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Editor's picks

• 

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 [OLD VERSION]

  Software (Adobe)
  

  Rating (189 reviews):

  (4.4/5)

  

  Very Useful Program for Digital Photo Pre-Use Management

  Those familiar with Photoshop might wonder why an additional product should be needed to manage digital images. I would offer this difference: Photoshop is a program for image manipulation; it's for folks who want to change their photographs or create new substance in an image. Lightroom is a program that, primarily, expedites photography workflow. [By using the term "workflow," I don't mean to imply that it's geared only to those who are in the profession of photography; amateurs and hobbyists alike (like I am), who also wish to prepare quickly and print images, can benefit from this highly-practical and time-efficient program.] You can "tweak" pics very nicely with Lightroom, but Photoshop's the paragon for substantial alteration.Lightroom 3 simplifies enormously the process of preparing photo captures for use, whether as web or print applications. It facilitates quick organization & preview, raw enhancement, printing, and web uploading of photos.The... 5/5 Dean C. Broome Jr. MD (Blackshear, GA USA) - See all my reviews, July 22, 2010

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  LR 3 Very good for for the right person

  I'll start off by saying I thought $300 for a photo program was more than I wanted to spend. I had tried the 30 day trial when LR2 came out, but couldn't get in enough keyboard time during the 30 day trial period. I decided to try the Beta when LR3 B1 came out and actually got about 70 days under my belt before B2 expired.I had bought and used Elements 3 and 7, and while pretty good enhancers, there organizational abilities were weak. By weak, I mean, once they were catalogued and or key worded, they were fine, but the key wording was tedious.Enter LR3. It doesn't have the capability of Elements (or photoshop either, I assume) but it does have enough capability to handle 90+% of what I do. What I usually do is correct color and exposure, saturate or desatureate some colors to enhance the image or de-emphasize the back ground, sharpen things up a bit and or decrease noise, mostly luminous, and apply the lens correction feature. I have also used the curves... 5/5 Hank (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM) I'll start off by saying I thought $300 for a photo program was more than I wanted to spend. I had tried the 30 day trial when LR2 came out, but couldn't get in enough keyboard time during the 30 day trial period. I decided to try the Beta when LR3 B1 came out and actually got about 70 days under my belt before B2 expired.I had bought and used Elements 3 and 7, and while pretty good enhancers, there organizational abilities were weak. By weak, I mean, once they were catalogued and or key worded, they were fine, but the key wording was tedious.Enter LR3. It doesn't have the capability of Elements (or photoshop either, I assume) but it does have enough capability to handle 90+% of what I do. What I usually do is correct color and exposure, saturate or desatureate some colors to enhance the image or de-emphasize the back ground, sharpen things up a bit and or decrease noise, mostly luminous, and apply the lens correction feature. I have also used the curves... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , August 24, 2010

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  Awesome for processing high volumes...

  Lightroom 3 was an awesome addition to my studio. Prior to using lightroom I was using Bridge and PhotoShop to process all my photos. If you go out and shoot a few photos a week I would not recommend dropping the cash to get lightroom. If you shoot or want to shoot 1000+ images a day and don't want to spend most of your time in front of a computer doing post work, buy lightroom 3.Performance: Lightroom 3 works amazingly well on computer running a 64bit OS like win7. After watching a few tutorial videos on the program I was able to add lightroom to my work-flow and get files edited and to my clients about twice as fast as just using BR/PS.Great for:1.Noise reduction (simple and awesome)2.Making small to medium adjustments to photos quickly3.Managing photo meta data4.cataloging and sorting5.getting images to the web6.printing packages7.slide shows8.... 5/5 Well of Mimir - See all my reviews This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM) Lightroom 3 was an awesome addition to my studio. Prior to using lightroom I was using Bridge and PhotoShop to process all my photos. If you go out and shoot a few photos a week I would not recommend dropping the cash to get lightroom. If you shoot or want to shoot 1000+ images a day and don't want to spend most of your time in front of a computer doing post work, buy lightroom 3.Performance: Lightroom 3 works amazingly well on computer running a 64bit OS like win7. After watching a few tutorial videos on the program I was able to add lightroom to my work-flow and get files edited and to my clients about twice as fast as just using BR/PS.Great for:1.Noise reduction (simple and awesome)2.Making small to medium adjustments to photos quickly3.Managing photo meta data4.cataloging and sorting5.getting images to the web6.printing packages7.slide shows8.... Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 7, 2010

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  List Price: $299.99
  Price: $99.99
  You Save: $200.00 (67%)

  Bring out the best in your photography, whether you're perfecting one image, searching for ten, processing hundreds, or organizing thousands.

