# how do we all feel when it comes to lightroom vs. CS5?



## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

so, i figured this has been posted 43843 times but here goes... i'm a photo major and i have lightroom. i'm assuming it's necessary to get CS5 but do i need it immediately? comparing the two, i know CS5 offers completely different tools, such as HDR, all that good stuff.. but can i get some opinions on the two programs side by side? thanks!


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## MLeeK (Jan 25, 2012)

They aren't the same thing. You're comparing apples to oranges.
Lightroom is developing and cataloging.
Photoshop CS is developing, cataloging, editing and more... LR is less than half of what PS is. 
Adobe Camera Raw is the same engine as LightRoom, so you get both LR AND editing in every sense of the word in Photoshop.

I am not a lightroom fan personally only because of the colorspace it works in. Otherwise it's an amazing tool for developing and cataloging. I can do the exact same developing and cataloging in Bridge/ACR but I can work in sRGB if I want to. I can only work in ProPhoto in LR.


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> They aren't the same thing. You're comparing apples to oranges.
> Lightroom is developing and cataloging.
> Photoshop CS is developing, cataloging, editing and more... LR is less than half of what PS is.
> Adobe Camera Raw is the same engine as LightRoom, so you get both LR AND editing in every sense of the word in Photoshop.
> ...


 
so i should probably invest in CS5.. i only have elements which i can use for cloning and what not. 

but thanks for the input.


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

actually what do you mean when you say you can only work in ProPhoto?


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## Dominantly (Jan 25, 2012)

Elements and LR can work perfectly together.Do you find you need to spend quite a bit of time reworking images in post? If you get them spot on in camera, then LR and elements should be all you need.


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## cgipson1 (Jan 25, 2012)

They both suck! Piknik rocks!    lol!


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## o hey tyler (Jan 25, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> I am not a lightroom fan personally only because of the colorspace it works in. Otherwise it's an amazing tool for developing and cataloging. I can do the exact same developing and cataloging in Bridge/ACR but I can work in sRGB if I want to. I can only work in ProPhoto in LR.



What's wrong with working with Prophoto in LR? You can export in any colorspace you want. If you're working in ProPhoto RGB in Lightroom and exporting as sRGB, what's the difference?


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

Dominantly said:


> Elements and LR can work perfectly together.Do you find you need to spend quite a bit of time reworking images in post? If you get them spot on in camera, then LR and elements should be all you need.


 
i feel that i don't need to do much editing. but i haven't explored near as much photography as i'd like to. but that makes sense working the two programs together. 

thanks!


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> They both suck! Piknik rocks!    lol!


 
piknik is merging with google?


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## cgipson1 (Jan 25, 2012)

alexandermjoyce said:


> cgipson1 said:
> 
> 
> > They both suck! Piknik rocks!    lol!
> ...



Looks like it.. to a sigh of relief from millions of MWACS!


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## MLeeK (Jan 25, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> MLeeK said:
> 
> 
> > I am not a lightroom fan personally only because of the colorspace it works in. Otherwise it's an amazing tool for developing and cataloging. I can do the exact same developing and cataloging in Bridge/ACR but I can work in sRGB if I want to. I can only work in ProPhoto in LR.
> ...



I find myself forever blowing a color channel when converting. At least one... sometimes two, but usually the reds. With the extra wide range of colors in ProPhoto I find my conversions jacked every. damn. time.  Then I think I have it figured out... and screw it up again. 
I am good and fast in bridge and ACR, it works for me. If there is a way to screw something up-I'll do it.


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## BuS_RiDeR (Jan 25, 2012)

I feel nothing... Adobe  can't have my money. I use Gimp.


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## bhop (Jan 25, 2012)

I tried Lightroom and couldn't get used to the interface.. plus it didn't seem to do anything that I can't do in Photoshop, but i've been using Photoshop since 1992.. it's just much easier because of the experience I have with it I guess.


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

bhop said:


> I tried Lightroom and couldn't get used to the interface.. plus it didn't seem to do anything that I can't do in Photoshop, but i've been using Photoshop since 1992.. it's just much easier because of the experience I have with it I guess.


 
i guess that's the biggest obstacle.. getting used to the program. at this point i'm pretty familiar with lightroom but if photoshop really has everything lightroom does..


