Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Finally, a Lightroom 2 Add-In that doesn’t suck!

If you are like me, you’ve tried a few Lightroom 2 add-ins, only to discover they quite honestly suck. They crash or they simply launch Photoshop, so if you don’t have Photoshop then you’re screwed. Well, tonight I finally downloaded the Viveza for Lightroom 2.0 add-in (free for existing Viveza users) and am happy to report that it doesn’t suck!!!!!

Here’s how it works (and how it’s different from the average add-in):

  1. Select the photo you wish to modify
  2. Choose Edit In (usually from a right click) and choose Viveza
  3. You’ll be prompted for a format to export (unfortunately, it does save a new file to disk). I tried a 16-bit ProPhoto PSD, but that failed, so I stuck with the default TIFF format on the next try.
  4. The simple to use Viveza UI comes up and you make your changes, as you would from Photoshop (but the key here is that Photoshop is NOT required).
  5. When you are done, choose save (where you’d normally say OK) and the file is saved back to disk and you are returned to Lightroom.
  6. No fuss, no muss, no crashes!!!!!

I’ve already reviewed Viveza here, and I love it. I use it quite often, so I’m pleased to be able to use it with Lightroom now. Here’s a really bad photo I had of “Chub the Frog” (my kids pet frog) taken inside his filthy dirty plastic home (the kids insisted that we not take him out):

Mouse over to see before, mouse out to see after

Even though the odds were against me (hover over to see the before), I managed to save this muddy photo into something reasonable using ONLY Lightroom 2.3 and Viveza 1.0! A special thanks goes out to Chub the Frog and my kids for participating in this article! :-)

NOTE: A 15% discount on Nik Software for readers of this blog by entering the code rmartinsen when you order online or call to place an order. This offer excludes 3rd party software, bundles and upgrades.

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3 comments:

karelowe said...

Can one still purchase Viveza 1 and then use the free upgrade and 15% discount? I don't see Viveza 1in the Nik product line. Can one purchase Viveza 1 from another place and then still use the upgrade and discount? Thanks. Karen 2/27/2010

ronmartblog.com said...

Hi Karen,

I'm afraid that offer has expired. However, you can use my coupon code to get 15% off Viveza 2.

Ron

karelowe said...

Thank you for your quick response. Karen