Elements 9 or lightroom?
Nov 20, 2011 21:51:21 #
I don't do extensive editing. Just touch ups and cropping.
What is the opinion of the forum? Which is easier to use for this ie.. exp. control, white balance etc... PSE9 or lightroom. I have never looked at lightroom but have heard of a lot of users on the forum that do use it.
What is the opinion of the forum? Which is easier to use for this ie.. exp. control, white balance etc... PSE9 or lightroom. I have never looked at lightroom but have heard of a lot of users on the forum that do use it.
Nov 20, 2011 22:15:29 #
I have Lightroom and use it all the time. It has many presets already loaded,IMO it is very intuitive, cropping is a snap, enhancements and the like. If you are touching up portraits, you may be better off with PSE9. I have CS5 and use that, so I'm not familiar with Elements, but I understand it too is loaded with capabilities. I know lightroom has a trial download, I don't know about Elements. Be worth trying before you buy.
Nov 20, 2011 22:20:53 #
Thanks. I have PSE9 but I'm always open to other ideas. May try the free trial.
skidooman wrote:
I have Lightroom and use it all the time. It has many presets already loaded,IMO it is very intuitive, cropping is a snap, enhancements and the like. If you are touching up portraits, you may be better off with PSE9. I have CS5 and use that, so I'm not familiar with Elements, but I understand it too is loaded with capabilities. I know lightroom has a trial download, I don't know about Elements. Be worth trying before you buy.
Nov 21, 2011 05:33:01 #
I use Lightroom 3 plus Photoshop CS4, and I use LR3 to do 95% of my post photo enhancements. LR3 is very well organized for doing enhancements of your photos and can be quickly learned. YouTube has an excellent videos on how to use it. Arnold
Nov 21, 2011 05:46:30 #
They are basically apples and oranges. Lightroom is a great organizer for thousands of images, that can do some editing, while Elements is mainly about editing with a simpler organizer. If you shoot RAW, and want to get the most out of an image possible,use Elements. If you shoot jpeg, and just want to do simple crops, Lightroom will work, but at 3 times the cost.
Nov 21, 2011 07:30:10 #
I see your point. I really don't like elements' organizer. I'm o.K. with the editing.
Adirondack Hiker wrote:
They are basically apples and oranges. Lightroom is a great organizer for thousands of images, that can do some editing, while Elements is mainly about editing with a simpler organizer. If you shoot RAW, and want to get the most out of an image possible,use Elements. If you shoot jpeg, and just want to do simple crops, Lightroom will work, but at 3 times the cost.
Nov 21, 2011 07:55:27 #
You make it sound like Lightroom can't handle RAW files, but it does. It can actually do quite a bit of editing, it's more than just an organizer. I had an elements program at one time, and it was fine. But as a photographer who makes a living at it, both Lightroom and PS CS5 have their place. My opinion, people should try Lightroom before writing it off for PS. It may be what they need more so than PS. I think it was just on sale for 1/2 off recently too.
Adirondack Hiker wrote:
They are basically apples and oranges. Lightroom is a great organizer for thousands of images, that can do some editing, while Elements is mainly about editing with a simpler organizer. If you shoot RAW, and want to get the most out of an image possible,use Elements. If you shoot jpeg, and just want to do simple crops, Lightroom will work, but at 3 times the cost.
Nov 21, 2011 13:12:54 #
altonsullivent
Loc: Maryville Tennessee
I agree with Skidooman.
I have used Photoshop for years (since 1.5) and absolutely love it and was always my go to app. Now that I use Lightroom, I hardly have many times that I actually need to go to Photoshop.
When I first started out, I wasn't concerned about keeping up with my digital photos as the files were not too big and just putting them all in folders worked for awhile. Years later, and thousands of files on hand, it is great to have Lightroom keep up with them in such a way as I can get to any picture with a few clicks.
As far as processing files, Lightroom works seemlessly and non-destructively with ACR. The same with Photoshop. It also helps keep up with your video files.
If you use video on your camera and take many photos over the years you might as well make the leap to CS5 and Lightroom. If you only take a hundred or so pictures a year you can probably get by with PSE. You will know when it starts to get overwhelming that the move to LR, CS5 is needed.
You can watch a few free video tutorials at Lynda.com and probably get a good idea about Lightroom:
http://www.lynda.com/Lightroom-training-tutorials/450-0.html
Good luck
I have used Photoshop for years (since 1.5) and absolutely love it and was always my go to app. Now that I use Lightroom, I hardly have many times that I actually need to go to Photoshop.
When I first started out, I wasn't concerned about keeping up with my digital photos as the files were not too big and just putting them all in folders worked for awhile. Years later, and thousands of files on hand, it is great to have Lightroom keep up with them in such a way as I can get to any picture with a few clicks.
As far as processing files, Lightroom works seemlessly and non-destructively with ACR. The same with Photoshop. It also helps keep up with your video files.
If you use video on your camera and take many photos over the years you might as well make the leap to CS5 and Lightroom. If you only take a hundred or so pictures a year you can probably get by with PSE. You will know when it starts to get overwhelming that the move to LR, CS5 is needed.
You can watch a few free video tutorials at Lynda.com and probably get a good idea about Lightroom:
http://www.lynda.com/Lightroom-training-tutorials/450-0.html
Good luck
Nov 21, 2011 15:06:00 #
I was able to buy LR3 on line through Ctaigs list for $40.00 Although I'm still learning how to use it properly I was able to take some botched pictures (not enough light)I had taken and with just one step bring proper lighting to the whole batch of what otherwise would have been a total loss. I also down loaded Gimp which is a freeware program that closely mirrors Photoshop and it is free.
Nov 21, 2011 15:08:36 #
Yeah I do have Photoshop Elements. I was just wondering if I should try Lightroom. I guess I was wondering which would do more and which had the best tools and ease of operation.
travlnman46 wrote:
I was able to buy LR3 on line through Ctaigs list for $40.00 Although I'm still learning how to use it properly I was able to take some botched pictures (not enough light)I had taken and with just one step bring proper lighting to the whole batch of what otherwise would have been a total loss. I also down loaded Gimp which is a freeware program that closely mirrors Photoshop and it is free.
Nov 21, 2011 15:09:05 #
I use PS, PSElements and now am trying LR3.
In my opinion, unless you have some major surgery to do on a photo...lightroom is the one.
No...it won't take a whole person out of a photo or switch someone's head on somebody else's body...but it does adjust and fix photo problems.....very nicely.
In my opinion, unless you have some major surgery to do on a photo...lightroom is the one.
No...it won't take a whole person out of a photo or switch someone's head on somebody else's body...but it does adjust and fix photo problems.....very nicely.
Nov 24, 2011 06:07:53 #
Dun1
Loc: Atlanta, GA
Lightroom 3 is a great photo organizer, it is great for cataloging your photos. It is great for doing simple adjustments to your photos cropping, brightness etc. I you wish to do more editing removing objects from your photos, then you can use Lightroom and make Photoshop your external editor. They are however not the same. Lightroom is made to catalog your photos and do basic edits, and Photoshop is software for more intense edits. I would suggest trying a version of PS5, either the PS5 or PS5 extended. Here is a hint Adobe in the near future is planning an upgrade to CS6, at this time if you don't have at least CS5 your will more than likely have to purchase it to upgrade to the latest and greatest version of PS. In the past if you had a version of PS you could easily upgrade at a more reduced fee. Now Adobe has forgotten it's past customers and made a business decision to cause you to spend money on a prior version of PS i.e. PS5 to upgrade.
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