Lightroom and Photoshop Elements - Do I need both?

I don't use elements but I know it changed a fair bit since version 6, plus it'll intergrate properly with lightroom 3.
 
You don't need PSE10. You do need LR3 :). Well, that's the conclusion I came to after having the 30-day trials of both over Christmas.

To be fair they are complementary. Lightroom allows you to process your images in bulk and organise them, especially if you shoot raw. Elements is more focused on pixel-level editing of individual pictures.

I also found PSE very resource hungry. I might get it one day when I've got a new PC, but for now LR3 alone will do very nicely.
 
I don't think you need both, but I think you'd benefit from having both. I use LR for asset management: keeping track of my photos, tagging and sorting them, adding IPTC header data to them, and also for doing most of the tone and colour editing; and then when I want to do more than I can by dragging LR's sliders around and the Adjustment Brush won't cut it, I take the photo into Elements. I also like to use Topaz filters in Elements, even though I can call them up from LR; and the VirtualPhotographer filter which works in Elements but not it LR is great for adding effects.

For anything where I want to make changes to several parts of a photo but don't want to tediously brush everything with the Adjustment Brush, or if I want to make changes that the AB can't handle, I'll run the photo through Elements. When done I just press Ctrl+S to save and switch back to LR to find the edited .psd file there ready for more changes or for uploading, printing, etc.

It's a great and fast way to work, IMO. LR on its own is fast but not that flexible; Elements on its own is flexible but not that fast. And if you're seriously thinking about getting Elements, then do also check out Elements+ which adds back to Elements some of the best CS5 features that Adobe took out.
 
Photoshop can do a lot of things lightroom can't, whether you need those features will depend on the sort of editing you do.
Personally I could live without lightroom (although I'd rather not have to) but I couldn't manage without a photoshop type program, I use layers and cutting/pasting a lot so lightroom just couldn't do the job.
 
Elements is pretty good, while it hasn't got all the full version features it will still do most of it just in differents ways. Sometimes you have to "work around" but there not much it can't do really.
 
GeordieStew said:
Photoshop is so bloody expensive for amateur folk. How much would I miss by getting elements?
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As an amateur, you're likely to be able to do just about everything you're likely to want to do with Elements, in my opinion. And if you install Elements+ you'll have many of the features of CS5 that Adobe took out such as Smart Objects, Smart Filters... well, just look here: http://elementsplus.net/

If most of that doesn't mean much to you, then I'd be more convinced that Elements will do all you need. :)
 
Being a Lightroom and Photoshop user I think if I didn't already have PS installed I'd opt for Elements. Personally I really don't do a lot in Photoshop apart from a bit of cloning and Free Transform to correct for Keytstoning. I could do these in Elements.

If I were to start from scratch , I'd opt for Elements, until I came up with an situation where I needed Photoshop. Can't think of one at the moment though.
 
The only thing I have been disappointed in with LR, in all its guises, is the clone tool.

That alone for me needs another photo-editing programme.

Otherwise LR is the dogs danglies.
 
GeordieStew said:
Photoshop is so bloody expensive for amateur folk. How much would I miss by getting elements?
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Have a look at the educational discounts. If you have a child in education you can qualify for a massive discount. I know people have even paid for a college course out of the savings they got by doing the college course and using the educational discount for photoshop !
 
garryknight said:
Do you mean the spot healing tool? I think it's really only meant for healing spots, whether on a sensor or a subject's face, though a bit of creative ingenuity can find other uses for it.
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Aye, indeed I do:)
 
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