CS4 v Lightroom

DK32

Switching to Windows7 from Vista 64bit.

I normally use CS4 but I have a copy of Lightroom as well which I have never used.
Any benefits of Lightroom over CS4?

DotOrg

lightroom is quicker at doing the basics, but you miss layers and the more detail in fine tuning that photoshop has

i've been a PS user for years but the past few months i'm liking lightroom more and more. it takes a while to speed up in lightroom but once you know the shortcuts and tools it's great

oshead

You can see then as tools that complement each other. If you use bridge and ACR already then switching to lightroom will be like second nature.

CabanSail

They are different types of programs. Both are good at what they do.

Lightroom is a very good Single Layer Editor. It is also quite useful for cataloguing & batch processing.

CS4 is a Multilayer Processor & so is much more powerful.

ThOnda

I can only second the words of our wise moderator above.

LR is firstly catalogue. Amazing catalogue with keywords, metadata, filtering, rating...
LR does image processing more in terms of developing pictures, very close to dark room processing. But it has almost no means of manipulation with the pictures.

CS4 is ultimate processing and manipulating tool. If you are using CS4, you know why, so keep using it. But LR can work in harmony withe the CS4.

Since installing LR, I haven't opened single file directly from an explorer window - I went to LR to find the picture and even to begin working on the picture.

DK32

Cheers for the input chaps. Would you recommend working primarily with LR for the catalogue aspect, and then any big tweaks, export to CS4?

ThOnda

Exactly DK32.

LR does most of my work now in the following order:
White ballance, dust spot removal, rotation, crop, curves, hue/saturation/luminance of colours and/or BW conversion, gradual filters, local adjustments for dodge/burn, skin smoothening, sharpening, noise reduction and what is most important, creating endless amount of variations of the picture but still not taking almost any space on the HDD.

af_thefragile

I've used most photo editing softwares out there and I can say Lightroom is by far the best. Or I have gotten the best results from Lightroom.

I know photoshop has all the features there are available in lightroom but I always found photoshop a little tricky to get your head around and there is a bit of a learning curve with photoshop. Its like everything is there but you first need to 'learn' to find it and use it properly before you can do anything with it.

On the other hand Lightroom is very simple and straightforward. I'm just a casual photographer (so far) and the only major editing I do is tweaking exposure, saturation, contrast and stuff like that and Lightroom is amazing for that. Its got a good few "tools" which are easy to use like the "graduated filter" tool which comes in quite handy.

If you're looking to only do "post processing" and not get into working with layers or "movie like" effects then get Lightroom. Its got all a photographer needs in a simple and easy to use package. You can also do HDR stuff in LR so its all you'ld need to enhance your photographs.

On the other hand if you wanna do a lot more than just "enhancing" your photograph and wanna make your shots look like something out of a Frank Miller comic or a Ridley Scott movie then CS4 is what you need.

r3nm0r3RASCAL

Pardon my ignorance, but what are ye talking about exactly?

Fenster

You are doing it wrong if you think of it in terms of one program versus the other.

Masada

Use both.

They are very different things, as has been said above.

rowanh

I just installed lightroom recently, i havent used it much but there was one thing i found slightly confusing.

When i put in my sd card it imports all the files, do these actually get stored somewhere in a catalog file or do you have to copy the jpgs somewhere as well. I got an error at some stage saying something like the local files were unavailable when trying to open an image which made me think maybe its not really importing them but just letting you view them while your card is in the computer.

Id be interested to hear what someones process is for taking files off their card who uses light room.

nilhg

rowanh wrote: »

I just installed lightroom recently, i havent used it much but there was one thing i found slightly confusing.

When i put in my sd card it imports all the files, do these actually get stored somewhere in a catalog file or do you have to copy the jpgs somewhere as well. I got an error at some stage saying something like the local files were unavailable when trying to open an image which made me think maybe its not really importing them but just letting you view them while your card is in the computer.

Id be interested to hear what someones process is for taking files off their card who uses light room.

http://www.mulita.com/blog/?p=42

Well worth a look, it's a little outdated but all the principles still apply.

hoganpoly

where is the best and cheapest place to buy or download lightroom2

Effects

nann wrote: »

where is the best and cheapest place to buy or download lightroom2

Direct from adobe I'd imagine. But it's $699 so not a light investment. Luckily I managed to get a cheap copy a few years ago from a guy who worked for adobe in exchange for some work I did for him. I wouldn't edit with anything other that photoshop but the full price is quite a lot for someone who isn't a pro, like me.

nilhg

Effects wrote: »

Direct from adobe I'd imagine. But it's $699 so not a light investment. Luckily I managed to get a cheap copy a few years ago from a guy who worked for adobe in exchange for some work I did for him. I wouldn't edit with anything other that photoshop but the full price is quite a lot for someone who isn't a pro, like me.

It isn't that dear, Amazon have it for 202 sterling but if you qualify for a student version it's only €99 IIRC.

TBH, I don't know if I'd advise anyone to buy just now, LR3 will be along in a month or too, maybe better to keep the euros for that.

Effects

nilhg wrote: »

It isn't that dear, Amazon have it for 202 sterling but if you qualify for a student version it's only €99 IIRC.

TBH, I don't know if I'd advise anyone to buy just now, LR3 will be along in a month or too, maybe better to keep the euros for that.

I was on about photoshop and that's how much it's priced on their website.

nilhg

Effects wrote: »

I was on about photoshop and that's how much it's priced on their website.

I did think that, but you did quote someone asking about the price of Lightroom2;)