I wasn't sure what all Lightroom did, to be honest, but fell for the "add it for only" popup on the Adobe site when I purchased CS6. Now I'm so glad I have it because I can't imagine trying to work without it.
It allows you to quickly import and organize your photos. In addition to helping you organize them on disk while importing, you can also create collections to sort them on a large variety of filtering tools. There are even smart collections that will automatically add photos to themselves based on keywords, exif data or even geotag data. (For example, if you create a smart collection based on a circle you draw around Epcot on a map and have a camera with GPS capability, any photo you upload from Epcot will automatically add itself to the Epcot smart collection. If your camera doesn't do GPS, you can drag your photos onto a map in Lightroom to geotag them yourself.)
There are great tools in Lightroom for adjusting the look of photos. It won't do fancy editing, as others have said, but it will give you what you need to work with most of your RAW photos. (Complex tasks that require masking or smart erasing, for example, will need another tool like Photoshop CS6 or Photoshop Elements.)
There are tools for creating slide shows and photo books, and integrated tools to upload and maintain your photos on most of the major photo sharing sites like Photobucket, Flickr, Smugmug, Facebook, and Adobe Revel. You can also set Lightroom to automatically add a copyright watermark to your photos as it uploads them. If you have geotag (map) data in Lightroom, you can set it to transmit this info when you upload photos online. For example, my photos are automatically added to my Flickr map if I've mapped them in Lightroom.
The Lightroom map feature itself is really cool. You can view a satellite map, zoom in on a location, and click to see the photos you took at that location.
Another feature that I also really like is the ability to sync changes you've made in one photo to many photos. For example, if you've taken a series of photos in the same location that have a similar look, when you make changes to exposure, contrast, color, white balance, etc., you can sync those changes to the other photos and not have to do them all individually.
I agree with the recommendation of a previous poster. If we haven't convinced you that you
need this tool, download the free trial from Adobe and give it a test drive. Also, check out some of the training videos for Lightroom on Adobe TV (their free online training site).
http://tv.adobe.com/product/lightroom/
And my final piece of advice, before you buy anything from Adobe, please check to see if your household qualifies for the education discount. It will save you a
lot of money. Lightroom is only $79 with this discount. You need to have either a .edu email address or upload copies of a student/teacher/faculty ID and/or other documentation to activate the product.
Adobe Web Site qualifications for education discount said:
Students
You must provide official, current proof of enrollment in one of the following:
- Accredited* public or private primary or secondary school providing full-time instruction
- Accredited* higher education institution that grants degrees requiring not less than the equivalent of two years of full-time study
- Homeschool — as defined by state homeschooling regulations
Teachers, faculty, and staff
You must provide official, current proof that you are employed by one of the following:
- Accredited* primary or secondary school
- Accredited* public or private university or college
- School district or board of education (including emeritus status professors)
- Homeschool — as defined by state homeschooling regulations