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software helps you bring out the best in your photography.

  So, you can spend more time shooting--your core photography essentials are included in one fast, intuitive application.

  Breeze through your digital photography tasks quickly and efficiently.

  Dynamic slide show videos with music, web galleries, and on popular photo-sharing sites.

  Get the absolute best from every image you shoot with world-class editing power and intuitive controls that set your creativity free.

  Experiment fearlessly with state-of-the-art nondestructive editing tools, including world-class noise reduction.

  Share your vision with elegant options for showcasing your images in customized print packages.

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• 

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Student and Teacher Edition [OLD VERSION]

  Software (Adobe)
  

  Rating (114 reviews):

  (4.1/5)

  

  The same as regular Lightroom... except cheaper

  I am a college student with very limited funds and there is no way I could fork over $300 for the regular version. As much as I loved this program during the 30 trial, I knew it would be years before I would be able to get it. Then I found out Adobe discounts it for students and teachers! This is the same as the regular version. When you get it in the mail you have to provide proof you are a student, or teacher or whatever, through a website and then they email you a serial #. I really do appreciate Adobe lowering the price for us poor folk. Thanks again. 5/5 PhotoCyclist - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Student and Teacher Edition [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM) I am a college student with very limited funds and there is no way I could fork over $300 for the regular version. As much as I loved this program during the 30 trial, I knew it would be years before I would be able to get it. Then I found out Adobe discounts it for students and teachers! This is the same as the regular version. When you get it in the mail you have to provide proof you are a student, or teacher or whatever, through a website and then they email you a serial #. I really do appreciate Adobe lowering the price for us poor folk. Thanks again. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , December 4, 2010

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  One of the Best Adobe Products

  Short and sweet. As background, I was primarily a B&W photographer in the 60s and 70s. Then a 30 year hiatus and I restarted by learning digital photography. After several years on trying to manage the chaos of digital photographs I gave Lightroom a shot with V2. It works as advertized. It is rich enough that now after a year I still have not used all its features. Don't skip over learning the keyboard shortcuts. At first I did but now I see that keyboard shortcuts are indispensable. For example, you just rate your photos by hitting a number key. Great photo? Hit 5, medicore? hit 2 or 3. hate it? Hit X.I do have problems or perhaps misunderstandings on printing. I suspect it may be more of an issue with the printers than Lightroom. For example, on my cheap HP Photoshop 3210 it prints the way I think it should. On my HP Photosmart Pro 8800, well it would take too long to explain. I would pay a premium to have a large format photoprinter that is one with... 5/5 J. Lawler (California) - See all my reviews, December 7, 2010

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  Lightroom 3

  Excellent photo database and editing program. Very quick once you become familiar with the commands but it doesn't take too long. I have it on a 6 year old computer so it does slow the computer down quite a bit but I suspect a newer computer would handle it much better. It doesn't help that I have thousands of photos to catalog. Very worthwhile product for me and the student price was too good to pass up. 5/5 davidj - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Student and Teacher Edition [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM) Excellent photo database and editing program. Very quick once you become familiar with the commands but it doesn't take too long. I have it on a 6 year old computer so it does slow the computer down quite a bit but I suspect a newer computer would handle it much better. It doesn't help that I have thousands of photos to catalog. Very worthwhile product for me and the student price was too good to pass up. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 26, 2010

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  List Price: $299.00
  Price: $89.99
  You Save: $209.01 (70%)

  Your core photography essentials are included in one fast, intuitive application

  Get the absolute best from every image you shoot with world-class editing power and intuitive controls that set your creativity free.

  Experiment fearlessly with state-of-the-art nondestructive editing tools, including world-class noise reduction.

  Breeze through your digital photography tasks quickly and efficiently, so you can spend more time shooting.

  Also showcasing dynamic slide show videos with music, web galleries, and on popular photo-sharing sites.

  Your core photography essentials are included in one fast, intuitive application.

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software helps you bring out the best in your photography,

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software helps you bring out the best in your photography.

  Software also helps you in, if you're perfecting one image, searching for ten, processing hundreds, or organizing thousands.

  Whether you're perfecting one image, searching for ten, processing hundreds, or organizing thousands.

