Photoshop Elements/Lightroom 3/CS5

Sean Ealy · July 25, 2011

Hello all. I have been using and experimenting with Photoshop Elements for the past year or so and there seems to be a lot that I can do with post processing. I'm still learning about layers, and am sure that it will take a lot more playing around with to master. But I've noticed that a lot of other photographers use Lightroom 3. Is there an advantage to going to Lightroom or even CS5? For those that use Lightroom, what does it offer that I can't do in Elements?

Richard · July 25, 2011

Since Elements includes Adobe's raw processing engine, there's not a lot you can do in terms of processing a single pic using Elements that you can do in LR, and there is a fair amount of stuff that you can do in Elements that you can't do in LR, which does not support layers. However, LR has a much better catalog function to manage your photo archive and some nice features to process many pics as a batch. CS5 does not have a decent catalog, but offers the most comprehensive set of editing tools, much more sophisticated than Elements or LR--and more sophisticated than many non-professional photographers need. It also will do batch processing, but the learning curve is a little steeper than in LR.

Sean Ealy · July 25, 2011

Thanks for the info Richard. I'm currently working as a part time photographer and would like to be able to offer my clients the best quality in their photos. I'm willing to go up to CS5, but am a little intimidated by the learning curve.

Peano · July 25, 2011

Comparisons:

http://thelightroomlab.com/2010/01/lightroom-vs-photoshop/

http://www.photocitizen.com/reviews/adobe-lightroom-3-vs-photoshop-cs5-which-to-buy/ (a bit biased toward LR)

http://www.thephotographerslife.com/photography_tips_and_tricks/photoshop_vs_lightroom/ (2008, not current)

Ohiohiker · July 26, 2011

I would recommend Lightroom. Lightroom will allow you to create catalogs for each shoot if you desire. Also you can easily flag and sort photos from a shoot. After you have them sorted you can easily apply setting or metadata to all the photographs. Lightroom editing makes no changes to your original files, this can be an advantage if you have limited storage space or want to show different processing on the same photo. Lightroom integrates well with Elements. You may find that you can do 95% of your editing in Lightroom and only have to take a few photos to Elements. Also if you use smugmug, flickr, etc you can up load to these sites right from LR3. Download the 30 day trial of LR3 and from Adobe and see what you think before you buy. there are many free tutorials for Lightroom on sites like Adobe TV, Youtube, Vimeo, etc. You may be amazed how well LR3 streamlines your workflow.

TonyCooper · July 26, 2011

Ohiohiker wrote: »

Also if you use smugmug, flickr, etc you can up load to these sites right from LR3.

As you can from Elements 9.0.

I have Lightroom2, CS4 and Elements 9.0. I added Elements 9.0
because my daughter (who doesn't live in town) uses it and I provide
some tutorials for her. She's just learning editing.

If I had to start over, the combination of Lightroom and Elements 9.0
would do about anything I want. The Elements Organizer module sucks,
so Lightroom for the library function and basic edits, and Elements 9.0
for more extensive edits. I wouldn't need CS4.

TonyCooper · July 27, 2011

TonyCooper wrote: »

As you can from Elements 9.0.

I have Lightroom2, CS4 and Elements 9.0. I added Elements 9.0
because my daughter (who doesn't live in town) uses it and I provide
some tutorials for her. She's just learning editing.

If I had to start over, the combination of Lightroom and Elements 9.0
would do about anything I want. The Elements Organizer module sucks,
so Lightroom for the library function and basic edits, and Elements 9.0
for more extensive edits. I wouldn't need CS4.

Let me add something...I have only recently added Elements 9. I
just found out tonight that E9 does not allow you set pre-sets for
custom crop sizes. I have several custom crop pre-sets in CS4.

I can do a custom crop in E9 by manually entering the numbers, but
I have to manually enter the numbers each time. I know E9 is not
supposed to be the full monty, but that's a odd feature to leave out.

I hope I don't find more basic omissions.

Sean Ealy · July 27, 2011

Thank you all for the input. I think I will try the free trial of Lightroom. The more sessions I do, the more I realize I need a better workflow.

Photoshop Elements/Lightroom 3/CS5

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