Questions to Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 users

I use LR3 for about 85% of my processing work because its so streamlined in the editing\organizing areas. Adjusting color, sharpness, dodging, burning, adding vignettes, etc, all stuff easily done in LR. What used to take hours to edit and organize in Photoshop, takes minutes in LR.

When it comes time to do any more hardcore editing, special effects or filters, heavy cloning, lots of skin retouching or for any HDR work, I look to CS5. The content aware healing\cloning is simply awesome and I hope they implement it into LR in the future, though the LR selective editing tools are no slouch either.

Ill admit though...the more versions of LR that come out, the less and less I use Photoshop! As a stand alone product, I think most photographers could get by in the majority of situations with LR3 alone.
 
OK, I am missing something and I did ask the question so I wouldn't waste money; although $80 will not bankrupt me. I understand that ACR is in both programs but whenever I have read here that someone does something, the comment is LR is easier and faster; I am only going by what I've read.

Your comment of "a photographer really needs both Lightroom and Photoshop" doesn't make sense to me as you then say I'm buying the same thing twice.

As I said originally, I was under the impression that LR did the ACR (just like PS), organized photos and made slide shows, not sure if it does anything else. It seems that LR can do batch runs of photos; I doubt if this is something that will be used that often with him if at all.

I'm looking for guidance here from people who use these programs and have way more experience than I for that guidance.

He was told they would be using Photoshop so I got him that and plan on getting him Lightroom for easier manipulation.

Thanks for all your input!
That's fine. It's only money after all.


However, I think you've missed the key points.
  • Lightroom doesn't provide easier manipulation of digital photos than CS5 does. Again, because both use the same editing application ACR 6.2.
  • ACR is a separate part of Photoshop, why buy the same thing twice, which is what you'll be doing by getting Lightroom too.
In fact, Lightroom is more difficult to use for image management, because it is database management software, not a browser. Bridge, which is included with CS5 is a browser.
 
Lets put another, less confusing way. If I had to pick one on features and raw editing horsepower alone, it would be CS5. If I had to pick one based merely on convenience, speed and ease of use from a Photographers standpoint, LR3 is a no-brainer.

Anyone can sit in front of LR and edit photos after about a minutes worth of navigation instruction and have a good grasp on what its capable of. On the other hand, Ive been using various versions of Photoshop fairly extensively for the last 6 years and still to this day, I find new things it can do or have to reference a book, the internet or instructional video on how to do a certain task.

Think of LR3 as a basic editor\organizer(which I dont care what anyone says, it still functions better as this compared to Photoshop IMO) and Photoshop as your serious workhorse when you need serious in-depth editing.
 
Your comment of "a photographer really needs both Lightroom and Photoshop" doesn't make sense to me as you then say I'm buying the same thing twice.

As I said originally, I was under the impression that LR did the ACR (just like PS), organized photos and made slide shows, not sure if it does anything else. It seems that LR can do batch runs of photos; I doubt if this is something that will be used that often with him if at all.

I'm looking for guidance here from people who use these programs and have way more experience than I for that guidance.
It is my fault for not making it clear that Lightroom was designed and intended for working photographers that produce 1000+ client images a month, and have a need to manage those digital image assests. Lightroom was designed by Adobe to be used as a workflow suppliment to Photoshop CS.

Photoshop is needed to edit pixels, which Lightroom cannot do.

The workflow and digital asset database management features of Lightroom are not needed by your son for his photography class.

ACR, Bridge, and the tools and features of Photoshop CS5 that apply to editing photographic images is plenty.

By the way -
ACR can batch process, as can Bridge, and CS5.
 
What you just said is what I understood from reading past posts here.

Lets put another, less confusing way. If I had to pick one on features and raw editing horsepower alone, it would be CS5. If I had to pick one based merely on convenience and ease of use from a Photographers standpoint, LR3 is a no-brainer.

Anyone can sit in front of LR and edit photos after about a minutes worth of navigation instruction and have a good grasp on what its capable of. On the other hand, Ive been using various versions of Photoshop fairly extensively for the last 6 years and still to this day, I find new things it can do or have to reference a book, the internet or instructional video on how to do a certain task.

Think of LR3 as a basic editor\organizer(which I dont care what anyone says, it still functions better as this compared to Photoshop) and Photoshop as your serious workhorse when you need serious in-depth editing.
 
OK, now this is making more sense.

Your comment of "a photographer really needs both Lightroom and Photoshop" doesn't make sense to me as you then say I'm buying the same thing twice.

As I said originally, I was under the impression that LR did the ACR (just like PS), organized photos and made slide shows, not sure if it does anything else. It seems that LR can do batch runs of photos; I doubt if this is something that will be used that often with him if at all.

I'm looking for guidance here from people who use these programs and have way more experience than I for that guidance.
It is my fault for not making it clear that Lightroom was designed and intended for working photographers that produce 1000+ client images a month, and have a need to manage those digital image assests. Lightroom was designed by Adobe to be used as a workflow suppliment to Photoshop CS.

Photoshop is needed to edit pixels, which Lightroom cannot do.

The workflow and digital asset database management features of Lightroom are not needed by your son for his photography class.

ACR, Bridge, and the tools and features of Photoshop CS5 that apply to editing photographic images is plenty.

By the way -
ACR can batch process, as can Bridge, and CS5.
 

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