Why Does Lightroom Get More Acclaim Than Photoshop Elements?

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

The thing is, this is reportedly the last box release of Photoshop - from now on everything is cloud-based. So, I'm glad I snagged a Student/Teacher edition of CS6 when I did (same program, but it doesn't qualify for discounted upgrades ... which now no longer exist).

Yep...I figured with the Cloud release that they would quit selling the box version. I might have to call on my son who is in the Army and college, and ask him to use his college ID to buy me a copy....How much is the Student version now?

 

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

I found a Student and Educators edition for $349....I can buy it and use his student ID to get it working I guess. Will that work?

Chris

 

[nickt]

Just be sure you really want or need it. You've been happy with elements and you are giving Lightroom a try now. Maybe that is all you need. As far as the student edition, I have bought student editions of some adobe products. I emailed in a copy of my kid's report card and all was good. ID card should suffice too.
I really hate the subscription software trend, but if the $10 deal is still around when Lightroom 6 comes out, I might have to give it a try.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I want to say I got the Student/Teacher edition for around $250, but I suspect that the few copies left are going to start selling at a premium since it's no longer available from Adobe.

I'm with Nick. At this point, make the most you can from Lightroom and Elements and wait on Photoshop until you can't do what you need to with the others. LR and PSE will both interface with the Nik Collection, which is likely a far better investment at $149 (and you can get 15% off codes everywhere) when you need it. Truth is, I can do about 90% of what I currently do in Photoshop in Elements 11 (the last version I purchased). I rely on Photoshop for Content Aware Fill (this is very different from the Content Aware Healing Tool that you get with Elements), but aside from that and Smart Layers (which I only use occasionally), I'm hard pressed to think of something off the top of my head that isn't available in Elements.

Save your money, learn LR and PSE to their fullest and invest in something like the Nik Collection when you want to stretch a little - particularly if you're considering HDR.

I do believe that LR6, while available on the cloud, will still be available as a stand-alone, purchasable product - at least that's what Adobe implied.

 

[Pretzel]

Just FWIW, the $10.00 rolling subscription seemed the right thing to me. Although I already own LR5, for $10/month, I ensure that I always have the updated version without having to pay the upgrade price when LR6 comes out, PLUS I got the full version of PS CC, which I can use to edit pics for retail purposes (which you're not supposed to do, legally, with the student versions). At $10/mo, I can pay 65 months before I equal the retail price for the current boxed version. BONUS, once again, when they update the software... I'm already covered without having to worry about the upgrade price. I don't even use the free website service they offer, and may never do so, but don't really need to in order to get more than the full worth out of the package I currently have.

This, though, is only if you plan on purchasing LR and PS. I don't use Elements, so can't comment there.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I found a Student and Educators edition for $349....I can buy it and use his student ID to get it working I guess. Will that work?

It did for me for a long time. I switched to Adobe's CC recently but my first Photoshop purchase was an academic license version I qualified for by working on a college campus.

....

 

[bigal1000]

Thanks for all the comments. After I read the sticky pertaining to this discussion above, I went and watched about 5 of the lessons on Adobe TV. I see why Lightroom is more popular and easy to use. I guess I will be shooting more RAW now that I've seen what it can do. I even went and ordered a copy of Lightroom 5 for $89.00. I should have it next week. Thanks for all the replies. I guess I'm a slow learner.....but Lightroom should help my skills or lack thereof. Thanks again!

Very good move.........You will really like it..............

 

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

Lightroom showed up yesterday afternoon.....started to tinker with it today......lots to learn!

 

[rocketman122]

tried them all at some point over the years ive been shooting. even used gimp. for now, I have PS CS4, LR 3.4 and ACDC pro 6. when you need to go through 2000 pics, speed wise, acdc destroys them all. no comparison. love the bars it has vs LR tiny sliders. so much faster because when youre editing so many pictures, fatigue kicks in and your hand accuracy for hitting the slider in LR goes down. and even small adjustments arent accurate. with acdsee, you simply put the mouse on what you want and can even use the scroll wheel to adjust just a small amount.

for more tweaks, LR is better but slower (computer resources) and the heaviest is PS. used elements once and its ok, but directed for a specific user. nothing wrong with it. if you like it, use it. I need speed for basic editing. color/exposure/sharpening/cropping..acdsee is the king for speed.

 

[hark]

I make use of both Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. I need PSE when creating collages (using multiple layers) and when adding borders and text.