Lightroom or Photoshop

Hi All,

I recently started to shoot in raw, and do have Photoshop CS5, however I have been told to try out Lightroom, before I start trying out different software. I would like to know what others think. I have read lightroom is more for organising photos etc. I must admit, I could do with a bit of that, and I also like a powerful editing tool as well like Cs5 (IF i can get around it ()

Also, when I have edited photos in raw, I tend to correct things like AWB etc, but dont know what else I should be doing to make my pictures better.
Any ideas anyone.

With regard to PPing your images, LR has the same developing engine as ACR in CS5, albeit in a different interface. However it does shine at organization.

I started with Photoshop as well, didn't reallly see any reason to buy Lightroom too... until I started reading POTN. The suggestions and tips/tricks I have learned here has made Lightroom my "go to" program now. 90%+ of my PP is done in Lightroom now, and so much faster and easier. I have a lot to learn yet, but if you keep reading the information on POTN, you won't be disappointed. There are lots of tutorials here, as well as YouTube and at Adobe. Also. I saw a post where Lightroom was around $70 somewhere, I bought mine for $99 last year, still some of the best photo-related money I spent so far.

WARNING: POTN will cost you $$$$ the more you read it! Information you find on here may cause you to purchase better/cooler/more useful equipment than you had planned...

Depends on what you shoot. I have to admit that I don't make as much use of the LR database capabilities as I should, but I still love the software. A lot of my shots don't need the more advanced editing capabilities of CS5, so I am able to edit most of them entirely in LR. That makes things very quick. LR also has a great printing module, of you print on your own. As to whether it is worth the extra $$--that's a different question for each person.

Firemike wrote in post #13942263
WARNING: POTN will cost you $$$$ the more you read it!

Maybe not, if you read it extensively.

Many experienced users here will swear by the image quality of Canon DPP. After a few other converters (none from Adobe though), I reverted to the "cheap" DPP. Even if I have to do some further edits outside it, I still retain its superb image quality that I started with.

Depends on what you shoot... how much you shoot... whether you're already using another RAW converter... and last but not least, whether or not you need pixel-level editing capabilities.

For 90% of the photos that 90% of photographers shoot, yeah, the global and semi-local adjustments that modern RAW converters offer is fully enough to click "export" and call it a day, but only Photoshop lets you blend any amount of layers in any manner you wish, and offers tools that let you make sure that every pixel is "just right".

Being a "low-volume, high-quality" type of person myself (won't ever catch me shooting jpegs at a sporting event), I use Capture One + Photoshop because this combo quite simply produces the most natural colors and fine detail that I desire, but YMMV.

CS5 is much more than just Photoshop. Yes, LR has some database capabilities that you may or may not need, but Bridge will do quite a bit. LR & ACR use the same basic RAW processor, although LR does has a couple of extra options. I can do the bulk of processing RAW without going into PS, but PS is there if and when I need it. Of course, processing RAW in LR4 will have an advantage over CS5's ACR. It would be nice to be able to print from Bridge, but I send prints to the lab and rarely print anything myself so it's not a big deal.

You can trial LR3 for 30 days. There is also the beta of LR4 which expires 3/31. I doubt you need LR, but there have been some good deals on it lately. Try it and see. Also, do a search as there have been many threads on this.

Guys

I'm a learner, I like good quality, low effort things. I find photoshop superb, but i find that anytime i need to do something, I need to invest 1hr in either reminding myself how to use the feature or a few flaffing around, and I often find the software too advanced. I am not into photography like a pro, but i like to take photos and adjust where necessary.

Simple things I had like to do are as follows

Get AWB right, guess LR can do this already it is uses same raw processing as CS5.
I like a little touchup, things like the blur effect on CS5 to make skin smoother etc.
The odd sharpneing.
Making good of any badly taken pictures, as a good example is when i give the camera for someone to take a photo, they are used to point and shoot and thus move causing a blur on the end product.
Fixing shadows is also something i want to be able to do without much hassle or reading a textbook.

What do you guys think ?

