dragondan84
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ok guys... ask the experts time... i have cs6... but i see lightroom being mentioned a lot... so what can lightroom do that photoshop cannot? whats the pro's and cons?
and help to keep the site free for all
lightroom versus photoshop...
- Thread starter dragondan84
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DBT85
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I'm no expert but I'll give you my experience. I may have over egged the pudding on some bits as It's still new to me, but I'm sure I'll be corrected if that is the case. The bet thing I can suggest is to download the trial and give it a go.
I have been using Bridge and Photoshop to do everything for several years with my D80 images. 95% of my time in photoshop was spent adjusting raw files, cropping, rotating, resizing etc. A huge waste of the software but I had an old license so I used it.
When I bought my D7000 and started shooting in RAW on it I found that my version of Camera Raw couldn't process those files. Wanting to look at the images fairly sharpish I downloaded the trial of Lightroom 4.3 from the Adobe site. I too had seen it mentioned on the internet in various places and the gentleman I bought my D7000 from also mentioned that he did most of his pro work in Lightroom while only dipping in to Photoshop on occasion where needed.
3 days later I walked into my local Staples and bought Lightroom 4 for £80. My wife then ran away with it to wrap it up to give it to me the next day for Christmas! (We had our Xmas day on the 23rd due to work)
Lightroom will allow you to manage your photos, do all the keywording, flag and rate images, create smart collections (show me all photos with "sunset" in a text field, or with an aperture of f/2.8, or taken on the D7000 and with the 50mm f/1.8 lens).
It also uses the same version of Camera Raw as Photoshop, so you can still do all of your RAW processing non destructively. If you want to copy the same settings to multiple photos then it's just a few clicks away. If you don't like any of it just hit reset. Create a virtual copy of your RAW file so you can perform multiple edits and compare them side by side. You can also use the graduated filter and brush options to layer on different RAW conversions to different parts of the image.
When you want to export your images just select them and tell it to go do it and it'll let you set a max size, apply watermarks, rename, apply extra sharpening etc. You can also upload directly to Flickr or Facebook or other services if plugins are available.
It also has 4 sections I've barely used (I've only had it a few days!). Map, Slideshow, Book and Web. Map allows you to geotag your images using Google Maps, Book allows you to create photobooks with various layouts and text and whatever. It uses Blurb as the printer and will give you a running approximate total as you go, or you can export to PDF if someone else is printing it. Slideshow does as it says, though I'll never use it so have not looked at it. Last is the Web module which allows you to create web galleries in a few minutes. You can choose different templates, make your own, buy them from others, preview the final result and then upload directly to your server or just export all the required files to a folder on your computer so you can upload yourself.
I don't know how well the Web module is regarded, it seemed very easy to knock something together very quickly but a comment by Scott Kelby in a B&H made me wonder if it is just looked upon as a bit of a gimmick.
The Lightroom channel on Youtube has some great videos if you have some spare time.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AdobeLightroom
It of course also works with Photoshop and Elements so you can move files between them easily.
I suppose the question is, what do you use Photoshop to do?
EDIT: I found an article by theturninggate.net about that comment by Kelby which is quite interesting http://theturninggate.net/2012/03/nobody-uses-the-web-module/.
I have been using Bridge and Photoshop to do everything for several years with my D80 images. 95% of my time in photoshop was spent adjusting raw files, cropping, rotating, resizing etc. A huge waste of the software but I had an old license so I used it.
When I bought my D7000 and started shooting in RAW on it I found that my version of Camera Raw couldn't process those files. Wanting to look at the images fairly sharpish I downloaded the trial of Lightroom 4.3 from the Adobe site. I too had seen it mentioned on the internet in various places and the gentleman I bought my D7000 from also mentioned that he did most of his pro work in Lightroom while only dipping in to Photoshop on occasion where needed.
3 days later I walked into my local Staples and bought Lightroom 4 for £80. My wife then ran away with it to wrap it up to give it to me the next day for Christmas! (We had our Xmas day on the 23rd due to work)
Lightroom will allow you to manage your photos, do all the keywording, flag and rate images, create smart collections (show me all photos with "sunset" in a text field, or with an aperture of f/2.8, or taken on the D7000 and with the 50mm f/1.8 lens).
