Photoshop CS5 or Lightroom

[rmcheek]

As an amateur photographer, would I be better off purchasing CS5 or just Lightroom. Im a college student so I can get a student discount and get CS5 for around $200 and Lightroom for $99. I want to be able to do HDR, and I assume you can do that in CS5 but I'm not sure about Lightroom. Other than that I just want to be able to edit photos and do touch ups. Which would be a better choice?

[RichardTaylor]

If you want to do HDR, and a lot of editing, go for Photoshop.


I use both.
LR as a database and editing and Photoshop when I want to do more then what Lightroom can do.

[LeeR]

I agree. Lightroom is a professional's tool for managing large quantities of images and prepping them for printing. Great tool, but limited in scope. PS, on the other hand, is nearly limitless in what it can do, including HDR (Ugh!) I know, everyone seems to have to go through an HDR phase, I just hope your's is short and you outgrow it quickly. PS is capable of much, much more and much, much better.

[rmcheek]

haha yeah I know a lot of people dislike HDR and so do I when its overdone. I just want to take a shot at it though.

[baycruisers]

Consider splitting the difference: Lightroom for $99 and Photoshop Elements 9 for about the same price on the street. That gives you the image management and RAW development tools of LR and much of the pixel-level editing and layers capability of CS5. Adobe frequently offers upgrades from PSE to CS if you decide you want/need more features from CS.

[dakwegmo]

If you're really only interested in Photoshop for HDR, then I'd skip it and get LightRoom and Photomatix. The HDR capabilities in CS5, while much improved over earlier versions, still aren't very good. Chances are, you'd eventually end up wanting a better HDR processor anyway. If you plan on doing more extensive editing though, not just HDR, Photoshop is definitely worth the price, especially with an academic discount.

In any case, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Photomatix all have free trials available. I'd go download those and put them through the paces to see what is going to be the best use of your money.

[bearly]

Originally Posted by LeeR

I agree. Lightroom is a professional's tool for managing large quantities of images and prepping them for printing. Great tool, but limited in scope. PS, on the other hand, is nearly limitless in what it can do, including HDR (Ugh!) I know, everyone seems to have to go through an HDR phase, I just hope your's is short and you outgrow it quickly. PS is capable of much, much more and much, much better.

i don't think lightroom's scope is very limited at all. yeah you can't replace a cloudy sky with a sunny one or eliminate unwanted objects, but if that's what you are getting it for (not saying that IS what you are getting it for) maybe you should work on technique first and learn how to create images you like SOOC. there are soooo many ways to tweak images not only quicker and easier but often with better results in lightroom. yes it's designed to be used by professionals, but that makes accessing, editing, and organizing you images a breeze.

and HDR can be fantastic when it's not overdone. i've seen many examples of images that i would never have know were HDR had i not been explicitly told that they were. but who am i to judge... everyone is entitled to their own opinions

Originally Posted by dakwegmo

If you're really only interested in Photoshop for HDR, then I'd skip it and get LightRoom and Photomatix.

this is the combination i use. lightroom 3 and photomatix. i have photoshop too in case i need to do some serious editing, but 95% of the time everything that i want to do can be done in lightroom more easily than photoshop. i used to use photoshop exclusively but once i tried lightroom i was totally hooked because it makes the entire process soo smooth and efficient.

[inkista]

Get Photoshop CS5. The difference you save between the commercial and the educational version ($700-$200 = $500) is enough to pay for both a non-educational license of Lightroom AND a Photoshop upgrade ($235+$200) after you lose your student status. If you go the other way, and then decide to get Photoshop after you're no longer a student, $700 is a hefty starting price to come up with, and you'd have to tack on the $100 or so it would cost to upgrade Lightroom, if you wanted to keep both apps up to date.