Do I need lightroom 3 or is PSE 10 good enough?

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on October 25, 2011 at 7:16pm

PSE is a stripped down version of Photoshop.  Lightroom is a souped up browser.  It is a little like the organizer in PSE, but a lot more powerful.  That's a very brief and perhaps not 100% accurate overview.  I'm out of time at the moment so will leave it at that.  Try out the demo, you will see they are quite different.

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Permalink Reply by Cesar Perez on October 26, 2011 at 5:01pm

Thank you CC for replying and sorry I took long to reply. I think I will check the free trial out to see what is about, is just that I thought that PSE did the same thing and more then lightroom.

Thanks,

Cesar.

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Permalink Reply by David Wollum on October 26, 2011 at 2:03am

Do you have 200,000 + photos?  If no, you can live without it.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Vernon on October 26, 2011 at 2:46am

Hmm,

i don't think having 200,000 plus images is a pre-requisite for using LR?

As a Raw editor it's basic for example it has no real curves tool which is better done in non destructive layers within CS5 as the editor it complements - where it shines is it's ability to organize and manage work flow which is only ok if one understands the industry workflow. I wouldn't recommend You tube vids as they tend to disjoint the procedure, but for example books on work-flow by Scott Kelby will put you on the right track.

For example i use LR for importing calibration settings and applying identical exp comp, white balance and crop settings to a sequence for focus stacking where i can export and merge in non destructive layers in CS5 ...

It has many unique features and there are loads of professional books out there to research and understand why it's used.

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Permalink Reply by Cesar Perez on October 26, 2011 at 5:24pm

Thanks Gary for your comment, I think Im understanding it a little more and if Im right, then Im going to leave it alone for now. Instaed I first preffer to learn PSE since Im new to the software and move up the latter as I go along since Im still learning and buying equipment here and there, slowly but surely but im doing it.

Any tips for PSE or tips on any website, videos, books and magazines? 

Thanks again,

Cesar.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on October 26, 2011 at 8:08pm

Scott Kelby has some good books that can help with specific tasks.

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Permalink Reply by Cesar Perez on October 27, 2011 at 5:10am

Thanks CC, I will check it out. I played around with the program a little and is not too bad but I know it can be very rewarding and do some powerful things even though is just PSE and not the full blown Photoshop version.

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Permalink Reply by Cesar Perez on October 26, 2011 at 5:06pm

lol, thanks for replying David and no I dont have that many photos not even close, I have a little over 7,000 photos which more then 1/2 of them are to be trashed.

Thanks,

Cesar.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on October 26, 2011 at 3:06am

A useful Lightroom feature if you travel or use multiple cameras.  http://www.speedlighter.ca/2011/10/26/lightroom-top-tops-213/

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Permalink Reply by Brett Spinning on November 8, 2011 at 2:02pm

Hey Cesar, definately a common question and people that us LR3 vs Aperture3 vs PSE10, etc, etc will tell you whichever they picked is the best and to use it but it definately depends on your workflow. I have ALL of the above and teach courses in using them but I can only give you what I think from my experience and that is PSE and LR are very different. Usually LR3 is compared to Aperture not PSE10. Because they are very different I would highly recommend giving LR3 a chance with their free 15 day trial. I'm a huge Apple fan and abandoned Aperture completely especially after OnOne Software just came out with their Version 6 of their Add-on Suite which works as a stand alone but also integrates right into all three of the programs above. When this was released I found I was now only using LR3 with the OnOne Suite 6 and needed nothing else 95% of the time. I do use PSE10 for panoramic stitching but you can find free programs to do that now and I even do that on my iPad2. I'm not sure what your workflow is but you already know PSE10 has done away with Bridge and incorporates its own library management as well as an editor. I hated Bridge! OnOne competes with Nik Software's popular add-on suite and both have free trials also. I hate time in front of the computer and like to shoot everyday so I utilize LR3 big time for quick and easy, but very precise editing and an incredible Add-on library. Hope this helps a little. Best wishes to you in your endeavors!!

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Permalink Reply by Cesar Perez on November 8, 2011 at 4:46pm

Hello Brett, thanks for replying.

I have the LR free trial to check out and haven't so yet, now I feel that I should do so. I think I might just stick to Light Room and PSE 10.

By the way I checked out your web link and you have GREAT images on there. Good work and lovely colors on some of them images.

Thanks again,

Cesar.

 

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