Lightroom vs Photoshop Elements

Kamakazie! · 21 Aug 2011 at 21:18

So really all I want to know is if Lightroom is worth the extra money over Photoshop Elements?

I'm not planning on shooting in RAW much at the moment and I don't ever need to process a significant amount of photos in bulk. Are there other things in Lightroom that make it better for intermittent editing?

Thanks.

Raymond Lin · 21 Aug 2011 at 21:24

1 - always shoot in RAW, you process all your shots anyway so what reason to shoot jpeg?

2 - the never permenant adjutments in LR, go back, forward all your photos

3 - it is a catalogue in itself

Barks · 22 Aug 2011 at 13:42

I've got a lot of time for Lightroom.

neil_g · 22 Aug 2011 at 14:00

lightroom - non destructive edits, unless youre doing large amounts of cloning it should do everything youd use in photoshop, built in cataloging, built in uploading etc etc.

it's full of win.

D.P. · 22 Aug 2011 at 14:56

Lots of other useful bits in LR, rating, flags, side by side comparisons, make sets by colours, easy keywording. For my editing style LR does 95% of everything I want, so I am a litle annoyed to have to spend big bucks to get that last 5%.

Deo_volente · 22 Aug 2011 at 16:43

lightroom is also on sale at the rainforest shop atm too if that swings it for you

Barks · 22 Aug 2011 at 17:18

Deo_volente said:
lightroom is also on sale at the rainforest shop atm too if that swings it for you

The student one for £70. That really is a bargain, worth every penny. To be honest even if I didn't shoot in RAW I'd still use it. It's a truly brilliant, highly intuitive product.

Scam · 22 Aug 2011 at 19:45

Hmn I'm quite tempted by Lightroom, mainly because my cataloguing is all over the place! Tell me though, I do a lot of selective levels/exposure changing on my shots. I.e. I'd draw a highly feathered marquee around someone's face to bring it out and make it pop, and do the opposite on objects in the background. I suppose it's just my way of burning/dodging etc. Is that doable in Lightroom? How about high-pass filter for sharpening?

Barks · 22 Aug 2011 at 20:19

Yes. Obviously the tools aren't as powerful as Photoshop but you have brush (can be highly feathered) and mask tools which I've found extremely useful in punching out various elements in my images. It's fully integrated with Photoshop too if you need to do more advanced tweaking.

Kamakazie! · 22 Aug 2011 at 20:38

Elements is a good bit cheaper than LR though so is LR worth the extra?
I never intend to get full Photoshop.

Barks · 22 Aug 2011 at 20:41

Kamakazie! said:
Elements is a good bit cheaper than LR though so is LR worth the extra?
I never intend to get full Photoshop.

If you only want to work with photography then yes. It's worth it just for the catalogue.

Razor-BladE · 22 Aug 2011 at 21:38

Student version is under £57 at edigital.

Brilliant price, but it's out of stock and eta is 2 weeks. If you can wait though..

Kamakazie! · 22 Aug 2011 at 22:38

Not a student / teacher and don't know any these days sadly

Kamakazie! · 23 Aug 2011 at 18:18

Well there was a big sale on it so I bit the bullet at went for LR3 for £60 extra......