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

so the question really is.... is there anything major that lightroom can offer that photoshop can't? i feel like it's just simplified.


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 25, 2012)

BuS_RiDeR said:


> I feel nothing... Adobe  can't have my money. I use Gimp.


 
never even heard of that. ill try it out.
adobe does have a hefty price tag...


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## o hey tyler (Jan 25, 2012)

alexandermjoyce said:


> so the question really is.... is there anything major that lightroom can offer that photoshop can't? i feel like it's just simplified.



Lightroom does a VERY GOOD JOB at ORGANIZING, and CATALOGING your photos. That's its main gig. It's secondary function is developing/printing  RAW files. 

It can't edit layers, so that's where PS has it beat. 

I use LR for 95% of my workflow just because it's easy. I open up PS when I need to edit pixels (if I need to edit pixels).


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## Overread (Jan 25, 2012)

Lightroom is designed to compliment CS5 for photographers. Many who use it find that they do the bulk of their work in lightroom - processing and organising their RAWs ready for use. Further lightroom 4 is expanding in the editing features possible within the system. You'll still need a copy of photoshop (CS5 or elements) for more specific selective work/filters/plugins and the like; but you should be able to do a lot in lightroom

Try out the demo on the adobe website- 30days free trial on lightroom 3 and lightroom 4 beta is currently free (until its release) - though the latter might have some glitches.


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## Overread (Jan 25, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> > MLeeK said:
> ...



I'm of the personal opinion that the red colour channel is evil and should be burnt. In macro I oft find yellows easily blow out on the red channel


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## Turbocharged (Jan 26, 2012)

I'm also a photography major. You definitely need CS5. If you take a workflow class (PHO250 at my college), it's all about lightroom, but for general editing you need photoshop.


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## Overread (Jan 26, 2012)

Considering the prices unless you are getting photoshop with a student discount I'd generally say most are best to go with Lightroom and Elements - giving you more than enough to start out with without overwhelming you; whilst at the same time helping you save a little more for additional photography gear. You can always re-edit a photo but you can't go back to take those shots that you missed because your gear wasn't up to the task at the time. 

Heck elements alone is capable enough (and you're hardly likely to have the large number of photos which needs an archiving system like lightroom) though I will say that lightroom has a much better RAW processing presentation setup than elements, which is also more featured.


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## bhop (Jan 26, 2012)

I just use adobe bridge for organization.


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## robolepa (Jan 26, 2012)

If I had to choose one over the other, (I have both), I'd choose Lightroom.  I use it 100% of the time in my workflow.  For batch processing images, I don't think it has an equal.


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## AceCo55 (Jan 26, 2012)

As a photo major, I'm assuming you would be eligible for student pricing ... get both at huge discounts.


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## MLeeK (Jan 26, 2012)

DEFINITELY buy while you are a student!!! But don't discount Elements. Elements is a pretty powerful tool and with LR and elements together it's a GOOD setup. 
Yes, you should upgrade to CS, but if you aren't ready-you're fine with what you have for now. 
I expect to see CS6 fairly soon after seeing the changes in LR4 Beta. If you are saving money to invest? Wait till it comes out and your next semester's student aid (if you are getting it!) But DEFINITELY buy while you can use your student discount.


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## Overread (Jan 26, 2012)

Its interesting to note that elements can do a lot more if you use the shortcut key commands as opposed to just the buttons they give you. Plus there are quite a few free and very cheap plugins that can expand the features of elements quite considerably.


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## thelittlewhimsy (Jan 26, 2012)

Has anyone mad ea switch from bridge to lightroom? I've just learned bridge CS5 where I do my initial looks, deletes, tagging, rating, keywords and then I usually open right in ACR and finally do any necessary final edits in PS5. I'm positive my process could be more efficient and faster, and was wondering if this is what lightroom helps with?


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## KmH (Jan 26, 2012)

Yes, Lightroom's major advantage over CS 5 is an image database searching capability.

Ps Photoshop CS5's Camera Raw, and Ps Lightroom 3's Develope module _use the same edit rendering engine and are virtually identical_ - Adobe Camera Raw 6. ACR first appeared in Photoshop 7.

