Lightroom Verses Photoshop

Clive Robinson

Clive Robinson

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Clive
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I hope I'm not repeating a thread here but have scanned around I don't think I am. I'm about to start editing my shots having just used very basic programs previously (Nikon picture control utility etc). This thread poses 2 questions really:

Firstly, I just cant decide which of the above 2 programs might be the right one for me? It seems (on initial investigations) that Photoshop is a far more complex program requiring vast experience in it's use in order to get the best out of it while lightroom is more basic and focused more towards the initial stages of editing directly from the camera in RAW (NEF). I'm getting the impression that it might be a 2 stage process taking the raw image and doing the basic editing in lightroom and then moving it on to photoshop to manage layers etc. Am I anywhere near the baseline here?

Secondly, I've been looking at prices online for both the above 2 utilities and there seems to be a massive variance in price especially for photoshop ranging between around £100-£700! Any recommendations for a good source for either of theses 2 programs?

Any advice is appreciated. Regards to all.
 
Have a look in photo shopping section as there is a post in there for a monthly fee for both applications.
 
You can get Photoshop CC for around £8.00 a month and that is both Lightroom and Photoshop in one package. You don't need to pay to update it as all future updates are included in your monthly fee.
 
Big Andy said:
You can get Photoshop CC for around £8.00 a month and that is both Lightroom and Photoshop in one package. You don't need to pay to update it as all future updates are included in your monthly fee.
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Sounds like thats the problem solved! This forum rocks!
 
Big Andy said:
You can get Photoshop CC for around £8.00 a month and that is both Lightroom and Photoshop in one package. You don't need to pay to update it as all future updates are included in your monthly fee.
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I forgot to ask....could you drop me the direct link to that offer you've mentioned? Appreciated and regards CLive.
 
Clive Robinson said:
I hope I'm not repeating a thread here but have scanned around I don't think I am. I'm about to start editing my shots having just used very basic programs previously (Nikon picture control utility etc). This thread poses 2 questions really:

Firstly, I just cant decide which of the above 2 programs might be the right one for me? It seems (on initial investigations) that Photoshop is a far more complex program requiring vast experience in it's use in order to get the best out of it while lightroom is more basic and focused more towards the initial stages of editing directly from the camera in RAW (NEF). I'm getting the impression that it might be a 2 stage process taking the raw image and doing the basic editing in lightroom and then moving it on to photoshop to manage layers etc. Am I anywhere near the baseline here?

Secondly, I've been looking at prices online for both the above 2 utilities and there seems to be a massive variance in price especially for photoshop ranging between around £100-£700! Any recommendations for a good source for either of theses 2 programs?

Any advice is appreciated. Regards to all.
Click to expand...
You are right in your assumption. Lightroom is a raw editor primarily (but you are not limited to raw files) which enables you to make basic, image-wide adjustments. It has some functionality to make localised changing (simple cloning and healing tools for example) and you can apply masks for certain changes. It doesn't let you use layers though, and Photoshop has a whole raft of other functionality that you may never use for image editing (3D effects, light rendering, animation and video editing to name a few).

My advice, if you aren't going with a subscription model, would be to go for Lightroom. It is useful to help manage your image library too (Photoshop also has this functionality, but it's not as intuitive as the Lightroom approach imo). If you find it is too restrictive (it shouldn't be) for what you need you can look into accessing Photoshop or similar products later.

There are 3 flavours of Photoshop to choose from. The full package (although I don't believe they are continuing with updates for this one) which means you pay around £6-700 quid up front, the Creative Cloud edition, which you can get as a monthly subscription (it's the same as the Full package, but with continuing updates and I think Adobe would prefer you to opt for the subscription model), and a cut down version known as Photoshop Elements. I never really got on with elements, but it's does most of what you need at a reduced price and I also got Adobe premiere elements in the package for about £100.

Lightroom you can either buy outright (around £70 iirc) or subscribe to. As mentioned above there is a "Photography" package on Adobe creative cloud that will give you access to PS and Lightroom for about £8 a month and is what I use.

HTHs

Edit: Here's the link: http://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/photography.html
 
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Thanks chaps...looking into subscribing now. I'd have typically spent days hunting around to buy the most economical deal...I'd have never considered subscribing...Your help really is appreciated!
 
as you are just starting out then look at photoshop elements its a lot cheaper and may fill needs
 
Two little PS tips
Whenever you open an image always Ctrl+J, that makes a copy of the image called layer 1-do your work starting with that then you are not altering the original
Learn to use layers , they are the key to PS
 
They compliment each other rather than fight against each other. Lightroom is great for quick fairly simple editing and batch editing if the images are similar. Photoshop on the other hand is frankly not great at handling lots of images, but it can do a heck of a lot more than Lightroom.
If you just want to tweak the exposure and fiddle the colours and so on Lightroom is the boy, on the other hand if you really want to start playing, mixing bits of different images together, swopping heads for example then you need photoshop.
Ideally get both, as you get more experienced you'll probably want to start doing more to your images, or even creating totally camera-less ones.
 
