Feature suggestions for Lightroom 3

Question

Hi team,
Here's a quick summary of some ideas for LR3.  Not sure how late in the dev cycle you guys are (we've seen one public beta so far, I would expect 2 or 3 before you go RTM, and features have not yet been frozen according to my reading):
* Perspective correction / Keystoning: This has been mentioned a lot here and on other forums - a no-brainer, especially considering that DNG 1.3 specifications allow for it
* Individual RGB channel control: Something that Capture One & Bibble 5 also have. It's time LR added this feature also, I think
* Soft-proofing: Hate to bang the drum on this one, but the LR interface could benefit from a readout of which colour space we're operating in for the current image, along with the ability to change this (I would think a simple drop down would do the trick, similar to the Tone Curve type).  This is especially true on account of the fact that Library and Develop use different color spaces to display images (not a bug, a feature - but an obscure one at that)
* Layers: While I understand the LR team's resistance to layers as a concept (or at least calling it that, since the Adjustment Brush effectively - and very nicely - implements layers in a fashion), it would be handy to have.  For example - let me rearrange the order in which Adjustments are applied.  As a panel in Develop, this could easily be ignored by anyone not wanting to use (or who doesn't understand) Layers as part of their workflow.  Leaving it out to "keep things simple" is not a good idea, IMMHO.  After all, LR is targetted primarily at Pro Photographers and Advanced Enthusiasts - who should know how to use Layers, or at least be willing to learn!
* If not layers, then perhaps a list of Adjustment Brush pins in a scrollable list, so I can select them based on the adjustments I've made.  Perhaps I could then re-order this list?  The key challenge here would be how best to label each one?
* Selections / Adjustment Brush: Having Bezier, Rectangle, Ellipse and Free-form as selection options (along with the ability to invert these easily so I can do "Negative" selections where that's quicker) would be fantastic - this is something LightZone and Bibble both have
* Paint with Preset: At the moment, the range of settings I can apply with the Adjustment Brush is limited to a half-dozen or so.  I can't paint White Balance, Sharpening (at least not with masking), Noise Reduction, or HSL adjustments, for example.  This would give me lots of very granular control.  It would be fabulous if we had a "Paint with Preset" option or a "Preset Brush" that let me create a Preset, then paint it on at various opacities (combined with the ability to invert selections, this would be extremely powerful).
* Blend Brush: An alternative to the Paint With Preset might be the ability to "Paint with another Image" over the current one.  This might be useful for blending multiple exposures (e.g. to remove people in landscapes, or to do simple selective HDR blending from multiple exposures).  Having the ability to set the "Blend Mode" (similar to PS's Blend Modes) might also be helpful.  I imagine this new brush would work in a similar fashion to the current Adjustment brush, only it would be combining information from multiple images.  It might be useful to have a "2-up" display similar to compare mode that shows the "Source" and "Target" images side by side (with the ability to zoom in and out)
* Grayscale Wedge: Would it be possible to have a greyscale wedge that could be displayed beside or underneath an image in Develop?  LightZone has a fantastic implementation of controlling image Zone information using a simple point and click on the wedge.  Well worth checking out.  It would certainly make adjusting tones in the image a lot more intuitive for some people.  I think this concept could be taken a step further.
* Luminosity Mask: The ability to "Auto Mask" an image based on its luminosity (i.e. which Zone an area falls into) would be way cool as part of the Adjustment Brush.  That way, you could control individual zones easily.  I imagine this tool would have 2 sliders: "Luminosity" (from light to dark) - which would determine the "target" luminosity to Mask; and "Threshold" which would determine the "Width" of the selection in tonal terms.  Holding down the Option key on either slider would show a dynamically generated Mask overlay to help me determine which areas the Mask is applying to
* Color Mask: See Luminosity Mask above. Same idea, but based on Color.  Perhaps a Color Picker tool would enable me to isolate a Color and create a Mask (which I could then refine using the Erase or AB tools if necessary).  This would have HSL sliders to select the target color, and a "Threshold" slider to control the "Tolerance" either side.  Again, using the Option key would give me a preview similar to the Sharpening / NR tools
* Perhaps the Selection Tools,  Luminosity and Color Masks above could be combined into a "Smart Mask" panel (or panels) in the Adjustment Brush tool, making it more consistent with the current interface, and making it much easier to create masks with the Adjustment Brush
* Ability to Maintain Color Profiles inside LR, without having to restart.  I use the X-rite CC Passport to generate Color Profiles at almost every shoot.  It might be helpful to have an easy way to maintain these Profiles (and to share them like we can share presets!).  At very least, add an option in Preferences to open the appropriate Folder so I don't have to go hunting for it.
While the early LR3 beta is encouraging, I do think it is missing many user-requested features, and features its "competitors" already have.  In my view, Lightroom needs to stay ahead of the curve to gain market share.
Once again, congratulations on creating a fantastic tool in Lightroom.  It just keeps getting better with every version (LR3 looks amazing so far for an early beta - love the improved demosaic sharpness and NR).
Hope these suggestions are helpful.
Cheers,
Matthew

Answer 1

Six changes that would be basic improvements - sorry if these look like bug reports, but they have lasted through all the updates and upgrades and I consider them to be overripe for improvement.
For mouse-heavy users it would be helpful to have a Grid icon in the toolbar in the Develop module, the same as appears in the Library module.
The consistency of having a Done button in all places that present a secondary work screen would make leaving those screens simpler.
When organizing folders, keeping the focus local after a Delete would be good, instead of the focus jumping up to a higher level as it does, requiring a search for your location. If you're making a lot of changes this can be time-consuming and frustrating. I know some other program do this, but not all and it's solvable.
When moving a folder of files, the last file doesn't get moved and could wind up in some random place if you don't suspect this and go after it to move it by itself. This seems to be unique to Lightroom.
In leaving Compare, it's not clear which image you're keeping because the filename isn't visible, only the rating (if used). Changing the rating to exit can disable the Done button. To get it back it shouldn't be necessary to swap the images. Why not use a more standard release action like the Escape key?
In LR 3.3, when using the noise reduction slider the option to update the whole filmstrip to use version 2010 is available only if the demonstration "compare" screen is retained with a box checked. If you uncheck that box, there's no way to get that screen back the next time, so the option to update to 2010 for the whole filmstrip at once is gone and subsequently requires one-by-one clicking to update. This could be simpler and faster.
I use LR every day and teach it, but I may have missed something so forgive my naming ills that have already been mentioned. Thanks for listening. DKD