Lightroom VS Photoshop: Should this be a matchup?

Sobek5150 · Apr 25, 2008

I started a search for Lightroom vs Photoshop and found -some- information to form an opinion. Yet, I'm still curious on other peoples opinions.

What I've found leads me to believe that Lightroom is good for basic stuff, but for heavy manipulation, Photoshop trumps it. Lightroom good by itself? Use in unison with Photoshop? Give up digital photography all together? Heh, you get the picture.

Anyone's opinion differ from that? Just throw out your thoughts on both programs if you'd like.

YoungRebel · Apr 25, 2008

I love Lightroom - its quick n' dirty :greenpbl:
It's just simple and easy to get good results within short time...
All the basic stuff is available and that's what I just need in 90% anyway...

I'm not a Photoshop-Pro or anything, just basic knowledge, so I usually just use it to get rid of blemishes and pimples in portraits or to correct other little things that might disturb a well rounded picture....

K8-90 · Apr 25, 2008

I've never tried Lightroom, ut I am a photoshop addict! However, I use it for more than just photography... So I guess it depends what you want to do to your pics.

Sw1tchFX · Apr 25, 2008

Lightroom is workflow software, designed to do color correction and RAW conversion to large quantities of images.

Photoshop is designed to work with one image at at a time, and do anything with it.

jedithebomber · Apr 25, 2008

Lightroom and Photoshop are two completely different programs. Sure there are some overlapping features, however they more compliment each other instead of compete with each other. I use both, lightroom is great cause it imports my photos, and creates backup copies automatically that I can transfer to my server. I can go through my photos quickly identifying the ones that are perfect, could use some work, and ones that are complete trash. From there I can quickly decide what needs simple tweaks and do it quickly in lightroom, or I can click edit in photoshop and do the heavy work there.

So basically lightroom makes my workflow fast and efficient allowing me to spend more time shooting and less time sorting and editing. Yet photoshop still carries the burden of any major work.

Lightroom is a great standalone application, as is photoshop. But they really shine when paired together. That said, I would put my money in photoshop before lightroom, just because photoshop is great software, and lightroom is just more of a commodity to make life easier.

davebmck · Apr 25, 2008

I've only played with a trial version of Lightshop, but here's my take. It looks to me that Lightshop is a combination of Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw with some additional features for enhanced workflow and with a jazzy interface. All the stuff you really need to process your image is still in photoshop, but if you do take a lot of photos and do a lot of processing, Lightshop is probably something you want to consider.

JimmyO · Apr 25, 2008

If you are deciding on which one to buy get lightroom. You can always use an older version like photoshop elements or gimp or something.

Stranger · Apr 25, 2008

WHen i do individual portrait sessions with friends or what not, i use photoshop because i will only return 5 or 6 images.

Now, when doing an event as i did for the church recently, i quickly ran through the few hundred in lightroom and only photoshopped the ones that were in desperate need. IMHO, dragging 200 images through photoshop is way too much when they want a one week turnaround and i am a college kid

Big Mike · Apr 25, 2008

Also, Lightroom uses a non destructive work flow. When you work on images in Lightroom, it saves the edits/changes that you make. So you can go back and change/edit it as much as you want...you don't ever hurt the integrity of the original image. The changes are applied to the image, only when you output the files.

This is not the case with Photoshop. With Photoshop, you can save images in a lossless format (TIFF or PSD), but the file sizes can get to be huge.

JerryPH · Apr 25, 2008

Sw1tchFX said:
Lightroom is workflow software, designed to do color correction and RAW conversion to large quantities of images.

Photoshop is designed to work with one image at at a time, and do anything with it.

That pretty much sums it up, but I do batch process with CS3. Bridge also is something that I do not use but could aid with complex workflows.

As far as workflow, if all you do is very basic picture manipulation, Lightroom is cool... and I have that too, but I've not used it once since I bought CS3.

CS3 does give me better results and lets me use tools that do not exist in Lightroom.

rubbertree · Apr 25, 2008

CS3 is so expensive though. What other program can you recommend that has the essential components of CS3 without all the graphic intensive stuff?

JerryPH · Apr 25, 2008

Depends on how you get your copy of CS3. I found a scratched up original CD of CS2 at a garage sale and used it to get the CS3 upgrade for near the same price as lightroom cost locally!

Big Mike · Apr 25, 2008

Yes, there are plenty of legitimate ways to get Photoshop cheaper. As mentioned, buying an older version and getting the upgrade. Or if you are a student, you could buy a student version etc.

Many products (digital cameras, tablets etc) come with discount coupons for Photoshop.

You could have a look at Photoshop Elements. It has 80-90% of the photo editing capabilities of Photoshop, but at a much lower price.