photoshop V lightroom comments pls

[MauiScubaSteve]

hi can someone explain whats the difference between photoshop and lightroom, im currently using an old PS to edit my underwater pics but was wondering if i should move to lightroom now ive got my new set up....S95 and recsea housing....i want to sort my pics the best i can....any suggestions please

Since we have no idea what computer mantababe is using, but since she uses an "old PS to edit" it seems kind of presumptuous to worry about Elements 9 / Windows 7.

I have Lightroom and Photoshop and have barely scratched the surface of what they can do. It's silly to spend the money for a super complex tool if you don't need it. Photoshop Elements V9 is not reliable, according to reviews at Amazon. The last reliable version was PSE V7 but that's not good with Win7.

I bought my Elements 4 (mac), w/ Users Guide book, off eBay; $20 shipped to Hawaii. mantababe is familiar with photoshop, so editing with Elements 4-7 should not be super complex for her. A major question in the OP concerns sorting.

Photoscape is a fun and easy photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance photos.

That web page does not list "sorting" as one of the "key features."

Perhaps better answers would come if we did know what computer mantababe is using.

System requirements
Windows

* Intel® Pentium® 4 processor or equivalent
* Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 3; Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (32 bit and 64 bit); or Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit)
* 2GB of RAM
* 1GB of available hard-disk space
* 1,024x768 display
* CD-ROM drive

Mac OS

* Intel processor
* Mac OS X v10.5 or v10.6
* 2GB of RAM
* 1GB of available hard-disk space
* 1,024x768 display
* CD-ROM drive

 

[slowhands]

hi can someone explain whats the difference between photoshop and lightroom, im currently using an old PS to edit my underwater pics but was wondering if i should move to lightroom now ive got my new set up....S95 and recsea housing....i want to sort my pics the best i can....any suggestions please

What's the difference between Photoshop and Lightroom? That is a big question. Both will do photo editing and sorting. Lightroom is much easier to use, but won't do the extreme professional editing Photoshop does. Lightroom is much better for sorting, though. Photoshop is more expensive and hard to use, but does more photo editing if you need the ultimate features. That's the simplistic answer, it's much more complex in fact.

Photoshop costs say $600, Lightroom say $300. You can download both free from Adobe and try them. If you are a student or employee of a school, you can buy the Academic version for 1/3 the price, same thing.

I have and use both. I guess I use Lightroom more for sorting and simple image editing, say 95% of the time. Once in a while, I need Photoshop to do really complex edits. One very good thing about Lightroom is that it does not modify your original image, just the steps you take to modify it, so you won't lose the original if you goof up.

I think Lightroom and Photoshop are overkill for most users. I probably use only a small portion of the capabilities of Lightroom, and an even smaller portion of the capabilities of Photoshop. For my friends who are not so experienced, I recommend other free software that does most of the same things for free. Photoscape, Paint.net, irfanview, and Gimpshop are all free and very good.

If you happen to be shooting RAW, your camera maker supplies software to convert to Jpeg, which is universally understood. With PS or LR, you need the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw to read your RAW images.

In the world of photo journalism, shooters need much faster tools for sorting their images. So there are a whole bunch of programs that just sort, but do it well.
Photomechanic is one:
Welcome to Camera Bits, Inc.

Another program that is a fast sorter and decent editor is ACDSee:
ACD Systems International Online Store - ACDSee Pro 3 Photo Manager

 

[mantababe]

thanks for all your help, i do also have elements 7 on my laptop altho not used it as have stuck with PS but may start on the elements. tried to copy my laptops details but couldnt do it. however, i have downloaded the free trial of lightroom and it seems to work fine.


i like the slide show option on there which im sure will be better than the current one i use MAGIX

 

[Craig Hoover]

CS4 is excellent for merging the capabilities of a painting program with the best photo editing on the market. The painting capabilities in Lightroom are stone age by comparison. CS4 also runs much quicker on extensive projects.

This said, I use Lightroom for all quick/batch editing. I pick out only the best shot of the day to touch up in CS4. I also prefer the Library options in Lightroom. When using CS4 it is necessary to run Bridge (outside software included with CS4) to navigate through a catalog.

 

[lmorin]

LightRoom has two fairly discrete components. One is its function as a database and the other is its function as an image editor. For the most part, they do not overlap. Most important (and, I think not mentioned above) is the fact that all editing done in LR is non-destructive. That is, the database keeps a record of the current edited status of each image and shows you that state, but allows you to always revert to the original if you so desire.

