Adobe offers 2 popular programs for photo processing: Photoshop and Lightroom. Many novice photographers do not know which one is better to use. To make your choice easy, it's important to know what the differences are between Photoshop and Lightroom. Having understood the intricacies of working in these photo editors, you can choose one of them or use them in parallel.
This is a photo editor that is considered the most powerful among its analogues. Using Photoshop, you can carry out a huge number of manipulations: from creating drawings from scratch, to processing photographs, designing collages, posters, book covers and other printed and electronic products.
This editor has several hundred tools and thousands of functions. Photos after extensive processing can be changed beyond recognition. Photoshop is easy to use and allows you to install additional brushes, effects, patterns, and gradients from the Internet.
Photoshop is great for its versatility. Thanks to its wide range of tools, it is used by amateur photographers and professional designers. Installing Photoshop just to crop a photo seems frivolous. After all, it has wide capabilities in all areas of computer graphics.
This photo editor is designed for a full cycle of photo processing. It is suitable for quickly sorting and editing pictures. Lightroom is convenient because the main tools are not hidden in additional folders, but are on the surface. Adobe Lightroom also allows you to apply processing to one photo to all others. You can create various processing options (presets), save them and later use them for selected images. This significantly saves time when working in this editor.
In general, the programs serve one purpose - image processing. If there is a desire and need to carry out post-processing, it is enough to install one of these photo editors.
Photoshop and Lightroom work with the same file types:
- JPEG;
- TIFF.
Both editors have the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) processor, designed for photo editing in .
Lightroom and Photoshop have similar elements for working with saturation, curves, and distortion correction.
Both Lightroom and Photoshop have great capabilities in image processing. They allow you to do everything from basic editing (for example, cropping a frame and ) to advanced processing (working with filters, curves, brushes).
Lightroom and Photoshop allow you to use built-in effects, immediately converting photos to , toning them, and adding artistic effects.
To understand which program is best suited for specific tasks, it is important to study the differences between Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. There are 3 main differences:
- image processing;
- editing tools;
- the working process.
The difference between Lightroom and Photoshop is that Lightroom does not change the original image. The applied effects and manipulations are saved in the catalog without affecting the original in any way. All processing stages are saved in the editor and, if desired, you can export the processed image to a computer, print it or post it on the Internet. In this case, the original will remain untouched. This processing method is called non-destructive.
It is very comfortable. Since the original photo remains unchanged, you can go back and edit it an unlimited number of times.
Photoshop works completely differently. All changes are saved on the original photo. This is why professionals advise always creating a copy of the layer before starting editing. This way the original remains intact. You can also save the original file in PSD format. Then you can return to processing it later and make all the necessary changes. However, such files weigh no more than tens of megabytes. Whereas the directory in which the editing stages in Lightroom are saved takes up minimal space on the computer, even if it contains information about thousands of images.
To apply non-destructive editing in Photoshop you will have to save 3 different files: original, PSD file and the final image with all changes. Since the PSD format does not allow you to post the photo online or print it.
Adobe Lightroom can be called the fastest, capable of quickly completing a large number of tasks. Photoshop is more powerful, designed for thorough work. But not everyone needs its enormous potential.
Lightroom was created as a lighter analogue of Photoshop. In conditions where, after one shoot, a photographer needs to process hundreds, or even thousands of digital images, a photo editor was needed that had the main functions of Photoshop that could be quickly applied. And the program meets these goals.
The Photoshop editor is endowed with an incredible supply of tools, filters, and brushes that help you comprehensively adjust the image. Different types of processing can be done on several created layers. Each layer can be edited independently of the others. Professionals often make several dozen layers. And it takes a lot of time.
The working principle of Adobe Lightroom is linear. There are no layers, fewer tools, but less editing flexibility.
Both Adobe foreditors have a special “History” menu. It makes it possible to go back the required number of steps and change something in the edit. However, layers are much more effective in controlling the processing process.
Working with the layers found in Photoshop can seem very difficult. Especially when meeting an editor for the first time. But they provide incomparable flexibility in working with photographs. Lightroom loses in this.
