Lightroom 2.5 + Elements 8

*WMBP* · 09-30-2009, 11:28 AM

I have never liked Photoshop much at all. On the other hand, I'm very fond of Lightroom 2.5 and I'm pretty good with it. I can do in Lightroom about 98% of what I want and need to do with my photos, which is to say, I do what Lightroom can do and about 98% of the time I'm content with the results. What Lightroom can't do, I have generally been happy not to think about.

Nevertheless, I downloaded the demo of Photoshop Elements 8. I've owned earlier versions of Elements and I used it as my main processing tool a couple of years ago, in version 5 or so, before Lightroom came out. Now I'm thinking that I should upgrade my license and use Elements as a supplementary editor with Lightroom. I like the new feature in Elements that lets you recompose a shot; I could use that occasionally. And I might occasionally use some of the other features as well.

Is anybody using Lightroom with Elements as an external editor? How does it work? Elements can open DNG files fine. But do I have to decide which program to do my work in? In other words, am I right in thinking that I can't edit a photo 70% in Lightroom and then switch to Elements for the other 30% - still working on the raw file?

And if I got Elements, what program would I use as my organizer? This is a major problem for me now that I have so many photos. I like Lightroom's organizational tools pretty well, but Elements' face recognition feature is rather cool.

Elements 8 does seem to be a LOT slower than Lightroom 2.5. I can't imagine working in it much for this reason alone, no matter how good it might be.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Will

kasv · 09-30-2009, 01:26 PM

I am using LR 2.5 as organizer and basic editor, I print from it, export shots etc. all from there. When it comes to advanced editing, I do that in PSE 5 (never upgraded but I will have a look at the recomposition feature you mentioned, maybe you can share your view on that.). In LR, you can configure two external editors you want to use. As mentioned, PSE is one of them that I use. So from LR, I can right-click a photo and choose to open it with PSE either in 16 or 8 bit, as a tiff or PSD in PSE under the name "edited-1.tif e.g.", do all modifications there and LR will either stack the result on top of the original. I believe you can also choose to open the original itself instead of a copy, as this would save some memory if that makes sense. Still LR is the "master" editior and organizer, which makes much sense, as it the by far more capable SW when it comes to handling thousands of pic's. Let me know if that helps. -kai

kasv · 09-30-2009, 01:28 PM

btw, you can download all adobe sw under 30 days tryout license. I used that thoroughly before I decided in favour of LR, which I never did regret.

photog · 09-30-2009, 05:49 PM

Will, LR2.5 is everything you say. Your comments on Elements 8 are very interesting. Does it allow batch-processing?

pb_red · 09-30-2009, 05:55 PM

i am currently using lightroom 2.5 with a trial version of photoshop elements 8. the best advice i have is the same as kasv, download the trial and try it for yourself.

in any case, to answer your question lightroom lets you pick your editor as well as which version you want to edit: original, a copy (which it creates for you), or copy + lightroom adjustments. i believe you can also set your default editor and the intergration with photoshop cs3/4 or pse is very seamless.

the typical workflow for most people is: import your photos into lightroom, make adjustments in lightroom, if there is something you can't do in lightroom edit the photo (or a copy) in photoshop.

lastly, i don't use the pse organizer since that's the reason i got lightroom so pse is used for editing only.

mysticcowboy · 09-30-2009, 08:53 PM

If you're not using Lightroom to organize your photos then Elements is all you need. It includes Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), which gives you all of Lightroom's editing tools. The interface isn't as slick as Lightroom's, but it's perfectly usable.

In your program settings you can make Elements open photos in ACR, even JPEGs. Or a simple key command can take the image from Elements and open it in ACR. On the Mac it's Command+R. I'm assuming that it's Control+R in Windows.

Elements has a decent photo organizer included with the program.

photog · 10-01-2009, 02:59 AM

Lightroom 2 (now in v2.5) is every photographer's dream. It allows non-destructive eding of my RAW files. I use 16 bit AdobeRGB or even ProPhoto and down-mix on export. Editing a large shoot can be a daunting prospect; however; I suggest you set Auto for automatic processing. For those special shots you can fine-tune the auto, if you need to. This makes shooting RAW little harder than shooting JPG.
If you shoot JPG you can still adjust them nondestructively (do it in 16bit AdobeRGB) and resave as jpg / tif or whatever you want.
If you check tha histogram of the exported files you will see little or no banding / combing indicating no significant loss of data. Magic!