is a
Photography Software Program developed by
Adobe Systems for
Mac OS X and
Microsoft Windows , designed to assist professional
Photographers in managing thousands of digital images and doing post production work. It is not a file browser like
Adobe Bridge , but rather an image management application database which helps in viewing, editing and managing digital photos (including those on backup DVDs).
In 2002, veteran Photoshop developer
Mark Hamburg began a new project, code-named "Shadowland."
1. The new project was a deliberate departure from many of Adobe's established conventions. An interesting aspect of Photoshop Lightroom's implementation is that about 40% of the application is written using the
Lua scripting language; an interesting aspect of Lightroom's design is that Hamburg chose
Phil Clevenger , a former associate of
Kai Krause 's, to create a new look for the application.
2
Photoshop Lightroom's engineering talent is based largely in Minnesota, comprised of the team which had already created Adobe's
ImageReady application.
Troy Gaul ,
Melissa Gaul , and the rest of their crew (reportedly known as the "Minnesota Phats"), along with Hamburg, developed the architecture behind the application.
George Jardine , a skilled photographer and previous Adobe evangelist, rounded out the early team, filling the Product Manager role.
3
On January 9, 2006, an early version of Photoshop Lightroom, previously just called Lightroom, was released to the public as a releases followed. Notable releases included ''Beta 3'' on
July 18 , 2006, which added support for
Microsoft Windows systems. Also, on
September 25 , 2006, ''Beta 4'' was released, which saw it merged into the Photoshop product range, was released quickly, followed by a minor update on
October 19 , released as 4.1.
On
January 29 ,
2007 , Adobe announced that Lightroom would be shipping on February 19, 2007. US list pricing was set at $299. The UK retail price was £199.
A 30-day trial of Lightroom 1.0 is currently available, released on
February 18 ,
2007
Lightroom 1.1 update was released on June 26, 2007.
Unlike traditional image editing software, Photoshop Lightroom is focused on the following workflow steps:
- Library - image collection review and organization
- Develop - non-destructive RAW and JPEG file editing
- Slideshow - tools and export features
- Print - layout options and preferences
- Web - automatic gallery creation and upload