For example, there is a desire to add darkening around the edges - . In Lightroom, this can be done with the click of one button – “Vignette”. Then, if necessary, you can adjust some parameters by moving the necessary sliders. It's very fast and convenient. This technique can be used not only for portraits, but also for other genres of photography.
In Adobe Photoshop, you will need to follow many steps to achieve the same effect. A beginner will have to at least study a video tutorial to understand these settings. But once you master the necessary skills, you can get a more interesting result than just pressing a button in the Lightroom photo editor.
So Lightroom wins in simplicity, and Photoshop wins in more possibilities.
This applies to most editing tools. Photoshop makes it possible to carry out any processing, but in a more time-consuming way. Lightroom allows you to work with the tools most popular among photographers in a faster way.
Adobe Lightroom clearly wins when it comes to workflow management capabilities. It is intended for photographers of varying degrees of training: amateurs and professionals. The photo editor makes it possible to complete all the necessary steps: from downloading pictures from the camera to editing them, distributing them online and printing them. In Lightroom you can set keywords and create virtual folders. This way, in the future, you can quickly find the photo you need. In addition, you can create photo books and even slide shows in the Adobe Lightroom photo editor. This ease of use is very attractive even for professionals. This is why many people prefer this program without touching Photoshop.
There is also a special library in Lightroom. It is designed to sort, organize and manage photos.
Photoshop does not have such capabilities. It does not allow you to upload photos to the Internet, organize them, register keys, or work with photo books and slide shows. However, it is much stronger in its editing capabilities. Despite the abundance of graphic photo editors, Photoshop remains unrivaled in this regard. Can be used in conjunction with Photoshop to organize workflows additional program– Adobe Bridge. It helps organize digital media on your computer and streamline many processes.
Some photographers use both Photoshop and Lightroom. Basic editing is done in Lightroom, and more thorough editing is done in Photoshop.
Photoshop and Lightroom are popular among photographers for a reason. Both programs provide ample opportunities for photo processing. The difference is that Lightroom is in many ways simpler and more convenient when organizing the workflow, while Photoshop is more powerful and flexible. Both photo editors have all the basic tools for post-processing images. It’s easier to use them in Lightroom, and in Photoshop there are more ways to process pictures in a jewelry way, bringing to life all the most unusual ideas.
At the Photography Academy we are often asked to compare Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and which is better to use. The truth is that it is absolutely different programs for different purposes. That's why we decided to introduce you short description programs in order to understand not the pros and cons, but the features of using each.
What is Photoshop?
Photoshop is graphics editor. It was originally created by Adobe for simple digital photo editing. Then the functionality of the program was significantly expanded so that it could be used by graphic designers, architects, publishers and photographers at a more professional level. The result was powerful program, which provides users with various creative tools. And in fact, Photoshop should be called a photo-graphic-design-animation-studio-salon....
Photoshop is a program that edits at the pixel level, meaning you can get closer to the little dots of color that make up your digital images.
What is Lightroom?
As a photo editor, Lightroom includes many of Photoshop's features that are tailored for the modern photographer. Lightroom covers most, if not all, of the image processing tools you need most. This is also great software to manage image editing processes. The Lightroom app lets you import, organize, manage, and find your images. All changes are automatically saved in the Lightroom catalog, which acts as a database and history of edits.
When is the best time to use Lightroom?
Lightroom is the first RAW converter with graphics editor capabilities. It's great for basic photo editing, including (but not limited to) cropping, white balance, exposure, tonal range adjustments, black and white conversions, blemish removal, red-eye correction, gradients, local corrections, sharpening, noise reduction, lens profile correction , juiciness and richness. If you are a beginner photographer, then you will most likely be pleased with these features.
Lightroom Workflow:
With Lightroom, you can create collections, add keywords, move files around on your hard drive, create slideshows, print books, and easily share your photos on Facebook.
You can copy or sync your photo edits across multiple images at once, use and create presets in Lightroom to apply general settings in your photos.
When to use Photoshop?
There are a few specific areas where Photoshop beats Lightroom.
Advanced Retouching: If you want to control the level of pixels in a publication or you want to make a person slimmer, taller, or even change them beyond recognition J
Composites: If you want to crop out areas from multiple images to create one amazing look, Photoshop can help.
