Image editing software advice, lightroom or elements?

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villafan82

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Name
Steve
Edit My Images
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Hi all

I have thinking of purchase some image editing software and after purchasing a new up-to-date pc I am ready to take the plunge.
But I am unsure what best for my needs and the benefits I will reap.

After reading a lot about Elements 12 and Lightroom 5, I am still none the wiser what is best for me. Both have ACR to edit my shots, but which is best?

I shoot mainly landscape shots and shoot in RAW.

your advice will be much appreciated.

Steve
 
I think lightroom is the better software, especially since version 5, it's becoming more and more powerful with each new release, elements is good for layering but I'm finding myself using layering less and less. If you definitely need layering there are plenty of free alternatives
 
Have a look on Youtube for Serge Ramelli. he does a lot of Landscapes with lightroom, some of it over the top with HDR but you can see how good Lightroom is

You can download both Elements 12 and Lightroom 5 for 30 days free trial
H
 
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Neither one is better, they are both for different things.

Lightroom is primarily for cataloguing, Elements is for editing. Lightroom does some editing, but it depends how much you will want to do.

If I only bought one and I was not a high volume photographer I would personally go for Elements. When my image library got so large I couldn't find images I would look at adding Lightroom.
 
I wouldn't say Lightroom is primarily for cataloguing... Bridge would fit that category, yes, but not Lightroom... you can do a great deal of editing in Lightroom.

The primary difference is Lightroom is a RAW editor, so everything you are doing is reversible and non-destructive. The other advantage, is that for editing that consists of adjustments rather than retouching, you are working with a RAW file that is not yet locked into a bitmapped file format. The minute yu export a file from RAW to TIFF or JPEG, you hvea locked it into a fixed bit depth palette... usually 256 levels of R,G and B (8 bit colour). Even if you export as a 16bit TIFF, it is still locked into a rigid file format with assigned numerical values to each pixel, and changing these is more destructive than working at the RAW data level prior the image being assigned a bitmapped format.

The other advantage is with RAW, things like white balance and colour profile are not embedded and fixed into a rigid file format, so they can be adjusted post shoot in exactly the same way the camera would be doing it without fear of adding artefacts or stretching the histogram within a fixed palette of colours.


The two programs are essentially designed for different uses. Lightroom is a RAW editing programme (if you are using it to just catalogue, you are barely scratching the surface) that is great for ADJUSTMENT type editing, but Elements (and indeed Photoshop proper) is designed for actual retouching, layering, painting, drawing.... fine, skillful manipulation in other words.

Ideally, they are made to compliment one another.

Incidentally, you CAN edit RAWs in Photoshop... actually at RAW level... you can use Smart Objects.

Generally though.... you can't compare them. They're not meant to be compared.


My workflow is to do "adjustments" in Lightroom at RAW level, and "retouching" in Photoshop.
 
Elements always used to be recommended as what you learn can be transferred into Photoshop if you ever need to upgrade, however with Adobes change in licensing structure and dodgy web security it's arguable whether this is the way to go.
 
I find LR5 is an excellent prog for editing,works great with raw files,i am more than happy with it.:)(y)
 
I mainly shoot weddings nad find that LR5 meets most needs with the rare visit to Elements 12 for other more major edits.
 
Hi all

Thank you for all your comments. I have watched some of the videos from Serge Ramelli and they are very informative, intuitive and seems like it will benefit my landscape shots as have numerous shot that are half underexposed due to the light. It has also put me at ease a little.

I shall purchase LR5 and see how it goes.

Thanks again everyone.

Steve
 
I have another quick question.

I have some flare on some shots, Can I remove this with LR5?

Steve
 
Depends on the extent of the flare... if it's terrible, it may be a chore to remove despite what you use :)

You can clone and spot remove in LR5, yes. It's a bit clumsy compared to PS, but if it can be removed in PS, it can also be removed in LR5... assuming it can be easily removed with clone or heal. If it needs more extensive retouching/airbrushing, or layered and localised treatment, then it may be a job for PS.

Post up the pic and I'm sure I, or indeed others can advice further.
 
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Hi David

Thanks for the response.

The picture is a shot at sunset, shot onto the sunset. They are kind of hexagonal shaped spots. Here is an example, the starburst effect I am happy with, its the darn spots.

Steve
 
That would be a nightmare to remove. The long diffraction spikes would be very hard to remove, and to be honest, I wouldn't bother... you'd probably make it look very un-natural. The smaller, harder flares are removable with care in Lightroom, yes. It will take some practice and skill if you've never done it before.
 
I don't use lightroom but i do use aperture 3 and ouse elements 9. 90% of my work is done in aperture but i do need the features of elements some of the time. both have there place
 
I'm going to echo what others have said - LR and PSE are complimentary. If I wanted to only edit my best single images, I'd use Elements (or PS), but as an all around tool LR is hard to beat. I have 125,000 images in Lightroom and I love it not just for cataloguing but for general purpose editing. Sure, Photoshop can make the best of any single image, but Lightroom is massively faster to use with multiple images and you can actually produce extremely good results just with LR.
 
Another option and what I have done is Elements,11 in my case, and the now free CS2 that gives a few extras Elements doesn't have (Actions and Curves).Also if you go for Lightroom 5 and like me are still running Vista it wont work
 
Good evening all

Thanks for the further responses. But it is going off point a little regarding the photo I posted, which of LR5 or PSE12 would be able to remove the sun flare spots?

Steve
 
villafan82 said:
Good evening all

Thanks for the further responses. But it is going off point a little regarding the photo I posted, which of LR5 or PSE12 would be able to remove the sun flare spots?

Steve
Click to expand...

Elements.

But it's going to be REALLY hard if you've never done it before.
 
I have seen the heal/clone tool is available in Lightroom 5, would this cure the issue? Or is elements with masking, layers etc more of a true fix?
 
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