LightRoom vs Photoshop CS3 extended

[Nimitz]

I currently only have PaintShop Pro 9 but I may have an opportunity to get my hands on Photoshop CS3 Extended. Can anyone tell me about Light Room? Would I still need this if I have PS CS3 extended? I haven't been able to find anything which discusses/and compares these 2 products to see if I need both. I currently have very limited PP experience and will be taking a course on PS CS3 if I get it. I know LR is a RAW converter program but it also appears to have many of the same type of PP tools as PS. I also read somewhere that LR was not meant to be a PS replacement but I don't understand its added functionality. Thanks

 

[The_Traveler]

Lightroom manages your images by importing them into a database so you can attach keywords, rate them, etc. in addition to the raw processing functions. There are lots of image manipulation tools but, except for spot and red-eye removal, the tools are limited to changes that are applied to the image as a whole. It is great for doing adjustments of large numbers of images very quickly.

PS CS3 has little or no image management abilities and overlaps LR in that it has the raw management tools. What it does have is a huge panoply of image manipulation tools.

I use them together. I import all images into LR, tag then with keywords and do basic adjustments, then I export them into PS for any specific touch-ups.

 

[Big Mike]

Lightroom is meant to be a RAW 'workflow' software. Basically, (as I understand it) it's optimized for working with large numbers of images. You make adjustments or changes to an image, then you can copy those adjustments and apply them to other images very easily. Also, it's a non destructive workflow...you don't actually save/change the images when you make adjustments...the software saves the adjustments and only applies them when you output the files.

Photoshop, on the other hand...is more of a straight up 'image editor'. More suited for heavy editing of images, one at a time. (although Actions can be used for batch processing).

 

[photogincollege]

What everyone said basically sums it up. Lightroom lots of images basic to no editing, CS3 tons of editing options but one picture at a time and much slower.

 

[Mike_E]

It's my understanding that Lightroom is for photographers who don't want all the baggage that comes with CS3. CS3 has Bridge, which isn't quite as good as lightroom but works pretty well. Unless you are processing several hundred photos at a sitting CS3 alone should do you fine.

If you don't want to do much image editing, lightroom might be all you need.

mike