Lightroom vs Elements??

Phil1974

Phil1974

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Phil
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My sis-in-law is badgering me for Xmas present ideas and has mentioned Lightroom. All I know is that it's pretty expensive but she's a teacher so probably gets a discount. My questions are as follows
1. Do I need LR if I already have PSE9?
2. What can LR do that PSE9 cannot?
3. Will it automatically turn my shots into award winning pieces of art with one click of the mouse?

Ok, possibly not number 3 but you get my drift. I'm just starting to get to grips with editing and don't really want to waste someone's money if it's not going to benefit me.

Thanks all and merry Xmas in advance!!
 
This suggestion is too late to help your sister-in-law but I think if you're in any doubt you should download a free 30 day trial of Lightroom from Adobe and play with it.

As far as image editing goes its not likely to change your world compared to Elememts but the cataloging features and file management etc are more what Lightroom is about (for me anyway)
 
It depends on your workflow. The actual editing aspect is pretty much the same as ACR that comes with elements. It's the organisation of Lightroom which makes it better. If you work with a lot of images Lightroom is great, if you want to process a few images in depth Elements is better.

Education licences can't be transferred either.
 
Thanks guys. Will definitely look into the free trial. Guess I'll just have to think of another present for this year.
 
towershot said:
D3 or not D3 :naughty:
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Well.....if you don't ask, you don't get. I'll keep you posted but I think I may be in for a disappointment ;)
 
What organisation tools does LR give you? Is it tagging? Automated organisation? Does it organise the just in light room or are the files themselves organized?

On a side note can you view raw thumbnails in Windows 7 or is this what people use LR for? Viewing all their raw files etc.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
What organisation tools does LR give you? Is it tagging? Automated organisation? Does it organise the just in light room or are the files themselves organized?

On a side note can you view raw thumbnails in Windows 7 or is this what people use LR for? Viewing all their raw files etc.
Click to expand...

It's worth using the MS Raw codec to browse the thumbnails in explorer but I mainly prefer browsing via Lightroom as using explorer only lets you view small thumbnails, but they load very quick.
 
1. Do I need LR if I already have PSE9?
A. Yes and no, they do compliment each other
2. What can LR do that PSE9 cannot?
A. Lightroom is better at the batch processing, it's also a parametric editor (non distructive in effect) same as camera raw in elements essentially.
3. Will it automatically turn my shots into award winning pieces of art with one click of the mouse?
A. Yes of course (but I have been known to lie in the past) ;) You can add any of thousands of preset effects available on the net though with a single click, once installed.
 
Carousels Spin said:
I have both - do most of the work in LR, but always use PSE9 for cropping.
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How bizarre! Lightroom cropping is much more flexible and you can always go back and change later where as with elements you've committed the change.

Lightroom is amazing for organising and editing photos, I only jump to Elements for special effects and when I need to use layers.

Phil
 
philthejuggler said:
How bizarre! Lightroom cropping is much more flexible and you can always go back and change later where as with elements you've committed the change.
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I don't like that I can't crop horizontally without also cropping vertically (and vice versa) on LR. :shrug: Of course, if this is possible, I'm happy to be enlightened - it would certainly make things easier.
 
Carousels Spin said:
I don't like that I can't crop horizontally without also cropping vertically (and vice versa) on LR. :shrug: Of course, if this is possible, I'm happy to be enlightened - it would certainly make things easier.
Click to expand...

Of course it's possible to crop in any way at all!!!! There is a little icon - padlock shaped - which keeps the ratio the same as the original shot.

All you do is click on the lock, the lock icon changes to an open lock and then you can crop in any ratio you like!!

I also love how easy it is to straighten shots while cropping. You can have overlays to help you straighten, or help you compose to thirds, spirals, golden ratios etc.

It's far far superior to PSE for cropping!

HTH

Phil
 
philthejuggler said:
Of course it's possible to crop in any way at all!!!! There is a little icon - padlock shaped - which keeps the ratio the same as the original shot.

All you do is click on the lock, the lock icon changes to an open lock and then you can crop in any ratio you like!!

I also love how easy it is to straighten shots while cropping. You can have overlays to help you straighten, or help you compose to thirds, spirals, golden ratios etc.

It's far far superior to PSE for cropping!

HTH

Phil
Click to expand...

How did I figure out the complicated bits, but miss that? :bonk:

A huge :thumbs: to you.
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone. Will download the free trial tomorrow and see how I get on.
Hope you all had a great Xmas.
 
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