Photoshop or Lightroom?

[kennymill]

I am looking at upgrading my Photoshop to cs6 from version 7 (old), a lot of my friends are using Lightroom, perhaps because of the initial cost. With my older cameras I have photo corrected or enhanced all my photos in Photoshop due to the lack of a quality camera. I have pre-ordered a Nikon D7100 and all that I have read on Nikon cameras most adjustments can be done on the camera.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Kenny

 

[Eduard]

You can download a trial of both which I would highly recommend. IMHO you can easily do the majority of your post processing in Lightroom.

 

[kennymill]

Thanks Eduard,

Lightroom is about a 1/3 of the upgrade cost on Photoshop.

You can download a trial of both which I would highly recommend. IMHO you can easily do the majority of your post processing in Lightroom.

 

[Allen]

IMHO LR is more of a photographer's tool, while PS seems to be targeted more for the artist....if you accept the implication.

 

[kennymill]

IMHO LR is more of a photographer's tool, while PS seems to be targeted more for the artist....if you accept the implication.

My interest is more in creating an unusual photo than the normal snapshot. That being said, one of my favorites setups are landscape and wild animal photos in the wilds of Idaho and Oregon. I find it interesting to prompt thought in what one sees and encourages others to step out of the box and create.

 

[carguy]

Really depends on what you want to do with the images during post processing.
As stated, Lightroom is more a photographers tool, allowing for retouching and modifications of the image. Photoshop is for that and beyond. Good Luck!

 

[BackdoorArts]

Download trials of Lightroom 4 and Elements 11 and see if you can do everything you want in there. Elements has about 80% of the Photoshop functionality, and may cover all your needs. Lightroom will do most of your basic edits and is a great workflow management tool. If after 30 days you don't think they'll work for you, go with CS6 and it costs you nothing to that point.

 

[LouCioccio]

Kenny,
For me it was different I have used PS from version 4 through CS5e. I started with the Mac version and actually liked Bridge. I always did my own organizing and learned early on that computers (win/mac/linux) are dumber than a box of rocks. It actually took me awhile that you cannot make folders in this order jan/feb/mar etc as the computer will try to put them in alphabetic order. I then realized 0 is actually a number; who would of thought!
That being said Lightroom does not make layers with out additional software and I like layers and masks so it was and still is hard for me to like Lightroom. Most of the stuff I can do in PS even in Elements except for smart objects and groups plus others. So it really depend what yo are going to do. I am sure you found out Adobe put the screws to us on upgrades and I think they are trying to direct us to renting software via the cloud.
If I upgrade any more it will with the help of one of my offsprings as they work in education and I helped them get their degree financially.
So it really all depends on your work flow and organizing. Don't get hung up on keywords unless you make your living with 500px or istockphoto.

Lou Cioccio

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

I have to love my PhotoShop CS5. I am not sure about the other but content aware fill and content aware healing brush are both lifesavers. Gits rid of those pesky fence lines and power lines that to me ruin a perfect photo. Does lightroom have that?

 

[Dave_W]

I have to love my PhotoShop CS5. I am not sure about the other but content aware fill and content aware healing brush are both lifesavers. Gits rid of those pesky fence lines and power lines that to me ruin a perfect photo. Does lightroom have that?

You've nailed the reason why both Lightroom and CS photoshop are important programs to use. Both LR and PS are quickly becoming a "must have" for digital photographers. Granted, you could probably find work-arounds for the two programs but you saving time is important to you the you'll want both on your computer.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I have to love my PhotoShop CS5. I am not sure about the other but content aware fill and content aware healing brush are both lifesavers. Gits rid of those pesky fence lines and power lines that to me ruin a perfect photo. Does lightroom have that?

FYI, bot of these features are available in Elements 11 at a significant savings. I truly believe that for 95% (maybe more) of all digital photographers Lightroom 4 and Elements 11 would be enough to do everything they'd ever want to do with the images they shoot 99% of the time.