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• 

  The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)

  Book (Peachpit Press)
  

  Rating (127 reviews):

  (4.5/5)

  

  Cleverly painless and copiously illustrated introduction to LR3 and workflow basics

  About as complete, smoothly-paced and effortless an introduction to LR3's rather daunting interface as this oldtimer has come across. Continues its predecessor's (LR2) step-wise breezy familiarization with the Lighroom 3 interface to shape a basic - but perfectly sufficient - workflow for busy digital photographers. Easily followed step by step full color screenshots, printed on top quality glossy paper, speed the reader towards a solid grasp of the essentials; helpful tips are provided once you have the basics under your belt. The tutorial is equally helpful to the (nearly identical) Windows and Mac versions of LR3; where the two diverge (as in the file system), unique Windows and Mac screen presentations are treated separately with OS-specific screenshots. Not the least, the focused "Seven Point System" concentrates your time and effort on Lightroom's must-know photo editing strategies, without wandering too far afield.This book is a Godsend for new users -- less so... 5/5 Rudy "pain-doc" (Columbia, SC USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) (Paperback) About as complete, smoothly-paced and effortless an introduction to LR3's rather daunting interface as this oldtimer has come across. Continues its predecessor's (LR2) step-wise breezy familiarization with the Lighroom 3 interface to shape a basic - but perfectly sufficient - workflow for busy digital photographers. Easily followed step by step full color screenshots, printed on top quality glossy paper, speed the reader towards a solid grasp of the essentials; helpful tips are provided once you have the basics under your belt. The tutorial is equally helpful to the (nearly identical) Windows and Mac versions of LR3; where the two diverge (as in the file system), unique Windows and Mac screen presentations are treated separately with OS-specific screenshots. Not the least, the focused "Seven Point System" concentrates your time and effort on Lightroom's must-know photo editing strategies, without wandering too far afield.This book is a Godsend for new users -- less so... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 10, 2010

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  This is a must have book, especially for new or moderate skill users of LR

  I buy a lot of tech books but after purchasing this one 3 things really stood out to me, having bought his previous 2 books on same topic:1) the extensive helps in the back - particularly the framing example and "collag-ing" layouts will be very helpful to people.2) the generous section on full work process - shooting to prints.3) Among the best in this book though is on pages IV and V - because software always becomes obsolete, but gratitude stirs the soul. You get a feel for the writers desire to be helpful and not just drop facts - it's written in a running narrative form as he leads you through good processes and organizational strategy.If you have or are considering purchasing LR 3, this book will save you extensive searching and frustration in self discovering all the nuances with features and their intent. A new user could sit with this book and walk themselves through a complete work-flow - beginning to end and experience all the major... 5/5 Lyle - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) (Paperback) I buy a lot of tech books but after purchasing this one 3 things really stood out to me, having bought his previous 2 books on same topic:1) the extensive helps in the back - particularly the framing example and "collag-ing" layouts will be very helpful to people.2) the generous section on full work process - shooting to prints.3) Among the best in this book though is on pages IV and V - because software always becomes obsolete, but gratitude stirs the soul. You get a feel for the writers desire to be helpful and not just drop facts - it's written in a running narrative form as he leads you through good processes and organizational strategy.If you have or are considering purchasing LR 3, this book will save you extensive searching and frustration in self discovering all the nuances with features and their intent. A new user could sit with this book and walk themselves through a complete work-flow - beginning to end and experience all the major... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 23, 2010

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  Round 3

  Don't blame Scott Kelby if his Lightroom ("LR") instruction books keep getting larger. Blame Adobe for adding more and more capabilities to this piece of software. But at least the software hasn't yet become "bloatware". And the new capabilities really do add something to the digital photographer's ability to more easily create art. Unfortunately, the on-line help only works when you already have some idea of the function for which you are looking, so it's not useful for learning LR."The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 book for digital photographers" more or less follows the same format as earlier versions. There are chapters on importing images; using the library module to organize images and customize what you see; editing your images with both global and local adjustments; fixing common problems; exporting the images from LR; moving them into Photoshop; editing black and white images; creating slideshows; printing; creating web galleries; and a case study on portrait... 5/5 Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews, July 26, 2010

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  List Price: $54.99
  

  Scott Kelby, the #1 best-selling computer book author for six years straight, takes on the new version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

  Learn all there is to know about organizing, correcting, printing, and showing their digital images using Lightroom.

  Scott Kelby shows digital photographers how to unlock the amazing power of Adobe Lightroom 3 and start using it like a pro!

