Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
05-08-2021, 12:53 PM   #1
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2020
Photos: Albums
Posts: 397
Lightroom Vs. Photoshop

Looks like this has not been discussed in a few years.

I need to invest in a program. Can I just buy one of these? They seem to be the most popular. Lightroom seems like it's more popular, just looking at YT videos.

Does either have an advantage with a Pentax user?

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc??

05-08-2021, 01:11 PM   #2
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: May 2014
Location: Linz
Photos: Albums
Posts: 3,098
I think PS is only available as part of the subscription model (which will include LR too).
An older LR version (LR 6) is still available as standalone software to buy, but you won't get updates for this version anymore (that said I still run version 5 and I am happy with it, but it depends on what you expect from the software).
Set your camera RAW to DNG and you will likely not get compatibility problems even with older versions (new PEF files of the K-3iii will probably not work with an older software though).

edit: LR is sufficient for 90% of my images. You can process single images and then quickly assign the same settings to the rest of the images you took at the same area with the same camera settings for instance (the original file will not be altered, you can test different versions without fear of destroying the original image).
PS gives you superior capabilities to modify your images and combine different images (blending them together like a multiple exposure, or using parts of multiple images to create a new one,....), (I think there is also a way to preserve the original file but when you are inexperienced with PS, then there is a danger of destroying your original image with this software so be alert when and how you safe your work.)

Personally I am not a fan of subcription models and when I ever feel the need to move on from LR 5 I will probably give preverence to software from other suppliers like RAWTherapy or the like.
You can create similar results like PS does with freeware like Gimp too, but the user interface of Gimp will demand a higher learning curve and some automated procedures PS offers won't be available (the endresult will be reproduceable but it will likely take more time to get there)

Last edited by othar; 05-08-2021 at 01:39 PM.
05-08-2021, 01:29 PM   #3
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
jlstrawman's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Midwest US
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,058
QuoteOriginally posted by othar Quote
An older LR version (LR 6) is still available as standalone software to buy
Not from Adobe, subscription only. You might get lucky and find a copy on line. I would want to verify that any
copy purchased was unused and not a pirated copy.
05-08-2021, 01:33 PM - 2 Likes   #4
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hampshire, UK
Posts: 1,652
Personally, I think the Adobe photo plan is good value, then you have both PS and LR. Again, personally, I prefer a Bridge->Adobe camera Raw->Photoshop workflow as being natural and efficient, especially when using Smart Objects. Once in PS the creative possibilities are endless. So I don't bother with LR, except for tethering, which is crucial for me.

Again, a personal preference, I prefer to manage my images and the LR database hold no interest to me as I file my shoots as folders, with date/location/subject and use Bridge to assist me to view and sort. Never felt I needed more database assistance.

PS will give you more growth into creative possibilities in the future. So for that too it wins.

So CC photoplan and then you have both.

05-08-2021, 01:38 PM - 1 Like   #5
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
RGlasel's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Saskatoon
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,225
QuoteOriginally posted by 87Duckfan Quote
Can I just buy one of these?
You can only rent either of these programs, the same company, Adobe, publishes both Lightroom and Photoshop and Adobe only offers a subscription these days, not a permanent license to these programs. You can rent Lightroom separately from Photoshop or as part of a Photography package (which includes Photoshop, at least in some markets), and the monthly price depends on how much online storage comes with the package as well as whether or not you rent Lightroom by itself. Photoshop can rented by itself (without Lightroom, but with some minor apps like Adobe Fonts included) for more money than the Photography package (at least in some markets), or as part of Creative Cloud, which includes basically every piece of software Adobe currently makes available (for video production, developing websites, vector illustration, etc.) for more money than any of the other plans.

Confusing, right? It only gets worse, there is Lightroom and Lightroom Classic; Lightroom Classic stores your originals on your computer, Lightroom Classless stores your originals on the Internet. You don't have to be a serious photographer to have more than 1 Terabyte of original digital photos and uploading your originals to the Internet for Adobe to store them for you takes longer than storing them on your own computer and may require a more expensive Internet connection than you currently have (or want to have) to provide a satisfactory experience using the program.


