I use both - they are both excellent for very different reasons... I am by no means an expert user, so I expect others will weigh in with better info, but:
Lightroom - great for organizing, raw processing, especially for large batches, comparatively minor tweaks (although Lightroom is pretty powerful so I use the term "minor" quite loosely here...
Photoshop - mostly I use this for play - composites and photo manipulation
Well, I only have Lightroom but for me as an amateur it's enough - I don't need all the additional features PS has. With LR you can edit photos with brightness, contrast, temperature etc., add watermarks, crop, touch up pics, and all that stuff. It's also very very much cheaper.
But I have no real comparison, so just my opinion :)
Personally I have found lightroom very easy to pick up, I can process my raw files quickly and I've also got some great presets for it. I'd like to get to grips with Photoshop but think it would take quite a bit of time to get accustomed to it. Why not try a free trial and see which you prefer?
As I use RAW I can do nearly everything I WANT in Lightroom - that said, there is so much more you can do in Photoshop - they are not really comparable programmes. Lightroom will catalogue your photo's very well, and allows you raw editing, where as photoshop gives you full manipulation. Ultimately I use both.
I have both, but usually end up in Bridge using Adobe Camera Raw for editing and Photoshop when I want to do more.....but I am learning....and it hurts my head LOL! luckily I have an awesome bud that is helping me!
@moxy i have used Lightroom and PSE on both PC and MAC and find they work great either way... i am not as familiar with other editing tools, however, other than some of the plug-ins that are available (i.e.: nik and topaz)... i think aperture is supposed to be good for the MAC, but i've never used it
As for editing and adjustment capability, Lightroom has exactly what Camera Raw has, the raw image processor "plug in" also used in Photoshop. It is actually much more than that, with very strong features and I seldom use more than this for photography even though I have the full Photoshop CC. Photoshop proper adds all of the "layers" capabilities that can produce the same adjustment capabilities, but provide image manipulation, composition, masking, text and filtering that go far beyond what Camera Raw (Lightroom) can provide. Photoshop thus finds graphic and artistic uses well beyond photography and is probably the strongest platform for digital artists and graphic designers generally available. As well as photographers, naturally.
Lightroom also has very strong workflow, cataloging and database management of your images that simply do not exist in Photoshop. Many professionals and other enthusiasts actually use both Lightroom and Photoshop for these reasons and others.
Adobe currently still has a "$9.99 a month Photography subscription" for Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC. That is a steal, and I would heartily recommend it.
Good luck. I heartily recommend both products for all photographers.
I have LR5 and PS elements 9- have never bothered to update Elements- its already got plenty of creative options in V 9- LR is great and deals with 95% of what I need. Tend to upgrade evry couple of versions V5 is very good- particularly the new heal/clone tool and the new radial filter.
@moxy I use Aperture on my mac, which is comparable, from what I can see to LR as it's primarily an organizing system as well as editing. You can catalogue, tag, as well. It's been a good system for me, along with Nik Suite plug-ins and a few others, but not as powerful as PS.
I currently have Photoshop. I haven't done very much editing with it. I found myself feeling overwhelmed when I first purchased it. It sounds like I have a great program and I'm going to look for some tutorials to help me out. I really appreciate all of your feedback and help.
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Lightroom - great for organizing, raw processing, especially for large batches, comparatively minor tweaks (although Lightroom is pretty powerful so I use the term "minor" quite loosely here...
Photoshop - mostly I use this for play - composites and photo manipulation
:)
But I have no real comparison, so just my opinion :)
Lightroom also has very strong workflow, cataloging and database management of your images that simply do not exist in Photoshop. Many professionals and other enthusiasts actually use both Lightroom and Photoshop for these reasons and others.
Adobe currently still has a "$9.99 a month Photography subscription" for Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC. That is a steal, and I would heartily recommend it.
Good luck. I heartily recommend both products for all photographers.