Need advice on Adobe products Choice

Hi All,

I have access to Adobe Photoshop CS5, Elements 9 and Lightroom 3.
Being a PaintShopPro user I shuddered when first opening each of the above programs.
However, I need to make the jump and would like to know which one(s) to get into and start seriously learning.
Much of my trouble is with white balance, color toning and most of the issues related to landscapes in bad lighting situations.
I also tinker with HDR for which I have used Photomatrix4 to a limited extent.
Assuming CS5 covers the widest gamut of corrective tools which of the other two should I continue working with 'OR' does CS5 pretty much cover it all? I suppose the worst case scenario is that each one does something different and I will spend the rest of my life learning software and not taking photos. ;-(

Thank you

Jim

Jim,

In my experience each of the programs is a bit different and your choice really depends on what you see yourself doing. Though the only experience I have with Elements was many versions ago and after using Photoshop I couldn't stand it. I have both Lightroom and Photoshop, yet use them for different things and love both of them.

Lightroom is a fantastic photo management software, it handles my importing and cataloging of photos and with it I can do all sorts of mass edits quickly. You can also go in depth with one image, doing all of your basic photo edits you mentioned such as white balance, toning, sharpening, noise reduction. It also has some more advanced features like adjustment brushes that allow you to paint over an area of an image and make local adjustments, it also has a spot removal function though I have never used it for that. Anything that goes more in depth than that is what I use Photoshop for.

Photoshop itself is an amazing tool, it is focused on single images, though through droplets and actions you can use it for batch processing. It is extremely powerful and has a steeper learning curve than Lightroom but in the end will allow you do more challenging edits like removing something from an image or compositing multiple images. I believe Photoshop comes with bridge which is Adobes file management program, which is although not photo centric like Lightroom can be leveraged together with Photoshop to create a pretty powerful work flow.

For me, once I got used to Lightroom, which really took no time at all compared to learning Photoshop, there was no turning back. Using it to do all the basic edits to a photo then pulling that image into Photoshop to do any finishing is the perfect way for me to work.

The other thing you should keep in mind is that in Lightroom all your edits are non destructive and nonlinear, while in Photoshop you can go back in the history pallet while working on a file but once you save a file the edits are baked into it and fairly irreversible. Once you get into the habit of using Photoshop in a way the is not destructive to your original images it is something you just do, but again this adds to the learning curve.

For what you said you plan on doing either software would serve you well, Lightroom would be easier for you to pick up, but then again if you are only doing what you said free software could also serve you well. There are other members here that can explain the benefits of those to you.

If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Good words from Tacroy!

When you say you "have access" to these three apps does this mean that they are all free for you to install now?

If so, well, congrats on having a lot of good software!

It's going to take some time to extablish what will become very significant over time, and that is a workflow that will go from bringing photos into your library, properly organizing them in a way that is efficient for doing various tasks, and if you shoot in the Raw format how to handle your development between Raw processing that you would do in Lightroom or the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in which is in CS5 and in a limited sense in Elements, and pixel-level editing which you will only do in CS5 and/or Elements.

Part of that process will be to choose between Lightroom and CS5/Elements as a "workflow center" app -- this would be where you begin working with and organizing your imagess and can be a major decision. Many people go with Lightroom, many prefer Photoshop, it's personal preference. Those of us who go with Lightroom, even though we also have Photoshop, do so because by design it is about a Photographic workflow and its interface is constructed around that, integrated to make our most common tasks quickly available.

Photoshop, on the other hand loads so many tools in there and can do many things that Lightroom is not designed to do -- it packs a lot of power and in fact also has the Raw processor engine that Lightroom has so if you have CS5 you don't "need" Lightroom. It's then whether Lightroom lets you work more efficiently or not.

Elements is, by the way, "Photoshop Lite" -- it has many of the tools that CS5 has but in a more trimmed-down package. There are in fact people who do a lot of work in Elements for that very reason even if they also have CSx.

Here's what I'd suggest:

Start with Lightroom and CS5 and really get to know them. Get a book, 2 books, three books on each and take your time reading, working alongside as you read, and going for online tutorials. Take your time -- Lightroom is something you can take in a lot in a reasonably concise period of time, but it's important to apply yourself (start by reading the very informative Help).

Photoshop is a much larger app with a huge learning curve that just has to be slogged through a step at a time. Get proficient with Lightroom and slog through learning Photoshop and, in time, check out Elements and see whether you may want to do things there instead of the "big footprint" of CS5!

There are three good Lightroom books by Scott Kelby, Vicatoria Bampton and Martin Evening -- an Amazon.com search will turn them up.

Photoshop has an immense library of books which will cover bases, but few will attempt to cover all. Two "standard" books which take a broad approach are by Martin Evening and Scott Kelby -- titles are very similar, google or do an Amazon search for "Adobe Photoshop CS5" and either author and you should get good hits.

Two other books that you might look at are this Scott Kelby book:

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …cott_Kelby_s_7_​Point.html

And this book "Layers" by Matt Kloskowski

http://www.amazon.com …ful-Feature/dp/0321534166

And then, the online resources: the site Lynda.com and KelbyTraining.com are for-pay services that overflow with good stuff, and there are also tons of stuff you can freely check out such as AdobeTV and LightroomKillerTips.

If budgetary considerations are a factor, I would suggest getting LR3 and continuing to use PSP. As the above posters have testified, there is a good chance that for 90% of your images you will need to go no further than LR. For the other 10% the sort of additional work needed will most likely be well within the capabilities of PSP. This is what I do, using Picture Window Pro as my secondary editor.

Thank You to each of you who posted. The answers are exactly what I need to hear and build on. I actually own copies of all the products mentioned. An engineering son seems to think Dad could really benefit from having all the right tools.

Have used PSP for quite some time but find myself coming up short of tools on occaision.

At this point I will take on LR3 but am wondering if I should put the effort into Elements or move directly to CS5 and bite the learning curve bullet.

Again, Thanks for the advice

Jim

There is no question that the learning curve on Elements is easier than Photoshop. If cost is not an issue I would move straight to CS5 from Lightroom. I had never laid eyes on Photoshop when I got my first DSLR and it came with a free version of Elements. It took me only a few weeks to make the move to the full blown Photoshop. There are so many online resources that there is no shortage of help these days.

Again, Thanks!

Jim