Lightroom and/or Photoshop CS3? Don't know the difference

swag72

swag72

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As the title says - I am getting Photoshop CS3 to replace my aging photoshop. I have the opportunity to also get Lightroom 2.

What will be the benefits of getting both? What does one do better than the other?

Hope you can help me with this question.
 
Adobe try and sell them as a package with one theoretically enhancing the other. Lightroom is marketed as a bulk processing tool for time saving, meaning that multiple images can be treated with the same enhancements by simple copying and pasting. I find it useful for copying dust spot removals from one image to the other and occasionally exposure settings and so on. I don't bulk process images but as a time saver I use it regularly.

But as to the major difference between them? Tricky to pin down but I think in essence PS is an image manipulation package doing digitally what Graphic Designers used to do with glue, paper and scissors, whilst Lightroom is an image enhancement package - literally an electronic "darkroom".

Do you need both? Possibly. Because PS, being the more expensive program has several more tools than Lightroom and can achieve some spectacular results and produce some creative images. Adobe would certainly want you to fork out on both. Personally, but for a couple of tools, I can't see past Lightroom. I'm only really interested in bringing the best out of my photographs not creating something which never existed in real life. It's not my thing. And Lightroom does pretty everything a good photographer will ever need. Whether Lightroom 2 fills in some missing bits remains to be seen. I'm wary about forking out £85 for minor tweaks to the software.
 
One thing I found with Lightroom (when I briefly tried a demo) is that you are able to just draw a line on the horizon (if it is not straight) and it manages to straighten out the entire image... I found that fascinating!!

Something which I have not found out how to do with Photoshop. For me alone, that would sell Lightroom to me (as an addition!)
 
In PS, use the ruler tool (Eyedropper sub-menu) and draw a line... Then go to Image, Rotate Canvas, Arbitrary.. Choose CW/CCW and click O.K.


Mike
 
Is there a cheaper way of getting cs3 ive only seen it for about £700 which seems like a lot of dosh to me.
 
digitalmaniac said:
Is there a cheaper way of getting cs3 ive only seen it for about £700 which seems like a lot of dosh to me.
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Buy Photoshop Elements which you can get for around 35 quid or so. It lacks the bells and whistles of CS3 but includes most of the basic, really useful stuff. Version 6 is the current version but as far as I can tell Elements 5 has pretty much the same tools and you can pick that up cheaper.
 
I'd try out the lightroom 2 demo first and see if it does all you need. The new version with perhaps elements should be pretty much cover everything.
 
digitalmaniac said:
Is there a cheaper way of getting cs3 ive only seen it for about £700 which seems like a lot of dosh to me.
Click to expand...

The legal way to get it cheaper is if you are enrolled as a student on a photography / graphics course. Then you can get Photoshop at the Student Rate for about £200 .
 
Hey Swag, I'm glad someone else thinks that :p

Having not tried the new LightRoom yet, I'd be happy with the old one if if could dodge, burn and warp. Oh, and had Noise Ninja ;)

Edit: And what Freester says. TP does not endorse piracy. Unless it's proper piracy with grog and hats.
 
I wouldnt have one without the other! Lightroom is very good at organising etc, and CS3 does all the dirty work, cloning etc.
 
[QUOTE
Having not tried the new LightRoom yet, I'd be happy with the old one if if could dodge, burn and warp. Oh, and had Noise Ninja ;)[/QUOTE]

Ditto. If only...
 
digitalmaniac said:
Is there a cheaper way of getting cs3 ive only seen it for about £700 which seems like a lot of dosh to me.
Click to expand...

I recently got it for half price £275 from Adobe. They kept sending me half price offers and I eventually crumbled and bought it after the sale of a few prints. Lots to learn but I am getting there slowly.

Chris :)
 
yourapocalypse said:
Hey Swag, I'm glad someone else thinks that :p

Having not tried the new LightRoom yet, I'd be happy with the old one if if could dodge, burn and warp. Oh, and had Noise Ninja ;)

Edit: And what Freester says. TP does not endorse piracy. Unless it's proper piracy with grog and hats.
Click to expand...

LR 2.0 has dodge and burn tools in the local adjustments tools in develop. You can also open in other aps such as Noise Ninja , see Ian Lyons Computer Darkroom web site for loads more info
 
I use CS3 for the dirty work and Bridge for organising and tagging..... Is Lightroom better than Bridge for this ?
 
Chappers said:
LR 2.0 has dodge and burn tools in the local adjustments tools in develop. You can also open in other aps such as Noise Ninja , see Ian Lyons Computer Darkroom web site for loads more info
Click to expand...

Looks like a good site, thanks.
 
swag72 said:
As the title says - I am getting Photoshop CS3 to replace my aging photoshop. I have the opportunity to also get Lightroom 2.

What will be the benefits of getting both? What does one do better than the other?

Hope you can help me with this question.
Click to expand...

What version of PS do you use? I use Lightroom and CS2, 98% of the time in Lightroom and 2% in CS2.
 
aberal said:
Whether Lightroom 2 fills in some missing bits remains to be seen. I'm wary about forking out £85 for minor tweaks to the software.
Click to expand...

IMO the ND Grad tool alone is well worth the price of the upgrade . . .
 
Stevieboy378 said:
IMO the ND Grad tool alone is well worth the price of the upgrade . . .
Click to expand...

I agree. I have downloaded the trial version and although it's a bit slow on my computer, that ND grad tool and the ability to selectively change exposures etc with the brush is great. I hardly do anything in PS at the moment except save (for web, for here)!
 
Surely it is easy to set up an export that does the same as save for web (but doesn't strip EXIF data). I have an export set up for each of the sites I post to so whatever I export matches their rules...
 
Originally I couldn't see the point of Lightroom and just used CS3 and Bridge. However after finding out how to use it properly and to its full advantage, which wasn't easy, I wouldn't be without it.

I always import files straight off my camera into Lightroom. Its easy to check through them, add keywords and ratings and mark rubbish for deletion. I then batch delete the rubbish in Lightroom and choose Remove from Disk. I do minor alterations to exposure etc in Lightroom, and make sure preferences are set to save xmp file along with the RAW file.

I then close down Lightroom, open Photoshop, Browse Bridge and open file into Photoshop. I do most of my editing in here on the RAW file and then save it as a jpg file.

When I return to Lightroom I synchronise my folders, so that Lightroom has the newest version. I always use Lightroom to catologue all my photos as it's so easy to track down files by camera used, lens, date taken, and keywords.
 
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