Built in Java, it might have become the next Web-based editor. Sounds almost like an early draft for Aperture 3.0 and later versions of Lightroom, right?īy 3.0, LightZone was ahead of its time and competition. When you were all done, the visible reference image acted as a guide for the new conversion that pulled photo data from the original RAW master. Plus, you could go back in and change your mind later. You could even apply those editing tools very selectively and they were smart enough to work with the visual content to only change what you wanted to fix. Into this new file, you could apply edits in stacks. LightZone copied the RAW master data to create a new reference file. But even more unique for the time, LightZone emphasized a non-destructive workflow. So what made LightZone so unique in its day? At a time when most photo editing was still one at a time in Photoshop, LightZone offered basic photo management. But to get there, we need to take a moment to look at what LightZone was. For the Aperture user who typically sends their images out to other plug-ins, these LightZone tricks might prove worth a closer look. Why should we care? Well the price is right and LightZone still has a few old but unmatched tricks up its sleeves. Now a free to download “open source” photo editing tool maintained by the LightZone Project. Aperture is still in the fight and a new version is likely around the corner.Īnd LightZone who? By 2013, Light Crafts has closed, its founder now works for Apple, and LightZone has been crushed into oblivion, a casualty in the battle between Adobe and Apple.Ģ013 finds LightZone resurrected to 4.0. Lightroom is the dominant photo editing tool and Adobe has rebranded it by shoving “Photoshop” into the name. To quote Macworld, LightZone is an “efficient, streamlined piece of software that offers a unique approach to photo editing for a good deal less than what you’d pay for Photoshop.” In fact it’s just been named to the list of Macworld’s 23rd Annual Editors’ Choice Awards. By comparison, Light Craft’s LightZone is at 3.0 and competitively priced at less than $250. Photoshop is CS3, the dominant photo editing tool, and $649 unless you want the extras. Aperture is 2 years old, at version 1.5 and $499. You can read more about him and see Tim’s work at. Tim is a partner in Kennedy Photomedia as a photographer, writer, and teacher. For today’s guest post, Tim Kennedy returns his previous piece was “Catapult and Aperture 3”.
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