jpegs: Lightroom 4 vs. PSE 10

[hark]

This past spring I took some photos of my church but only saved the jpegs. When it comes to editing jpegs, if I do the same color, contrast, sharpening, shadows, and similiar types of editing, will either Lightroom 4 or PSE 10 yield better results than the other? Or will they be about the same? How is Lightroom for editing jpegs? I'll be shooting LOTS more RAW now that I had a taste!

Here's an unedited example (only resized for the forum). Unfortunately the sun doesn't shine on this side of the building, but the bell tower looks better from this side. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Marcel]

I think that if you know what you're after, you could probably get there with either programs. The limit is in the smaller already compressed jpeg file. But I haven't tried working on the same file with different programs just to see if the results can be the same. I suspect they might be but there might be a program that might be better suited to your workflow. All is in the habit you get working with certain tools. Other tools can make the same results, but once you're used to a way of work, you'll find it harder to change.

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[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Not sure about either one of those programs but in PhotoShop CS6 I can open my wife's JPEGs in the RAW editor and edit them there. It does a better job than straight PS does.

 

[WhiteLight]

PS does a better job at most operations without a doubt.. with the exceptions of true dedicated programs for panos & stacking and stuff.
For JPGs it really doesn't matter what you use cos most of the adjustments are almost done for you.
Nevermind PS, using even LR or PSE for editing JPGs is akin to using a crowbar to smash an ant

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

PS does a better job at most operations without a doubt.. with the exceptions of true dedicated programs for panos & stacking and stuff.
For JPGs it really doesn't matter what you use cos most of the adjustments are almost done for you.
Nevermind PS, using even LR or PSE for editing JPGs is akin to using a crowbar to smash an ant

I am not so sure about what you are saying about JPEGs. Don't get me wrong RAW is so much better in everything but JPEGs can be enhanced a long way if you know what you are doing. send one of your cell phone pic to your computer and run it though the ACR and then into PS and see what you can do. My wife now does all her post processing on her photos from her Nikon L120 that way and has been getting some amazing results. Her favorite thing is to use cloning and the content aware healing brush to remove offending things in shots like power lines and fences and the occasional person.

 

[WhiteLight]

Definitely.. Cropping, cloning & minor adjustments are possible, but the 'heavy lifting' for which you would need PS is quite limited, right?
Or it could be that i love playing with RAW files, the lack of possibilities for JPG make it less interesting to me.
So i feel using these tools are quite a waste for just JPGs

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Definitely.. Cropping, cloning & minor adjustments are possible, but the 'heavy lifting' for which you would need PS is quite limited, right?
Or it could be that i love playing with RAW files, the lack of possibilities for JPG make it less interesting to me.
So i feel using these tools are quite a waste for just JPGs

Once you learn all you can do with PS and especially ACR you need to go back to one of your old JPEGs and run it through. I think you would be surprised. That being said I would never shoot JPEG anymore. I need to dig out one of my wife's JPEGs to put a before and after on here.

Ok, If I remember correctly this is one of hers.

 

[WhiteLight]

I have a feeling you may be right
Have gone back to some of my old images (RAW) a number of times which i thought i couldn't do any better & was surprised that some of my skills had improved & i had better results.
Have never tried with JPGs... yet

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

I have a feeling you may be right
Have gone back to some of my old images (RAW) a number of times which i thought i couldn't do any better & was surprised that some of my skills had improved & i had better results.
Have never tried with JPGs... yet

The reason I even tried it was when I moved to CS6 and really started working on my photoshop skills I went back to my old photos when I only shot JPEG and discovered I could open them in ACR and edit. That and my wife's camera only shoots JPEG.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Ok here is 1 that I just processed. This was shot with my D3100 a long time ago. The before is the JPEG unprocessed and the after is running it through ACR and CS6

 

[BackdoorArts]

Just so folks are straight, the controls in Lightroom are the same as you get in Camera Raw with Photoshop, just laid out vertically instead of over several tabs.

My advice is, if you have access to both programs, start in Lightroom where you can do most of your tweaks, cropping and straightening. If there's anything left over that requires layer work and masks then use the "Edit In" function in Lightroom (right click on the photo in the develop module) and send it to Elements for the work there. You'll be able to do about 70% of what PS can do, and that may be more than enough.

 

[hark]

Just so folks are straight, the controls in Lightroom are the same as you get in Camera Raw with Photoshop, just laid out vertically instead of over several tabs.

My advice is, if you have access to both programs, start in Lightroom where you can do most of your tweaks, cropping and straightening. If there's anything left over that requires layer work and masks then use the "Edit In" function in Lightroom (right click on the photo in the develop module) and send it to Elements for the work there. You'll be able to do about 70% of what PS can do, and that may be more than enough.

Thanks for this information, Jake! I will give this a try! Lightroom offers vibrance and clarity which aren't specifically labeled in PSE 10 although there might be a way to replicate their results (if so, I don't know exactly how). Do you (or anyone for that matter) know if either program is less destructive to the file? I'm guessing the answer is no, but since I'm not knowledgable about software, I don't know for sure.

I've found I LOVE the sliders in Lightroom. This is a biggie for me. In PSE 10, I can create a new layer for editing, but when the file is saved, I can't go in and undo something that was previously adjusted in a layer like I can in Lightroom. The more I edit a jpeg in PSE 10, the more destructive it becomes. Lightroom offers the sliders so nothing is set in stone. In PSE 10 I've had a few cases where I had to delete a layer and redo all the adjustments. More work than just going in and moving a few sliders. :grief:

 

[hark]

Not sure about either one of those programs but in PhotoShop CS6 I can open my wife's JPEGs in the RAW editor and edit them there. It does a better job than straight PS does.

Hmm...I can open RAW files from my D90 and DNG's from my D600 in PSE 10, but I don't know if they can be opened as RAW files. Something I can Google to see if it's possible! Thanks for the info!

 

[BackdoorArts]

Thanks for this information, Jake! I will give this a try! Lightroom offers vibrance and clarity which aren't specifically labeled in PSE 10 although there might be a way to replicate their results (if so, I don't know exactly how). Do you (or anyone for that matter) know if either program is less destructive to the file? I'm guessing the answer is no, but since I'm not knowledgable about software, I don't know for sure.

Lightroom is absolutely non-destructive, which is nice. You can do the same thing in Elements provided you save the file as a PSD so layers are preserved and then use that to generate a new JPG. Lightroom is easier.