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• 

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4

  Software (Adobe)
  

  Rating (23 reviews):

  (4.0/5)

  

  One of the best software products for digital image development

  Adobe Lightroom is Adobe's flag ship digital image development program. When I say "image development" I mean just that. Think of Lightroom as a digital darkroom and now you know what is possible in the software.The first lesson you must learn when using Lightroom is... stop shooting in JPEG. Lightroom can do some amazing things, even with JPEGs, but if you want to enjoy the benefits Lightroom has to offer, you really need to shoot in RAW. You can pull some shadow and some highlight detail from JPEGs, but there is an order of magnitude difference in the amount of detail present in a RAW file.The other thing to realize is that yes, if you have Photoshop, you can do everything Lightroom does. The difference, for now, is Lightroom 4 uses the new Adobe Camera RAW version (CS5.1 doesn't have this), which is where a lot of the new highlight/shadow recovery comes from, so for now Lightroom is quite a bit nicer than Photoshop in that regard. The other, most important... 5/5 Stephen M. Lerch (Elkton, MD United States) - See all my reviews, March 6, 2012

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  Exceptional feature set. Faster now, but still a few bugs

  **SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF REVIEW*Lightroom 4 is a pretty major release for Adobe. They added some pretty significant features, changed a few of the features they had, and tweaked the image quality and rendering a bit. There is a LOT going on here and I'm not going to try to cover it all (the product description above does a good job). Instead, I am going to focus on what matters to me most - using Lightroom to edit professional images for clients.I'm a professional wedding and portrait photographer and I've been using Lightroom since the release of Lightroom 2. It has since then become the bedrock of my editing routine, covering about 98% of my needs. The remaining 2% is mainly advanced touchup work and is handled by Photoshop CS5. I photograph about 30 weddings and 30-40 portrait sessions a year. I average about 1800 RAW photos per wedding and about 450 per portrait session. This puts my total workload at around 60,000 photos per year and every single... 4/5 J. Howell (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews, March 12, 2012

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  Lighroom 4 will make you look like a Pro, and great noise reduction.

  I had avoided buying Lightroom (LR) for many reasons before, mainly because I have a full blown version of Photoshop 5.5 extended (PS) and also the Nikon ViewNX (RAW converter) was free and pretty good. So if you are a person looking for reason to upgrade from Lightroom 3 to 4, then this review is not for you. I have no clue what Lightroom 3 has missing or what is new compare to this. I will review this base on first timers for Lightroom and people with experience with PS and ViewNX and some corel paint 8 (which I own too). I also use RAW, not jpeg editing.Wow is the first thing I got to say after 2 weeks of usage. Actually, after one day I was ready to return it since I can do everything on here between ViewNX and PS. What I didn't realized later is how much faster I can do adjust things in LR rather than convert it in ViewNX raw to jpeg and then edit it in PS. Here are the plus and minus of Lightroom 4 version the other photo editors:Pluses:... 4/5 Jeff Tranberry, May 6, 2012

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  List Price: $149.00
  

  Photo book creation--Create beautiful photo books from your images with a variety of easy-to-use templates included in Lightroom, and then upload your book for printing with just a few clicks.

  Get the best from every image - Get the highest possible quality from every pixel in your images, whether you shot them with a pro DSLR camera or a camera phone.

  Highlight and shadow recovery--Bring out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights. Now you have more power than ever before to make great images under challenging lighting conditions.

  Get everything you need beyond the camera-Organize, perfect, and share-Lightroom combines all your digital photography tools in one fast, efficient application.

  Share effortlessly-Craft elegant photo books and easily share your photographs on social networks or in web galleries, slide shows, prints, and more. Lightroom includes efficient tools to showcase your work for friends, family, and clients.

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• 

  Adobe Photoshop Elements 10

  Software (Adobe)
  

  Rating (154 reviews):

  (3.8/5)

  

  Who Should and Shouldn't Buy This!

  Customer Video Review Length:: 5:18 MinsI have used Photoshop Elements since version 2 and I strongly believe it is the best photo-editing program available for under $100. It will do most of the editing tasks that the full version of Photoshop does but at a fraction of the cost. It is the software I have my "Digital Photography" and "Digital Drawing and Painting" students use for the college courses I teach.If you are serious or semi-serious about editing your photos I highly recommend that you purchase this. In addition, an important advantage of learning (and using) Elements is that if you decide to someday move up to the full version of Photoshop all the stuff you learned translates to the more expensive program. Also, there is a TON of instructional material available online (most of it free!) and in books that will help you learn this program.I've included a short video showing a few of the features of Elements 10 and how they compare with the same features in... 5/5 V. Hutson - See all my reviews, October 30, 2011

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  Powerful image editor; remains feature-dense (and *really* wants you online for Adobe services!)...

