shoot123

I'm running an old version of Photoshop Elements on a Win XP computer (I know, Microsoft thinks I should stop using it, but I use it for some legacy programs that don't run on anything newer).

I now have a Win 7 computer with 8 GB ram that I'd like to move my photo editing to. What are the main trade offs between current versions of Lightroom & Elements? BTW, I'm considering downloading & learning to use GIMP 2.8 since it's free. Any feedback on that would also be appreciated. :)

Mr PC Loc: Austin, TX

Lightroom for cataloguing and quick edits, Elements or Photoshop for more pixel level edits. I'm a computer guy and in my business we say "friends don't let friends drive XP." For many reasons. But I do understand legacy apps that you must have. Good luck with GIMP, it's powerful but has a learning curve...

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have a couple old computers with XP on them. They're not online and they just run old software that isn't compatible with the current Win7/8. They do what I need them to do.

I used GIMP for several years and found it useful. Eventually I found I needed more whistles and bells so I moved to Photoshop. Never used Elements, so I don't know how much it does. But GIMP is cost effective for most stuff. Since I never used Elements, I can't compare it with GIMP, but Photoshop has a lot more capability than GIMP. Since Elements and Photoshop are from the same company, I would say that using Elements would probably get you used to doing things in a way that you could transfer to Photoshop if you decided you needed to go that way. Gimp and Photoshop have significantly different user interfaces and it took me a while to get used to PS after using GIMP for so long.

I have used Lightroom for about 8 years now for my photos and I've become dependent on it. LR is really only a basic editor and doesn't have layers so GIMP or Photoshop (or probably Elements) will occasionally be needed. But it does 90% of the editing I need to do.

LR really became useful after about 3-4 years of taking digital pictures. I found I had more than 10,000 photos with random names. It was a real problem trying to find anything. But with the LR catalog and after adding keywords to the photos it became much easier.

Brian in Whitby Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada

If I had to chose only one of the two I would definitely choose Lightroom especially because I shoot in RAW. Lightroom has superior cataloging abilities and can handle most photo editing needs with ease. If however, you want to work in layers or seriously edit at the pixel level, you will want to use PSE. Lightroom can handle red-eye, blemish healing and some cloning but if you want to combine parts of to photos you would want to use elements.

I have both and but use Lightroom on ALL my photos I use PSE only rarely after I have done the necessary work in Lightroom.
If these are too expensive there are a couple of other paid software systems you might consider. I don't believe they are inferior they just do not have the large user base of the Adobe products.

Both Corel and ACDSee offer fine photo processing alternatives and both offer 30 day free trials.. Corel's products are AfterShot Pro as an alternative to Lightroom and PaintShop Pro (Get the ultimate version) as
an alternative to PSE. Also Both Corel and ACDsee frequently offer deep discounts if you buy them on line sometimes less than half price. I have used both in the past and find them very good.

I have used ACDSee programs and liked them; they are quite competent too. The problem I have at this time is sorting out what each program within their suite does and the lines seem to blurred, at least to me.

I tried Gimp and did not like it. Perhaps that is unfair because I had NO experience in photo editing at the time. There was no readily available documentation and I found the help forums to be too "Geeky" to be of much use. There is fabled to exist a book perhaps it is an E-book called "Groking the Gimp" but I was unable to find a source.
I do use open source software of other types Firefox as a browser, Thunderbird as an e-mail client and Libre office as an office suite so I think it is fair to say that I am not prejudiced about using open source software.

I hope you find this note useful.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

What are you editing expectations? LR has a really good front end for dealing with 16-bit RAW images. It has no concept of things like layers.

Photoshop Elements on the other hand, does have layers. It can also handle RAW files, but has less capability in this area than Lightroom. But there is a real gotcha in Photoshop Elements. If you shoot RAW and try to use layers, it needs to downsize the image from 16-bits to 8-bits. This can impact what you are trying to do. This crippling of Photoshop Elements is intentional. Adobe figures that if they gave you too much capability, you would feel compelled to upgrade to the full photoshop product. But there are any number of other SW packages that do allow you to work with 16-bit images.

You will need to decide what is important for your needs.

As for what I do, I start in Lightroom. I use plugins to expand Lightroom's ability and they all work in 16-bit mode. I have Photoshop Elements, but rarely ever use it. But just be aware also that Photoshop Elements will do some things in 16-bit mode. Mostly things that you can also do in Lightroom. But for more advanced things, it is going to want the image to be 8-bits.

shoot123

Thanks for the replies so far. I should have said the following in my OP...

To date my "editing" has been VERY basic -- cropping, levels, brightness, contrast, color correction, and sharpening. A lot of it has been for kids sports shots of the teams my son plays on, so I didn't need to get extravagant. Occasionally I've used some of PSE's style editing for fun.

For my other photography, I haven't really had the time to get into sophisticated editing like layers, etc. but I would like to in the future. Because of my limited editing in the past I've only bothered to shoot JPEG, but I do understand the major benefits of RAW if I can take (or make!) the time to do more with my photos.

wteffey Loc: Ocala, FL USA

I have found that I rarely have to apply corrections to an entire image. Usually only relatively small portions require adjustments, while other portions are already perfect, or require different adjustments. Layers, in PSE is the way I learned to adjust only selected parts of an image. When the entire image does require an adjustment I work on a new or duplicate layer, and can blend it in if too strong, or even delete it if I don't like the result. If I had to have only one program it would be Elements.

2 Dog Don Loc: Virginia Beach VA

As a former technical trainer I would suggest you consider what tyope of
editing you want to do. Next look at YouTube video's on those subjects and see what software best meets those needs and which one suits your style. Both roger Browne and Serge Ramilli

ralphc4176 Loc: Conyers, GA

Since you are familiar with PS Elements, I'd recommend that you buy the current version. As far as legacy software goes, I have found the best solution to be adding another hard drive and installing a 32-bit version of Windows 7 Professional on it, setting up the computer in dual-boot mode. Whatever ran under XP should run well under Win7 32-bit; it works for me. I tried virtual machines for a while, but they were more trouble that I cared to deal with.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

This level usage is what Lightroom is for.

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

I use Lightroom for my catalog and basic editing. I only use Photoshop if I need more serious editing. I use Lightroom for 90% of my editing. But that is because i shoot raw. If you don't shoot raw, Lightroom isn't so good.

peggyjom Loc: Pacific Northwest

I prefer the larger work space I feel I get in elements. But I am use to to it. I tried Lightroom and it is just not as easy to maneuver around in.
I shoot raw also so the first thing I do is is weed out the photos that don't make the cut. Then I weed out the next set removing them from my hard drive and catalog in elements. I keep the raw and the converted image of the ones that make the cut.