Lightroom w/ Nik or Photoshop CS6?

noahdsnell · 04-14-2013, 07:52 PM

Hi,
As a student and a photographer, I can (obviously) get discounts when purchasing both Lightroom and Photoshop. I am willing to spend the $250 it costs for the student/teacher edition of photoshop. However, I can get Lightroom for $80, and Nik for $150. In your opinion, as a event/portrait/wildlife/landscape/sports/cityscape photographer, will I be better off with Lightroom and Nik or just Photoshop CS6? I shoot RAW, so I guess Lightroom would be better?

mee · 04-14-2013, 08:10 PM

Do you need layers or true PS plugin support?

LR also creates a catalog of your images as you import them which can be handy (if you keep it organized)... among other features..

Why not LR4 + Nik Plugins and a copy of Photoshop Elements for the Layer and PS Plugin support ? The ACR version in Elements is cut down, but you get the full ACR in Lightroom so you won't be missing anything there. Perhaps someone who uses PS CS5 or 6 would care to share what portions of the application they don't get out of LR4 and PS Elements

**Miguel** · 04-14-2013, 08:22 PM

Great advice from mee above.
NIK for $150 is the deal everyone gets now, so don't let that color your decision making. I would get LR + Elements and learn that first. Then you can decide what you do and do not need tools wise.
NIK will be there for when you need it.

M

panoguy · 04-14-2013, 08:26 PM

Unless you use Photoshop for (or in) your classes, go with LR + Nik. For general photography, that's the way to go.
Otherwise, it's like driving a cruise ship to cross a river... you won't need most of what comes with it.

BTW, if you do use Photoshop for your classes, you should instead be looking at the Design Suite for not much more...

callmeraymon · 04-14-2013, 08:48 PM

How about creative cloud? Buying guide | Adobe Creative Cloud

civiletti · 04-14-2013, 09:37 PM

I f you want to be able to reconstruct images, get Photoshop. If you want to catalog and adjust images, LR plus NIK will do a great job.

brofkand · 04-14-2013, 09:55 PM

I never much cared for Lightroom. I prefer to use Bridge to catalog and organize my images, with ACR and Photoshop to do editing. If you'd prefer an automated cataloging solution with 95% of the edits you'd ever need, use Lightroom. With the NIK plugins (specifically Viveza), you'd probably not need Photoshop but once in a blue moon, unless you like to do photomontage or some other creative editing. I would argue that with Photoshop, the need for the NIK plugins is not as high. The channel mixer can get you excellent B&W conversions, but you'll not have the film profiles to make your photos look like Tri-X or Tech Pan as you would with Silver Efex Pro. That's not a huge loss for me. Viveza is not necessary once you learn to use masks in my opinion. HDR Efex Pro may be useful if you do a lot of HDR (I generally shoot bracketed exposures and use masks to layer the images). DFine is a good noise reduction app, but I've heard CS6's and Lightroom 4's noise reduction is just as good if not better. I use CS5 (was the current version when I was in college).

I hate Photoshop Elements' watered-down interface. But, I was trained to use Photoshop. Going back to a dumbed down alternative is not an option for me.

I'd say get Photoshop (I'd get the CS6 Design Premium suite, so you get InDesign and Acrobat as well as Dreamweaver) while you are in school and can get it cheap. It's well worth it. I would not consider Creative Cloud unless you feel you need the entire suite, and/or can't afford the $300 or so the Design Premium suite costs at one time.

04-14-2013, 07:52 PM	#1
noahdsnell Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 68	Lightroom w/ Nik or Photoshop CS6? Hi, As a student and a photographer, I can (obviously) get discounts when purchasing both Lightroom and Photoshop. I am willing to spend the $250 it costs for the student/teacher edition of photoshop. However, I can get Lightroom for $80, and Nik for $150. In your opinion, as a event/portrait/wildlife/landscape/sports/cityscape photographer, will I be better off with Lightroom and Nik or just Photoshop CS6? I shoot RAW, so I guess Lightroom would be better?

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04-14-2013, 08:10 PM	#2
mee Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7,403	Do you need layers or true PS plugin support? LR also creates a catalog of your images as you import them which can be handy (if you keep it organized)... among other features.. Why not LR4 + Nik Plugins and a copy of Photoshop Elements for the Layer and PS Plugin support ? The ACR version in Elements is cut down, but you get the full ACR in Lightroom so you won't be missing anything there. Perhaps someone who uses PS CS5 or 6 would care to share what portions of the application they don't get out of LR4 and PS Elements

04-14-2013, 08:22 PM	#3
Miguel Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Near Seattle Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,743	Great advice from mee above. NIK for $150 is the deal everyone gets now, so don't let that color your decision making. I would get LR + Elements and learn that first. Then you can decide what you do and do not need tools wise. NIK will be there for when you need it. M

04-14-2013, 08:26 PM	#4
panoguy Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,327	Unless you use Photoshop for (or in) your classes, go with LR + Nik. For general photography, that's the way to go. Otherwise, it's like driving a cruise ship to cross a river... you won't need most of what comes with it. BTW, if you do use Photoshop for your classes, you should instead be looking at the Design Suite for not much more...

04-14-2013, 08:48 PM	#5
callmeraymon Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 61	How about creative cloud? Buying guide \| Adobe Creative Cloud

04-14-2013, 09:37 PM	#6
civiletti Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Oregon Photos: Albums Posts: 1,435	I f you want to be able to reconstruct images, get Photoshop. If you want to catalog and adjust images, LR plus NIK will do a great job.

04-14-2013, 09:55 PM	#7
brofkand Pentaxian Join Date: May 2009 Location: North Carolina Posts: 836	I never much cared for Lightroom. I prefer to use Bridge to catalog and organize my images, with ACR and Photoshop to do editing. If you'd prefer an automated cataloging solution with 95% of the edits you'd ever need, use Lightroom. With the NIK plugins (specifically Viveza), you'd probably not need Photoshop but once in a blue moon, unless you like to do photomontage or some other creative editing. I would argue that with Photoshop, the need for the NIK plugins is not as high. The channel mixer can get you excellent B&W conversions, but you'll not have the film profiles to make your photos look like Tri-X or Tech Pan as you would with Silver Efex Pro. That's not a huge loss for me. Viveza is not necessary once you learn to use masks in my opinion. HDR Efex Pro may be useful if you do a lot of HDR (I generally shoot bracketed exposures and use masks to layer the images). DFine is a good noise reduction app, but I've heard CS6's and Lightroom 4's noise reduction is just as good if not better. I use CS5 (was the current version when I was in college). I hate Photoshop Elements' watered-down interface. But, I was trained to use Photoshop. Going back to a dumbed down alternative is not an option for me. I'd say get Photoshop (I'd get the CS6 Design Premium suite, so you get InDesign and Acrobat as well as Dreamweaver) while you are in school and can get it cheap. It's well worth it. I would not consider Creative Cloud unless you feel you need the entire suite, and/or can't afford the $300 or so the Design Premium suite costs at one time.