Advanced users will appreciate the subtle processing improvements, while more casual users are more likely to be wooed by the Map and Book modules – and of course the new price. Lightroom was already a Best Buy when version 3 cost over £200. Still, it’s much easier to design using local software than through a web browser, and there’s an option to export as a PDF if you don’t want to use Blurb.

There’s surprisingly little scope to customise page layouts, though, and text formatting feels clumsy. The design tools are similar to the online tools we’ve used, with lots of template page layouts and anything from one to 32 photos to a page. Lightroom can upload directly to Blurb, and there’s even an estimated price that updated as we designed. The other new module is called Book, which helps users design hardback photo albums, such as the ones available from Photobox and Snapfish. Lightroom won’t be putting video-editing software out of business, but it’s a useful extra for photographers who are making their first forays into video.īook design is less flexible than other parts of the software, but it’s a useful addition nonetheless In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast, Terry White shows How to Get Started in Lightroom 4 - 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do. Export options include H.264, and resolution and frame rate are matched automatically to the original. There’s a reasonable level of control, and while it’s not surprising that it doesn’t match the colour processing available for photos, it’s disappointing that there’s no undo history or numerical readout of settings. This time around, there are options to play and truncate clips and adjust their colours via the QuickDevelop panel in the Library.

Lightroom 3 added support for videos, but only for its Library module – the software couldn’t even play them. As such, this is the first time a mapping function has felt like a genuinely useful way to explore a photo library, rather than just an entertaining diversion. Meanwhile, unlike a similar feature in Corel AfterShot Pro, clicking a marker on the map selects the photo or photos in the library, so it's possible to use the Map module as a way to find photos to use elsewhere, such as to share online. Unlike the geo-tagging functions in Google Picasa, Lightroom lets users browse the entire photo library by location rather than just the selected folder or album. Geo-tag data isn't automatically embedded into files, which we prefer as it doesn't disrupt backup routines, but they can be if the tags are to be used in other software. The new Map module is the best example of photo geo-tagging we’ve seen

Adobe lightroom 4