Lightroom 4 vs Photoshop CS6

11 years 2 months ago #268920 by PMurphy
If you only had budget to get one of these. Which would you jump on first?


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11 years 2 months ago #268922 by garyrhook
You can do an awful lot in LR, but you can't do everything.

You can do an awrul lot in PS, but you can't do quite everything.

LR has amazing editing features coupled with file management features. It rocks.

PS doesn't have the file management capabilities, but is of course far more powerful.

Your best bet is to download a trial copy of each (one at a time) and use it for several days or a few weeks. Then decide which has more immediate value.


Gary

www.grhookphoto.com
facebook.com/grhookphoto


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11 years 2 months ago - 11 years 2 months ago #268971 by Joves
Well Gary nailed it.
Here are some questions you have to ask yourself.
First what do you want to do?
Is it just basically standard photo processing?
Or do you want to have the ability to do art work, or things past just processing?
Last time I used LR was when it first came out, and all it was good for was processing, so I do not know how much more they added.
I started with PS because I was heavily into photo manipulation over processing. Was nice that I could do some adjustments as well, but not really a dedicated post work tool, well till ACR.
Also is this your first program, and are you fairly good at picking them up?
This is the more important question. If you have used image editing software before, then you have a head start. If you have not really used it, then go with LR. PS/CS has a steep learning curve, which means a high cuss rate when learning it, I know that was the case when I first started. Again if you want something that you can just pickup and use get LR.
Better yet my advice is you download the trial versions from Adobe, and see which one you like the best, there is also Elements as well that is even easier than those two but not quite as powerful.


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11 years 2 months ago - 11 years 2 months ago #268978 by garyrhook
:agree:

I forgot to mention that LR integrates with PS, allowing you to do a large amount of work in LR, then pop into PS to do more complex tasks. You can always add PS later when you need its expanded capabilities.

What I also may not have been clear about is that LR provides wonderful image management features. It's way cool.

And if you're on a budget, consider acquiring a copy of LR3 (eBay, etc) and an older PS (CS5 or CS4). A forum posting here on PT pointed to Adobe's ftp server, where you can download any version you like, you just can't activate without a license. That means you can get a free 30 day trial of any of them. Older version may be perfectly adequate for your needs.


Gary

www.grhookphoto.com
facebook.com/grhookphoto


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11 years 2 months ago - 11 years 2 months ago #269217 by Henry Peach
I've been upgrading my Photoshop, but if I were starting from new I'd go with Lightroom. It covers 99.9% of my processing needs, and I could get the rest from an old version of Photoshop or Gimp or something else. As long as Adobe allows me to upgrade every 2 or 3 years for about $200 I'll stick with Photoshop. If they want more than that I'm going to Lightroom.

Lightroom covers all the fundamental image processing that photographers typically need: exposure, contrast, color, sharpening, noise reduction, vignette, lens corrections, etc... It's local adjustment brush has become very versatile allowing burning and dodging not only of exposure, but contrast, micro-contrast, sharpness, saturation, color, etc... The healing brush cleans up any blemishes that can be fixed with a round brush. Beyond pimples I find it does a pretty good job of removing distracting background elements. If you want to do HDR, stitching multiple photos, blending multiple exposures, photomontage, etc... you will need something more than Lightroom. There are other options besides Photoshop.
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11 years 2 months ago #269220 by Lightpuller
Why not both? If you can afford PS get that first, then get Lightroom with some spare money you have laying about?!


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