HDR: There are other HDR plugins available for Lightroom (Photomatix), but if you want to stitch images together and highlight highlights and shadows across multiple exposures, Photoshop does a better job.
Panoramas: in Photoshop you can stitch multiple photos together to create beautiful panoramas.
Advanced Healing: You can of course remove stains, stray hair, whiten teeth, etc. in Lightroom, but in Photoshop there will always be these " magic wands"as a healing brush and patch tool.
So what should you choose: Photoshop or Lightroom?
There's really no right answer. You can, of course, use both Lightroom and Photoshop together because they integrate with each other quite well. If you're getting into photography, Lightroom is the place to start. Later you can start mixing the techniques of these two programs. Simply choose a tool based on your photographic needs and goals.
Just yesterday the answer was not obvious to me, so I undertook a little investigation. I’ll say in advance that this topic is covered in detail in Edob’s article “How Lightroom and Bridge are different”.
Let's start with the full name of Lightroom: Adobe. This already gives a hint of some auxiliary Lightroom.
Now, in order.
Adobe Bridge is a universal viewer and manager for files created by Adobe Creative Suite. This means that it can work not only with graphic files (TIFF, JPEG, PSD, RAW, etc.), but also with PDF (Adobe Acrobat), Flash ( Adobe Flash), InDesign layout, vector graphics Adobe Illustrator, HTML ( Adobe Dreamweaver), video ( After Effects and Premiere). With everything possible, in general.
In addition, Bridge can work with Adobe Stock Photos - download and buy photos from the Internet.
Bridge allows you to combine, catalog all these files, assign keywords to them, send them to batch processing in the corresponding program. For raster graphics, Bridge can call Adobe Camera Raw itself, with the results of changes in Camera Raw appearing immediately in Bridge.
The principle of Bridge organization is the same file system, folders with files. It practically does not offer its own structure, unlike Lightroom. This makes it difficult to manage a collection of photos dumped onto a DVD in Bridge. In this regard, Bridge is no different from the same ACDSee.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is the same Bridge, but stripped down to work only with raster graphics. In addition, Camera Raw functions are already built into Lightroom and do not need to be called up separately. Managing them looks a little different, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Lightroom organizes photos into “collections”—virtual collections of files that can be quickly searched. It stores information about keywords oh, previews and metadata are not in every graphic file, but in a centralized database (SQLite engine). Therefore, you can also contact the database about photographs that are now archived on DVD.
The program size is significantly smaller than Bridge, it launches faster and takes up less RAM.
In general, Lightroom is aimed exclusively at photographers who are interested in processing and cataloging photos, and not in integrating everything.
A few words about “non-destructive editing” and Sidecar “.xmp” files. A file in RAW format inherently cannot be changed - it is a “bare” set of numbers from the camera matrix plus some metadata. Therefore, if you change something in the settings of this file, information about the changes is written either to a centralized database, or (which I recommend) to a special file with the name of the original photo and the extension “.xmp”. When you open that file again using Photoshop, Bridge, or Lightroom, those programs take the information from the XMP and adjust the image accordingly. Not everyone knows that Camera Raw and Lightroom can do this not only for RAW, but also for more traditional formats - TIFF, JPEG... The advantage of this is that you can always go back and undo the changes you made.
In Ligthroom, you need to specifically allow the storage of information in Sideсar XMP. This is done in the File::Catalog Settings menu, “Metadata” tab.
In Bridge, in the settings you can also specify the storage method - DB or Sidecar XMP. Both Bridge and Lightroom use the same XMP format, so any changes made in Bridge show up nicely in Lightroom, and vice versa.
Interestingly, batch processing in Photoshop cannot be done using Lightroom. At least I haven't found how.
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editor that works with raster graphics. Comparing it with Bridge and Lightroom would not be entirely correct if Lightroom also did not, to some extent, modify photos. The difference is that Lightroom does "non-destructive editing" (see above), while Photoshop does the editing on the image itself.
In both Lightroom and Bridge you can only do photo pre-processing. Basically, this involves cropping, rotation, basic color correction of the entire image, a simple “healing brush,” a simple sharpening and noise removal.
