Lightroom 5 or PhotoShop CC?

[antiochian2010]

I resisted getting into any kind of PC editing - since PureView came out with the 808, I have been able to shoot, edit and post gorgeous photos straight from the phone.

Now, with owning a 1020, getting the Black update, having raw DNG available, and seeing some incredible feats of editing on pureviewclub.com, I finally broke down - purchased Lightroom 5 and subscribed to Photoshop CC

As a NOOB, any thoughts on when it's best to work with one over the other?

 

[constantinosmi]

I always start with some processing in Lightroom and then if I need something more I will do some processing in Photoshop. I believe Lightroom is easier to learn and I can tell you that if you have spare time you can get some amazing results from it. I use Photoshop when I need to do extra work (select,delete things) or to apply some filter which are not available in Lightroom.

 

[DBDev]

I always start with some processing in Lightroom and then if I need something more I will do some processing in Photoshop. I believe Lightroom is easier to learn and I can tell you that if you have spare time you can get some amazing results from it. I use Photoshop when I need to do extra work (select,delete things) or to apply some filter which are not available in Lightroom.

That is exactly how you should do it. Organize and make every change you can in Lightroom. Then if you need, go over to Photoshop :wink: I think most photographers spend 90+ % editing time in Lightroom.

 

[constantinosmi]

Yes, at first I was using only Photoshop but I was surprised when I used Lightroom. You can pretty much do everything. I would also invest some money in some plug-ins. The one I use is color-efex pro. It is really helpful.

 

[csd_images]

To be honest they are not comparable despite overlapping in some areas. There are some key considerations when looking at these programs.

Lightroom is first and foremost a DAM (Digital Asset Management) application. It's also a global editor, which means most of the edits affects the whole RAW image rather than specific regions or channels.

Photoshop is a image manipulation program. It's designed to be both a global and a local editor. Photoshop also comes with Bridge which uses the same rendering engine as Lightroom.

Bridge Vs Lightroom.

Bridge is basically an advanced (less user friendly) version of Lightroom. Where Lightroom excels is in high throughput workflows for events and other similar scenarioes. It's also great for those who like tweaking RAW files with it's history feature. Another advantage for Lr is it's offline database, but that's as much a liability for a network based studio with multiple users trying to access it. Bridge allows for a lot more integration with the whole Creative Cloud suite, whilst it lacks the database feature it does support dual monitor to a greater degree than Lr and calibrated monitors which Lr doesn't support. In my case it allows for custom contact sheets which are branded to my business that you can't do with Lr.

The question you should ask before you start any program is what you intend to do, if you don't have an answer then you won't know how best to proceed. Personally since I do low-level editing on portraits I do quick colour correcting/profiles and global edits in RAW then switching to Ps for the localised detail editing. One thing I've learned Lr (and ACR by default) is pretty rubbish when it comes to masking.

At the end of the day it's all about workflow and that's down to as much what you vision and knowledge is as it's about being efficient and productive as possible. It's not something you can learn overnight but takes a lot of time and experimentation. I've spend 20 years with Photoshop and I'll find new tricks and concepts to work with.

To learn Ps or Lr, I'd advise staying away from Kelby these days as they're overly commercial, there is some good tutorials on the likes YouTube and you might want to stop by FStoppers or Lynda.com (commercial) for other tricks. Don't rely on plug-ins as if you don't understand the process you won't know what to do when it doesn't work or why you shouldn't use that technique. Plug-ins are designed to help get specific looks easily and/or time-savers, but many of them can be replicated in Ps.

 

[Sam_oslo]

As a NOOB, any thoughts on when it's best to work with one over the other?

You seams to need Lightroom. It's designed for photographers, a tool for adjusting exposure, colors, crop, etc. It has all you need to adjust a photo.

Photoshop is a manipulating tool designed for photo/graphic artists. It's a nice tool too, but it's too advanced and too expensive for what a photographer needs.

I have been photographing with dSLR's for a good while, and has always been using Lightroom, or similar programs, without missing anything.

 

[csd_images]

You seams to need Lightroom. It's designed for photographers, a tool for adjusting exposure, colors, crop, etc. It has all you need to adjust a photo.

Photoshop is a manipulating tool designed for photo/graphic artists. It's a nice tool too, but it's too advanced and too expensive for what a photographer needs.

I have been photographing with dSLR's for a good while, and has always been using Lightroom, or similar programs, without missing anything.

I'd avoid blanket statements for saying what a photographer needs. Each discipline requirements are very different. Whilst landscape, wildlife and maybe event photographers can get by without Ps there are other genres that needs the power that's afforded by Ps. It's not too advanced, complicated and expensive maybe but for fashion and glamour retouching it's the go to program. Something Lr can't and probably won't be able to do for a while yet until Lr gets decent masking that doesn't create artefacts, full colour management and layers then it might take the place of Ps.

For reference I'm a sem-pro photographer.

 

[Sam_oslo]

I'd avoid blanket statements for saying what a photographer needs. Each discipline requirements are very different. Whilst landscape, wildlife and maybe event photographers can get by without Ps there are other genres that needs the power that's afforded by Ps. It's not too advanced, complicated and expensive maybe but for fashion and glamour retouching it's the go to program. Something Lr can't and probably won't be able to do for a while yet until Lr gets decent masking that doesn't create artefacts, full colour management and layers then it might take the place of Ps.

For reference I'm a sem-pro photographer.

The statement is not blanket covering everything, it's rather based on OPs equipment, needs and request. We live in a relative world and nothing is absolute, blanket, anyways.

You may use Photoshop to add glamour to your semi-pro equipment and fashion shots, if that's what you do best. But this guy has just started using a phone to shoot for fun, can you see any difference ? There is no doubt, Photoshop is too advanced and too expensive for what OP needs.

 

[oldgreygeek]

Oh my word. This thread sounds like a commercial for Adobe. Why not try Corel Paintshop Pro X6. There is a free dl. I have CS6, and C6, as well as some cannot live without plugins. I edit most pics from the L1020 that are real keepers. I use Nik Define for Noise, Focus Magic to peak up the focus a bit. Also use Topaz, and what's becoming a favorite is "perfectly Clear" that does it all. All of these plugins work in PhotoShop as well as Paintshop pro. Except perfectly clear is bundled in paintshop pro x6 Ultimate and will set you back $200 if you buy it for lightroom or PhotoShop. Corel PSPX6 is better than lightroom and almost as good as Photoshop. Try it you will like it.

 

[antiochian2010]

Excellent advice - thank you, everyone!

I finally opted for..

1) Most of the time, I simply crop to square format and upload - shooting with 5MP + 34MP
The 1020 shoots so clean, I rarely even edit these except for the crop

2) For very special shoots where I want to maximize the impact, I change to 5MP + DNG
As per advice above, I generally do everything in LR
I think one time, I had to use a feature in PS but this is rare.
Then I generally upload to Flickr
My albums are at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antiochian/sets/

The albums for Holy Week and Pascha were all done in Raw DNG + LR
Also same for Getty Center and Getty Villa photos.

3) Sometimes when I want to shoot in the same theme, I have been using various presets from Oggl Pro - as you will see with the recent zoo shot - where I imagined how a photographer from 1915 would shoot the present day LA Zoo. These shots are already in Square, so I generally upload straight to Flickr with no editing.

Then some projects - such as my week in Florida were shot with a motley mixture of non-edited; HDR, Instagram and Hipstamatic. Then again, Florida demands this kind of craziness by nature..