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Now that you know the basics of organizing and editing your RAW image files using Adobe Lightroom 2.0, it's time to actually do something with them. For that we'll look at the three remaining Lightroom modules -- Slideshow, Print and Web.
As the names suggest, these modules help you export you images out of Lightroom and into various formats for sharing with friends and family, posting online and more.
Before we dive into the individual modules, let's cover a couple of interface themes common to all three. In all of these modules the left hand side panel is devoted to the templates for the individual module and your photo collections.
There isn't a way to browse your drive listings directly, but if you want to, for instance, create a slideshow out of a folder of images, just select the folder in the Library module and then move to the Slideshow module where all the selected images will be available from the filmstrip at the bottom of the screen.
The other common element is the right hand side panel, which will contain all the customization options for your export format. The exact options vary by module, so let's dive in a see what each has to offer.
== Slideshow ==
The simplest of the export modules is the Slideshow option, which, you guessed it, allows you to create slideshows. All the options you would expect are available in Lightroom's Slideshow module -- templates, custom layouts, text overlays, metadata and more.
The easiest way to create a slideshow is to use one of the provided templates, which range from simple photo-and-caption to more sophisticated auto-cropping and resizing layouts.
If you're looking to build something customized to your whims, you can start from scratch, but you can also start from one of the included templates and then tweak it to suit your needs. Once you have a layout you like you can save it as a custom template and reuse it again in the future.
Naturally there are also transition controls, shading and host of other tools for getting your slideshow just the way you want it.
lightroom-slideshow-gallery.jpg
Once you're happy with the look and feel of your slideshow you can export it as a collection of JPGs or PDF files for displaying on PCs that don't have Lightroom installed.
We know what you're thinking, why the hell would I want to put a slideshow in PDF format? You want to export straight to DVD so you can pop it up on the HDTV to regal guests with fascinating travel narratives.
This much-requested, but still missing, feature is currently Lightroom's biggest downfall -- there is no way to export a slideshow to DVD.
Of course there are ways to do this, but they would require you to export the images (losing your nice templates) and then create the slideshow in another program like iPhoto or Adobe Premiere.
Hopefully Adobe will someday realize that it's the only one still using PDF files for images and correct this oversight. But in the mean time, we're sorry to report that you're out of luck when it comes to creating DVD slideshows in Lightroom.
== Print ==
If you've decided to spare your dinner guests the torture of a slideshow in favor of the less intrusive print on the wall, Lightroom has you covered. The Print module is a very powerful tool with options to control everything from page layout (putting multiple photos on a page to save on paper costs) to post-production sharpening to make sure the details in your photos are nice and crisp.
As with the Slideshow module, the Print Module comes with a number of preset templates for printing in common formats -- contact sheets, picture packages with multiple size images per page and more are all available out of the box.
lightroom-picture-package.jpg
And once again the customization options are robust. If you've, for instance, cropped some images to odd sizes you can always resort to drag and drop placement to get the maximum per-page layout.
You can also customize borders, control bleed regions and other standard photo printing options.
There's also some limited ability to handle color management options directly in Lightroom, though how well this works depends on the quality of your printer (my cheapo Canon can't seem to make sense of Adobe's print options and I get far better resorts letting the printer handle the color management tasks).
== Web ==
While the web may be the professional photographer's least favorite export option (it's hard to get quality, high resolution images on the web), for the non-professional, this where you'll likely do the bulk of your exporting.
The web module offers some very simple ways to create both Flash and HTML galleries which are exported in one, nice, tidy folder that you can then upload to your site using an FTP application.
The HTML export options don't generate the best HTML code you've ever seen, but they get the job done and are a godsend for those who aren't comfortable writing their own HTML code. Of course you won't get fancy options like some of the very nice Javascript-based "lightbox" slideshows you often see these days, but in terms of speed and ease-of-use, Lightroom's Web export module is touch to beat.
lightroom-photo-gallery.jpg
The Flash option is somewhat more primitive and less satisfying. The included templates end up making an okay slideshow with a scrollable panel the thumbnails on the left and the main image on the right. You can control the timing of crossfades and customize all the background colors and navigation elements to match the look and feel of your site.
However, if you've ever used the [http://slideshowpro.net/ SlideShowPro photo gallery system], Lightroom's options look primitive in comparison. Fortunately for those of you who do use SlideShowPro there's a very cool [http://slideshowpro.net/products/slideshowpro/slideshowpro_for_lightroom plugin available for Lightroom] which allows you to go from Lightroom to SlideShowPro gallery in one quick and easy step. See the SlideShowPro website for more details.
And then of course there's Flickr. Lightroom 2.0 doesn't offer a direct-to-Flickr export option out of the box, but Lightroom fan Jeffrey Friedl has created a very nice plugin that makes it dead simple to [http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/flickr/ upload your images to Flickr straight out of Lightroom]. The best part is it's free. Just download the latest version and then head to Lightroom's Plugin Manager (File >> Plugin Manager) and add the new Flickr plugin.
Then you'll need to head to the Flickr site and give the plugin permission to access you account. Once everything is setup, just select the photos to upload and head to export. Use the drop down menu at the top of the export dialog to select the new Flickr exporter. From there you can pick and choose through all the options -- decide on image titles, include Lightroom tags, metadata and much more.
Lightroom-flickr-plugin.jpg
== Conclusion ==
Well, that concludes our Lightroom overview. Hoepfully you've learned out to use the somewhat complex, but powerful tools that Lightroom offers. And remember, the is a wiki, so as you dig deeper into Lightroom, be sure to add your own finds and suggestions to this series.
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