  Photoshop Elements (PSE) 10 --like its predecessor versions-- is an image editor with a spectrum of features that will rapidly surpass the skills (and time available to tinker) of most amateur digital photographers...even highly skilled ones. The overall interface will be familiar to user of PSE versions as far back as PSE 6 or 7. It incorporates most of the multiple image merge functions familiar to users since PSE 7. As with previous versions, PSE 10 offers this for a fraction of the cost of its big-brother . Most amateur photographers --and even some frugal professionals-- can perform all but the most advanced digital editing with PSE 10 (and then use the money saved for some nice new hardware!).Note: This review assumes some familiarity with digital photography and digital image concepts, and previous exposure... 4/5 35-year Technology Consumer "8-tracks to 802.11" (Mid Atlantic, USA) - See all my reviews, October 26, 2011

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  It's an Excellent Software for the Price

  I am a user of Photoshop Elements. I downgraded from Photoshop CS(x) as I no longer needed such a powerful program. Adobe Elements offers all of the features that most home users want or need. I have given it four stars instead of five because I think the Help component is lacking.As to the other reviewer who gave this program 1 star, I have to point out that Adobe Photoshop Elements is NOT movie editing software. It is photo editing software. Perhaps she was referring to Adobe Premiere Elements, which is a movie editing software application. 4/5 June Campbell "June" (North Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 (Software) I am a user of Photoshop Elements. I downgraded from Photoshop CS(x) as I no longer needed such a powerful program. Adobe Elements offers all of the features that most home users want or need. I have given it four stars instead of five because I think the Help component is lacking.As to the other reviewer who gave this program 1 star, I have to point out that Adobe Photoshop Elements is NOT movie editing software. It is photo editing software. Perhaps she was referring to Adobe Premiere Elements, which is a movie editing software application. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 5, 2011

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  List Price: $99.99
  Price: $74.99
  You Save: $25.00 (25%)

  Enjoy your photos and videos virtually anywhere you are, and get automatic online backup with 2GB of free storage

  Make every photo look its best with powerful options that take the work out of image editing

  Create photo books, cards, calendars, and other printed mementos that look just the way you want

  Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 software lets you turn everyday memories into sensational photos with a complete photo-editing solution

  Quickly share your photos anywhere, including on Facebook and YouTube and in fun, interactive Online Albums

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• 

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Upgrade [OLD VERSION]

  Software (Adobe)
  

  Rating (31 reviews):

  (4.5/5)

  

  The BEST noise reduction (IMO), watermarking, excellent new RAW rendering and other tweaks...

  I have been using LR since v1. The last 2 revisions have brought significant improvements.With v2 the standout benefit for me was the local adjustments brush (that alone made the upgrade a no-brainer.With v3 I wasn't as eager to buy another upgrade - UNTIL I tried it out and noticed that after "updating" views of my images to use the "2010 process" the difference jumped out at me (particularly those at ISO 800+).The higher ISO RAW files from an Olympus E-1 and E-300 suddenly looked demonstrably better (same with files from my E-3).Noise reduction in Lightroom has always been less-than-stellar and I've been saving my pennies to buy a "real" noise reduction program for ~$100.I am SO glad that I held off buying a separate noise reduction program until after I tested LR3 - I was about to pay just about the same price as the LR3 upgrade just for a noise reduction program!IMO, the noise reduction now integrated into LR3 is the BEST that I have yet... 4/5 JAB "JAB" (SLC, UTAH) - See all my reviews This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Upgrade [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM) I have been using LR since v1. The last 2 revisions have brought significant improvements.With v2 the standout benefit for me was the local adjustments brush (that alone made the upgrade a no-brainer.With v3 I wasn't as eager to buy another upgrade - UNTIL I tried it out and noticed that after "updating" views of my images to use the "2010 process" the difference jumped out at me (particularly those at ISO 800+).The higher ISO RAW files from an Olympus E-1 and E-300 suddenly looked demonstrably better (same with files from my E-3).Noise reduction in Lightroom has always been less-than-stellar and I've been saving my pennies to buy a "real" noise reduction program for ~$100.I am SO glad that I held off buying a separate noise reduction program until after I tested LR3 - I was about to pay just about the same price as the LR3 upgrade just for a noise reduction program!IMO, the noise reduction now integrated into LR3 is the BEST that I have yet... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 25, 2010

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  Fantastic upgrade - a must-have for all photographers.