The two tools are different and used for different applications. Lightroom is great for photo management, level adjustment, and raw conversion. Photoshop does that but also does bit level manipulation.

If all you are interested in is managing your pictures and tweaking parameters with minimal local adjustments, LR is perfect.

If you want to get into editing, layer manipulation, combining different images, creating new images from pieces, or manipulating an image on a bit level, then PS is the way to do.

gjl711 wrote in post #13942681
The two tools are different and used for different applications. Lightroom is great for photo management, level adjustment, and raw conversion. Photoshop does that but also does bit level manipulation.

If all you are interested in is managing your pictures and tweaking parameters with minimal local adjustments, LR is perfect.

If you want to get into editing, layer manipulation, combining different images, creating new images from pieces, or manipulating an image on a bit level, then PS is the way to do.

Thats the perfect explanation if you ask me.

I'd always shoot in RAW, load it into Lightroom and do some tweaking before exporting it directly into Photoshop. It's the 2 applications you must have on after a shoot.

Why would you need LR?
When editing a RAW image(or any image) a complete undo list is maintained so you can instantly click on one part of this list and see what the image used to look like. PS only has ctrl-z for one chance(whilst in Camera RAW) which is highly irritating.
The user interface for RAW processing is easier to use( there are keyboard shortcuts for fine moving the sliders).
Then the most important feature is the background processing capability of LR. For instance- select images you know are right then get LR to convert to JPG and save and it will do this whilst you set about working on other images.(If photoshop can do this I would like to know)Big time saver.

If you are processing say 50+ images in a sitting then LR might be worth a look.

To get Adobe software at a discount register say by downloading a trial and then wait for an offer email to pop along with say 60% discount. You will only need to wait about 2 months max usually.

Thanks all.
I just noticed that noone has made any comment on what i want to use LR to do, the main things that matter to me are.

I like a little touchup, things like the blur effect on CS5 to make skin smoother etc.
The odd sharpneing.
Fixing shadows is also something i want to be able to do without much hassle or reading a textbook.

Please let me know how LR fares on the above, any tutorials, and other tips in LR for a novice/beginner.

Thanks.

john5189 wrote in post #13942767
Why would you need LR?
When editing a RAW image(or any image) a complete undo list is maintained so you can instantly click on one part of this list and see what the image used to look like. PS only has ctrl-z for one chance(whilst in Camera RAW) which is highly irritating.

You can step back thru changes in ACR by adding the {alt} key to ctrl-z. You can also use Snapshots to go back to a saved state.

You can use the up and down arrows in ACR in each adjustment. There are also hot keys to change between the tabs.

In Bridge, go to Tools/Photoshop and use either Batch or Image Processor.

Applying the same edits is pretty easy in ACR or Bridge too for that matter.

You say you have CS5, and you've heard that Lightroom has the same processing tools as the Camera Raw processor in CS5. So, there are tools for shadows and there is a Local Adjustment Brush that can apply some selective edits, including selective sharpening and softening.

What Lightroom/Camera Raw do not have is the Photoshop ability to build layers and apply "special effects" like Photoshop offers. In Lightroom/Camera Raw, for example, you can brush in "softening" but it's not quite the same as the Photoshop "blurring".

The thing is, if you already have CS5, you are in a perfect position to know what Lightroom has as far as developing/editing -- spend time working on images in Camera Raw, use all the tools, and then realize Lightroom only has those tools, but it has an integrated interface that could allow you to work more efficiently. But then, if you still want the advanced features of the Photoshop editor, that will apply with Lightroom as well as Camera Raw!

platforminc wrote in post #13942814
Thanks all.
I just noticed that noone has made any comment on what i want to use LR to do, the main things that matter to me are.

I like a little touchup, things like the blur effect on CS5 to make skin smoother etc.
The odd sharpneing.
Fixing shadows is also something i want to be able to do without much hassle or reading a textbook.

Please let me know how LR fares on the above, any tutorials, and other tips in LR for a novice/beginner.

Thanks.

Learn to use what you have. LR will not really offer any advantage as to the above mentioned tasks