Lightroom 4 AND Photoshop?

Smeggy, I knew someone would bite and where an argument can be made, you seldom disappoint.

Of course it's easier just to open a single image in photoshop ( or equivalent ) edit and save it from explorer. But Lightroom isn't designed for that, it's designed as a photomanagement and editing system which you use on a continual basis not just for editing one offs. Like a big filing cabinet of negatives, where you can easily access anything for editing and 'printing' ( exporting )


For example I import very photo I take into Lightroom as a matter of course. So where you might open windows explorer, choose your photo and edit it in photoshop, I open lightroom choose my photo and edit it in lightroom. When working that way.

But in normal use I have lightroom open most of the time, so if I want to edit one of my photos, I just edit it. Don't even have to open anything

Of course. I can't let something go I disagree with

The forums would be much less interesting if you did.

If there was any move to merge LR and PS in to one coagulated offering, it won't be long before the shelves in Waterstones are groaning under the weight of all the new tomes running to 1000 pages or so, instead of the only 400-500 pages we see now.

I can't agree that such a monstrosity would render all the competition redundant. There are other good, efficient quality editors out there - they do take a bit of hunting out and seeking advice for sure.

I do accept that Adobe have a good coverage of the market, and their products are increasingly dividing into more distinct target audiences - full PS is no longer at all obligatory for semi-pro / enthusiast, or indeed any person working exclusively in the photographic medium - more required now for commercial print / design aspects of the market.

PS Elements is a viable option for the serious photographer, as is Lightroom. Personally I would say that most would want more sophistication in the RAW develop section than Elements ACR provides, so another standalone RAW converter would be a good investment.

The OP was clearly concerned about layers - I use great software that eliminates the needs for managing layers upfront, but still find for particularly fine selective control or very fiddly tidying up, that layers as per the PS / Elements model are the best way to go, so well worth learning. Elements 11 will now offer almost all the degrees of control and flexibility in these areas that a photographer would need, without such a hefty learning curve (and the books are only about 300 pages!!)

STOP IT NOW. I just wanted to know why people went from Lightroom to Photoshop. A bog standard Pic.

Yes, don't stop me now - I'm just getting on a roll I've talked about layers in two posts so far, and your need (or not) for this functionality would be a key determinant for using both LR & PS (but as I've also been saying for most of us now, the much cheaper Elements would be plenty).

PDU4 or what ever it is, is SlOW and very Unstable. Why bother with it.

PDCU4 is neither slow nor unstable on my PC (it has never crashed in 2 years of using it) and I'm running it on a 5 year old laptop that is way behind the times in terms of performance. There is probably something wrong with the install on your PC?

Regards
David

'content aware tool'? This is what I am saying.I DON'T KNOW WHAT PHOTOSHOP DOES. Lightroom seems to do everything. Should I put a picture up that needs some work and see what happens?

You can't expect to 'KNOW WHAT PHOTOSHOP DOES' or any other application for that matter, if you don't try it and spend some time learning it.

The content aware tool is a very sophisticated and clever image manipulation tool, but you'll have to try Photoshop to find out 'what it does'.

These days, there's no excuse for not trying out software before you buy because almost all software producers offer a 'try before you buy' facility.

BTW, your excessive use of capital letters ( AKA shouting) is becoming annoying now. If you still want help, stop it.

FOR ME THIS THE END

BYE