  I've been using Lightroom since the beginning - ordering Lightroom v1 immediately upon it's release and absolutely loved it. It's not a complete replacement for photoshop (it does a LOT of the stuff Photoshop does, but not a lot of the selective editing/power you get in PS).After using the Lightroom 3 beta for the past few months, I knew I needed to get this upgrade.Unlike Photoshop which is more of a "One image at a time" program, Lightroom brings your whole collection of photos into the application, allowing you to quickly navigate through them, tag/flag them (by stars, for example) and make quick edits to either a single photo or the whole set. This is the most important thing as if you shoot a few hundred photos and need the SAME settings quickly applied to each of them (white balance, for example) it's just a few clicks away. Lightroom also uses a non-destructive editing system, which means you can make as many edits to photos as you want, and the original... 5/5 MiRSD - See all my reviews, July 3, 2010

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  Essential Upgrade

  This is the first Lightroom version that I would consider fully mature. Lots of new features worth having, and the whole operation seems sleek and efficient. While certainly easier to use than Photoshop, this is not a beginner's photo-editing program (at least if one uses most of the features). I bought it primarily for the lens correction feature which works well but since I use good Nikon lenses the corrections are hardly earthshaking and in fact I now rarely use the feature. Importing is now much easier, and the print module more sophisticated. Noise reduction is much improved. Tethered shooting is now possible although I prefer to use another product I already own. I feels much faster and although I haven't checked on changes in menus and modules, it somehow seems more intuitive. With the first version of LR I did about 50% of my editing in LR and the rest in PS, second version about 70% in LR, but now I'm using LR for probably 90% of my image processing. You still need PS for... 5/5 David J. Schneider (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews, August 9, 2010

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  List Price: $99.00
  

  Whether you're perfecting one image, searching for ten, processing hundreds, or organizing thousands.

  Experiment fearlessly with state-of-the-art nondestructive editing tools, including world-class noise reduction.

  Breeze through your digital photography tasks quickly and efficiently.

  Customized print packages as dynamic slide show videos with music, web galleries, and on popular photo-sharing sites.

  Share your vision with elegant options for showcasing your images in customized print packages..

  Get the absolute best from every image you shoot with world-class editing power and intuitive controls that set your creativity free.

  So you can spend more time shooting--your core photography essentials are included in one fast, intuitive application.

  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software helps you bring out the best in your photography.

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  The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers

  Book (Adobe Press)
  

  Rating (44 reviews):

  (4.6/5)

  

  THE Lightroom 3 Bible: ultimate reference resource

  Martin Evening - a professional photographer - has been on the Lightroom team since its very start as 'Shadowland'. That expertise, presented with smooth writing and a light touch of humor, lifts the LR3 book to king-of-the-hill reference source status. Want to understand the CR-cache and its optimal size for speedy workflow? Do you wish to squeeze the last drop from the expanded tone curve? Here is the place to go! The 650-page book is attractively laid out, and printed on top quality paper so as to show subtle changes in before-and-after images. It is almost totally rewritten with loving (and time-consuming) care, continuing with, and expanding on, the previous two booksThis book is aimed at mid-level Lightroom users (preferably with modest familiarity with the basics) who want to sharpen their skills, get answers about the pro's and con's of the 64-bit environment, or gain insight into the under-the-hood why, what and how of the software. The book is equally useful to... 5/5 Rudy "pain-doc" (Columbia, SC USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers (Paperback) Martin Evening - a professional photographer - has been on the Lightroom team since its very start as 'Shadowland'. That expertise, presented with smooth writing and a light touch of humor, lifts the LR3 book to king-of-the-hill reference source status. Want to understand the CR-cache and its optimal size for speedy workflow? Do you wish to squeeze the last drop from the expanded tone curve? Here is the place to go! The 650-page book is attractively laid out, and printed on top quality paper so as to show subtle changes in before-and-after images. It is almost totally rewritten with loving (and time-consuming) care, continuing with, and expanding on, the previous two booksThis book is aimed at mid-level Lightroom users (preferably with modest familiarity with the basics) who want to sharpen their skills, get answers about the pro's and con's of the 64-bit environment, or gain insight into the under-the-hood why, what and how of the software. The book is equally useful to... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , June 19, 2010

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  This is THE Lightroom Reference Book

