Lightroom or Photoshop?

[winstix]

Hi Everyone,

Years ago I used PS CS2 but did not go into layers or masks as I had difficulty learning the process.
Just wondering whether Lightroom 4 would be simpler or are both programs necessary?
My daughter has given me PS CS5 which is somewhat overwhelming.
Any suggestions welcome. I mainly shoot jpegs.
Thanks!

[WhoDo]

Definitely go with Lightroom and if you buy LR4 now you should get a free upgrade to LR5 which is due out soon. LR5 will allow content-aware cloning, so for most of us it will be all we'll ever need.

[Epoc]

If you already have PS5, use it. Why spend more money on LR? There are plenty of tutorials online. I had no idea on using layers and masks, but after reading and watching videos, I am now very confident with PS.

[WhoDo]

Why spend more money on LR?

I take your point, Ian, but many of us don't want to spend our time in front of the computer and LR is much quicker and more intuitive than PS in terms of processing. What's more, LR5 Beta is available now for FREE download - try before you buy. I have both, but 99% of my time is spent in LR and after LR5 I suspect that will go up to 99.95%.

[salnel]

My choice would be Lightroom..I find it easier and quicker and with the new features in lt 5 , as waz said, all you would need.

[ameerat42]

I fear our OP is overwhelmed by the finely divided choice!!!
m.

[Stingray]

After using PS for the last 10+ years and very confident in it's use, I used LR late last year to see "what the fuss was about" as I had a few friends talking about it and now I rarely open PS.. LOL
I find it alot easier and intuitive to use

[peterking]

just to stuff it up I use both.
LR is my image management system whilst CS6 is my major editing platform.
You do need to understand that they are intended for different purposes.
I download using LR and do the majority of quick edits in it then if I need to, into CS6 for finer or more major edits.

[Transformer]

I am a Photoshop user from way back. When Lightroom was released, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Finally, I gave Lightroom 4 a go and have not looked back ... but if I had a choice of one package only, Photoshop would win my vote simply because it is so versatile.

[Dylan & Marianne]

I'm with Peter - LR is definitely my cataloguing tool of choice and platform for simple initial edits
complex stuff and polishing for web presentation etc all done through photoshop

[Tommo1965]

I might give LR another look...i've been using Capture one for a year or so..and not touched my copy of LR3..but looking at the cloning options thats LR5 is making it interesting to me..

what other features are you guys using in LR4 that 3 did not have ?

[Irru]

Darktable might be worth trying out before buying Lightroom. It looks remarkably similar, and is free. Maybe trial LR at the same time and compare them.

[salnel]

A couple of things that I like..it shows up any spots or dust bunnies to make cloning them out really easy and there is a whole new section which corrects the perspective of your shots. It is free to trial and there are some excellent tutorials which explain all the other parts that I haven't investigated yet

[WhoDo]

what other features are you guys using in LR4 that 3 did not have ?

Between LR3 and LR4+ there is a whole new way of dealing with shadows and highlights, Steve. It is MUCH easier to adjust shadows independently of highlights from LR4 onwards. The combination of adjustment brush and/or graduated filter tool + shadow-highlight adjustment means LR4 is leaps and bounds ahead of LR3 and LR5 takes that to the next level as well. Hope that helps.

[salnel]

Sorry,Steve..should have said that these new features are in Lr 5 which is still a beta

[Tommo1965]

ive downloaded the beta version of LR5..so far im pretty impressed....being able to clone in a raw editor is very nice...also the radial mask is good for vignettes...ive also leant about the adjustment brush overlay , which I didn't know about before..makes seeing where you using the brush much easier ...also love the history feature that LR has...capture one lacks this and its a pain if you want to take a few steps back on a edit

I need to test it a bit more yet to know if I want to pay for the software and switch from capture one

[wanelad]

There you go step out the ring for a few years and takes a bit to catch up, I purchased Elements 11 thinking it was an update of LR but just now figured its not at all

Enjoying it regardless

[WhoDo]

Just installed the full LR5 release (out today). Happy camper here.

[pghollis1]

I have LR3.6 and PS CS5. I would use LR for 100% of my shots. It really is all you need, unless you want to get creative, such as merging photos or removing objects (although LR5 has a feature to help with this now). I use PS for perhaps 5% of shots. If I upgrade to LR5 then this may be even less. But I have noticed that us Aussies have to pay $99 for our upgrade compared to $79 for the US customers....Hmmmm.

[ricktas]

Whatever you decide. Go and get yourself a copy of the Scott Kelby book for your chosen software. Either his 'Adobe photoshop CS5 for digital photographers' or his 'Adobe lightroom 4 for digital photographers' and start at the beginning of the book and work your way through it. I can state that if you follow along through the relevant book, you will find your photo management and editing skills jumping ahead.