[RyanS]

I am at the point where I feel comfortable with LR5, but in no way consider myself an expert user. The biggest issues I have with LR5 is its ability to remove objects and slow performance when making many adjustments. Sometimes it does an outstanding job and other times it just can't get it done without leaving a blurry splotch or noticeable color difference. I've thought about moving up to Photoshop, but I'm not sure if it is really necessary. I've seen that it can do a better job with removing objects, but I'm not going to delve into it for just that option.

So my question is, is Photoshop that much better overall for making adjustments to images or it is too much for a casual/hobbyist photographer? I'm just interested in opinions on editing photos, nothing about destructive vs non-destructive, file management, etc.

[NicoleC]

I have both, but am new to Lightroom. LR is growing on me. I find it easier to do post processing in LR, or at least I am doing a better job in it than I did in PS.

If you want to focus stack, or do panoramas or edit out more than an easy spot, LR just can't do it, so I do find myself going into PS from time to time.

[aaalegre]

I would say yes Photoshop has a much faster engine than lightroom and you can do a lot more editing

[Miguel]

I am at the point where I feel comfortable with LR5, but in no way consider myself an expert user. The biggest issues I have with LR5 is its ability to remove objects and slow performance when making many adjustments. Sometimes it does an outstanding job and other times it just can't get it done without leaving a blurry splotch or noticeable color difference. I've thought about moving up to Photoshop, but I'm not sure if it is really necessary. I've seen that it can do a better job with removing objects, but I'm not going to delve into it for just that option.

So my question is, is Photoshop that much better overall for making adjustments to images or it is too much for a casual/hobbyist photographer? I'm just interested in opinions on editing photos, nothing about destructive vs non-destructive, file management, etc.

Photoshop is much more of a pixel-level editor, but there is a fair chance that Photoshop Elements will meet your requirements for a lot less money.
You are going to have to evaluate how complex the objects you are trying to remove are. The one killer feature of Photoshop is the "content-aware" auto fill; I don't think Elements has this. you do not have to use either of these for editing. A non-Adobe product will work almost as seamlessly. On Macs, Pixelmator is growing in popularity and functionality. And there are lots more for both computer platforms.

M

[Colbyt]

I keep my old PS6 around for web work. I use Elements for most of my PP of photos. I won't be joining the Cloud so I suspect I won't be making any changes. I certainly don't think I would buy both unless there is an obvious missg element that you feel you need.

[krebsy75]

YES! Content Aware is a huge timesaver.

[jatrax]

NO!!

Just kidding, it depends on what you want to do. I use LR for 95% of my work so for me LR is really all I need. I use Elements or Photomatix for the little bit of extra editing I have to do. But that's just me, if you do a lot of editing at the pixel level then LR is not going to handle all of that, so you need an external editor as well.

[JinDesu]

I have Lightroom 3, Lightroom 5, and Photoshop CS5 (free versions *cough*)

If most of your work is currently done with LR5 and you don't do stuff like HDR, photo stacking, layer/mask editing, pixel level editing - then you probably don't need Photoshop at all. LR5's heal tool is much smarter than LR3, and has sufficed for almost all situations I have encountered in my photos.

For perfect portrait photos, however, I think LR5 cannot compare to Photoshop. When I need to edit harsh skin tones, clean up skin details, clean up edges that need content aware fill, recover overexposed skin due to flash, etc - Photoshop makes it a lot easier than LR5.

[bobmaxja]

Lightrom is the equivalent of the blackroom. Photoshop modifies photo but inside Photoshop you have Camera raw who is the Blackroom and is very similar to Lightroom.

[RyanS]

Thanks for all the comments! So it seems like those who use Photoshop also use Lightroom, with PS being used for only the few things that LR can't handle. I'll just have to decide if the cost and time to learn PS are worth it to be able to do the 5-10% of what LR can't do.

[RyanS]

Lightrom is the equivalent of the blackroom. Photoshop modifies photo but inside Photoshop you have Camera raw who is the Blackroom and is very similar to Lightroom.

Thanks, I didn't realize the Camera Raw was similar to Lightroom. I actually didn't know anything about it

[RyanS]

I have Lightroom 3, Lightroom 5, and Photoshop CS5 (free versions *cough*)

If most of your work is currently done with LR5 and you don't do stuff like HDR, photo stacking, layer/mask editing, pixel level editing - then you probably don't need Photoshop at all. LR5's heal tool is much smarter than LR3, and has sufficed for almost all situations I have encountered in my photos.

For perfect portrait photos, however, I think LR5 cannot compare to Photoshop. When I need to edit harsh skin tones, clean up skin details, clean up edges that need content aware fill, recover overexposed skin due to flash, etc - Photoshop makes it a lot easier than LR5.

How are you able to continue to use free versions?

[adwb]

I use both but do most of my non Lr work in a older v9 elements rather than cs5 as it is just simpler. Looking at the contents of the the latest elements I think unless you are heavy user of masks and layers elements will allow you to do everything you want

A bit off subject but is lr 5 as slow as lr 4 ? Compared to the fast adjustments that 3 had?

[RyanS]

A bit off subject but is lr 5 as slow as lr 4 ? Compared to the fast adjustments that 3 had?

I couldn't tell you. I've only used LR5

[Kerrowdown]

I use both, LR5 and CS6 and now I've signed up for the CC for both at £8.78 a month. The bulk of my stuff can be done in LR5 but for any "heavy lifting" CS6 is the real workhorse.