  Looking at the half dozen or so reviews I currently see in the review pages for this book, I'd have to say that I agree with them all. Unequivocally, this is neither a quick 'how to' book, nor is it for 'Dummies', 'Idiots' or other time challenged people. What you do get is a superb description of what and why, as well as the how. I found this to be a little bit frustrating initially (when you want to get something done in software, you want to get it done, now, don't you) but I soon came to appreciate the depth and knowledge afforded by Martin Evening's expertise. Yes, it's harder work, but it's probably more fulfilling for all of that. If you do need a quick guide, rather than a reference, then this book may not be for you, but if you can invest more time, then you will be rewarded with the knowledge of one of the great experts in the field. I can understand why this book may not fulfil some people's needs, but I can't see this book as anything other than a true 5 stars. 5/5 24bitbob "24bitbob" (Australia) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers (Paperback) Looking at the half dozen or so reviews I currently see in the review pages for this book, I'd have to say that I agree with them all. Unequivocally, this is neither a quick 'how to' book, nor is it for 'Dummies', 'Idiots' or other time challenged people. What you do get is a superb description of what and why, as well as the how. I found this to be a little bit frustrating initially (when you want to get something done in software, you want to get it done, now, don't you) but I soon came to appreciate the depth and knowledge afforded by Martin Evening's expertise. Yes, it's harder work, but it's probably more fulfilling for all of that. If you do need a quick guide, rather than a reference, then this book may not be for you, but if you can invest more time, then you will be rewarded with the knowledge of one of the great experts in the field. I can understand why this book may not fulfil some people's needs, but I can't see this book as anything other than a true 5 stars. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 30, 2010

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  The Complete Guide - what an understatement

  I am only one month into using Lightroom, and this book is definitely a big help in making sense of it all. The program has many, many capabilities that I probably would never have discovered or even known to look for. The author is an excellent photographer himself, and the book is full of large, bright photos of his that are a giant help in understanding his comments and suggestions.This is no quick read, as it is jam-packed with not only step-by-step instructions but also all of the detail one could ever digest about how and why things work the way they do. Prepare to take good notes as you read, unless you have a 200 GB brain. 5/5 Hank (TX) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers (Paperback) I am only one month into using Lightroom, and this book is definitely a big help in making sense of it all. The program has many, many capabilities that I probably would never have discovered or even known to look for. The author is an excellent photographer himself, and the book is full of large, bright photos of his that are a giant help in understanding his comments and suggestions.This is no quick read, as it is jam-packed with not only step-by-step instructions but also all of the detail one could ever digest about how and why things work the way they do. Prepare to take good notes as you read, unless you have a 200 GB brain. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 26, 2010

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  List Price: $59.99
  

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  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v.3.0 - Complete Product - 1 User. LIGHTROOM 3 MULTIPLE PLATFORMS EDT-SW. Image Editing - Intel-based Mac, PC - Universal English

  Office Product (ADOBE)
  

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  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Student and Teacher Edition

  Software (Adobe)
  

  Rating (11 reviews):

  (4.5/5)

  

  Awesome, with quick/easy verification

  First, most of the people complaining about verification seem to be those who have questionable student/teacher status. It's no surprise they're having issues. If you're not legitimately a STUDENT or a TEACHER, maybe think twice about the student/teacher Edition :P For me it was as easy as putting in my .edu address. Wamo, code emailed to me immediately.With that out of the way, I'm very much enjoying the upgrades with LR4. I love the additional sliders in developer mode, it really does help me bring out a wider dynamic range. I probably won't use the book function, but whatever. I'm disappointed that they dropped Windows XP support (you can't even install it on an XP computer). My school forces us to use XP on our laptops, and I know a lot of businesses are the same way, so that really sucks.Anyway, at $79 this is a steal. Adobe -- I'll be honest, this is the first product I've bought from you, and it's because of the aggressive price cut. I'm just... 5/5 Tom - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Student and Teacher Edition (DVD-ROM) First, most of the people complaining about verification seem to be those who have questionable student/teacher status. It's no surprise they're having issues. If you're not legitimately a STUDENT or a TEACHER, maybe think twice about the student/teacher Edition :P For me it was as easy as putting in my .edu address. Wamo, code emailed to me immediately.With that out of the way, I'm very much enjoying the upgrades with LR4. I love the additional sliders in developer mode, it really does help me bring out a wider dynamic range. I probably won't use the book function, but whatever. I'm disappointed that they dropped Windows XP support (you can't even install it on an XP computer). My school forces us to use XP on our laptops, and I know a lot of businesses are the same way, so that really sucks.Anyway, at $79 this is a steal. Adobe -- I'll be honest, this is the first product I've bought from you, and it's because of the aggressive price cut. I'm just... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , April 1, 2012

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  Excellent Product and Smooth Validation!

