Elements v. Lightroom?
- Thread starter Bagger
- Start date
I think this is where a lot of people trip, so here is a nutshell version:
Photoshop (of any derivative): An image editor. Yes you can do balances/exposure/etc; but its main purposed is proper image manipulation.
Lightroom: An image manager and developer. Lightroom has two main function: cataloging and managing you image collection, and then development functions (as you would in a Dark Room) such as Exposure, Levels etc (much the same as PS, but more intuitive and layed out for this purpose). Also has the benefits of developer 'presets' (Develop on image, save those those settings, apply to others).
Now this is just me; but I spend 99.9% of my time in Lightroom and only edit in PS when I'm doing some real manipulation (eg masking, because I find it better/easier in PS). Otherwise everything is there in LR down the RHS ready the rock and roll.
Photoshop (of any derivative): An image editor. Yes you can do balances/exposure/etc; but its main purposed is proper image manipulation.
Lightroom: An image manager and developer. Lightroom has two main function: cataloging and managing you image collection, and then development functions (as you would in a Dark Room) such as Exposure, Levels etc (much the same as PS, but more intuitive and layed out for this purpose). Also has the benefits of developer 'presets' (Develop on image, save those those settings, apply to others).
Now this is just me; but I spend 99.9% of my time in Lightroom and only edit in PS when I'm doing some real manipulation (eg masking, because I find it better/easier in PS). Otherwise everything is there in LR down the RHS ready the rock and roll.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
You guys do know you can download free, 30-day trials of both PS Elements and Lightroom, right?
Thirty-days is a pretty good trial period and the downloads are not nerf'ed in any way, they're fully functional installs.
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Thirty-days is a pretty good trial period and the downloads are not nerf'ed in any way, they're fully functional installs.
...
Fred Kingston_RIP
Senior Member
No... It's not written to the file. It's totally non-destructive... If you want to write the changes to the file... You use the Export process to create a file with the changes incorporated...
In all honesty I have used aperture for several years with no problems. The thing with Lightroom is they have now passed Apple with features. I still have both but I am slowly migrating to LR. You could still use aperture but you will soon want some of the clone and heal tools that adobe excels at, as well as a few others. I am still holding out for apple, but not for long. There are other programs that you could use like Gimp, but I found to be cumbersome to work in. At this point I am leaning towards photo shop elements for a few of the tools and then storing images in aperture. But if apple drags their feet to much longer then i am making the switch. Aperture and LR are almost the same with the previous version of LR, but not now. I would suggest downloading demos and just see if either LR or Elements will work for you. You should also have iPhoto that may fill the void.
Really you just need to figure out how deep you want to get into post processing. I try to keep it simple.
Sorry for being long winded. Also you search for the comparison on this site between the two.
Good luck,
Kevin,
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Really you just need to figure out how deep you want to get into post processing. I try to keep it simple.
Sorry for being long winded. Also you search for the comparison on this site between the two.
Good luck,
Kevin,
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
My main reason for using iPhoto is it was free. I would love to buy Aperture but that's about $79 more than I want to spend right now. Looked at Adobe and Photoshop is way out of my price range and honestly I have heard it's a pretty complicated program to learn to use. Lightroom is still close to the same price as Aperture albeit a little cheaper. Just trying to weigh my options, I guess, for the next time I have some money to spend on software.
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As a counterpoint, if you've spent the money for your camera, why would you not invest in the software to maximize the experience? Are you not going to use your camera all summer?
Exactly! I know I spent a lot of money on my camera and I am one who does spend on electronics, but I also try to be frugal. I bought an entry level D3100 because that's all I need, I didn't need a D7000. The same for software. I know I don't need all of the features in Photoshop, plus I've played around in PS some and it's way over my head! I'd rather keep it simple, hence my use of iPhoto. If iPhoto will do what I need it to do, why spend $70 or $80 on another program? I just need to assess whether it not iPhoto will serve me well and that's why I started reading and posting in this thread!
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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I think the question that determines what software you need is, "How much, and what kind, of editing do I want to be able to do?"
If all you want/need to do with your photo's is correct exposure a couple stops either way, correct basic color imbalances, crop, sharpen and re-size then there's really no reason to invest in Photoshop or Elements or Lightroom. There are several applications that will do all of that, and a whole lot more, for free. Once those products no longer do what you need, THEN it's time to start asking about more professional strength applications. But those professional strength applications are for those who want/need to establish a workflow.
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If all you want/need to do with your photo's is correct exposure a couple stops either way, correct basic color imbalances, crop, sharpen and re-size then there's really no reason to invest in Photoshop or Elements or Lightroom. There are several applications that will do all of that, and a whole lot more, for free. Once those products no longer do what you need, THEN it's time to start asking about more professional strength applications. But those professional strength applications are for those who want/need to establish a workflow.
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I do basic tweaking using Aperture's auto-tweak. I also play around a bit using 20% of Aperture's other functionality. That, and Snapseed, suits me fine. The two things I love about Aperture are (1) I can reverse out of all tweaks whenever I want and (2) it uses iPhoto's image library so I'm not storing twice the pics on my Mac. At 10,000 KEPT photos so far, that's a big consideration.