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Lightroom Or Photoshop

lightroom

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22 replies to this topic

#1
iNYONi

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I'm thinking of moving my post processing to Lightroom. I currently have Photoshop CS6.
Can anyone provide pro's and cons for using this as I havent had use of Lightroom before.

 

Thanks



#2
Merco_61

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Lightroom is primarily a DAM solution, even if you can do most edits a newspaper editor would approve, It is quick and easy to learn as all the bells and whistles PS has for the graphic artist isn't in the way. Bridge does most of the basic tagging you might need, but LR does it better.The strength, and weakness, of LR lies in the use of a database to keep track and do all edits non-destructively. For more difficult files where you need maximum control over what ACR does, PS is much superior, but you can send the edit over to PS if needed.



#3
TBonz

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I started with LR and as Peter said, it is primarily designed as a catalog and DAM, but editing within LR is quick and easy and allows pretty much any basic editing that would be approved for print.  And, it is easy to go from an image in LR to editing it in PS if you decide you want more features.  I lucked into a series of 2 one day classes that were offered - one covered using LR to catalog and easily find / retrieve images and the other covered basic editing and the presets that were available for bulk imports and exports and other features.  I really need to learn more about PS, but haven't taken the time yet.  One of those items on my to-do list that I know will benefit me over time but isn't something critical that I've pushed to do yet.  I guess LR is a bit more intuitive for me, but that might be because I had the opportunity to learn it.  I do think it was easy to pick up though so not too steep a learning curve.



#4
deano

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I'm with Tbonz, just haven't taken the time to learn PS yet.  LR seems to service my needs at present, but full well knowing the advantages of PS.



#5
nbanjogal

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So...why not both? The Creative Cloud subscription for both is $10 (US) per month, which doesn't seem like too much when you will always have updates to the software. (I hated the subscription  model at first, but it has grown on me.) 

 

If I could only have one though, I'd probably go with Photoshop because it's better for retouching skin, compositing, and cloning out unwanted objects (and many other things!). I can do the same type of basic editing in Adobe Camera Raw that I do in Lightroom, so I could do without LR if I needed to. (Cataloging would be nightmare though...) 

 

That being said, I absolutely love Lightroom and can't quite imagine being without it. I do the bulk of my editing in Lightroom and then go to Photoshop for final touches. My workflow includes both.

 

 

PS: As Tbonz said, LR is much, much easier to learn than Photoshop. Very intuitive. I learned the basics over a weekend when I had tons and tons of wedding images to process and PS workflow was just taking me much too long.



#6
Merco_61

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One good reason for using Lightroom instead of Bridge after upgrading to CC is that Bridge no longer has the contact sheet module. A3 contact sheets with 40 photos per sheet is one of the fastest ways to get an overview when you are home from doing an event and you have 500 or so technically usable files to work on. I tend to batch edit, but I need to identify what photos need similar processing. 

 

The Export panel is no longer a part of Bridge either, which makes choosing LR even more of a no-brainer. 

 

I still don't like the subscription model as it will cost me money as I used to do only the even numbers in the upgrade cycle. On the other hand, I do so little graphic design that I can make do with CS6 Master and only subsribe to PS and LR.



#7
Ron

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I'm also a convert to Adobe's Photography Plan. I resisted their subscription model for a long time but now, with the exception of Type Kit (which I need but so far haven't sprung for), I'm completely won over.

 

I do the bulk of my work in Lightroom... it's my first stop (after uploading my images manually to the computer). I'm (slowly) training myself to spend a good bit of time cataloging my images... assigning key words, etc., before even thinking about the develop module. When I do finally enter Develop, I find that I can do most of my image correcting right there without going any further. Usually, the exceptions will be on those occasions when I need to fix something major ... errant telephone poles and trash cans... etc.  Lightroom can do some of this but layers in Photoshop does, for me at least, a much better job.

 

If I had to chose between the two of them, I guess I'd pick Lighroom. It's just so versatile. And, I couldn't live without it's cataloging ability. But, as Nicole said, the Photography Plan is fairly painless so why not have them both at your disposal? 

 

--Ron



#8
etphoto

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I guess it depends on the number of images you are processing at once.  I would say the biggest advantage of LR is speed.    Just a few images, PS is ok I guess (I'd still use LR).  But, if you are going to process more than 25 images, I'd use LR any day. 

 

What Nikonian said. Why not use both?



#9
iNYONi

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Thanks for all your comments, I think I'll have a look at using both and see how it goes. I like the idea or processing the files in LR then doing more complex work in Photoshop. I'm trired of working my way through hundreds of images in photoshop and spending a week doing it.

 

Thanks



#10
TBonz

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One piece that I added to my process a few years ago is PhotoMechanic.  Definitely not a requirement by any means and not something I use all the time.  But, it was recommended to me so I grabbed the free trial and saw some benefits - mostly for situations where you have a large number of images as I do when shooting a game.  That is fairly frequent for me and it is fairly inexpensive (with free upgrades so far) so I grabbed it.  It is actually a very powerful tool that many photojournalists are required to use to caption and upload their images to their publisher.  I don't really have that issue but it is a very useful tool to perform your first cull of images.  I open a contact sheet with all the images and then open a separate window with the first image close to full screen.  I go through each image that way marking the ones I want for further review / processing.  Once I've gone through all the images I select all of the unmarked images and get them out of the way - they will get backed up just in case and then deleted.  I now have the remaining images that I import into LR and start my "real" processing.  Sounds crazy but I can go through 1000 images within 15-20 minutes that way which saves quite a bit of time.  