What they cannot do, and what they will have to do in Photoshop: selective color correction (separately for some areas of the image), the entire set of Photoshop filters, working with layers, drawing and a bunch of other things.
The workflow might look like this:
- You pre-select and catalog your photos in Lightroom (or Bridge).
- You do preliminary work with the selected photographs, cropping and correcting them.
- Then, if necessary, you open those photos in Photoshop to finish up anything that Lightroom couldn't handle. Photoshop does not save Sidecar XMP; you will have to save the processed file in one of the graphic formats (PSD, TIFF, JPEG, etc.).
- You also transfer the remaining files into a convenient graphic format, having previously applied to them all the changes that you made. Both Lightroom and Bridge can batch convert files to almost any format. For example, save all RAW in one folder as TIFF, and in another, in a reduced size, as JPEG.
- If necessary, in Bridge (and only in it) you launch files for batch processing in Photoshop. In this way, I apply a script to all finished photographs that makes a passe-partout.
A little about the DNG format - “Digital NeGative”. Strictly speaking, there is no such format as RAW. There are several hundred different options. Each camera manufacturer does what is convenient for them, and even neighboring models from the same manufacturer may have different RAW. Adobe Camera Raw knows the vast majority of these formats, so everything happens seamlessly for us. But such anarchy is annoying. Therefore, Adobe came up with a universal RAW - the same DNG.
Both Bridge and Lightroom can quickly convert your RAW to this single format, so you don't have to worry about someone not reading it. More and more companies are now starting to support DNG. Adobe is also lobbying for this format to become a standard for everyone digital cameras. I wish them success.
Besides its versatility, in many cases DNG takes up less space than the original RAW. It also likely opens faster in Lightroom and Bridge.
From a photographer's point of view, both Lightroom and Bridge generally allow you to perform similar tasks. The choice of what to use depends on whether you need additional features Brigde and a centralized Lightroom catalog.
Adobe Photoshop was originally created for the printing industry, and photographers adapted its capabilities for image editing as the photography industry increasingly moved from film to digital. Lightroom was originally designed for photographers and has been tested by people like Scott Kelby and others at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) who have feedback with Adobe Systems and suggested what needs to be done to make it more convenient for photographers to work.
I still use Photoshop, but only when extensive masking, collaging, or deep retouching is required. In all other cases, 90% of the work with the picture can be done in Lightroom.
2.Ease of use and user-friendly interface
Many photographers believe that Photoshop is a must-have for image editing, but it is a very difficult program to learn, especially if you are just starting out with digital images. Even with its much simplified little brother, Photoshop Elements, many of my students and clients struggle.
If you shoot in RAW format, then when using Photoshop you need to first open it, then process it and after that save the image in some format. Inside Lightroom, you simply process immediately and changes are saved automatically. The workflow for JPEG and RAW is completely similar. This is a huge advantage if you want to start shooting in RAW but are afraid of the difficulties associated with using the format. Learn Lightroom and you'll only need one method to handle both file types!
3. Convenient sorting
Image tagging tools make it easy to find the photos you need. LR can use flags, 1 to 5 star ratings, and color labels. You can sort and filter images by any of the tags, as well as combinations of them. You can also create collections, which are virtual groups where the same image can be in different collections and can be processed differently. This is useful for things like sorting photos into different thematic collections, such as Birds, Ocean, Cityscape, and others. Collections are also used to sort images for various purposes, for example, for print, website, photo book. The figure shows an example of an unsorted image gallery and sorted by various criteria.
Unsorted images
Images sorted by flags, ratings and color labels
4. Great Cataloging Tools
Lightroom has powerful tools for finding and cataloging your images, even if they are currently on a different hard drive or Lightroom has lost contact with them. This means you can easily find your images even after reinstallation operating system or transferring them to another HDD or even a computer. Some people use more complex cataloging systems like ACDSee or Photo Mechanic, but I prefer to keep things simple by only using LR, which has all the capabilities I need.
