CS5 Vs. Lightroom 2

Hey gang,

I've been using PS CS2 for years and am thinking about upgrading to something more recent. Should I go the CS5 route or switch over to Lightroom 2? I know people who swear by one or the other...but I don't know enough about either of them to make a decision. I love to work in layers, I do a lot of multiple image blending, and a lot of cloning (for my people work).

Just looking for pro's and con's and what people like about each.

Thanks a bunch.

Kate

CS5 is my short answer. Especially if you work with layers, masking, selections, blending and such.

I will say Lightroom is a wonderful and elegant program, but for me if I had to choose one it's an easy choice, but I have a particular processing style and I need the advanced functions in Photoshop.

Lightroom is not at all designed as a replacement for CS. It's essentially a workflow and Digital Asset Management (DAM) app built around Adobe Camera Raw. It doesn't have many of the capabilities of CS (no layer, masks, etc.) and a lot of folks wind up with either CS or Elements in addition to Lightroom.

That said, people do seem to love that workflow and Lightroom is a nice program. You could download it and give it a shot if you want - and Lightroom 3 is actually supposed to be out pretty soon I think.

If you do studio work, event photography, weddings, etc. where you have a high volume of photographs taken under similar conditions, and if your modifications are limited to wb, exposure, color, saturation, crop, etc., then LR is for you. If you need to keyword thousands of photos, LR is for you. If, on the other hand, you take a relatively small number of images into PS and work them extensively, then CS5 is the answer. Two completely different software packages, with some overlaps.

"CS5 is my short answer. Especially if you work with layers, masking, selections, blending and such."

Yep.

Since you have CS2 (as do I) you qualify for the upgrade pricing.

--P

Another vote for CS5 if you're used to working with a layers based workflow.
You can do everything in CS5 that you can with Lightroom, while the same cannot be said for the opposite.

Thanks so much...this has been extremely helpful...I guess I did not realize what type of program Lightroom was...I'm thinking CS5 is the way to go. My CS2 is the "educational" version...and I no longer qualify for an educational version upgrade...so I think I may be starting from scratch with CS5...that's why I was asking about it.

Have a wonderful Holiday weekend everybody!
Kate

Kate -- I believe Adobe has changed their policy and you can upgrade from an educational version to a commercial version (rather than paying full price for the commercial version). Check out this Adobe Q&A, particularly the last question. It's probably worth calling to confirm, but that seems to say you can upgrade yours to the full version - and save a few hundred dollars.

Kate,

You might want to drop a call to Adobe to see if you do qualify for the upgrade price. All they can can say is 'yes', or 'no'.

--P

Lightroom won't do layers or multiple image blending on its own and its cloning/healing tools are less precise than Photoshop's. Its big strengths are cataloging and non-destructive image editing. You don't have to make another copy of your file to edit it Also you can have multiple versions of an image without creating multiple copies. It just adds a set (or sets for multiple versions) of instructions to a sidecar file (.XMP file) or directly to the embedded data of your DNG file if you are using DNG. You can do a surprising amount of editing in Lightroom 2 and Lightroom 3 promises to have even more control. I especially like Lightroom's white balancing tools over those available in Photoshop (confession: I only have CS3. I don't know if CS4 or CS5 are better in that area). Like you though I sometimes work in layers and prefer Photoshop for that. For what I do I figure it's not either/or but both. Everything gets imported and initially adjusted in Lightroom then images that need more are opened as TIFFs with the Lightroom adjustments in Photoshop.

Kate,
I have the educational version of CS2 on my laptop PC, and last summer purchased CS4 for my Mac as an upgrade because I had a recent version of Elements. If they still offer this, it may be worth purchasing Elements to get the upgrade.

Kate, be aware that in order to take advantage of the cool features in CS5 you need to have at least a Pentium 4 and 3 gb of ram (on XP). I am using a 3 ghz Pentium 4 and 2 gb ram, and content aware fill, one of the most interesting features of CS5, will fail to execute with an insufficient ram message. Other features will work, but a bit slower than you might be comfortable with.

It's hard to beat the workflow benefits to be gained from programs like Lightroom 2 and Capture One v5. Either will allow you to process 100s of raw images in the least amount of time with the best results when adjustments are simple. For fine art work, or that fussy image that requires additional processing, CS5 is similarly hard to beat. It's difficult to see myself using just one or the other. I only shoot raw, and I use Capture One as my default raw converter and asset manager, and leave the more esoteric editing to CS3, which means that 85% of my images never see Photoshop.

Yes, call Adobe and see what they will do for you. From what you wrote, stick with PS CS5, it's quite a superb upgrade. You said you use Layers, so LR is out. Plus I don't think LR has soft-proofing, so there's some wasted $$$ when making prints. Carmera RAW in CS4 and CS5 inherited LR's Local Adjustment Brush, which to me is one of the best things Adobe has ever done (non-destructive localized adjustments! )

Get a good workflow to edit and sort with Bridge, and CS5 will work superbly.

I use both, with 90% of my work being done in LR. If it weren't for the superior cloning tool and the lens distortion correction capabilities of PS I would be using LR only.

I started out with Nikon's CaptureNX2 software but decided that Photoshop-CS4 was something that I needed. I have added Lightroom2 and find that like Paul D. and others; I use LR about 75-90% of the time. The logical workflow is to modify the image in LR and if there is a need for further editing, it's very easy to open in CS4. I would suggest that you will want both. As the old saying goes, "It's better to have and not need it than to need it and not have it!"
Just my thoughts on it
John

I started out with Nikon's CaptureNX2 software but decided that Photoshop-CS4 was something that I needed. I have added Lightroom2 and find that like Paul D. and others; I use LR about 75-90% of the time. The logical workflow is to modify the image in LR and if there is a need for further editing, it's very easy to open in CS4. I would suggest that you will want both. As the old saying goes, "It's better to have and not need it than to need it and not have it!"
Just my thoughts on it
John

Apologies! Not sure why it posted twice