What about Photoshop? There is some overlap between processing your digital photos with Photoshop or Lightroom, but the general process is very different. In Lightroom you work from a visual catalog of all your photos, easily making changes to one or many photos, but you can't "paint" on your photos like you can with Photoshop. Photoshop lets you create completely new images or combine any kind of graphic image with your digital photos, but making changes to more than one photo at a time requires batch processing and is not as intuitive as using Lightroom. For the ultimate in digital processing, you would use both Lightroom and Photoshop, starting with Lightroom and editing individual photos in Photoshop. However, you can do lots of editing just in Lightroom, especially if you just want to make changes to the overall image (like adjusting brightness, contrast and colour tones) or remove spots, red-eye, chromatic aberations; compensate for lens distortion, etc.
05-08-2021, 01:46 PM   #6
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: May 2014
Location: Linz
Photos: Albums
Posts: 3,098
QuoteOriginally posted by jlstrawman Quote
Not from Adobe, subscription only.
My bad, I thought it was still available.
As I am still a happy user of LR 5 I never felt the need to check it's availability though.
05-08-2021, 01:48 PM   #7
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
RGlasel's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Saskatoon
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,225
QuoteOriginally posted by 87Duckfan Quote
Does either have an advantage with a Pentax user?
Not really, both Lightroom and Photoshop use a separate program called Adobe Raw to take the image file created by the camera and process it into something that looks like the photo you thought you took with the camera (the unprocessed RAW file needs to be adjusted to look like anything natural). New features for Pentax cameras may not be supported by Adobe Raw in the beginning (an example would be when Pixel Shift was first introduced), but as Adobe releases updates to Adobe Raw, that support will be added eventually (we can quibble about how well a feature is supported, but Adobe is the main publisher of photo editing/processing software, so Pentax and other camera manufacturers provide Adobe with the information necessary to support new features).

05-08-2021, 02:21 PM   #8
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Baltimore
Photos: Albums
Posts: 3,383
I'm a LR user for a decade-ish (I actually got the very first version long ago, after RSE/RSP sold out to Adobe----and we RSP purchasers were grandfathered in!). I use LR extensively, and it's a fine program. Lately I've had to do some very tricky stuff for my job, and have had to edit from LR into PS---always hated PS, but I'm getting used to it, and so I'd say today that it's a good idea to have both---if you're doing serious PP. Using PS alone seems abit painful to me---I always start in LR. And LR's DAM is fine once you surrender to its dominatrix personality. She'll whip you into shape right.

If you do go this route, I highly recommend checking into Scott Kelby's books---there's a new one. Martin Evening's when you want to go further. And there are lots of darn good YouTube channels, btw.
05-08-2021, 03:08 PM   #9
Pentaxian
AfterPentax Mark II's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 1,452
Photoshop has also a stand alone and stripped version that is Photoshop Elements. Do not know which version you meant. It is quite affordable, but there are also a number of open source programmes like Rawtherapee. They are free to use.
05-08-2021, 03:26 PM - 1 Like   #10
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
microlight's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Hampshire, UK
Posts: 2,127
With you there BarryE. I have the Lr/PS subscription and use the same workflow as you. I also don’t use Lr and manage my own images! Must be a Hampshire thing.
05-08-2021, 03:36 PM   #11
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
AggieDad's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Houston, TX
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 1,440
For me, $10 a month for the Lightroom/Photoshop package is a good deal. For your 10 bucks you get Lightroom (cloud-based), LightroomClassic (computer-based), Photoshop, Bridge, and Camera Raw. And any and all updates are automatic, so you never are working with last-year's software. For just two Starbucks cups a month, I think it is a good deal. Of course, others have different views.

Like BarryE, I prefer to use the Bridge > Camera Raw > Photoshop workflow. Camera Raw is essentially Lightroom without the asset management database. The Bridge element still allows me to sort and rank photos.

