Which Editing Software?

emilybeth · August 3, 2011

I'm looking into buying editing software but I have no experience with any. I want something that will be user friendly and be able to do as much as possible with my photos. I've been looking into Lightroom. Any suggestions?

zoomer · August 3, 2011

If you do any volume of photos Lightroom is a no brainer. SO easy and fast, more fun.
If you only do a few here and there, Photoshop Elements. Slower more complicated to use, but does some things you can't do in Lightroom.

My daughter uses a free program called Picnik she just opens it online. It actually is not a bad program.

Brandon Hanley · August 3, 2011

if you take a bunch of photos i wouldnt go without lightroom. lightroom is great for organizing, basic edits, keywording, and publishing to flickr and smugmug. get the kelby lightroom 3 for digital photographers book too. lr has a ton of features i never knew about before reading the book even though i used lr2 for a year or so before upgrading and buying the book. when you cant do what you need too in lightroom after reading the book then its time to add photoshop to the arsenal. once you have both its simplt to use lr3 for your main stuff like you started doing then as you get to a file that you need photoshop for you push the shortcut and it sends that file right to photoshop for you to finish.

ziggy53 · August 3, 2011

I moved this to the Finishing School forum, where you'll find other, similar software discussions.

Lightroom is good software and many people use it. While it's not exactly what I call "user friendly", it's not too bad to get used to the major controls. The one thing lacking in Lightroom is a capability for layers, although it allows selections to control selective processing.

Photoshop is desirable for advanced image processing and it also packs a high level of automation (if you know where to look), although it is waaay far away from user friendly. I've been using Photoshop versions for years and I keep discovering new things about it almost weekly.

Photoshop Elements may be too simplistic for a sports application, but there are many add-ons and plugins to add extra capabilities nowdays.

MarkR · August 3, 2011

Lightroom is a photo-management and raw converter package. It happens that the raw converter is very full featured, and can do many/most of the things that once required a pixel editor, and do them non-destructively, even if the original file is not a raw file.

PSE is a pixel editor that happens to have a raw-converter built into it. It also accepts most third-party filters, such as those available from TopazLabs, OnOne, Niksoftware, etc.

Lightroom + PSE would be a very powerful choice. You would get three very necessary tools:

1. A photo manager
2. A raw converter
and 3. A pixel editor,

As well as output options such as the ability to export to Smugmug, create slideshows, etc. You also get tight integration between Lightroom and PSE, as well as the ability to use third party applications within both applications.

All of this comes at a cost: learning curve. You will want to spend some time and resources learning how to use all of these tools. Scott Kelby has some good beginner books, and Martin Evening has some great advanced books, as well as plenty of training at, for example, tv.adobe.com, lynda.com, and kelbytraining.com.

@Ziggy: I've read that the latest versions of PSE are quite full featured, with layers, masks, 3-channel curves, etc. that were missing from previous iterations. Also, Adobe regularly offers an upgrade path from PSE to the full version for those who eventually outgrow PSE.

digismile · August 4, 2011

I agree with the LR recommendation. I started with Photoshop back from the very first version and I still use it a lot (CS5). However, more and more of my work stays in Lightroom.

So, if I had to recommend/pick just ONE program to start, it would be LR. You will get a lot of bang for your buck. Adding PSE or Photoshop later would give you some additional ability to manipulate your photos. LR has a huge user community, so there is tons of stuff out there on the web to assist you in getting started (such as http://lightroomkillertips.com).

As is always pointed out, you can try any adobe product for 30 days! It's a great way to see if it will work for you.

Just my 2 cents,

rdalland · August 4, 2011

+1 for Lightroom and PSE. Then Photoshop when they offer you a cheap upgrade!

Brandon Hanley · August 4, 2011

i look at it this way... photoshop can do more to an image than lightroom but that will be of no use if you dont know how to use any of it, and theres so much to learn that it becomes more work than fun. lightroom is much easier to learn and will help new shooters more than photoshop imho. i also believe its much easier to learn photoshop after already knowing your way around lightroom, and knowing what files actually need to see PS is a big part of that. photoshop is much needed for advanced shooters those who do extensive post processing but to the average amature lr is more than enough.

Gary752 · August 10, 2011

Brandon Hanley wrote: »

i look at it this way... photoshop can do more to an image than lightroom but that will be of no use if you dont know how to use any of it, and theres so much to learn that it becomes more work than fun. lightroom is much easier to learn and will help new shooters more than photoshop imho. i also believe its much easier to learn photoshop after already knowing your way around lightroom, and knowing what files actually need to see PS is a big part of that. photoshop is much needed for advanced shooters those who do extensive post processing but to the average amature lr is more than enough.

