Editing Software: Photoshop Elements or Lightroom?

[meyecam]

I also posted this on the product review board, but thought I may also be able to get some help here among some other photography newbies.

I'm a definite novice in the world of photography and editing, but I'm looking to get more serious about it and possibly turn it into a profession. In the meantime, while I'm learning, which editing software would be the best to start with? I've a read a bunch of reviews on both PE 7 and LR 2 and they seem very similar, but maybe I'm missing something big?

I'm assuming CS4 would be the best option overall and in the long run and I believe both options are good for organzing, but to do basic editing and coloring (example below), which between PE 7 and LR 2 would be the better pick?


Also, does either one really do composition? And if so, which one is better for that?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Big Mike]

Photoshop (elements or CS#) are image editing programs...Lightroom is a workflow software. There is a lot of overlap, Lightroom does some corrections, editing etc...and you can use Photoshop for your entire workflow if you like. If you are just learning the basics and you are interested in image editing, I would recommend elements. But the combination of Lightroom and either CS# or Elements would be great.

 

[meyecam]

Got it! So Lightroom is not so great by itself, but Elements can stand alone if it needs to just for the basics.

 

[xUnknownSoul]

Go for Photoshop CS4 if you can get it.
Elements is just the very basics.

 

[Big Mike]

Got it! So Lightroom is not so great by itself,

Well, it is great by itself...it does so many things, and really makes your workflow easy. But if you aren't shooting hundreds and thousands of images the you may not need it just yet. If you would rather 'play' with image editing, then Photoshop is the way to go.
Lightroom is really made for photographers, while photoshop is for all image editing.

Go for Photoshop CS4 if you can get it.
Elements is just the very basics.

It's true that elements is a basic version of Photoshop, but it's mostly the photo related basics. 90% of most photo editing stuff is probably in Elements.

 

[meyecam]

Can you upgrade from photoshop elements to photoshop cs4? Or would you have to uninstall elements to "upgrade?"

 

[~Stella~]

Separate programs. Theoretically you could have both running on one machine.

 

[WhineAndDine]

why do i feel like ive seen this post before? i would say photoshop because lightroom cant do 1% of the stuff photoshop can.

 

[Big Mike]

i would say photoshop because lightroom cant do 1% of the stuff photoshop can.

Maybe...but Lightroom can do 86% of what a photographer needs/wants to do.

 

[TUX424]

Can you upgrade from photoshop elements to photoshop cs4? Or would you have to uninstall elements to "upgrade?"

If you wanted you could have elements and photoshop CS4 on the same computer. As of right now i don't think that adobe offers a discount if you wanted to upgrade from elements to photoshop, but maybe that might be in the future.

 

[JamieR]

Does nobody recommend Aperture? I've got it, but never used it much tbh.

 

[WhineAndDine]

aperture is not the same as photoshop. aperture is more for organizing your photos and doing lighting and color edits, but not as in depth as photoshop. the idea is you have aperture, and photoshop. you use aperture and organize your photoshoot, delete the shots that suck, keep the ones that are nice. then if something needs to be editied, you simply right click on it and send it to photoshop. once you save it, it automatically updates in aperture. the two programs work very well together.

 

[JamieR]

Well its a good job i have CS3 then! I don't really see the difference between Lightroom and Aperture, there near enough the same program!

 

[Mindy]

To the OP, I'm a novice to dSLR myself. For now I am using Photoshop Elements 7. You can download a trial version from Adobe's site to see how you like it. And it is much cheaper than PS-CS4. I see CS4 as an investment. For me, PSE7 is a good fit... for now. And I'm not spending a huge chunk of change in the beginning. I really like it. It works for me anyway.

There is a forum called Elements Village. It's all about PSE7 and PRE7 (Premiere Elements 7). Check it out.