LR3 and PSE10 ? or is it a waste to get both

[wildman]

I was running PSE6 for a few years and recently got version 10 as it was only 39 quid. Now I am thinking of mabe getting LR3 as this has come down a lot in proce also.

Is it worth having both, I know there is going to be some overlap between the functions but from what I read LR3 is a lot better at cataloguing and the raw edits are non destructive ? So is it worth using LR3 simply for this and then opening up in PSE for everything else ?

Also if it is worth it can you launch PSE from within LR3 ? e.g I do a raw edit then want to open the image directly into PSE10 to do the other bits ?

 

[Michybug12]

I have had elements 8 for a while and recently brought lightroom 3. I am still a novice but I am getting much better results with Lightroom than Elements - its a wonderful product, don't know how I lived without it. However that said, there are some edits I still need to use Elements for; So imho, I think having both is a good idea. If I could only pick one, I'd go for Lightroom everytime - hope this helps

Not sure on the launching PSE from in Lightroom - I don't think so, or if you can I haven't found out yet.

 

[garryknight]

This is how I do my processing, and I can recommend it. Lightroom is fantastic for organising your photos, and it can do not only basic processing in terms of tone and colour, it also has red-eye removal, spot healing, gradients, a local adjustment brush, etc, etc. And when you install Elements 10, it should find the Lightroom folder and add itself as a plugin. If not, you can just go to Edit > Preferences > External Editing (in Lightroom) and fill in the missing details.

You can do your basic edits in LR then press Ctrl+E to edit the photo in Elements. It will create a .psd file (you can set the parameters for this) and open it in Elements. One you've finished doing your selection/masking/layer/whatever work, you just press Ctrl+S to save the result, then Ctrl+Q to quit, and you find yourself back in Lightroom with the updated .psd file plus your original file.

 

[swanseamale47]

Lightroom is great for editing large numbers of images, but lacks proper selection tools and layers, it does have a basic means of selecting local areas but nothing like the refinments or choices in photoshop, LR also doesn't do layers, if you use either of those much you'll be struggling with just Lightroom.

 

[velocette]

I've got E9 and like many have just got the new cheap L3 which I now use for 90% of my editing. The only thing I go onto Element for is to use it's selection and filters to enable parts of the image to be manipulated. After that it's back to Lightroom which I must prefer. BUT. Lightroom 4 the beta of which I'm also using is a definite step up from 3, or 3.6 as it installs as and I'll be very tempted when the full version arrive providing there's a reasonable upgrade path....