Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom
image keywording in the library Keyword tags panel. I am importing images shot in Uganda while working with an NGO called Soft Power Health, so I have added the appropriate general keywords for that folder of images. I will later go in and add more specific keywords if needed. Once finished, click “Create”, and select the preset name you just created in the Metadata drop-down menu. Lightroom 2.0 now offers a new Keyword Set called Suggested Keywords. This new feature makes keywording far easier as Lightroom can now suggest keywords for the current image based on existing keywords applied to that image, and offer other keyword suggestions that are close neighbors in terms of capture time. For example, if a number of images in a catalog contain the keywords “Santa Fe” and terracotta, an image assigned the keyword “Santa Fe” will cause the suggested keyword panel to automatically update to show “terracotta” as a suggested keyword.
Note: You may want to burn another backup at this stage with all your raw files to yet another device. At this point, I usually immediately stop and burn a DVD of the raw files I just imported and backed up. This way I have multiple copies of the raw files before I ever start the editing process.
Step 11: “Render Standard-Sized Previews” It is a good idea to check “Render Standard-Sized Previews” so that Lightroom can build the 1:1 previews of the images being imported. This is an important step in the import process for viewing and evaluating full image detail and sharpness, but unfortunately this process is also rather time-consuming. The editing process will go much smoother and faster if you do allow the software enough time to build previews but if you need to speed up the process and choose not to render previews, you can always render the previews in Lightroom later by going to the Library Module Previews Render Standard-Sized Previews. Step 12: You are now ready to Import! Lightroom will import the images, build the previews for your thumbnails, back up your files, rename them, and apply your copyright and keywording to the metadata in one incredibly smooth moving interface! Kick back and let it all happen for you!
II. Lightroom Basic Editing Step 1: Actual Editing: Sort, Rotate and Evaluate Lightroom has created a streamlined interface that dictates workflow with a top down approach, but any way you wish to structure the process within your own workflow is right if it works for you. I usually move from the Grid View to the Loupe View and move through my images with the full size preview to sort, edit and rank the images. Lightroom also provides a great deal of customizable attributes to the browser windows, allowing the user to edit panels in many ways. You can click the large arrows on the side of the interface to collapse the panels and provide more screen real estate for image evaluation. I usually leave the left panel open so that I can view the Navigator and see what part of the image I am looking at when I zoom into it.
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