Lightroom was designed as a compliment to Ps CS3/4/5 and Lightroom's main function is image database management. Adding ACR and an editing function was essentially an afterthought.

CS5 (Photoshop 12) not only includes with Camera Raw it also includes Bridge 4, a file browser that is integrated with most of Adobes software. Bridge can open many, many file types Lightroom cannot open and like Lightroom can be used to organize, rate, and  keyword your images. Being a browser, Bridge cannot do files searches as fast as Lightroom and it's database management function can.

Ps Elements 10 has a heavily de-featured version of ACR 6, and  a simple image organizer, but Elements only has about 30% of CS5's tools, functions, and features. A biggie is that Elements is pretty much restricted to 8-bit depth edits. Ps CS5 can do 16-bit depth edits and has a limited 32-bit depth editing capability.


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## KmH (Jan 26, 2012)

robolepa said:


> If I had to choose one over the other, (I have both), I'd choose Lightroom.  I use it 100% of the time in my workflow.  For batch processing images, I don't think it has an equal.


CS5's Bridge can host Camera Raw. Camera Raw and Lightroom's Develope module use the same edit rendering engine - ACR. CS5 can also host Camera Raw, but not at the same time Bridge is hosting Camera Raw.

However, I can have Bridge doing ACR batch edits, while I do other editing work in CS5.


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## MLeeK (Jan 26, 2012)

thelittlewhimsy said:


> Has anyone mad ea switch from bridge to lightroom? I've just learned bridge CS5 where I do my initial looks, deletes, tagging, rating, keywords and then I usually open right in ACR and finally do any necessary final edits in PS5. I'm positive my process could be more efficient and faster, and was wondering if this is what lightroom helps with?



You'd still be doing the same things as far as deleting, tagging, rating, keywording and developing. The search or smart collection feature in Bridge is as slow as pond water compared to the search in LR. 

When you are importing a shoot first and foremost use your metadata templates. For example I have a metadata template for Wrestling. Every time I am about to import a new event I edit that metadata template to reflect the date of the event, the teams that are wrestling (for a match) and if it is a match or tournament. Those keywords are automatically added. As I am processing I process each wrestler's shots all together and I then add their name as a keyword. 
With a portrait shoot my keywording is done if I change the metadata to reflect the information for that shoot. I don't have to do it while I am sorting. 

For deleting I don't delete individual images-that takes up time. I tag them with #6 which puts a red bar at the bottom. When I am done with the sort I then have the ratings as well as the ones to delete. I sort to only show the red tagged images, select and delete all.

Set up your ACR or Lightroom to automatically apply your basic edits. You'll find that you ALWAYS do these things-I use the same curve, same basic raw sharpening and same basic black point adjustment for each camera. Those are plugged in as my defaults. If your exposure was spot on and all you need to do is apply your basics you won't even need to open that image in ACR or develop it in LR. 

You can make those defaults specific to each camera-it goes on the serial # of the camera. You can also make it specific to each ISO on each camera to reflect the proper noise removal or the different things you do at different ISO's. 

Those few little things save a LOT of time!


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 26, 2012)

thanks for all the feedback! i have definitely realized that LR is solid for cataloging. are there major difference for LR4? i'll to try the beta. aren't small things like recovery being changed? 


also, i do like elements. but not many capabilities for HDR. not that i have much experience as it is, but i have to start somewhere.


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 26, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> thelittlewhimsy said:
> 
> 
> > Has anyone mad ea switch from bridge to lightroom? I've just learned bridge CS5 where I do my initial looks, deletes, tagging, rating, keywords and then I usually open right in ACR and finally do any necessary final edits in PS5. I'm positive my process could be more efficient and faster, and was wondering if this is what lightroom helps with?
> ...


 
good idea with making defaults for certain things. learningg as i go!


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## alexandermjoyce (Jan 26, 2012)

Turbocharged said:


> I'm also a photography major. You definitely need CS5. If you take a workflow class (PHO250 at my college), it's all about lightroom, but for general editing you need photoshop.


 
i'm actually taking a LR class right, kind of boring. lots of cataloging, etc. i know how to do most. i thought there was more to it. that's what kind of made me want to start this thread, the confusion between the two programs.


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