The photo below shows a screenshot, which shows that some images have a question mark next to them. This means that the images are in the LR catalog, but it has lost contact with the originals. This can happen if you move the images to a different hard drive, reinstall the operating system, or change the computer to which you then connect the old ones. hard disks. Or images can be stored on removable hard drives. But by clicking right click mouse over the image and selecting “Go to folder in Library”, you can find out which hard drive they are on and restore access to them, for example, by selecting the desired removable hard drive and connecting it to the computer.
Note the "?" about the images. On the left panel we see the folders where the images are located. If the folder hard drive is gray, which means it is not connected to the computer. By connecting it, you can restore connection with the original images and continue working.
5. Powerful processing tools and simple process
I've already talked about this, but I'm not afraid to repeat it, since this is an important feature of LR: processing workflow is the same for filesJPEG andRAW! Once you learn how to work with JPEG files in LR, you can safely move on to shooting in RAW. If you use Photoshop and Camera Raw, then you can also easily use Lightroom, since it has the same Adobe Camera Raw engine, the same settings and adjustments. If you're just getting started with RAW, the quick summary is that in the Develop module you can make global adjustments (applied to the entire image) such as exposure, white balance, curves, grayscale conversion, clarity, sharpening, noise reduction , vignetting (darkening or lightening the edges of the image), and also remove chromatic aberrations.
You can also make many local corrections that are applied to the selected area of the image. The Adjstment Brush and Graduated Filter tools are used for this. You can even make virtual copies (copies of images without making an actual copy of the file) for processing in a different style. The latest version of Lightroom 4 has so many features that you can save even those images that were previously considered hopeless for processing.
6. Lightroom supports many plugins
I take quite a lot of HDR photos. But to assemble HDR, I don't need to run Photomatix separately. There is a plugin for LR that makes the whole process very convenient. I select the necessary images in Lightroom, then select the Photomatix plugin, perform tone mapping in the program window that opens, and after saving the resulting HDR image, I automatically return to Lightroom, where this picture is already waiting for me.
This way all my images are in one place. In the same way, you can switch to Photoshop if you need operations with layers, deleting some objects or deep retouching, that is, something that Lightroom is not able to do. You can also open multiple images as layers in Photoshop or as Smart Objects.
Lightroom also works with other plugins from companies such as Topaz, Nik Software, Alien Skin, Imagenomic and others.
7. Ease of uploading photos to social networks and websites
Using publishing features or dedicated plugins such as Zenfolio, you can do the following:
- Easily upload images to your website gallery
- Post photos to social networks such as Google+ and Facebook.
- You can resize and add a watermark.
- By saving your publishing settings to a preset, you can quickly use them again for other images.
8. Weapons of mass destruction - PRESETS!
Photoshop users are familiar with actions in which you can record a specific sequence of actions and apply them to other images with one click. Lightroom also uses a similar but different system called presets or presets. These are saved settings for all sliders and changes that can be applied to the image in one click.
There are literally thousands of free Lightroom presets, most of which are designed for the Develop module, i.e. image processing. Try searching Google request"free presets for Lightroom" and see what I mean. Just don’t forget to indicate the program version, for example, if you have Lightroom 4, then you need to indicate that. I got about 1.2 million results in the search!
An even more interesting and powerful feature is that presets can be saved for other modules and functions, for example, image import, export, print options, slideshows, web galleries, brushes and gradients settings, metadata, keywords, copyrights and so on. The example below uses the same photo with 7 different presets. The first photo was obtained by manual processing, and I applied presets to the remaining seven types by simply clicking on them with the mouse. In a couple of seconds - seven more versions of the picture!
9. Create a photo book right in Lightroom!
Make a photo book right in Lightroom and Blurb will give you a 20% discount on printing your first photo book. With the advent digital photography We are increasingly coming to the conclusion that our images live only virtually in the computer and on the monitor, or in in social networks. We forget what a printed photograph is, which is already a material object, and sometimes a work of art. A photo book is a great way to give your photos new life.
You can send your designed book to Blurb for printing online, right from Lightroom!
10. Lightroom Backs Up!
Lightroom does not work with original images, but only uses information from them in its database - catalog. All thumbnails are stored there, as well as all information, settings and changes.
You can use one directory for all images or several. Lightroom will remind you to Reserve copy data after any period of time, which is specified in the settings. You can even do this every time you close the program.
