Weighing the differences: Adobe Lightroom vs. Photoshop
A look into the pros and cons of Photoshop and Lightroom for students
As a freshman in school or beginner photographer, choosing an editing software may be a little confusing. Lightroom or Photoshop? The truth is, each program has its strengths and weaknesses.
Photoshop can be intimidating. It takes a while to understand how to speak the language of layers and opacity. Photoshop isn’t like Lightroom—it’s not as quick to maneuver and opening more than one photo at a time can lead to a crashed computer. The beauty of Photoshop is that you can create an entirely different photo than the one you imported. Lightroom does not have this effect. Photographers have more control over image manipulation in Photoshop, while Lightroom relies mainly on presets. Photoshop allows you to blend photos, warp and clone images, and much more, using its software tools. Some tools are more advanced than others, such as the magic tool which allows you to select an area of the photo and manipulate from there. There are also simpler ones such as the crop tool and paintbrush tool.
Photoshop: Pros
Retouching
Blending and Opacity
Layers
Stitching
Cloning and other cool effects
Can create gifs
Photoshop: Cons
More expensive than Lightroom—$699
Takes time to learn
Can only work on one photo at a time
Does not process RAW photos
Lightroom is a program for photographers who are just starting to play around with contrast and luminosity in post-production. Many experienced photographers use Lightroom if most of their work is landscape. However, for the portrait photographers Photoshop is usually their go-to. Lightroom does have tools fit for portrait photography such as the red eye corrector and a brush tool to blur imperfections. Lightroom is relatively simple, which is why so many are drawn to it instead. A big factor that gives Lightroom an advantage over Photoshop is its ability to process RAW photos. Shooting RAW simply means to shoot a higher quality image than a JPEG because no information is compressed.
Lightroom: Pros
Can work with more than one photo at a time
Easier to Learn
Less Expensive—$499
Has presets for easy editing
Processes RAW files
Lightroom: Cons
Limited image manipulation tools
Only works with photos
Regardless of the program that you choose, be sure to be patient in the editing process. No one is a master at anything on the first try no matter which program you use.