Don't think its been mentioned yet, but you can also get a free 30 day trial of adobe CC which includes photoshop and lightroom, may be worth doing this and seeing if they suit your needs, or look at something like photoshop elements for about £40 if you dont need all the power of creative cloud. I find the monthly payment very suitable and you also get access to lightroom on a mobile device, not as good as the full version but you can certainly do all the basics you need for sorting out WB issues etc :) I never used lightroom until just before xmas, then whilst having a play about on it realised its amazing for storing all your photos, renaming a batch of photos in 1 click.
As someone else said you also get all the updates free and access to the full CC package on 2 computers. I would try the trial and see how much you use it and if its worth the monthly fee.
 
wave01 said:
as you are just starting out then look at photoshop elements its a lot cheaper and may fill needs
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This is very definitely the case if you shoot jpegs. If you shoot raws then Lightroom is much simpler. PSE can open raw files but it's cataloguing tools work only with jpgs*

Then you can migrate to LR & PS later on.

*it may have changed since I last used it.
 
Thank you everyone! Im intending to take out a monthly subscription with a 30 day free trial for both PS and LR and see how it goes. Presumably one can cancel a subscription at any time?
 
yes, as long as you cancel before the 30 days are up no charge, Its definitely worth doing the free trial, even though its a good price, if you don't use it enough then it will be worth looking at other options
 
But after the 30 days can you cancel subscription at any times or are you locked into 1 year?
 
Clive Robinson said:
I hope I'm not repeating a thread here but have scanned around I don't think I am. I'm about to start editing my shots having just used very basic programs previously (Nikon picture control utility etc). This thread poses 2 questions really:

Firstly, I just cant decide which of the above 2 programs might be the right one for me? It seems (on initial investigations) that Photoshop is a far more complex program requiring vast experience in it's use in order to get the best out of it while lightroom is more basic and focused more towards the initial stages of editing directly from the camera in RAW (NEF). I'm getting the impression that it might be a 2 stage process taking the raw image and doing the basic editing in lightroom and then moving it on to photoshop to manage layers etc. Am I anywhere near the baseline here?
Click to expand...

You've got it, really. You need LR. PS can come later, but only if felt to be necessary.

I should've said ... or Capture1. But LR is cheaper - buy it & install it, rather than renting it - it can process your raw files and re-purpose them to various functions (internet, print, etc). Get on with the job!

If you want to advance later to things that LR falls short on, then that's the time to reconsider. At which time you might buy into the Adobe rental bundle of LR & PS, or just add an image editor of your choice alongside the LR you already have.
 
I personally use Photoshop but I started using it many years ago and didn't even install Lightroom until recently.

One thing to think about: you can often find older versions of PS on auction sites for £100-200. I bought a new and legit PS CS4 that way and it does everything I need and works fine with my plugins. Just be sure you're buying a genuine copy with a genuine license key.
 
WingTsun said:
I personally use Photoshop but I started using it many years ago and didn't even install Lightroom until recently.

One thing to think about: you can often find older versions of PS on auction sites for £100-200. I bought a new and legit PS CS4 that way and it does everything I need and works fine with my plugins. Just be sure you're buying a genuine copy with a genuine license key.
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Thats an interesting option for me to consider. Im using windows 10 however and Ive noticed some lack of compatibility with W10 which is not only frustrating but makes buying certain things a bit of a minefield to contemplate.
 
I believe that PS CS4 was the first version able to run in 64-bit, & I wouldn't anticipate a problem with it on W10 - it should be sleek. My CS5 certainly is. Older CS versons running in 32-bit may or may not be sometimes buggy, but I wonder if it can vary depending on what graphics card you have?

Dunc is correct - legitimate used (& de-activated) versions can be found, but you need to be very canny about ebay software vendors, & think hard (cultivate the skills of reading between the lines).
 
Clive Robinson said:
Thats an interesting option for me to consider. Im using windows 10 however and Ive noticed some lack of compatibility with W10 which is not only frustrating but makes buying certain things a bit of a minefield to contemplate.
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Clive, I'm on a MAC but CS4 had a couple of small compatibility issues with the previous OS. With El Capitan it runs perfectly. Even with the couple of bugs it was fine and perfectly usable.
 
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