Photoshop and Lighroom

[Bruno Vieira]

Hello...

Considering that I am new to photography... I'd like to know what should I get for post processing...

Photoshop or Lightroom? I know you can do a lot more with Photoshop... but it is also a lot more money.

For now I want pretty much the basic like reduce noise and a few other thing to start of... but as I am gonna have to pay U$ 299 for Lightroom should I save a bit more and get Photoshop?

Thanks

[baycruisers]

I'll give you my stock answer to this common (and important) question:

Lightroom is excellent for image management, RAW processing, and global and regional editing. Photoshop is better for precise editing at the pixel level (and many other things). Together they're a potent, if expensive, combination.

However, you can get the bulk of PS's tools in Photoshop Elements at a fraction of the cost (unless you're a student.). If at some point you find that you need more editing power, you can typically upgrade to full Photoshop for much less than buying the full version. I see too many people spending hundreds of dollars on Photoshop and then using a fraction of it's tools (been there, done that.) It's like buying a Lexus when you start learning to drive.

So, my advice is get Lightroom and Elements and develop your skills with them before going to the next level and buying Photoshop. Unless you've got lots of money to spend, in which case I recommend LR3, CS5, and Viveza 2.

[inkista]

Here's the way I think of it. Others might disagree.

EVERYTHING you can do in Lightroom, you can do in Photoshop/ACR/Bridge. It may not be as fast or as easy as in LR, but the capability is all there, and, in fact, is based on the same codebase.

The reverse is NOT true. Think of Lightroom as the 10% of Photoshop you use 90% of the time as a photographer.

Lightroom is better for straightforward photography workflows. It lets you handle very large volumes of shots very quickly and easily, and takes you from downloading from the camera out to final delivery either as a print, a slideshow, or online.

Photoshop, otoh, is far better for creating digital artwork. You have more localized control, you have the ability to combine images and much more leeway on manipulating and compositing those images. If you're taking photos to take photos, then Lightroom may do most of what you want, but you may still need Photoshop for occasional edits that go into serious pixel manipulating territory. If you're taking photos as raw material out of which to create artwork, then you definitely need Photoshop.

The thing is there are other alternatives to Photoshop. Photoshop Elements and Paintshop Pro cost even less than Lightroom and gives you quite a bit of the same functionality. And there's the open source package, the Gimp.

The features you want to look into, mostly, that tell you you have a more sophisticated processing tool than, say, Picasa or iPhoto are (for my money): Curves adjustments, Layers & Masks, and/or nondestructive editing/RAW workflow. You want at least two of these, if not all three.

[Bruno Vieira]

Thanks for the reply

As I said I am new to all this post processing tools and photography... I'm pretty much taking pictures of my family, friends, birthdays... then mainly I want to get the mistakes fixed... It's probably gonna be a lot of "bad looking pictures" as I am a begginer... lol

But on the other hand I really like the post processing efects I've seen here... adding colors, and other efects to the pictures...

[baycruisers]

Originally Posted by Bruno Vieira

Thanks for the reply

As I said I am new to all this post processing tools and photography... I'm pretty much taking pictures of my family, friends, birthdays... then mainly I want to get the mistakes fixed... It's probably gonna be a lot of "bad looking pictures" as I am a begginer... lol

But on the other hand I really like the post processing efects I've seen here... adding colors, and other efects to the pictures...

You can download free trials of CS5, PSE9 and Lightroom. It's worth the time and you'll get a good idea of what you might be buying without the $$$ commitment.

Have fun!

[Bruno Vieira]

Originally Posted by baycruisers

You can download free trials of CS5, PSE9 and Lightroom. It's worth the time and you'll get a good idea of what you might be buying without the $$$ commitment.

Have fun!

Thanks... downloading them now

[renee_elizabeth]

hi!!!! I am a newbie as well... as soon as I bought my first DSLR, I purchased both CS5 and Lightroom 3. i shot jpeg for a week, and only used the photoshop. When I began using RAW, I began using Lightroom. At first lightroom was very confusing for me.. nothing like photoshop. just take some time getting aquainted with each program... I watched A LOT of tutorials, lol!!!! Now a few months later, I could not live without lightroom! it is AMAZING, I sometimes dont need to edit in photoshop after i edit in lightroom!

have fun with your trial versions.. I am sure by the end of the 30 day trial you will be hooked!!! good luck!!!!

[inkista]

I've said it before. I'll say it again: the Lightroom trial version is Adobe's gateway drug. I got hooked pretty hard, and I already had a full version of Photoshop.

Just know that you've got choices outside Adobe at a variety of pricepoints. Apple's Aperture for OSX, Bibble, CaptureOne Pro from PhaseOne, DxO's Optics Pro and the open source Rawtherapee are all RAW converters you can use, for example.

[Bruno Vieira]

How about all those post processing "effects" added to the pictures? Can I use them with Lightroom?