Hi, I been using Corel Photoshop Pro X5... I said to myself its about time to switch over to Adobe. So I purchases LR4 about a month ago. I wasn't aware that LR5 was out. I have upgraded LR4 to the new update 4.4.. My question and help needed is what to do. I need to learn about LR, with books, tips & videos. But before I do all this learning should I update to LR5 and learn that ? I have asked Adobe to help me do something on the upgrade to LR5 because I just purchased LR4 a month ago in a retail package.. But no response for over two weeks from them.
To Upgrade or Not, That is the Question !
- Thread starter joecap
- Start date
LR5 has a couple new tools, but if you don't know Lightroom yet, there is no compelling reason to move now. It will take a while for you to learn the tool, like a year. So while the additions are great if you know it, you won't know it for a long time. I am not a fan of Adobe... But Photoshop, Lightroom, and Acrobat have no peers), so your stuck with them. They are really hard to contact... Hate the company. But there really isn't an alternative. JD
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
There are plenty of other digital photo applications that, I think, most people would probably be better served by than either Photoshop or Lightroom.
WhiteLight
Senior Member
There are tons of alternatives if you really want to learn.
GIMP is quite awesome, but the learning curve is steep..
And there is no life-death situation that would need you to upgrade to LR5... LR4 works very well & is more than sufficient
GIMP is quite awesome, but the learning curve is steep..
And there is no life-death situation that would need you to upgrade to LR5... LR4 works very well & is more than sufficient
I have kept my fingers on the pulse of illustration and photo software over the last twenty years. I don't like wasting time screwing around with software, I sure don't know what these other products are. Lightroom to me is a really simple choice for anyone that is serious or heading seriously into photography. Unlike Photoshop, it is relatively easy to learn, flexible, and very powerful. I think I have 100,000 photos in Lightroom now. Photoshop sucks, is horrible to learn however, it is the industry standard, tremendously powerful, with a huge... enoromous user base and support group. It's integration with Lightroom simply lock it in as the product to choose if you want to go the next level beyond lightroom. Don't get my started on Acrobat... but it is the industry standard. So, unless you just love to learn software, walk down a potential path of obsolescence, or run into software limitations (in functions or in compatibilty with raw format) then Adobe seems to me to be the choice. What do you think all these other software packages are? JD
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Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I'm confused how is it you're "keeping your fingers on the pulse of photo software" without knowing what products are available but, that aside, I think what digital photo editing application is best for someone should be based on what they need to do and where they need to go. Not everyone is busting to be a full time professional studio photographer. Not everyone works in RAW. And that's okay. And if you don't like learning software that's fine, some of us don't mind. Personally I'm semi-fluent in a few different applications of this nature which I find rather convenient.
Well I'm glad you feel comfortable in Lightroom. No one seems to be saying it's a bad option but it's certainly not the only option. Personally I've never had an issue with learning Photoshop. Yes it's a huge application but so what? I mean, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I'm not sure how Photoshop could manage to become the standard of the industry while being such a beast to learn; that just doesn't really make sense to me. What does make sense to me is that that concept gets passed on by people who have never really tried to learn Photoshop and once it gets repeated often enough it starts to take on a life of it's own. I'm curious what it is about Photoshop, specifically, that is so damn difficult?
As someone who runs a 64-bit OS let me assure you Adobe is not immune to issues with RAW codecs. Codecs are an unfortunate and apparently necessary evil, at least for now, and are all OEM based. Obsolescence, I hardly think is an issue when we have so many well established formats available. Do you really think TIFF is going to disappear overnight? Compare that to putting all your digital eggs in the basket of Adobe's DNG format which is, of course, supported solely by Adobe. And now suppose Adobe "bean counters" decide the DNG format isn't worth supporting any longer... You could argue it's not likely to happen, but you can't argue it could happen.
As for substitute applications see ACDsee Pro 6, Corel PaintShop Pro and/or Serif PhotoPlus.
