Lightroom vs Photoshop

Stepherly

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I have photoshop and was wondering what Lightroom was all about? Is it necessary for someone interested in getting into the business?
Also, is it worth upgrading from elements 11 to 13? Or did they not change much about the program?

Thanks Ya'll
 
Lightroom is nice for working with RAW files because it's non-destructive - you can always go back and undo something you did 15 steps ago just by changing that slider. It's also nice for managing and organizing your photo library, which some would say is its primary function.

That said, sometimes Lightroom will only take you so far, and you need Photoshop's more fine-tuned editing capabilities.

You can get a Creative Cloud subscription to Lightroom AND Photoshop for $9.99/month. At that price you might as well have both of them.
 
Personally, I don't see it as an 'or' but an 'and'. PS and LR are designed to compliment each other, and IMO, having one, without the other is crippling yourself needlessly. Yes, there is overlap, and yes, ACR (which is the engine underneath Lightroom's hood) will do a lot, BUT... for the inconsequential cost, it's silly not to have both. Despite their overlap in many areas, LR doesn't have layers available, and PS can't organize. Grab your wallet, shake out the moths and stump up the $10/month for both. You won't regret it.
 
For the business of photography you would definitely want to upgrade from Elements to Adobe's $9.99 a month Photography subscription that includes both Photoshop CC 2014 and Lightroom CC.
Note: LR CC has some features LR 5 does not have.

Elements uses a de-featured consumer grade version of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) that has about 1/2 of ACR's features, functions, and capabilities.
Photoshop's Camera Raw and Lightroom's Develop module are both the full version of ACR though each has slightly different capabilities.
Lightroom's primary function is image database management, with editing and workflow being secondary.
As mentioned above there are many editing task LR cannot do, or that can't be done with precision, that CC2014 can do which is why Adobe includes both CC 2014 and LR CC in the monthly Photography subscription.
 
The monthly subscription actually includes Photoshop and Lightroom CC 2015 now.
 
I'm confused....you say you have photoshop but then ask if it is worth upgrading from elements 11 to 13.
 
Yes, I had photoshop elements 11 and I thought photoshop elements 13 was the newest version out there Not knowing about Photoshop CC 2015 (the subscribed version).

Thanks everyone for your advice! I upgraded to the subscribed versions of Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC. Looking forward to tinkering with them once they download.

Thanks Again!
 
In my opinion, If you are not using Lightroom you are backing up. It is a great organizer and allows you to make your Camera Raw adjustments (and then some) quickly. Lightroom also allows you to make global adjustment which is very nice. I do at least 80% of my editing in Lightroom. Some images then go to Photoshop for fine tuning or heavier work. As mentioned above, Adobe CC for Photographers is an unbeatable deal and a great value. You get two great pieces of software plus Bridge (which I do not use) that is always up to date for $10 per month. Bridge seems to be a great organizer but it just does not fit my needs which are different from many (most) photographers.

I was the second to last person on earth to go digital with my cousin still holding out. He is a pro that shoots B&Ws all over the world. I started with Elements thinking it was a scale down version of Photoshop and would be all I needed. I am not knocking Elements saying it is bad because that would beincorrect; however, Photoshop is great and much more powerful. In my opinion, Photoshop works smoother and better. Photoshop is a 64 bit program and Elements is a 32 bit program. I found PS on my machine, which is a beast, works much faster. I do not like the organizer in Elements and do not know anyone that does.

I subscribe to Scott Kelby's (Kelbyone) service which has good tutorials and got me up to speed pretty quick and I am getting better everyday. I expect that to continue the rest of my life which I hope to be a very long time.

If I could only have one of the two it would be Lightroom because I need the ability to batch process images quickly. Lightroom takes care of all the resizing and exporting functions for me although I would hate to live without Photoshop.

There is a learning curve with both with Lightroom being the easiest. I would checkout all the above from Adobe and Kelby. I believe there is a free trial with Adobe CC for Photographers.

I imagine there are other services similar to Kelby. I found them and liked it and have no reason to look elsewhere. Remember, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. I would not want to take on all the functions of both programs at the same time. Buy a whole lot of whiskey on the front end if that is what you decide to do. You will need it. The world of photography becomes a very nice place when you get comfortable with both.

I have no affilication with either Adobe or Kelby. I believe both are a great value.

Good Luck,

Roger
 
Use Lightroom as your primary tool both to manage your images (because it has builtin "digital asset management") and also to perform all image "adjustments". Take the images as far as you can in Lightroom -- you'll likely find that for the majority of images, you can do everything you need to do to an image without leaving Lightroom (and that's the intent behind it.)

However... if you need stronger editing (e.g. trying to build a composite image or apply strong artistic effects -- more hard-core "editing" rather than just "adjusting") then take the image into Photoshop.

That's why the two come bundled together.

Lightroom is designed for "photographers" whereas Photoshop has features designed for "publishers" and "digital artists". To use Photoshop non-destructively, you have to create layers on top of your base image and make adjustments only in those layers. Performing selections, creating layers, and layer masks, etc. and then performing adjustments or edits within those layers takes longer than making an adjustment in Lightroom. Lightroom doesn't have a concept of "layers" per se... but it's as if every adjustment is it's own layer because you change any adjustment you've performed and you can do this at any time and it will be independent of every other adjustment you've made. It's as-if every adjustment is it's own "layer" without the fuss of making and managing layers. While it takes longer to get a change made in Photoshop, Photoshop ultimately can do much more than Lightroom. But if you're a "photographer" and not a "digital artist" then you're unlikely to need Photoshop very often.
 

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