You can also select the option to create backup copy all images to another hard drive when importing them. This is very useful for increasing reliability in case one hard drive fails (don't be fooled into thinking your hard drive will last forever). This is very useful features for lazy people like me. Until I lost some files, I didn't think about it.
Bonus: Lightroom always keeps your processing history!
If you're used to working in Photoshop or Elements, then you know that the program records your actions in a certain amount of steps of history. This way, you can go back to earlier operations or cancel them if you wish. BUT…
Once you save and close the file, the processing history disappears, even in multi-layer PSD or TIFF files.
In Lightroom, everything you do to an image or virtual copy is recorded and saved! You can close Lightroom, open it the next day or later, and you'll see your entire image processing history. This is a huge advantage, especially when you are just learning how to process images. You can continue or go back a few steps. Or reset the whole story and start all over again.
In Photoshop you don't have these options and you always start with the latest changes.
How to get started with Lightroom?
To do this you can download trial version from the Adobe Systems website. You will receive a trial version of the fully functional program for 30 days. Then you can make a purchasing decision. Lightroom is an inexpensive program compared to Adobe Photoshop. It costs only 149 dollars or 5101 rubles. In addition, this program is made by Adobe Systems, which produces software products, which are industry standards for the photo, video and graphics industries.
Modern photographers have at their disposal a considerable number of tools designed to process photographs taken digital cameras. Among such tools, stand out, for example, Adobe Photoshop - a multi-purpose graphic editor, as well as a fairly close relative of this program, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. If the first software, due to its versatility, is widely used, the second is not particularly popular, despite the fact that, from the point of view of application specifically in photography, it has significant advantages.
Brief Introduction to Graphics Programs
AdobePhotoshop- powerful software designed primarily to process raster images. Plus, the program provides users with some capabilities for working with vector graphics. The program can process images with color depths of 8, 16, 32 bits. The program supports many formats graphic files. IN latest versions there is a plugin Adobe Camera RAW
. In fact, it is a raw converter designed to process RAW files before using them in the program.
AdobePhotoshop Lightroom- graphics processing program. The main purpose is to work with “digital negatives”, that is, with data obtained directly from the camera matrix. The main formats are RAW and DNG, but the widely used jpeg and tiff formats are also supported. Adobe program Lightroom differs primarily in that it allows you to carry out the process of editing the original image without making any destructive changes. In practice, the program implements the principle of editing only copies obtained from a “digital negative”.
Differences in processing graphics programs
Brief characteristics already help to draw certain conclusions. Which ones exactly? Processing jpeg and tiff files in Adobe Photoshop CS4 is really convenient. The jpeg format is convenient because it allows processing with high degree compression, but with loss of quality. Moreover, with each new processing, the losses will only increase, and the quality of the photo will leave much to be desired. In addition to this nuance, processing in Adobe Photoshop CS4 jpeg files or tiff does not involve saving history. The processing history is saved only in the native PSD format. The tiff format can be compressed without loss, but you can't expect to get a small file size. Editorial in Photoshop images V tiff format also does not guarantee the absence of destructive changes to the image.
What remains? RAW? But in this case you need Adobe plugin Camera RAW or Adobe Lightroom software. The first option is directly related to Photoshop, but if you use it, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort. The second one remains. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is exactly what a professional photographer needs. This is the same Adobe Camera RAW, but much superior to its brother from Photoshop. The program is not only capable of processing RAW files and instantly save the result in jpeg or tiff, but is capable of storing the entire processing history of any of the supported formats. The method of overwriting a file multiple times is not used here. Each new edition is carried out on a copy newly created from the original and does not contain any destructive changes. In fact, no manipulations are performed with the file at all, but only some settings and parameters are changed programmatically, which are then saved.
I already mentioned the RAW format in a previous article and I believe that it rightfully takes first place in various types of studio photography, and shooting in general. In relation to this software (speaking of Adobe Lightroom), the skeptical attitude toward software-processed photography is completely unjustified. In fact, this is the usual “digital development” of photographs, where Adobe Lightroom acts as a photo enlarger and developer. Thoughts of skeptics, this is rather closer to Adobe Photoshop.
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