. Adobe is proud to support the efforts of teachers and students, who may purchase Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 for $99. Other licensing programs will also be in effect—please see www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions for more details.

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