Lightroom + 3rd party plug-ins can do just about everything that Photoshop can do. OnOne Software has a plug-in called Perfect Layers that will work with Lightroom or as a stand alone application. If you still need Photoshop, if you import your file to Photoshop, you're supposed to be able to edit your layers you created in Perfect Layers. NIK Software has some useful plug-ins as well. I'm sure others can point you to other plug-ins for Lightroom that will reduce your time in Photoshop if you want to avoid using/buying it.

GaryB

basflt · August 10, 2011

BroPhoto wrote: »

Lightroom + 3rd party plug-ins can do just about everything that Photoshop can do. OnOne Software has a plug-in called Perfect Layers that will work with Lightroom or as a stand alone application. If you still need Photoshop, if you import your file to Photoshop, you're supposed to be able to edit your layers you created in Perfect Layers. NIK Software has some useful plug-ins as well. I'm sure others can point you to other plug-ins for Lightroom that will reduce your time in Photoshop if you want to avoid using/buying it.

GaryB

there exist no real plug-in for Lightroom
the only real one that works is Photoshop

the others are ........[ fill in yerself on dotted line ]

http://www.johanfoto.com/2011/04/perfect-layers-not-so-perfect/

arodney · August 10, 2011

basflt wrote: »

there exist no real plug-in for Lightroom
the only real one that works is Photoshop

Yes (mostly) and no (sort of). There are no true plug-in’s for Lightroom’s Develop processing path. The comment about Perfect Layers is an example. You don’t get true layers in Lightroom, it renders the raw data like all the 3rd party plug-in’s that attempt to alter the image itself. They have no hooks to the develop module or processing. So as an example, IF you wanted layers, you would spend less and get more skipping Perfect Layers and just buying Elements. Then Lightroom would render pixels into Elements for processing just as Perfect Layers has to (but its a more expensive one trick pony). So yes, the only time we’ll get true layers in LR, or any of the effects many of these plug-in’s try to provide, is when Adobe either opens up the develop module to 3rd parties or does the work themselves. So I mostly agree with you.

Where the comment is a bit unclear are for plug-in’s that provide functionality outside the Develop Module. For example, X-Rite’s Color Passport for creating DNG profiles is a plug-in. And it does the job it says it will do. It has nothing to do with the Develop module which again is locked.

Any 3rd party plug-in that says they are altering the color or tone inside LR are doing exactly what they would do in Photoshop; render the raw and apply their effects. The instruction based editing of LR is now over. If you have Photoshop or Elements, you don’t need them.

That said, I’d agree that the best bang for the buck for the OP is Elements plus Lightroom, leave plug-ins (either for LR or Elements) for a later purchase.

arodney · August 10, 2011

basflt wrote: »

http://www.johanfoto.com/2011/04/perfect-layers-not-so-perfect/

Agreed 100%!

Further reading on this subject for those interested:

http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/layers
http://regex.info/blog/2011-04-23/1753

Nyarthlopic · August 10, 2011

I find myself using a cocktail of software. Mostly, I use Lightroom 3. When Lightroom 3 doesn't have the editing tools I want, I bring Photoshop Elements 9 into the picture. I also add in a little GIMP here and there. I might be the only one in this forum that uses it, but hey, it's pretty powerful and the price is right. ;-) I've also used Paint.net, but didn't get very far into it. I liked the little bit I did play with, though. So...

- Money is really tight: GIMP/Paint.net
- Somewhat small budget: Photoshop Elements
- Larger budget: Lightroom 3 AND Photoshop Elements
- More money than I make: Lightroom 3 AND Photoshop CS5

(you'll notice that I don't put Lightroom by itself...it needs a companion in my opinion)

Also take this with a grain of salt; I hate post processing. I've found myself trying to salvage crap.

paddler4 · August 13, 2011

My combination is Lightroom and Photoshop. The learning curve for Lightroom is moderate. For Photoshop, it is extremely steep, and for that reason, I would not recommend it as a first pixel editor. I never used PSE, but it might be a more sensible first pixel editor. Paint Shop Pro is about the same price and, when I last compared several years ago, slightly more powerful. One advantage of using Adobe products is that so many other people do. I find that if I am stuck in Photoshop, I can often find an answer (or, often, a whole lot of different ways to do what I am trying to do) by googling.

But be prepared. Not only do you have to learn the software itself, but you also need to learn the principles behind it. there are lots of free tutorials on the web, good paid tutorials (Lynda.com), and books, but it takes time.

Which Editing Software?

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