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CS4 or lightroom?
- Thread starter Rosebud44
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Karen,
In my opinion they are both different programs and I use both, mostly Lightroom.
Lightroom is better when working with RAW images if you are wanting to change exposure, colour saturation, white balance etc, its more like a picture "development"program. If I want to actually edit the content of a photo i.e. landscapes cloning in/out, cleaning up, sharpening etc portraits editing skin tone (smoothing, blemish removal), eyes, removing subject from background etc I will use Photoshop.
What would you be wanting to do?
In my opinion they are both different programs and I use both, mostly Lightroom.
Lightroom is better when working with RAW images if you are wanting to change exposure, colour saturation, white balance etc, its more like a picture "development"program. If I want to actually edit the content of a photo i.e. landscapes cloning in/out, cleaning up, sharpening etc portraits editing skin tone (smoothing, blemish removal), eyes, removing subject from background etc I will use Photoshop.
What would you be wanting to do?
Freester
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Echo the above to what Donki said.
In addition Lightroom is really useful for batch editing of RAW images.
Personally I use Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. I have no need for the extra functionality of full blown PS. Lightroom and Photoshop really complement each other. It's not a case of which one.
Download the demo and have a play with Lightroom. Beware you may like it and have to purchase it at the end of your 1 month demo
In addition Lightroom is really useful for batch editing of RAW images.
Personally I use Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. I have no need for the extra functionality of full blown PS. Lightroom and Photoshop really complement each other. It's not a case of which one.
Download the demo and have a play with Lightroom. Beware you may like it and have to purchase it at the end of your 1 month demo
Well Lightroom definitely is nice to have, you can also use it as a viewing library for all your shots, and you can "develop" your images in batches to save time.
Give the free trial a go and see if you like it
.http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/
Echo the above to what Donki said.
In addition Lightroom is really useful for batch editing of RAW images.
Personally I use Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. I have no need for the extra functionality of full blown PS. Lightroom and Photoshop really complement each other. It's not a case of which one.
Download the demo and have a play with Lightroom. Beware you may like it and have to purchase it at the end of your 1 month demo
Ha you got there first with the free trial and batch editing, bloody work computer is sooooooo SLOWWWWWWWWW.
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lightroom all the way, i now only use ps for adding my watermark and resizing, everything else i do in lightroom. 
soooo musch easier and quicker
soooo musch easier and quicker
Others dis say it all pretty much but I'd like to add to what Donki said. LR also allows you to do image correction to some degree although not as complex and versatile as Photoshop. But cloning out, dodging and burning in selected areas, applying gradient and even smoothing the skin in portraits is certainly possible and there is no need to go to photoshop as all this is doable from Lightroom.
pete.rush
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It also depends on how much you want to pay.... lightroom and photoshop ain't cheap (£200 or £600).
I'm not knocking either of these products, they are great and offer a vast array of capabilities to the photographer, but personally more than the average photographer needs or requires, especially photoshop which is more a digital editing suite more suited to graphical design.
Personally, something like photoshop elements v8 or paintshop pro would be a far better purchase at around £50-60, it would meet all your needs for photo editing, and means that your not spending a large amount of money on something you might only use 10% of the softwares capability.
I'm not knocking either of these products, they are great and offer a vast array of capabilities to the photographer, but personally more than the average photographer needs or requires, especially photoshop which is more a digital editing suite more suited to graphical design.
Personally, something like photoshop elements v8 or paintshop pro would be a far better purchase at around £50-60, it would meet all your needs for photo editing, and means that your not spending a large amount of money on something you might only use 10% of the softwares capability.
Denyerec
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Lightroom uses the same RAW conversion engine as Photoshop (Adobe Camera Raw) but the interface is, IMO, much more ergonomic than ACR.
However, you can't do proper retouching in Lightroom, so if you're going in to Beauty or Product photography with a view to providing end-to-end service (that is, doing all your own retouching) then I would advise you buy once, and buy Photoshop. Afterall, you can still catalog and browse images in Bridge, and all the RAW conversion is handled by ACR. it's not , as I say, quite as nice and easy to use as Lightroom, but the results are as far as I know identical.
The only minor caveat comes with that if they stop releasing updates for Camera Raw on CS4, you'll be stuck in stasis until you jump ship to CS5.
And to echo Pete above, Photoshop is a serious tool. I don't know if you're just shooting for fun or looking to go into the industry, but to save a serious wedge of cash you might want to investigate the products he mentions along with Bibble, s7raw and other free RAW converters first. Personally I can't stand any image editor other than Photoshop, as I am used to working in LAB and with the photoshop tools, but as someone who is presumably new to the game your mileage may vary.
However, you can't do proper retouching in Lightroom, so if you're going in to Beauty or Product photography with a view to providing end-to-end service (that is, doing all your own retouching) then I would advise you buy once, and buy Photoshop. Afterall, you can still catalog and browse images in Bridge, and all the RAW conversion is handled by ACR. it's not , as I say, quite as nice and easy to use as Lightroom, but the results are as far as I know identical.
The only minor caveat comes with that if they stop releasing updates for Camera Raw on CS4, you'll be stuck in stasis until you jump ship to CS5.
And to echo Pete above, Photoshop is a serious tool. I don't know if you're just shooting for fun or looking to go into the industry, but to save a serious wedge of cash you might want to investigate the products he mentions along with Bibble, s7raw and other free RAW converters first. Personally I can't stand any image editor other than Photoshop, as I am used to working in LAB and with the photoshop tools, but as someone who is presumably new to the game your mileage may vary.
strobemonkey
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I see you use Canon, and Canon has free DPP software that came with your camera. DPP works like Lightroom, and its very easy to use. If you haven't tried it, you might as well give it a go. There's also free tutorial from Canon's website somewhere.
Craikeybaby
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IMHO Lightroom and ACR (part of Photoshop CSX) are much the same when it comes to RAW processing, but Lightroom is MUCH better at batch processing.
With Photoshop CS4 (and Photoshop Elements) you can do a lot more processing that with Lightroom, so if you want to process a few images to perfection they are a better bet, but if you want to manage and process a large amout of images as quickly as possible Lightroom would be for you.
FYI I use Lightroom for 99% of my processing and only very rarely dip into Elements.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the new version of Lightroom will be out fairly soon, if you are planning on buying LR2 it may be worth holding off until LR3 comes out.
With Photoshop CS4 (and Photoshop Elements) you can do a lot more processing that with Lightroom, so if you want to process a few images to perfection they are a better bet, but if you want to manage and process a large amout of images as quickly as possible Lightroom would be for you.
FYI I use Lightroom for 99% of my processing and only very rarely dip into Elements.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the new version of Lightroom will be out fairly soon, if you are planning on buying LR2 it may be worth holding off until LR3 comes out.
Thanks again for all the fab feedback, I will take a little look at the software that came the camera I got it about three years ago, used it for a short time and then have not picked it up again till now. I will have a little look at the free trail as well on LR thanks very much for the link.
I am hoping to one day have my own baby/children/family photography business but thats a long way off and for now I am just practising loads but at the same time as I am still getting use to the camera and cannot take great shots everytime I snap I was going to have a play in PS or LR to see if I can improve the photos I have taken, if at all.
K xx
I am hoping to one day have my own baby/children/family photography business but thats a long way off and for now I am just practising loads but at the same time as I am still getting use to the camera and cannot take great shots everytime I snap I was going to have a play in PS or LR to see if I can improve the photos I have taken, if at all.
K xx