PS - Lightroom

[Mircula]

Hey,

i just got photoshop cs4. Before I was only using lightroom 3.

It seems that there are a lot of functions which are similar in these two programs.

I was wondering which of the adjustments you do in lightroom and which you go to ps to.

For instance all the basic adjustments in Lightroom. I am not sure at what point I should swap to PS, or if I should at all. Or is it better to use PS just for special adjustments for specific photos?

Would be really interested how you guys use these 2 programs in conjunction.

Cheers,

Mirc

[etherial]

I do 99% in Lightroom and only go to Photoshop if I have something specific to do that Lightroom can't.

[dieselpower]

I do 99% in Lightroom and only go to Photoshop if I have something specific to do that Lightroom can't.

Same here.

[kiwi]

For me it depends what I am doing, Id echo that I do as much in LR as I can then only take to PS if there are things that LR is not that good at and i need to use layers, some plug-ins that I like, add texr etc

[Allann]

Think of LR as PS for photographers. It does 99.9% of things a photographer requires during pp. PS is used when the artist needs to come out. Before people start to shout, I am generalizing.

I catalog and process all my images in LR to make them as close a documentary image as possible to what I saw. Then and only then, will I work on them further, sometimes in LR or I'll use PS to add textures, cloning, composites, etc. I also use other plug-ins like nik software which can also be started from LR.


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[Mircula]

Very interesting. Thanks for the comments. I am just thinking if it is worse learning photoshop. It is sooo much to learn and would probably take a lot of time.

And 1% is not really much i guess.

On the other hand i would assume that most of the images who win any competitions for instance were somehow processed in ps, or?

[kiwi]

no, not at all

[William]

I'm the same, 99% Lightroom 3, And in CS5 (Photoshop) I like the new "Content Aware" feature for cleaning up the Image,Also if you want to add a Digital frame , No you don't have to have PS to win Comps

[Mircula]

well fair enough, maybe i overrated the photoshop thing a bit. Should probably just stick to Lightroom and learn all its features instead of trying to to teach myself ps.

Thanks for the responses and would be interesting how other people use their lr and ps.....

[Darinpix]

I am in the minority here - I PS every image, generally to dodge and burn and adjust contrast levels and curve tweaks. I use LR to catalog and edit down, and also to batch apply colour corrections. I use a select few Totally Rad actions as well - subtly I hope!

I would kinda like to do more in LR, but I have been using PS for so long I have it customized exactly to my liking - almost everything has a tweakable action assigned to a function key.

LR is great for exporting images for print or web display though.

[Mircula]

Thank you for all the comments. very informative. I might not need to get into photoshop so much afterall

Any more comments would be great !

[dt86vyss]

Lightroom has been designed to "do it all". Now with the image noise reduction built in, i notice i never have the need for the PS software any more. LR3 is more than sufficient.

However, if you are looking at adding masks and layers to your images for effects such as lights, smoky scenes and foggy conditions then PS CS4 is great for all that.

[jjhtt]

been reading through the lightroom threads...and I'm torn...If one was to have the opportunity to purchase cs5 or lr3, what would one go for. I have cs2 installed, but it doesn't support NEF, so I was thinking about keeping it for the fun stuff and buying lightroom for the majority of PP, whats yer thoughts? I can get both programs at a student price...my degree finishes at the end of the year!

[kiwi]

Well, they are complimentary products. I do most of my work on lr but if I need to do cloning, masking, layers, text, composites, etc I use Photoshop

Lr can't do any of that really, but you may not need to either

[jjhtt]

thanks kiwi...think I might go ahead with lR and keep the old cs2 for playing..

[kiwi]

Yes

Yiu can trial lr3 for 90 days, see how you go without using cs2

[Longshots]

been reading through the lightroom threads...and I'm torn...If one was to have the opportunity to purchase cs5 or lr3, what would one go for. I have cs2 installed, but it doesn't support NEF, so I was thinking about keeping it for the fun stuff and buying lightroom for the majority of PP, whats yer thoughts? I can get both programs at a student price...my degree finishes at the end of the year!

Although not a Nikon user, CS2, if its a legit version, should be able to be updated to support NEF files ?

[wolffman]

been reading through the lightroom threads...and I'm torn...If one was to have the opportunity to purchase cs5 or lr3, what would one go for. I have cs2 installed, but it doesn't support NEF, so I was thinking about keeping it for the fun stuff and buying lightroom for the majority of PP, whats yer thoughts? I can get both programs at a student price...my degree finishes at the end of the year!

Be careful dropping a lot of cash on Adobe products if your student days are coming to a close. They are very protective of their student licenses now and you may find that your license is only good for the period of time for which you hold the student ID. You will need to supply copies of your ID to Adobe and they will then issue you a product key code. You might want to look into that a little more.

LR3 trial is only for 30 days, I'm using it at the moment. Its pretty powerful and can do a lot of stuff pretty quickly. I get the impression that the guys using just PS can skin the same cat in a different way, but the layers and cloning stuff for PS is in a different league.
I'm getting a LR3 in a weeks time from a crowd in the states and its only around $250Au. Look for them on eBay.

[jbee]

Great thread

I have been torn on this issue too, Lightroom 3 is actually affordable but CS5 is affordable for Students and Pro Photographers who can make a living from it, ohh and teachers - lord only knows why they get a blanket discount as only a small% teach arts, but for the average guy in the street over $2k for software is insane.

My mind is made up finally after reading this thread, it's Lightroom 3 and what i save i can spend on other bits.

Thanks to all for a very informative discussion.

[jjhtt]

just spoke with adobe....license is valid for as long as you own the software.....happy days.