It also uses the same version of Camera Raw as Photoshop, so you can still do all of your RAW processing non destructively. If you want to copy the same settings to multiple photos then it's just a few clicks away. If you don't like any of it just hit reset. Create a virtual copy of your RAW file so you can perform multiple edits and compare them side by side. You can also use the graduated filter and brush options to layer on different RAW conversions to different parts of the image.
When you want to export your images just select them and tell it to go do it and it'll let you set a max size, apply watermarks, rename, apply extra sharpening etc. You can also upload directly to Flickr or Facebook or other services if plugins are available.
It also has 4 sections I've barely used (I've only had it a few days!). Map, Slideshow, Book and Web. Map allows you to geotag your images using Google Maps, Book allows you to create photobooks with various layouts and text and whatever. It uses Blurb as the printer and will give you a running approximate total as you go, or you can export to PDF if someone else is printing it. Slideshow does as it says, though I'll never use it so have not looked at it. Last is the Web module which allows you to create web galleries in a few minutes. You can choose different templates, make your own, buy them from others, preview the final result and then upload directly to your server or just export all the required files to a folder on your computer so you can upload yourself.
I don't know how well the Web module is regarded, it seemed very easy to knock something together very quickly but a comment by Scott Kelby in a B&H made me wonder if it is just looked upon as a bit of a gimmick.
The Lightroom channel on Youtube has some great videos if you have some spare time.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AdobeLightroom
It of course also works with Photoshop and Elements so you can move files between them easily.
I suppose the question is, what do you use Photoshop to do?
EDIT: I found an article by theturninggate.net about that comment by Kelby which is quite interesting http://theturninggate.net/2012/03/nobody-uses-the-web-module/.
Last edited:
Byker28i
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Lightroom is different to photoshop. First and foremost Lightroom catalogues your images, very powerful in search, tags, meta data etc. This is actually really useful. I have over 120k images in my catalogue and can quickly and easily find any image or series.
Obviously there's the develop module, for making the majority of corrections to your image. Another big difference is that the changes are metadata, not changes to the original image. You can make virtual copies, keep the original, compare etc, plus feed into photoshop and back again if you need to use things like layers.
These are the two main modules. The print module is actually very good for print to file and formatting, I've not used the web module in anger but again there's some nice features. The mapping module is interesting and I've been tagging holiday shots, landscape locations etc.
Obviously there's the develop module, for making the majority of corrections to your image. Another big difference is that the changes are metadata, not changes to the original image. You can make virtual copies, keep the original, compare etc, plus feed into photoshop and back again if you need to use things like layers.
These are the two main modules. The print module is actually very good for print to file and formatting, I've not used the web module in anger but again there's some nice features. The mapping module is interesting and I've been tagging holiday shots, landscape locations etc.
TheDrift-
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Lightroom is like bridge on steroids.
You don't have layers, blend modes, or many of the editing options of photoshop.
Lightroom helps your workflow.
Eg you import your pics into it, it will help you catalog, sort and rate your photos.
You the develop your pics, similar to bridge, basic adjustments, white balance, crop, exposure, sharpening, hue sat etc,
Then you can out put to print, resize, add water marks, photo books etc.
It's much quicker and easier to do say a hue/ sat adjustment in Lightroom, then photoshop.
Plus Lightroom does not alter the original raw file, it just displays your changes ontop, so you can revert to the original at any time.
Many people end up doing most of their editing in LR just because its quicker and easier. When you do need the power of PS, you can export seamlessly there and back, you just select edit in photoshop, do your edit and save back in Lightroom
You don't have layers, blend modes, or many of the editing options of photoshop.
Lightroom helps your workflow.
Eg you import your pics into it, it will help you catalog, sort and rate your photos.
You the develop your pics, similar to bridge, basic adjustments, white balance, crop, exposure, sharpening, hue sat etc,
Then you can out put to print, resize, add water marks, photo books etc.
It's much quicker and easier to do say a hue/ sat adjustment in Lightroom, then photoshop.
