Lightroom vs Photoshop Elements vs Photoshop

[AlanKlein]

What's the easiest way to apply presets to a lot of RAW images using LR? I just got back from a vacation with 800 photos and although I've had LR for awhile, I never tried this before always editing one image at a time.

 

[KmH]

Lightroom is definitely the program for catologing and keeping track of photos as well as post them to various services. It also has a "Camera Raw" much like photoshop. I use it ALL the time!

Photoshop CC 2014's plug-in - Camera Raw - and LR's Develop module are the same software - Adobe Camera Raw.
There are some very some minor differences between Camera Raw and LR's Develop module.
Photoshop CC 2014's other plug-in - Bridge - is a image browser application that can also be used to automate some of Photoshop CC's features.

Note that Adobe's $9.99 per month Photography Program subscription includes both Photoshop CC 2014 and Lightroom 5.6.
Lightroom is intended as a front end process for Photoshop CC, which is why both are included in the Photography Program.

Lightroom was designed for photographers that:
1. Routinely make a lot of photos.
2. Make money from their photos.

To those ends, LR's primary reason for being is image database management.
Personal computers include an image browser application, so most people are familiar with using an image browser application.
Far fewer people know how to set up and use an image database application.

I see a lot of people who do not use LR's primary feature - image database management - effectively.

Photoshop Elements has a de-featured, consumer grade version of Camera Raw that has about 1/2 of ACR's (Camera Raw/LR Develop module) normal compliment of tools, features, and capabilities

 

[Scatterbrained]

What's the easiest way to apply presets to a lot of RAW images using LR? I just got back from a vacation with 800 photos and although I've had LR for awhile, I never tried this before always editing one image at a time.

 

[DaPOPO]

I bought the LR/PS combo for $9.99 a month. I use LR 99.5% of the time and it works great. The spot healing tool in photoshop is superior and if you want to change a background it is the way to go, but LR will make any image look the way you want without MAJOR changes to the actual image..

 

[annamaria]

I bought the LR/PS combo for $9.99 a month. I use LR 99.5% of the time and it works great. The spot healing tool in photoshop is superior and if you want to change a background it is the way to go, but LR will make any image look the way you want without MAJOR changes to the actual image..

It's a good combo, I do have Elements 7 though, but wonder if its better to buy the LR license instead of the monthly charge. Thanks for the explanation, it helps.

 

[AlanKlein]

What's the easiest way to apply presets to a lot of RAW images using LR? I just got back from a vacation with 800 photos and although I've had LR for awhile, I never tried this before always editing one image at a time.

Ok thanks for that. How would I handle RAW presets if I have a bunch of these but not necessarily in the same area with the same lighting conditions? Would I just hit AUTO for all and start individually from there? Or what?

 

[snerd]

I don't use the sync function or apply presets to multiple images. But I wanted to say that the AUTO option is usually nowhere close to being usable for me!