I am very new to photography and I am trying to learn different techniques of the same. Meanwhile I see how editing adds beauty to a photograph sometimes.
But I was not sure which one to go ahead with - Adobe Light room or Adobe Photoshop and learn the tool for a "little" photo editing of pictures.
@aparnacm They serve different purposes. Lightroom is not only an editor but an organizational tool. Photoshop does all the editing that lightroom does but has a great deal of other tools, and therefore a steeper learning curve. I would recommend lightroom to you if you are only going to get one.
I have both, but I still don't know how to use photoshop, but I use Lightroom everyday. I would def start with Lightroom, but I don't think you can merge images together, or do HDR , on lightroom but there are other cheaper or free sw for these couple of things.
Yep, what the other Jen said :) @fungirlslim
I love lightroom and have no idea how to use my photoshop. There are add ons for LR for HDR. I've been using HDR Efex and it's pretty good! If you haven't already, go to the Adobe site and download some free trials
They are not competitive or the same: LR for your library organization and with oodles of batch developing settings; its main claim to fame is its "non-destructive editing"- unlimited steps of editing can be reversed. Photoshop can undo up to 20 steps, I believe and you always need to work on a copy of your photo for safety. PS has a ton of features but there are many very good programs that are eating away at the edges of PS in specialized areas, such as Photomatix Pro for HDR. PS has a very steep learning curve. If you do "a little editing", you might want something other than either one of these. Maybe google a question about inexpensive photoediting programs to get you started or use the Picnix here until you know more. For me personally, I use LR a lot and also have PS5, but use it very little, since I do HDR and like Photomatix Pro.
@shutterbugger : Thanks a ton Jenn. I would look out for add ons as well.. Thank you again!! :) @morrisroos : that was a wonderful piece of information! thank you so much!!! :)
and sort of got shot down, I think I should have worded my question more like yours! apparently photoshop is the way forward and it just needs the hours putting in to learn.
@amyamoeba I am sorry if you felt you were shot down. I hope none of my comments were perceived that way as that was not my intention.
I took it as if you were asking about graphic design and not photo editing as they are very different things.
In short if you don't own LR then go get it. If anything it will help you manage your photos like not other application can. I should know as I have over 50,000 images in my collection and without lightroom I would never be able to manage or find an image instantly.
It will also allow you to tip your toe in the waters of photo editing and then once you understand the limitations you may want to go into PS.
I use PS and LR everyday and could not live without either, however I have invested many thousands of hours into my PS skills/understanding, with still a heap yet to learn.
As Courtney suggests, try both before you buy but be warned! Neither are easily mastered and Lightroom has to be the least intuitive piece of software that I've ever encountered.
Also, in the thirty day trial period, you'll barely scratch the surface.
As for their relative merits, Lightroom is predominantly used to convert RAW images and although it ofers a lot of editing tools, it's nowhere near as powerful as CS5 (I've got both).
Another thing to consider, of course, is the price. Lightroom's currently about £100 on Amazon, whilst CS5's about six times as much.
Don't forget also, that Lightroom 4 is about to be released very soon and that CS6 is due to land later this year.
It seems to me though, that all of those may be overkill for your needs. If you just want to do a little "light" editing, you might be better off simply getting "Elements" at about £50 and converting your RAW files using a freebie like "FastStone" or "Picasa."
Just a thought.
I've used Photoshop for ages and learnt different techniques along the way (though there's still loads more to learn). I've used it to do most of most my shots but I recently downloaded the demo of Lightroom (30 day trial) and as good as photoshop is, Lightroom is far more compact in what I'm generally looking to achieve. You can doubtless do most of the things that Lightroom does in Photoshop but Lightroom makes it easier. I'm definitely going to buy it.
@cfitzgerald@amyamoeba@agima@jester@darrenburch@melee09 : thank a ton!! I got the trial version of lightroom and have started experimenting on it! will do the same for photoshop and elements as well to decide which one i can get more comfortable with.. thanks for your wonderful suggestions!! :)
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I love lightroom and have no idea how to use my photoshop. There are add ons for LR for HDR. I've been using HDR Efex and it's pretty good! If you haven't already, go to the Adobe site and download some free trials
http://365project.org/discuss/tips-n-tricks/11571/which-version-of-photoshop-or-other
and sort of got shot down, I think I should have worded my question more like yours! apparently photoshop is the way forward and it just needs the hours putting in to learn.
I took it as if you were asking about graphic design and not photo editing as they are very different things.
In short if you don't own LR then go get it. If anything it will help you manage your photos like not other application can. I should know as I have over 50,000 images in my collection and without lightroom I would never be able to manage or find an image instantly.
It will also allow you to tip your toe in the waters of photo editing and then once you understand the limitations you may want to go into PS.
I use PS and LR everyday and could not live without either, however I have invested many thousands of hours into my PS skills/understanding, with still a heap yet to learn.
Also, in the thirty day trial period, you'll barely scratch the surface.
As for their relative merits, Lightroom is predominantly used to convert RAW images and although it ofers a lot of editing tools, it's nowhere near as powerful as CS5 (I've got both).
Another thing to consider, of course, is the price. Lightroom's currently about £100 on Amazon, whilst CS5's about six times as much.
Don't forget also, that Lightroom 4 is about to be released very soon and that CS6 is due to land later this year.
It seems to me though, that all of those may be overkill for your needs. If you just want to do a little "light" editing, you might be better off simply getting "Elements" at about £50 and converting your RAW files using a freebie like "FastStone" or "Picasa."
Just a thought.
Bren.