CS3 and/or Lightroom – Yikes!

I currently have PS6 which I’ve basically learned to use on my own. It’s like working in the dark ages. I would like to get current. I had planned to get CS3 when available (my wife is a teacher, so academic purchase is very reasonable).

That said, I have been looking at Lightroom the last couple of days and it seems to have many very good features. I spent several hours watching the tutorials by the WiBal guy (as suggested on one of the Lightroom threads here). Although many features seem to be designed for the Professional (cataloging and quick auto correction for large groups of shots, uploading to web, etc), I was particularly impressed with how curves works.

So, as an amateur what should I buy? CS3 or Lightroom or both. Perhaps Lightroom for most of the work & my existing PS6 for the rest? It has been suggested on other threads here that LR works for about 95%. CS2 or PS for the remaining 5%.

Perhaps I should download a trial version Lightroom to see for myself.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks

Well, they're different. Lightroom is for post processing while PS is for graphics editing. I'd say both

Why don't you purchase LR and then see if you need CS3 afterwards? LR is almost "cheap" for what you get.

both have/will have 30 day demos. Try them out

blueM wrote in post #2990574
Perhaps I should download a trial version Lightroom to see for myself.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks

That is the best advice anyone could give you.

But, your comment regarding stuff only being for professionals is not true. You should use LR to catalog your own images and apply batch settings whenever possible. Some of the techniques used in many of the tutorials may not apply to you on the whole but the concepts used in them can work for you. For instance during an import they always show you upload like 200 shots from the same shoot. I don't always shoot that way. I may take 10 shots today, 5 tomorrow, 20 a week from now, and then 100. I can't simply give the entire import a set of keywords. But what I do is Import with a folder for each day as I will likely have similar images within each day to add keywords in large groups.

LR is very powerful but you will need to take some time to learn how to use it.

Yes, not just for professionals...

PS Elements, has incorporated the keyword tagging and cataloging for ages (and you CS users laughed at us... how the tables have turned.)

I would suggest downloading and trying... be aware that the price for Lightroom Jumps to $300 at the end of April (before your trial will expire) That price may put the idea of both CS3 and LR out of reach for many.

I personally use LR mostly now (90% or more of the time), and Elements for when I need layers, spot adjustments, or to use my plugins. I am not a professional, just a lowly enthusiast. But you will still use some version of PS in your post processing, maybe just not as much.

Yes, I think a trial is the next step. Nothing like a test run. Software is very difficult to evaluate while watching somebody else demo. I went thru the same thing years ago when shopping for CAD software for the company I work for.

You probably won't grasp the potential of CS3 with a trial. It all depends what you are going to use it for. I have Lightroom and CS with CS3 on the way. I'm getting rid of my ACDSee Pro which Adobe didn't have an answer for until Lightroom.

Lightroom is great for cataloging and quick adjustments, but if you want to really adjust an image to its maximum artistic potential CS and up is a must. It takes a great deal of time to really use CS to its potential to do amazing things. If you are going to adjust images Lightroom. If you are going to make images, CS3. And by make I mean control every aspect to its perfection. My psd files that I do serious work on are in the 200MB - 2GB range. If yours are in the 20MB-150MB range stay with PS6 and lightroom.

Good luck, I'm always indecisive for the longest time. I've been changing my mind on what new camera I'm going to buy for a while now.

Don't get me started ...

My issues with PS6 center around my perception that with CS2 or 3 PP tasks are soooo much easier and quicker. Right or wrong? I don't mind the investment in better software if it's truely better.

good point about cs3 trial not being long enough... if you don't have a CS2 license, I think the trial period is like 2 days... so if you do it be sure to have a whole weekend to play with it and learn whats new... and look up info on it ahead of time.

Get both if you need both. Remember you can't do something like Virtual Oils for example in LR.

Lightroom is good for emptying photos, organization of photo, and pre editing info and such.

Anyhow, both are worth every penny. The only way to see if you want them is to test them out. In my words, both are great buys, but it can get expensive. I am upset because I just bought a upgrade for CS2, and then 3 comes out. My credit cards are a charging.

Im so impressed with LR i just had to have it! I dont see it as a replacement for photoshop, so I say Both!

blueM wrote in post #2991817
My issues with PS6 center around my perception that with CS2 or 3 PP tasks are soooo much easier and quicker. Right or wrong? I

Although I have CS not CS2, I'm very familiar with it. Easier and quicker? I guess the analogy would be computers. They were thought to be the big time saver in the work place. Can you do a job faster with computers or do you end up taking the same amount of time as before because you do produce a higher quality more featured product.

I didn't buy CS2 and waited for CS3 because the features it had I could wait until the next version for. I tend to upgrade every other on everything. I couldn't do without the features in CS, it was a big improvement. So if you are going to use....(forgive me I am more familiar with PS7 then PS6)

Liquid Filter
Transform
HDR (I have Photomatix already so didn't need CS2)
Over 8 bit image workflow
Web gallery page building (I use web based dynamic content software instead of static pages)
Noise Removal (I have Noise Ninja)
Non Destructive Sharpening using HPF
Realy Good Skin smoothing / replacment schemes
A lot of non-destructive selective edits using masking
Use the tons of plugins, scripts, and actions available for CS
.....the list goes on

then you'll need to upgrade, but at the price that your hardware needs to keep up too. I've got 4GB of memory and use SATA 10k rpm drives along with Core 2 Duo processor. Not saying that you need all that. I also have a 2.67Mhz P4 with 2G and 7.5k RPM IDE drives and it does well most of the time.

Lightroom is good for organizing and event stuff where you're taking 1600 shots in one sitting. PS CS is good for making individual pictures of high or fine art quality.

davidcrebelxt wrote in post #2992434
good point about cs3 trial not being long enough... if you don't have a CS2 license, I think the trial period is like 2 days... so if you do it be sure to have a whole weekend to play with it and learn whats new... and look up info on it ahead of time.

I'm sure when it's actually a release version and not just beta there will be a 30 day trial version.