Plus Lightroom does not alter the original raw file, it just displays your changes ontop, so you can revert to the original at any time.
Many people end up doing most of their editing in LR just because its quicker and easier. When you do need the power of PS, you can export seamlessly there and back, you just select edit in photoshop, do your edit and save back in Lightroom
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Chappers
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Lightroom has two functions.
1/ Catalogue your photographs and enable you to find then easily
2/ Process the RAW ( and jpeg) images using various controls and the output the final result.
If you want to see what can be done in Lightroom then use the ACR module in Photoshop. It's the same engine as in Lightroom. However there are I think a couple of extra options in Lightroom, plus the interface is much better.
Lightroom isn't a replacement for Photoshop. It's a compliment to it, or should I say it's more likely the other way round. Lightroom can't clone or edit at the pixel level like Photoshop does, but then it wasn't designed to.
If you edit lots of images and have lots of them stored on you computer then Lightroom could be for you. If not Photoshop may do what you want.
Best way to find out is to try the 30 day trial from Adobe. However I would suggest you look at some training video's first so that you can get the best out of the trial period.
Personally if I didn't already have Photoshop on my computer, I think Id be happy to have Lightroom and Elements , as I now use very little of Photoshop's facilities. Lightroom does 95% of what I need and in most cases quicker than Photoshop
1/ Catalogue your photographs and enable you to find then easily
2/ Process the RAW ( and jpeg) images using various controls and the output the final result.
If you want to see what can be done in Lightroom then use the ACR module in Photoshop. It's the same engine as in Lightroom. However there are I think a couple of extra options in Lightroom, plus the interface is much better.
Lightroom isn't a replacement for Photoshop. It's a compliment to it, or should I say it's more likely the other way round. Lightroom can't clone or edit at the pixel level like Photoshop does, but then it wasn't designed to.
If you edit lots of images and have lots of them stored on you computer then Lightroom could be for you. If not Photoshop may do what you want.
Best way to find out is to try the 30 day trial from Adobe. However I would suggest you look at some training video's first so that you can get the best out of the trial period.
Personally if I didn't already have Photoshop on my computer, I think Id be happy to have Lightroom and Elements , as I now use very little of Photoshop's facilities. Lightroom does 95% of what I need and in most cases quicker than Photoshop
Terrywoodenpic
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Light room is a Data base. so it is excellent at recording a storing data and file.
It has lots of "Helper" aps built in. like raw converter. In general it makes no permanent changes to the files when you make changes to the way they look. it just records every thing you have done as a sort of action. However it can not make pixel level changes to change detail
Photoshop also has some "helper Aps" and uses the same raw converter. But most of the changes photoshop makes are permanent... once saved you can not go back to square one, unless you save an original copy. However Photoshop is hugely powerful at making every sort of change in an image.
Many people use both, as you can move a file between them to do the things they each do best.
I have the older CS3 photoshop which does not sync with lightroom so well, so I tend to process the raws in Lightroom and make all other changes in a copy Photoshop. Lightroom then store the result with the original.
CS6 does a better sync with Lightroom 4 and is easier to work with.
As they both do different things I need both programs.
Bridge is far less use to a photographer as it is a form of Browser and can seach for things, but as it is not a database nothing it finds is permanent.
It has lots of "Helper" aps built in. like raw converter. In general it makes no permanent changes to the files when you make changes to the way they look. it just records every thing you have done as a sort of action. However it can not make pixel level changes to change detail
Photoshop also has some "helper Aps" and uses the same raw converter. But most of the changes photoshop makes are permanent... once saved you can not go back to square one, unless you save an original copy. However Photoshop is hugely powerful at making every sort of change in an image.
Many people use both, as you can move a file between them to do the things they each do best.
I have the older CS3 photoshop which does not sync with lightroom so well, so I tend to process the raws in Lightroom and make all other changes in a copy Photoshop. Lightroom then store the result with the original.
CS6 does a better sync with Lightroom 4 and is easier to work with.
As they both do different things I need both programs.
Bridge is far less use to a photographer as it is a form of Browser and can seach for things, but as it is not a database nothing it finds is permanent.