adobe Lightroom vs Photoshop

[Simon Turkin]

is the software in lightroom enough for adjustments and such or is photoshop a must have??

[Simon Turkin]

or even photoshop elements

[tonylong]

Lightroom combines photo organization and final output (print or jpeg) with all the developing tools of Adobe Camera RAW, which is built into Photoshop. What it doesn't have is a "pixel editor" like the Photoshop/Elements editor where you can fine-tune image adjustments using high level tools such as selections and layers, so if you have Lightroom you will still want an image editor.

In practice, I stick to Lightroom for the vast majority of my work, because it does what I need for things like Web output, but when I want to do a high-quality print of something I will often give an image some Photoshop magic.

As far as which image editor is the best, that is a matter of what work you want to do with it. For editing one shot at a time, Elements is very capable, and for a low price. I moved from Elements to CS some time ago (before Lightroom came out) because I was beginning to shoot in a higher volume and had shoots that I wanted to be able to batch process certain things, and Photoshop CSx had great capabilities there, as well as a full-featured RAW developer (the one in Elements is an "abbreviated" version).

Photoshop CS is also useful for things like Panoramics and HDR.

But, of course, price is a factor -- Photoshop CSx costs several hundered US dollars, whereas Elements is about $100. And there are even free editors if you want bare-bones features, or Gimp if you want something more complex.

[Nistelrooydude]

I used to only use LR because I only had PS Elements 4, which isn't very useful. Now I use LR + PS CS3, and the quality of my pictures ends up much better.

[toxic]

Apps like Lightroom and Aperture are sufficient for relatively basic adjustments and editing, but you'll want a "real" image editor of some sort to supplement them. Neither was designed to replace an app like Photoshop.

[bretedge]

You've already received some good advice.

Lightroom is starting to offer increased image editing capabilities, i.e. local adjustments in version 2.0. If you know how to use it well, you can do almost all of your image editing using Lightroom.

Having said that, Photoshop (or any true image editing software) allows you significantly more flexibility in adjusting your images. Blending multiple images, advanced masking, layers, etc. are still only available in Photoshop and similar products. Another major difference is the ability to effective use the clone tool. The clone tool in LR does not allow you to "paint" with it, making it virtually worthless.

Most of my workflow occurs in LR. After exporting an image to PS I'll make color corrections, basic levels and curves tweaks, make some HSL adjustments and do my final sharpening. In most cases, that's it. I occasionally blend images or use local selections to further enhance an image.

Even having a program like Elements offers quite a bit more than just LR. LR is great for what it is, but it isn't an end all/do all.

Hope this helps!

[Simon Turkin]

thanks everyone for the help im just now missing one peice to the puzzle would i need both our photoshop does every thing that lr does

[Nistelrooydude]

thanks everyone for the help im just now missing one peice to the puzzle would i need both our photoshop does every thing that lr does

LR is great for workflow and overall adjustments. You can do everything the LR does photo-editing-wise in PS, but your editing process will be much, much slower. Just FYI, if you're a student you can get a big discount on Adobe's website. I think I got LR + PS CS3 for no more than $450.

[Simon Turkin]

i have a site academic superstore they have a large adobe site i can get cs4 extended and lr for nearly 375 i think

[ppchkn]

first post! =P

I personally use the two of them... but lightroom wins, if i had to choose one. really.

[Nistelrooydude]

first post! =P

I personally use the two of them... but lightroom wins, if i had to choose one. really.

Welcome to POTN!

[Nistelrooydude]

i have a site academic superstore they have a large adobe site i can get cs4 extended and lr for nearly 375 i think

Wow, that's a great deal. I'd say it's worth it then, to get both.

[Simon Turkin]

Wow, that's a great deal. I'd say it's worth it then, to get both.

i actually just went back to check i can get both for 3

[Simon Turkin]

hundred that is

[Nistelrooydude]

hundred that is

Thanks, because I hadn't already figured hat out. ;) Well that's just all the more reason to go out and get it.

[Mike55]

What's the update policy on those? Usually academic software only allows you to upgrade within that current version (1, 2, etc). So If Lightroom 3 came out, you'd have to pay full price rather than an upgrade cost.

[bretedge]

Adobe has allowed upgrade prices since I started using Photoshop several years ago. For example, I bought Lightroom 1.0 when it came out at full price. When Adobe launched LR 2.0, I paid the upgrade price. Unless they changed their policy, LR 3.0 could be purchased at an upgrade price, too.

The only caveat is that you generally have to be using a pretty new version of whatever software you want to upgrade. For example, if you are using PS7, you will not be able to buy PS CS4 at the upgrade price.