#11
Merco_61

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One thing to remember with PhotoMechanic is that it is made for PJ-style jpg shooting. It is a wonderful tool in that situation but it is slow with raw files on a mac and doesn't handle nef files at all under Windows. I use it for quick culling and sometimes captioning as well when I have to shoot high-volume in jpg. 



#12
RossCumming

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Hey Rob, I use both LR and PS.

 

100% of my images are imported into LR and catalogued there. Most of my processing is done in LR (in conjunction with Google Nik Efex suite integrated into LR). 98% of my images never touch PS and are suitable for use after LR processing, however, there are occasions where I do feel I have to use PS and it works very well. My workflow utilises PS AFTER the image has been through LR (usually an exported TIFF file). I am not massively into image manipulation so the endless possibiliies PS offers for this is just not of interest to me personally. I do find the content-aware tool in PS fantastic for taking out those annoying power lines or fence wires that always seem to be in the most inconsiderate locations.

 

I would say that for me, having both LR and PS complementing each other suits me just fine but with the greater majority of my work only going through LR. I do find LR much easier to use, especially for someone like me who is a hobbyist and not having the time to spend in front of a MAC/PC to learn the monster that is PS! I take my hat off to those who are skilled in PS and what they can do with it. maybe one day I will have the time to learn it :-)



#13
TBonz

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Even with NEF files on my Mac I find PM at least twice as fast as LR for that first cull - which is a fairly significant cull when shooting sports...but yes, it is JPG in Windows as I recall and definitely a tool made primarily for photojournalists!



#14
Russ

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As far as editing goes I think I'm correct in saying that LR has pretty much the same controls as Camera Raw in PS. Can someone confirm?



#15
Ron

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As far as editing goes I think I'm correct in saying that LR has pretty much the same controls as Camera Raw in PS. Can someone confirm?

 

Yep, they're functionally equivalent.

 

--Ron



#16
Merco_61

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As far as editing goes I think I'm correct in saying that LR has pretty much the same controls as Camera Raw in PS. Can someone confirm?

 

LR and PS both use Adobe Camera Raw, but PS gives more control in some instances. For example, LR doesn't have point manipulation of the tone curve, only parametric. There are some other detail differences where the PS UI is different. The basic control set is there in both applications, though.



#17
iNYONi

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Hey Rob, I use both LR and PS.

 

100% of my images are imported into LR and catalogued there. Most of my processing is done in LR (in conjunction with Google Nik Efex suite integrated into LR). 98% of my images never touch PS and are suitable for use after LR processing, however, there are occasions where I do feel I have to use PS and it works very well. My workflow utilises PS AFTER the image has been through LR (usually an exported TIFF file). I am not massively into image manipulation so the endless possibiliies PS offers for this is just not of interest to me personally. I do find the content-aware tool in PS fantastic for taking out those annoying power lines or fence wires that always seem to be in the most inconsiderate locations.

 

I would say that for me, having both LR and PS complementing each other suits me just fine but with the greater majority of my work only going through LR. I do find LR much easier to use, especially for someone like me who is a hobbyist and not having the time to spend in front of a MAC/PC to learn the monster that is PS! I take my hat off to those who are skilled in PS and what they can do with it. maybe one day I will have the time to learn it :-)

Thanks Ross, I've setup my Adobe Photography Plan, I'll have a play with LR at the weekend and see how I get on. I wish I had the time to really get to know photoshop. I should maybe make that one of my objectives for the coming year.



#18
RossCumming

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Hey Rob, I think from a previous conversation some time back you said you were not too fussed about joining a camera club but if you ever want to consider hooking up with local photographers out with the formalities of a club (and associated fees), I am linked in to Forth Valley Photographers Network (closed Facebook page) who meet in Alloa coffee shop every 2nd weekend for a blether and talk all things photo related or not! It's very good for chatting with guys from different backgrounds (club /non-club backgrounds) and many of the guys organise days out either in the field or even rent a studio and model anywhere in the central belt from Stirlung through Falkirk as far out as Glasgow.
Some of the guys may bring a laptop with them to the Sunday morning coffee meet if anyone has something they want to know how to do.

#19
dcbear78

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Hey Rob, I think from a previous conversation some time back you said you were not too fussed about joining a camera club but if you ever want to consider hooking up with local photographers out with the formalities of a club (and associated fees), I am linked in to Forth Valley Photographers Network (closed Facebook page) who meet in Alloa coffee shop every 2nd weekend for a blether and talk all things photo related or not! It's very good for chatting with guys from different backgrounds (club /non-club backgrounds) and many of the guys organise days out either in the field or even rent a studio and model anywhere in the central belt from Stirlung through Falkirk as far out as Glasgow.
Some of the guys may bring a laptop with them to the Sunday morning coffee meet if anyone has something they want to know how to do.

This type of thing is always good. For a couple years I was admin of my local group and we focused on getting together for photo walks. The experienced always are happy to help out the newer people.

#20
Ron

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And.... this morning I get a notification that Adobe has 4 updates for me. This is the one part of Adobe's subscription schema I could live without.

 

I don't mind the updates. That's not the problem... except when the updates screw things up the way the last ones did. The problem is, of course, all the hair pulling (fortunately, there isn't much left) that ensues with each update. The pattern is usually that I'll give the Adobe Creative Cloud app the go ahead to install the new updates... which it will happily do, always getting to about 50% before stopping and declaring what it's downloaded so far to be corrupt. I go through the same routine with each update... with the same results. Sometimes it throws up an error, sometimes not. The fix, for me at least, seems to be a restart after which the updates continue as if nothing had happened.  We'll see what happens this time.

 

Oh, and I think this affects winders users more that you apple types. At least I see more whining from my side of the aisle.

 

--Ron







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