In addition, LR is designed to allow re-naming of images, creation of virtual copies, use of arbitrary and alphabetical sorting criteria when searching for images. It allows creation of real and virtual folders ("collections") in which images or virtual copies can be stored.

As someone wrote above, LR will allow you to do a very large proportion of your editing (all non-destructive). I use it primarily for white balance, cropping and exposure. I typically only use PS if there is a real purpose for the particular image (e.g., other people are going to see it and defects need to be removed or a portion of an image is to be extracted and used for some other purpose).

Both programs are outstanding products, although I use LR 20:1 more than PS.

 

[Uncle Pug]

LightRoom has two fairly discrete components. One is its function as a database and the other is its function as an image editor.

Most comparisons I see of Photoshop vs Lightroom seem to focus on image editing vs image cataloging. And it is true that Lightroom does a good job on the first and is excellent on the latter.

However output, or how a person actually plans to use the images is not usually discussed and for me at least, this is where Lightroom really shines and why Photoshop has become merely an infrequently used plug-in.

I can have Lightroom pull together a collection of images, apply a watermark to them and export them to CD as .jpg files or have those same images built into a flash gallery and uploaded to my FTP server or have a slideshow built sync'd to music and exported in several different file formats. I can even have Lightroom take those images and put together a ready to print photopackage.

All of those could be accomplish by separate programs but Lightroom does it all as well as the image cataloging and editing.

So, when considering which program(s) to get it would be good to think about your Editing needs, your Cataloging needs and your Output needs and weigh the importance of each in your decision. I hope this helps.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Most important (and, I think not mentioned above) is the fact that all editing done in LR is non-destructive. That is, the database keeps a record of the current edited status of each image and shows you that state, but allows you to always revert to the original if you so desire.

Not sure about newer Elements, but I was paying attention to my Elements 4 the other day and when I "save as" the only raw file option is photoshop raw; no dng, no "camera" raw of any brand. If all the originals are camera raw or dng and you only save with "save as" the original is never changed.

 

[mantababe]

Most comparisons I see of Photoshop vs Lightroom seem to focus on image editing vs image cataloging. And it is true that Lightroom does a good job on the first and is excellent on the latter.

However output, or how a person actually plans to use the images is not usually discussed and for me at least, this is where Lightroom really shines and why Photoshop has become merely an infrequently used plug-in.

I can have Lightroom pull together a collection of images, apply a watermark to them and export them to CD as .jpg files or have those same images built into a flash gallery and uploaded to my FTP server or have a slideshow built sync'd to music and exported in several different file formats. I can even have Lightroom take those images and put together a ready to print photopackage.

All of those could be accomplish by separate programs but Lightroom does it all as well as the image cataloging and editing.

So, when considering which program(s) to get it would be good to think about your Editing needs, your Cataloging needs and your Output needs and weigh the importance of each in your decision. I hope this helps.

thanks for that i think youve just sold LR to me :cool2:

 

[Uncle Pug]

thanks for that i think youve just sold LR to me :cool2:

While it wasn't supposed to be a sales pitch I'm glad the extra considerations helped you make a decision on which product will work best for you.

 

[kaaralex]

LR and PS are different tools for different tasks.

LR is extremely efficient for MANAGING all those thousands pics, with some useful (i prefer this word to commonly used "basic") editing included. (see below example...)
What i like most is that u can manage multiple (up to thousands) of pic in batch. So with a few clicks, everything is organised, tagged, stored and (basically) edited. In this view, LR is a GREAT return on your investment, coz it saves u hundreds of hours of time previously spent in Explorer/Finder, Bridge and all kinds of "into-which-folder-should-i-put-this-and.how.to.rename.the.smaller.JPEG.from.that.RAW" software...

In my understanding, and on my very basic PS level (which i guess is also a level of anybody asking "LS or PS" question), PS is for a serious EDITING of a single picture. I've always got this pblm with PS: it is powerful like a big Asian factory full of workers. All tools and skills are there. However, in order to use it, u need to learn Chinese or Vietnamese first to get your results out of it.
From this point of view, LR is like a factory that looks smaller at the very first look, but that is very efficient and that has an English speaking person there for you.

One last word: do NOT try to use LR without learning. There are a couple of good books both printed and online, get any of them and arrange for two longer afternoons to use them. Do NOT jump into it, "Ok, let's open it and let's see what's going to happen." LR is really very easy to use, but (BUT) u have to do your homework FIRST.

Hv fun!