# Can LR do what NIK does



## bestremera (Nov 5, 2011)

I'm about to get LR3 and have been researching reviews on Viveza and Color Efex Pro.
I use Silver Efex Pro and love it. I get the Upoint technology.

Can most of what Viveza and Color Efex do be accomplished in LR alone?
I know there is a simplicity and workflow that NIK makes easier and faster but can I get pretty much the same end results in the LR workflow?
I don't want to spend another $300 on more software right now.
Thanks, Bob


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## clee01l (Nov 5, 2011)

Bob, Welcome to the forum.
If you are only looking at LR as a post processing engine, the best answer is 'sort of'.  I find that I can completely post process over 97% of my RAW images in LR.  There are a few instances where LR does not have the functionality built-in.  Things like HDR, Panoramas, Layers.  The nice thing about LR is that for the other 3%, you still have access to Vivez, Color Efex Pro, and/or Silver Efex Pro either as a plugin or as a shell out to the external EXE.  

What LR offers that the others don't is a complete image asset management tool and non destructive editing.  I would estimate that 80% of my time in LR is spent organizing images through keywords collections and publishing services.  If you think that is a lot, consider that my total image work time is less than before I started using LR. 

As an example, I am giving a talk on Dragonflies next month to the local Nature Center.  In only a little more time than it took me to write this sentence, I created a new HD publish service, and located every Dragonfly and damsel fly image in my inventory (527 out of ~13000 images).  I am now in the process of deciding which images will go in the lecture and I am using LR to make that decision  and automatically collect the 80-100 image that will go into the  powerpoint presentation.

I also have an AppleTV.  I have a publish Service that will automatically refresh my AppleTV image folder to keep a fresh slide show of the best images  shot in the last 6 mopnths.


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## bestremera (Nov 5, 2011)

*Lost keywords in CS3 Bridge*

Thanks for the reply,

I totally do not trust keywords.
Here's why. I shoot in NYC. subjects range from 'subway', 'nighttime', 'street', etc.
I use Bridge and keyworded everything. I was hoping to not need folders and just sort by keywords when I wanted to find images.
Then I got a new computer, reloaded all my software, including Photoshop and all of the keywords vanished from the metadata.
Couldn't locate anything with keywords anymore.
Now I just put all new images in a folder named after what WERE keywords.

Would the same thing happen with LR?



clee01l said:


> Bob, Welcome to the forum.
> If you are only looking at LR as a post processing engine, the best answer is 'sort of'.  I find that I can completely post process over 97% of my RAW images in LR.  There are a few instances where LR does not have the functionality built-in.  Things like HDR, Panoramas, Layers.  The nice thing about LR is that for the other 3%, you still have access to Vivez, Color Efex Pro, and/or Silver Efex Pro either as a plugin or as a shell out to the external EXE.
> 
> What LR offers that the others don't is a complete image asset management tool and non destructive editing.  I would estimate that 80% of my time in LR is spent organizing images through keywords collections and publishing services.  If you think that is a lot, consider that my total image work time is less than before I started using LR.
> ...


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## Brad Snyder (Nov 6, 2011)

MOD NOTE:  the keyword question is also asked here, where a response thread has been started.

 Keyword related responses can go there. 

Lr vs other software can continue here.


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## BobRockefeller (Nov 20, 2011)

bestremera said:


> I'm about to get LR3 and have been researching reviews on Viveza and Color Efex Pro.
> I use Silver Efex Pro and love it. I get the Upoint technology.
> 
> Can most of what Viveza and Color Efex do be accomplished in LR alone?
> ...



Take a look at Gavin Seim's preset packs. They only work globally, but the are very powerful and fast. Plus, you don't have to leave Lightroom and can tweak the effects with the Lightroom tools you know.

http://prophotoshow.net/seim_effects/


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## fivekatz (Dec 13, 2011)

From my limited experience the NIK products make doing some of the fine touches one would do in Photoshop a lot easier than they are in Photoshop (Upoint in  particular is a lot easier for me to use than creating masks and layers. That is how I have started using Viveza and I found Silver Efex Pro easier than using LR for B&W conversions if I really want to tweak an image. 

But when it comes to WB, Lens Correction RAW processing LR is grand. For a lot of my images, LR has been more than I can master yet and does a great job managing files. 

I can't address Color Efex but for $99 Viveza is a pretty sweet alternative to the detail work in Photoshop. Same can be said for HDR Pro, though Photoshop does a better job with ghosting and noise the workflow is better IMO.


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## gavinseim (Dec 19, 2011)

Both have their place, but I would contend that many things that Nik plugins can do, LR can do also. Full disclosure. I am a maker of LR tools and a huge LR nerd.

Things that get into blurring, skin smooth, glows etc are in the Photoshop universe. Whether you use Nik, an action, or do it manually. That kind of stuff does not work that well in LR (negative clarity is not soft focus 

On the other side of that coin, color processes, creative tones silver conversion and the like are amazing in LR and I would say offer even more quality and flexibility than going to PS or a plugin because you can do them all non destructively on the orig file.

There's also the worflow issue. I always tell people that LR does 90% of what most of us do in PS but 5x faster.

For me. I stay in LR as long as possible. I do color tweaks, silver conversions and major control over dynamic range and general correction all in LR. My best images still go into PS, but it's generally for detailed burning and dodging, clones, running an action etc. My finish work.

As to whether you need plugins. I think that's a personal choice. But you can do a lot of things in LR.


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## bestremera (Dec 20, 2011)

Thanks Gavin,
I'm only about a week away from LR3 (Xmas) and plan on getting a couple of the top rated books for a start, ie; LR3 For Digital Photogs and LR3, Missing FAQ. My goal will be to become a LR nerd too! The major stress will be to decide how to handle my existing hierarchy of multiple folders and integrate into LR.


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## fivekatz (Dec 21, 2011)

bestremera said:


> Thanks Gavin,
> I'm only about a week away from LR3 (Xmas) and plan on getting a couple of the top rated books for a start, ie; LR3 For Digital Photogs and LR3, Missing FAQ. My goal will be to become a LR nerd too! The major stress will be to decide how to handle my existing hierarchy of multiple folders and integrate into LR.



While not inexpensive, Luminous Landscape has a great series of video tutorials for LR3. I found them very helpful not only getting up to speed but reference back from time to time to pick up new features. Each person is different but I find video tutorials easier to learn from than books or manuals. Schewe and Reichmann who do the tutorials at moments are pretty entertaining too. 

Might not be for you but I thought it worth suggesting.

Katz

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/lr3.shtml


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## bestremera (Dec 22, 2011)

Thanks Katz,
I'm a frequent visit to 'luminous' and will check out the tutes.
Bob


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