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Horoscope fish,
Now I understand where you are coming from. I make certain generalizations about folks on a photography forum like this one. First they are fairly serious about photography or are interested in becoming so. So in most cases they shoot raw, or are going to discover raw shortly. Since I am in IT and have been introducing people to software for thirty years, I am very cautious on pointing them to off brand techi solutions, or open source code, or assume they like screwing around with the software... because most of the time they don't. If they are geeks, then usually they will find the stuff on their own, or this thread would have started with, "hey, isn't there freeware or open source to do the same thing?" Most people want to balance usability and power. Additionally I would hesitate pointing simple software may not have a logical next step. Joe's question frames his skill level. He was a Corel user so is not new to photo editing software and he recognized the mainstream nature of Lightroom, so clearly the has already made an educated decision to stay with mainstream and to get the benefits. So, pointing to less powerful or difficult to learn stuff just doesn't seem helpful.
Photoshop. I have learned many dozens of programs over the years, main frame, mini computer, PC... etc. And it has got to be one of the worst I have ever seen. I used PS and Illustrator, version 3 and 4 I think for a couple years, and stopped when Lightroom came out. I'll probably get a new copy in the next year and start using it again as I am starting to want some things beyond Lightroom. Actually, you mentioned the eating an elephant. That is the problem, you have enormous chunks of learning to do the most simple thing. It does not have a logically simple interface that allows you to start with really simple things and work into more complex. You must know things like hit the control key or the Alt key to see all the options for that tool and all the terminology is very estoteric. It is like any other program, eventually you get all the hidden non-intuitive stuff and it gets easier, but the curve is really steep... Since PS was one of the first photoediting software, they built on and built on. That is what is great about Lightroom it was designed from the ground up to be made for Photographers, from acquiring new photos processing and outputting... so things like sharpening... are "Sharpening", and to darken the highlights you move the "Highlights" slider... it makes sense.
Anyway, I am not trying to be argumentative, i try and give advice that is tailored to the audience and the person that asks the question. Anyway, I think lightroom is a good choice for Joe and he probably does not need to upgrade immediately, and certainly note switch to another software. JD
Now I understand where you are coming from. I make certain generalizations about folks on a photography forum like this one. First they are fairly serious about photography or are interested in becoming so. So in most cases they shoot raw, or are going to discover raw shortly. Since I am in IT and have been introducing people to software for thirty years, I am very cautious on pointing them to off brand techi solutions, or open source code, or assume they like screwing around with the software... because most of the time they don't. If they are geeks, then usually they will find the stuff on their own, or this thread would have started with, "hey, isn't there freeware or open source to do the same thing?" Most people want to balance usability and power. Additionally I would hesitate pointing simple software may not have a logical next step. Joe's question frames his skill level. He was a Corel user so is not new to photo editing software and he recognized the mainstream nature of Lightroom, so clearly the has already made an educated decision to stay with mainstream and to get the benefits. So, pointing to less powerful or difficult to learn stuff just doesn't seem helpful.
Photoshop. I have learned many dozens of programs over the years, main frame, mini computer, PC... etc. And it has got to be one of the worst I have ever seen. I used PS and Illustrator, version 3 and 4 I think for a couple years, and stopped when Lightroom came out. I'll probably get a new copy in the next year and start using it again as I am starting to want some things beyond Lightroom. Actually, you mentioned the eating an elephant. That is the problem, you have enormous chunks of learning to do the most simple thing. It does not have a logically simple interface that allows you to start with really simple things and work into more complex. You must know things like hit the control key or the Alt key to see all the options for that tool and all the terminology is very estoteric. It is like any other program, eventually you get all the hidden non-intuitive stuff and it gets easier, but the curve is really steep... Since PS was one of the first photoediting software, they built on and built on. That is what is great about Lightroom it was designed from the ground up to be made for Photographers, from acquiring new photos processing and outputting... so things like sharpening... are "Sharpening", and to darken the highlights you move the "Highlights" slider... it makes sense.
Anyway, I am not trying to be argumentative, i try and give advice that is tailored to the audience and the person that asks the question. Anyway, I think lightroom is a good choice for Joe and he probably does not need to upgrade immediately, and certainly note switch to another software. JD