  I am new to Lightroom...so I can't say how it compares to previous versions. I am finding it to be an excellent product to edit my photos.I was worried about the validation process for the Student and Teacher Edition, since there seems to be some mixed reviews on this. I work at a K-12 school, but our email addresses don't have the K12.edu...so I submitted a paystub though the process that was included with the software. Within 2 hours I received a serial number! Thanks Adobe for making this affordable and easy! 5/5 Jeff Tranberry, April 3, 2012

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  Great program, no verification issues whatsoever!

  Got the program when expected, and my verification went very smoothly, I provided them with my .edu address -I'm a graduate student in my first year- (following the instructions in the box not the ones in adobe.com) and within seconds got my serial number. No problems at all. I have been a fan of Lightroom for a long time (I use it for photography) so I pretty much knew what I was getting. It's pretty similar to Lightroom 3 except they added the maps and the books features, other than that it seems like they just tweaked a few details in the develop module. Great program! Very glad I could get it for this incredible price! 5/5 Kelly Doyle - See all my reviews, March 25, 2012

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  List Price: $79.00
  Price: $76.00
  You Save: $3.00 (4%)

  Photo book creation--Create beautiful photo books from your images with a variety of easy-to-use templates included in Lightroom, and then upload your book for printing with just a few clicks.

  Get everything you need beyond the camera--Organize, perfect, and share--Lightroom combines all your digital photography tools in one fast, efficient application.

  Share effortlessly--Craft elegant photo books and easily share your photographs on social networks or in web galleries, slide shows, prints, and more. Lightroom includes efficient tools to showcase your work for friends, family, and clients.

  Highlight and shadow recovery--Bring out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights. Now you have more power than ever before to make great images under challenging lighting conditions.

  Get the best from every image--Get the highest possible quality from every pixel in your images, whether you shot them with a pro DSLR camera or a camera phone.

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  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Upgrade

  Software (Adobe)
  

  Rating (27 reviews):

  (3.7/5)

  

  Proceed, but with some caution

  -------------------------------------------Update (4/23/12):Subject: Proceed, but with some cautionRating: 4 stars-------------------------------------------Adobe - thank you for the comment and update release. I have since upgraded to 4.1RC. Initially, I did not experience a noticeable performance gain. However, I did find this article posted on your website helpful (Search: 'Lightroom Help / Optimize performance | Lightroom'). After following the recommendations, there was a noticeable increase in performance (after a couple hours of use). The changes I made were: Taking a Backup, Optimizing the Catalog, and Increasing the size of the Camera Raw Cache (from 1GB to 25GB). For testing notes - my catalog has approximately 6,000 images, mostly taken with a Canon 5D MKII. The total catalog size is approximately 600-700MB.The current performance is still just a tad slower than my version 2 environment, but the current version has gone... 4/5 Ryan Montgomery (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews, March 27, 2012

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  Wait Until Adobe Fixes It

  Lightroom 4 is much slower than 3.6, so much so that many people are going back to 3.6. Do a search for "Lightroom 4 slow" and you will find many people complaining about this. I would wait until it is fixed before buying it. 2/5 Jeff Tranberry, March 21, 2012

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  Do NOT upgrade yet!

  Do not make the same mistake I made. Wait until Adobe releases 4.1. This is soooo painfuly slow and frustrating! Not sure how Adobe screwed up so badly this time. I guess it happens... Well I will be patient for now. However, I do like and appreciate all the improvements introduced with Lightroom 4. 2/5 Thomas G Wirth - See all my reviews This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Upgrade (DVD-ROM) Lightroom 4 is much slower than 3.6, so much so that many people are going back to 3.6. Do a search for "Lightroom 4 slow" and you will find many people complaining about this. I would wait until it is fixed before buying it. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , April 23, 2012

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  List Price: $79.00
  

  Extended video support--Organize, view, and make adjustments and edits to video clips. Play and trim clips, extract still images from them, or adjust clips with the Quick Develop tool.

  White balance brush--Get more consistent color across your image in scenes with mixed lighting sources. A flexible brush lets you refine and adjust white balance in targeted areas of your shot.

  Highlight and shadow recovery--Bring out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights. Now you have more power than ever before to make great images under challenging lighting conditions.

  Highlight and shadow recovery-Bring out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights. Now you have more power than ever before to make great images under challenging lighting conditions.

  Photo book creation--Create beautiful photo books from your images with a variety of easy-to-use templates included in Lightroom, and then upload your book for printing with just a few clicks.

  Location-based photo organization--Find and group images by location, easily assign locations to images, or plot a photo journey. Automatically display location data from GPS-enabled cameras and camera phones.

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