[raymeedc]

I have Photoshop Elements 9 & Lightroom 3. The Nik Collection is half price if you only need it to work with Lightroom. What are the practical, real world results of this limitation?

[Michaelina2]

You need to watch some NIK free webinars that demo their products. The difference between the way their PS and LR versions work are very small.

Cheers... M

[sunny16]

Basically, when you use plug-ins like Nik's in Photoshop, you have the ability to use them as adjustment layers or smart objects. By doing this, you not only have non-destructive edits, but you have additional abilities to use things like layer blending and opacity. In Lightroom, your edits with the plug-ins are also non-destructive but you don't have the additional power of photoshop behind it. You'd have to check, but I believe if you buy the "Full" photoshop version, it is still also still usable in Lightroom.

What does this mean in the end? Well, I can tell you that after trying them in both, I decided to go with the Lightroom only option. I have been very happy with the complete collection and it certainly gives you some great options. If money was no option, I would have probably gotten the Photoshop capable version, but I honestly haven't ever come to a point yet where I was kicking myself for not having it. I think being able to use it in Photoshop would give you the most options in post production and I think you'd have to ask yourself what you want to get out of post? If you're the type of person who wants to have creative options, but at the end of the day is just looking for a way to make photos look great and then move on to shooting more photos than the Lightroom option would probably be enough. If you are someone who really likes to go deep into post-processing (perhaps creating composites and really creatively taking photos to another level of art) than the photoshop option might work the best.

I'm sure there are other aspects that others could add as well. I don't consider myself an expert, but hopefully my comments help you move a step in the right direction.

[mtngal]

The version that works with Photoshop also works with LR. I couldn't talk myself into spending that kind of money for it so I bought the LR only version. The ability to use layers would be nice, but I can think of a work-around with the LR version - make multiple copies of the picture in LR, do the changes you want to the different copies, then bring them into photoshop as different layers and do whatever you want with them then. The only plug-in I would rather use in Photoshop is the sharpening plug-in, because I like to do any sharpening after resizing. However, I didn't care for it (I prefer to use either photoshop itself or else Topaz Lab's Detail) when I used the trial version so it wasn't an issue for me.

[sunny16]

I like your thinking mtngal. I would say that is a great work-around using Lightroom.

[raymeedc]

Thanks guys..... your clear, concise explanations have just saved me a good amount of money I can ill afford to waste.