Lightroom? CS4? PSE7?

[Marriedin79]

I am itching to get a new program. The problem is that I don't know which one to purchase.

As a teacher, I can get PSE7 for $69, Lightroom for $99 and CS4 for $299. That's a big price difference! I know that Lightroom is geared toward photography and the two PS's can also work on photos but can design as well.

For those of you who are photographers and have both CS4 and Lightroom ... which would you recommend?

Thanks!

[carlalee]

Hi Married! Maybe this will help in your decision making. I really really really like Lightroom. That said, I'm holding off for this release. Lightroom absolutely rocks for photo editing. Yes PS can do everything LR does, it's just more difficult. LR is very intuitive and just plain works. The reason I'm holding off is because I don't do a lot of photo editing in and of itself. When I loaded the trial version, I found something LR does that IMO is a great little extra for digiscrapping, the ability to change the colors around on .jpg backgrounds and stuff. This to me was wonderful and ever so easy. This feature along will sell LR to me. The one BIG RRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr is that LR doesn't recognize .png's. So even if I can pull the papers in and get them just right, I still have to fight with PS to get the embellishments just right. Should LR ever get the same capabilities with .png's, I'll be running folks over getting to the checkout line. In the mean time I'll just keep telling myself, I really should wait. ;) As far as PSE or PS, I did make the jump a couple of yrs ago and LOVE my PS. If you already are using PSE,remember a couple of times a yr, Adobe does do the upgrade price at $299. So you wouldn't really be missing out on that price. Hopefully my ramblings will help you decide. -c-

[carolyn d]

I am itching to get a new program. The problem is that I don't know which one to purchase.

As a teacher, I can get PSE7 for $69, Lightroom for $99 and CS4 for $299. That's a big price difference! I know that Lightroom is geared toward photography and the two PS's can also work on photos but can design as well.

For those of you who are photographers and have both CS4 and Lightroom ... which would you recommend?

Thanks!

I've been using cs2 for a year now... I do alot of photo editing and did so BEFORE getting Lightroom.
HERE'S WHAT I'VE FOUND:
Lightroom does make any photo editing much more intuitive with regards to white balance, exposure, tonal curves, clarity,contrast, color balance etc. It's quite easy to use and you can batch process similar photos quite quickly. ( similar meaning same lighting, white balance) It works very nicely as a library system for organizing your photos by using keywords. I honestly didn't think I'd use this feature much, but now that I have it, I can't imagine how I lived without it. Lightroom does NOT have any capability with regards to design, scrapping etc. Any photo in Lightroom can be "sent" to your current design software for further graphics applications. That being said, if you are currently happy with your graphics software, then the addition of Lightroom will be a cost feasible option.

In CS, you can do everything that you can do in Lightroom, but it is somewhat more time consuming and labor intensive. Add to the fact that CS is a design software....and you might find that the purchase of CS (and commiting to learning how to post process your photos) may ultimately be the more cost effective option. This would be especially true if you are unhappy/growing beyond the capabilities of your current graphics software

HTH

[Lauren]

bridge in CS4 has many many of the same tools that can be found in lightroom - so personally I would take cs4 over lightroom because it has so much more that you can do too - huge learning curve but it would definitely be my choice

[carlalee]

bridge in CS4 has many many of the same tools that can be found in lightroom - so personally I would take cs4 over lightroom because it has so much more that you can do too - huge learning curve but it would definitely be my choice
So, Lauren...by chance can you easily change the colors (or color ranges, like from blue to yellow) of .png's in CS4 Bridge??? Ty -c-

[shazzt]

I am playing with the trial version of Lightroom at the moment and it is great for managing and editing your photos. However, you cannot scrap with it. It is made specifically with photographers in mind (hence the reason it can't see pngs - photographers don't need to). I would go with CS4 if you can afford it. It has the editing capabilities of Lightroom plus you can scrap with it! Lauren loves the Smart collections feature in Bridge which she says is fantastic for organising your stash.

[Lauren]

So, Lauren...by chance can you easily change the colors (or color ranges, like from blue to yellow) of .png's in CS4 Bridge??? Ty -c-
Well you probably wouldnt use bridge to do that - bridge uses Adobe Camera Raw for its editing and that really only works well with raw files and jpgs ( and tiffs I think) - but you can do it in Photoshop pretty easily

[Lauren]

oh and i should say that you cant see pngs at all in Lightroom -- its specifically for photographers so doesnt provide png support

[Lauren]

Oh yes should have read Shazzts post first - Ive put a little tutorial on using smart collections on my blog if you are interested - also another tutorial on making some alterations in bridge using some of the new tools

[carlalee]

Ive put a little tutorial on using smart collections on my blog if you are interested - also another tutorial on making some alterations in bridge using some of the new tools
You sooo totally R O C K !!!! TY -c-

[Miss Shannon]

I'm using CS4 and Lightroom and I love adjusting my photos in Lightroom and then bringing them into Photoshop.