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Adobe Lightroom 5 Review

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This time of year we all take lots of photos. Between special gatherings with family and friends there’s always outdoor events and activities that create memories we want to remember forever.

Lightroom 5

Adobe Lightroom 5 received.

 

Our photos have become cherished keepsakes of these moments and we want them to look as good as possible. That’s why I was excited about Adobe Lightroom 5.

My dad is a professional photographer and for years I’ve heard about how wonderful Lightroom is. I’ve played around with other photo software but always wondered what it would be like to have something so high quality. I have to say that after using it for a few days it’s lived up to its reputation. This software is incredible and it’s made my photos look so much more professional and published in just a few clicks here and there.

Here are some of my favorite features of Adobe Lightroom 5:

Presets

I’ve found that presets are very helpful and so easy to use especially when you are crunched for time or on the go. There presets include: black & white, color, effects, general, and video. They are a simple way to add filters to your photos and to make them stand out from the crowd.

Lightroom Presets

Basic Tools

These tools offer more control over your changes then the presets but they are still extremely simple to use. Some of these tools include: temperature, tint, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, clarity, vibrance, and more. Here you can see a look at the screen and some of the tools that appear along the side.

Lightroom Basic Tools

Adjustment Brush

Recently I took a photo that had some white in it that came out very dull. The rest of the colors in the photo were bright and vibrant and every time I tried to change the exposure or white balance in other photo software it affected the entire photo. This made the colors painfully bright and only slightly altered the white I was actually trying to change. That’s why I was thrilled to learn about the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom. You can set the brush size and feather settings and then only apply the alterations where you need them. Here’s a video to show you how it’s done – pretty amazing!

Apply Changes To Multiple Images

I love that you can set a preset and then make other alterations in the presets and if you like what you see you can set a custom preset. This allows you to use the same alterations on other photos in the future with just one click. You can also make changes to a photo, open up another photos from the filmstrip area, and then hit “Previous” and the settings from the first photo are applied to the second.

On top of these there is another feature called “Copy” where you make changes to one photo, hit the “Copy” button, a box pops up with all the settings from the photo you just altered, you can uncheck any changes you don’t want made to the next photo, hit “Copy” again, then open the new photo and hit “Paste. ” Those changes will be applied to the new photo.

The “Sync” option also allows you to select multiple photos in the filmstrip area, make your changes to one, hit “Sync” and all of those changes will be applied to each photo you selected. I know this will come in handy for me as a blogger, because I often have to resize all of my photos to publish them in posts. You can also use “AutoSync” to make real time changes to each photo in the filmstrip all at the same time. For example, if you crop one photo they will all be cropped to the same size at the same time. These features are so handy and will be a real timesaver.

Here’s a video showing all of these options – so handy!

Those are just some of my favorite features of Adobe Lightroom 5. There are a number of new additions to Lightroom 5 including: Smart Previews, Advanced Healing Brush Improvements, More Flexible & Precise Retouching, Radial Filter, Custom Page Templates, Slideshows, and more. It seems every day I discover something new it can do and it takes my photo editing to a new level. I recommend this software to anyone looking for a high quality photo editing software. I found it easy to understand and the video tutorials on TV.Adobe.com very helpful and simple to follow. These features and many more have made Lightroom one of my favorite photo editors. That’s why I’m excited to offer the giveaway below.


Comments

  5. The Sync sounds pretty amazing. I always shy away from photo editing software because I think, well, this is going to be monotonous. Maybe not anymore!

  16. Hello, I’m most excited about the Adjustment Brush, I like that you can adjust just a portion of your picture and leave the rest alone. Thanks for a great giveaway!

  19. I think the More Flexible & Precise Retouching would be helpful because that is an area I”m not good at.

  23. I want everything Lightroom 5 has to offer. As one teacher said, “it’s how we process out photography. It’s the modern day darkroom.”

  34. I like the brush feature. I have several adobe products and like all of them. I do have to go for help a lot while learning.
    Emma Dennis

  50. I like the ability to manipulate the shadows and the highlights, thats something I wish I could do now

    demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com

  66. The adjustable brush feature is my favorite. There are also so many other feathers I am very interested in. What a great product!

  67. I do a lot of formatting of photos for our website at work, so my favorite feature would definitely be the “AutoSync” capability. What a time saver that would be to get a whole set of images cropped or reformatted the same way with a touch of a button!

  76. I like that you can set a custom preset so if you like the way the alterations look on a picture you can create that same look to others without much hassle!

  77. To be honest, I’m thrilled with all the features!! I’m a jewelry artisan but NOT a photographer hahaha
    This will help me get much better photos of my work, thanks for the opportunity to win it!!

  78. I’m excited about the adjustment brush! I’ve heard so many great things about adobe lightroom! Editing in photoshop can be a pain.

  81. I like how you can alter colors exactly where you need to and not have to apply to the entire photo. Nice giveaway!

  84. My favorite feature is the new Advanced Healing Brush, you can quickly fix image flaws like dust and lint

  85. I like the presets-would be easy for me (a novice) to enhance my photos! Thanks for such a very useful giveaway and happy holidays :)

  86. Oh, I have been reading about Lightroom 5 and watching videos, it is amazing! I love that you can sync adjustments on similar photos and the brushes are cool, and I would also get extra presets. This would be awesome!

  87. I wanted to buy LR5 this Cyber Monday but unfortunatelly, that typically doesn’t work for us living outside of US, so this would be a nice alternative

  92. I like the advanced healing brush adjustments. I have heard that they are so good that Photoshop isn’t even necessary.

  94. my husband does web design and takes a lot of photos. i think this would be easy for him to use!

  97. My friend, mentor, and professional HDR photographer uses Lightroom and recommends it for me rather than Photoshop. I am just too overwhelmed by Photoshop and Lightroom seems more managable. I want to learn more editing skills for sure!

  99. Half the fun of taking photos is having the ability to play with them before you print them. I could have a whole lotta fun playing with my photos with this program!

  101. I love the presets that are available. Such a perfect feature for budding photogs or people that have no idea what they’re doing (ME!) :-)