# Software question - PS CS5/Bridge CS5/Lightroom 3?



## Daveleau (Mar 27, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I have Photoshop CS5 and its associated Bridge. I had not been using Bridge, but with the upgraded PS, I grabbed the Lynda videos to learn about the new software. In it they talk a lot about Bridge. It's been a project of mine (on the back burner thusfar) to learn Lightroom for workflow. Do you guys use Lightroom, PS AND Bridge? Or more specifically, is Lightroom needed when you have Bridge?

Thanks for the help!
Dave


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## PhotoWrangler (Mar 27, 2011)

If you learn to use Lightroom, you'll have no need for the others. I only use PS when I need to do detailed 'fixing' like high amounts of skin smoothing etc.


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## table1349 (Mar 27, 2011)

ChristopherCoy said:


> *If you learn to use Lightroom, you'll have no need for the others.* I only use PS when I need to do detailed 'fixing' like high amounts of skin smoothing etc.


 
Then why are you using Photoshop?:lmao:

Ok, on the serious side, Lightroom is a digital darkroom and photo management/data base system.  It IS NOT  a photo editing system.  In Lightroom you can make all the same corrections to color, white balance, contrast etc that we did in the old days in a film dark room.  It lets you adjust the most common things and make minimal corrections to say a small skin splotch etc.  It is also a photo management system, sort of a file case for you digital negatives.  It does not have editing features like layers etc.  It will probably serve about 90-95% of your normal needs.

Photoshop is that next step when you want to do actual photo editing.  They work hand in hand in a seamless workflow.  Bridge I never open.  I  use LR3 and then CS5 as needed.


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## Daveleau (Mar 27, 2011)

With Lightroom, do you upload your photos from the drive before importing? Or, during the automatic import that occurs when you stick a SD card into the computer, does that import the raw pics to the drive? I am concerned about the LR database corrupting and losing all my pics. I do not keep backups on the SD Cards. I have 3 hdds in my computer (separate disks, not partitions) and I keep one copy on the main drive and another on a separate drive on the system. I plan to make a third backup on an external drive of the "keepers."  I also don't feel comfortable putting my pics in a database when that database could become obsolete in a relatively quick timeframe. So, this is another reason for my concern regarding the question above. 

I have heard of some working solely with LR, but have also heard it is not nearly as robust for photo work. I was planning on using PS, Photomatix (I do do some HDR) and either LR or LR and Bridge. (I am still not happy with HDR in CS5 despite the significant increase in this process in CS5.)  I guess I will begin my work learning LR if it allows for the pics in more than just the database.  

Thanks!
Dave


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## KmH (Mar 27, 2011)

As mentioned Lightroom is missing some of the needed image editing functions. Lightrooms main function is DAM - Digital Asset Management, and Lightroom is tightly integrated with Photoshop CS.

Designed primarily as a database manager, images don't actually upload to Lightroom. Lightroom simply catalogs a thumbnail and the path to the image.

Like yourself, many people that have a Photoshop CSx version never bother to learn how to use Bridge effectively.

By the same token, they never learn how to use Camera Raw (ACR) which is the same edit rendering engine used by Lightroom. Both CS5 and LR3 use ACR 6.x for parametric editing.

To use Lightroom's primary function (DAM) requires a fair amount of work when ingesting images. Rating and keywording images is critical. If the keywording and rating of images isn't done well, Bridge winds up being much more useful than Lightroom at managing digital image assets.

You may want to get the book The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers 

The book discusses DAM in general and includes some more specific information on

Metadata (a key element to database management)
Ingestion workflow
Lightroom workflow
Lightroom setup
Lightroom workflow
Bridge/ACR and Expressions Media (another DAM application)
Setting up bridge and ACR
Bridge/ACR workflow
Cataloging strategies
and data migration.


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## PhotoWrangler (Mar 27, 2011)

I can't be as technically versed as Keith here, but I can tell you that Lightroom is a faster workflow, even if it is a duplicate of ACR/Bridge. If it weren't, so many other photographers wouldn't be raving about it as much as they are.


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## Daveleau (Mar 27, 2011)

I use RAW a lot. One thing I like about Bridge, is that I can open up JPEGs and TIFFs in RAW. Is there a way to open non-CR2 files in RAW aside from the ctrl+R from Bridge? Can I open in RAW from LR or PS CS5 that I am missing?

Thanks for the great responses so far!


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## kundalini (Mar 27, 2011)

I use Lightroom as my photo organizer.  I will do some global edits with it to the imports as well as a culling platform.

Bridge is an image viewer.

ACR is an editor to the image.

Photoshop is the final tweak and resizer to the image.


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## table1349 (Mar 27, 2011)

Probably the best Lightroom book currently available.  Amazon.com: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers (9780321492166): Scott Kelby: Books


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## PhotoWrangler (Mar 28, 2011)

kundalini said:


> I use Lightroom as my photo organizer.  I will do some global edits with it to the imports as well as a culling platform.




This reminds me of another LR advantage.... I can edit one image in a set, select all the others, and then sync them with a single click.


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## KmH (Mar 28, 2011)

ChristopherCoy said:


> kundalini said:
> 
> 
> > I use Lightroom as my photo organizer. I will do some global edits with it to the imports as well as a culling platform.
> ...


Did you know that can be done using ACR too.


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## Drew1992 (Mar 28, 2011)

I agree with gryphonslair99 regarding Scott Kelby's book on Lightroom 3. He also has a another one on CS5 that's written in the same format (very easy to follow) and I am learning more and more as I am not finished reading either one yet. If I get stumpted and have a question I look in one of these 2 books and almost always find the answer. Hope that helps!


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