If you do decide to go with the Lightroom/Photoshop package, might I suggest a subscription to Phlearn. Phlearn specializes in online video tutorials for both Photoshop and Lightroom. The tutorials range from fundamentals to some very advanced concepts. A year's subscription, which allows you to view as many tutorials as you wish – there is no cap – costs about $100. I find the tutorials very useful and informative.
05-08-2021, 04:12 PM   #12
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
boriscleto's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: North Syracuse, NY
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,464
I ditched the Adobe tax for ON1 Photo RAW. I also bought the 3 Topaz AI apps, they are very impressive.
05-08-2021, 05:34 PM   #13
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
ramseybuckeye's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Hampstead, NC
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 17,276
While Photoshop is an all around graphic editor Lightroom (Photoshop Lightroom) was designed for photographers to do batch processing. I have the Creative Cloud Photography Plan and currently installed on my Mac is:

Photoshop ver 22.3.1, ver 21.2.7, and ver 20.0.1
XD
Lightroom
Premier Rush
Bridge ver 11.0.2, ver 10.1.1, and ver 9.1
Lightroom Classic
Camera Raw
Aero (Beta)
available but not installed: UXP Developer Tools
Lightroom Mobile is installed on my ipad and phone.

I don't know why they keep three versions of PS and Bridge active, but if I right click on a photo's name I am given option to open in PS 2021, 2020, and 2019. I guess in case you don't like the version changes they give you time to acclimate. My main version is the Lightroom Classic, it continues on with the GUI from the standalone versions and keeps many of the same features which were dropped in the new version, which I consider stripped or dumbed down (but maybe I'm the dumbed down one). The CC version and the mobile versions are basically the same, so I may use that version on the road with the ipad. One difference is that with the CC (or newer version) they do not let you rename the files on import which I think is a major downfall. And unless it has been added, there is no automated import functions that let you automatically create folders, you can create or place pics in an album, but you have to select it with each import. You have much more control with LR Classic, both have export to Photoshop. I was fortunate enough to get the Photography Plan for free for a couple of years as an Adobe Stock Contributor, but that wasn't offered for this year, at least to me. I only have 1800 images and some people have more sales than that.

Adobe sends out a lot of surveys, each time they ask if you would recommend LR to others, I always say yes and rate about 8 of 10, then they ask what would make you recommend it more, and I always answer get rid of the subscription model, LOL.

Lightroom Classic and Photoshop are really good software programs, they are both very powerful and many things you may never use, and there are different ways to reach the same result. Several years ago I was fortunate enough to go to some of the Adobe PS workshops with Scott Kelby, they would always showed tons of cool things that I did not know about, that was pre Lightroom and PS and Camera Raw were the big tools.
05-08-2021, 05:35 PM   #14
Senior Member




Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Drayton, Ontario, Canada
Photos: Albums
Posts: 264
I use LR5 to manage (even though I also use folders) and then CS5 to edit. I know I could likely do most of what I "need" in LR but I find I'm just more comfortable working in PS. I also use the Nik and Topaz plugins. I will use these until they finally crash as I'm vehemently opposed to a subscription. I used the Elements versions for many years and found that you can also do most of what you need with those programs for a lot less money. I barely scratch the potential of CS5.
05-08-2021, 06:00 PM   #15
Custom User Title
Loyal Site Supporter
FozzFoster's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Alberta
Photos: Albums
Posts: 6,803
I could probably do it with just Lightroom. But I love using Photoshops content aware tool. Also if you want to blend multiple images together.
Although I don't mind Lightroom's NR and Sharpen, I think Photoshops may be a touch cleaner.
I mostly just use Lightroom though.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
affinity, alternative, bit, bought, channel, coffee, lightroom, lot, paintshop, photo, photography, photoshop, shot, starbucks, version
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
K-5 vs MZ-S vs LX vs PZ-1p vs ist*D vs K10D vs K20D vs K-7 vs....... Steelski Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 2 06-28-2017 04:59 PM
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Software vs. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Software Update ASheffield Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 3 05-08-2014 05:52 AM
Enthusiast vs Prosumer vs Semi Pro vs Pro vs APSC vs Full Frame mickyd Pentax DSLR Discussion 10 11-12-2013 07:14 PM
Lightroom vs. Photoshop ChooseAName Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 14 09-25-2009 10:42 AM
photoshop vs lightroom? madisonphotogrl Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 31 03-05-2009 02:48 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:31 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top