mrtobin Loc: North East Ohio

I third that suggestion.

dusty3d Loc: South Florida

Lightroom is a great program for organizing my photos. You can use key words, ie "cars" and one click it will select all photos that you tagged "cars". I find that very useful. Also you can do some post processing as well. To be more creative you would want photoshop. I use CS5 but Elements is cheaper and a great app.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Depends on what you want to do. If you're just looking to do standard work on photographs, like sharpening, contrast, exposure, brighten, lighten, darken, correct red eye, remove blotches and imperfections, crop, etc., etc., etc., then Lightroom is all you'll ever need.

Photoshop does all of that as well, of course. If you want to get into the creative aspects of photography where it merges into art, there's no all-in-one program like Photoshop.

For the past 20 years (plus or minus), I have been using Photoshop, Lightroom, Corel Draw, Corel Photo-Paint, Corel PaintShop Pro, and even Word (has some great framing features!) to do everything. Since I know that Photoshop can do everything that all those other programs can do, including Corel Draw, my intent is to learn how to do in Photoshop all the things that I use all those other programs for. Once I do that, I'll have no need to update all those other programs, saving me hundreds of dollars a year.

Both programs cost, though, so if that's an issue, try GIMP. I believe it's free.

The reason why I don't use GIMP, preferring Photoshop and Lightroom, is because they are the de facto standards, which means that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of tutorials on the Internet, many of which are free.

mainshipper Loc: Hernando, Florida

Agree 100%. LR and PS should not be compared as an either/or since they are not that similar. A better comparison would be Elements to PS since one is a cut down version of the other. I have used LR since version 2 and only go to PS (CS6) when I need to do something LR won't do. I also have the NIK and Topaz plugins which extend LR and PS with additional capabilities.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

One can do that with Photoshop, as well, except that you'll be doing it in Photoshop's Bridge. Bridge's organizing functions are much more robust than Lightroom, but that can be said about anything in Photoshop that Lightroom also does.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

As an example, the photograph below was in San Clemente, California, an upscale community. However, California beaches are accessible by all. Knowing that, I thought that a little sign would be helpful to visitors, so I inserted the sign between the two stairways by taking the sign from another picture, erasing the text on the sign, putting my own text on the sign, and then inserting it between the stairs.

I did it in just a couple of minutes in Corel Draw, where I usually do this kind of stuff. After that, I went to do the same thing in Photoshop. Not knowing how, it took me 1½ hours of trial and error, even with YouTube videos. Now that I know how to do it in Photoshop, it only takes me a couple of minutes to do such work again.

Ambrose Loc: North America

The full blown Photoshop is really intended for professional graphic artists. Unless you are that - I wouldn't bother.

Suggest:
1> Lightroom first. It mimics the old school dark room, but it digital form.
2> Add Photoshop Elements once you're comfortable with Lightroom.
This one-two combo is probably all you'll ever need.

Option:
On a budget? Look at Zoner Photo Studio. It's like Lightroom and PS Elements in one and does a decent job.

balticvid Loc: Queens now NJ

Amen to that....
Be a real photographer.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

This is such a true statement. I use both, but find myself in PS very infrequently. Add the fact that LR is probably THE best available library management tool, and it truly becomes a no-brainer between these two products if you're gonna buy only one of them. This is my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Old school........That's funny.

Old school photographers usually had their own darkrooms and spent hours, days, and sometimes even weeks manipulating their photos by dodging, burning, using different filters/chemicals/papers, and even blocking the light so part of the picture wasn't even developed. It all was so much fun, but I did not really enjoy the smell of the darkroom. The smell of Photoshop and Lightroom is much more pleasant, smelling like nachos, margaritas, barbecue...............

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

I'll put Lightroom as #2 in library management, behind Photoshop's Bridge. After I discovered just how robust Bridge is in library management, I ceased using Lightroom for that function.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Thinking I want to come and do my PP at your place... ;)

herb99m Loc: Georgia, USA

Same here. I started with PS years ago. Then realized I needed better organization. Went to LR 2. After upgrading to 3 I realized I was rarely using PS, so I stopped upgrading that. Then picked up Elements about two years ago when it surpassed my old PS version.

If I was started fresh I would get LR and learn how to do all you can in it. Then add Elements if you need to.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

an excellent suggestion I agree :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

I started with elements and now own LR. Now that I am finally learning LR I like it and find it will do most anything I need to do. Elements is a great program and has many features that L R does not have.

It all depends on what you are trying to do. Many UHH members use LR for the basics and then, if they need to, go to PSE to finish a photo. The two programs compliment each other very well! You can get these two programs for less than half the cost of CS6. Photoshop is designed for the professional but many of them do as above because of the cost.

If what you need to do is just the basics get LR. If you find you want to do more then look at PSE.

You can get the trial for 30 days for both of these programs. The trials are both full blown programs. I would try LR first, then PSE.

Jim D