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  1. #1
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    Lightroom or CS4

    I currently use Lightroom and was wondering if it is worth the extra money to purchase CS4. Any ideas, helps, or insight would be appreciated.

  2. #2
    Junior Member JJamieson's Avatar
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    Hi Tumber,

    I have both a find myself only editing is CS4 about 1 in every 20 pictures. Mostly for using "Unsharp Mask" for greater control. LR 2.5 has come a long way and with Graduated Filter, Spot Removal and adjustment brush to name a few, its pretty close to one stop shopping
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  3. #3
    Captain of the Ship Photo-John's Avatar
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    It depends on what you want and need to do with your images. I use Lightroom and Photoshop. I use Lightroom to manage my images and do my RAW conversions. Lightroom 2 is much more powerful than the original Lightroom and I can do a lot more with it than I used to. But I still use Photoshop on almost every image to fine-tune them. In my opinion, the real power of Photoshop lies in the ability to create masked adjustment layers. I use those on almost every image. They are the equivalent (much more powerful one, actually) of dodging and burning in the darkroom. Lightroom has a couple of tools now that allow selective adjustments and I do use them. But they don't come near the offering the power and control that adjustment layers do in Photoshop.

    Lightroom and Photoshop handle color differently, too. I'm not clear on what the exactly the difference is or why there is a difference. All I know is that my images look different in Lightroom and Photoshop and I don't trust an image to be correct right out of Lightroom. I always end up doing some color and density adjustment in Photoshop to get my images to look exactly how I want them to look. And this isn't for lack of set up. All of my monitors are calibrated and the color settings in both applications are set up very carefully. If anyone does know how to get Lightroom and Photoshop to behave the same regarding color and density, I'd love to know.

    Hope that helps. Like I said, whether you should use both applications is a personal thing. If I only had one, it would be Photoshop. But Lightroom has become a critical part of my workflow over the past couple of years. I would not want to be without it. I don't like doing RAW conversions with Adobe Camera Raw - never have. I just don't like the UI. The influence of Lightroom has made it better. But I still prefer using Lightroom. Maybe you can tell use what you aren't able to do with Lightroom. That would be useful. What's missing from your workflow right now that you think Photoshop might be able to do for you?
    Photo-John

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  4. #4
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    I haven't ever used photoshop and don't do too much in Lightroom, so I didn't know if I needed to get CS4 or not.

  5. #5
    Captain of the Ship Photo-John's Avatar
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    Quote Originally Posted by Tumber
    I haven't ever used photoshop and don't do too much in Lightroom, so I didn't know if I needed to get CS4 or not.
    Well, if you aren't having trouble doing anything with Lightroom, then I wouldn't worry about it. CS4 costs a lot of money, money that might be better invested in a lens. I'm still using CS3. But like I said, I do use both. All the time. Lightroom is a good management and RAW conversion tool for me. But I don't use it to put out finished images.
    Photo-John

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  6. #6
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    Ok. I haven't been able to successfully use the paintbrush in Lightroom yet, but that might just be my computer

  7. #7
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    Like every says, CS4 is great for alot of masking touch ups. The price tag of cs4 is a major killer and could be spent better. I would try and look around for an old copy of cs3, not open of course. Some schools sell off their old versions of cs3 after going up to sc4, and some ppl sell off their cs3, my local school sold off their versions off to students for a fair price. Some times you can get lucky and find some on ebay. Make sure its unopen and can return it if something isnt right when you get it in the mail.

  8. #8
    drg
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    You might want to consider Adobe Photoshop Elements. It is now up to version 8. The full version of CS4 is a major investment in learning to use it as well as cost. PSE8 will most likely along with Lightroom fulfill most all your needs unless you are running a full service shop.

    This borders on one of those questions that if you have to ask, you probably don't need it at least yet.

    Start with the $100 on PSE and see where you stand. Many Windows notebooks are not really powerful enough to use CS4 well. Just too much lag and the displays are not up to it.

    The best initial solution could be to download the trial versions and see which is best suited for your needs now and in the near future. Check out the adobe web site for learning materials and the user community. Post any questions that we can help with at PR too!

    The local book stores are often a good starting point to look at manuals and after market guides to find added information as to what to use first.

    If you do go for the full version, I seriously recommend looking at taking a Community College course in its use or a third party training session as this is a very complex piece of software. Yes the time and expense will exceed the purchase price of Adobe PS-CS4 but you will get a lot more functionality from the software.

    Best wishes and any more questions we will all try to answer!
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  9. #9
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    The PSE8 won't work. PSE7 didn't meet my needs so I moved to Lightroom. I haven't used CS4 before, so I didn't know if there was anything that you could do with it that you can't do in Lightroom. Just because I haven't used it and haven't needed it yet doesn't mean that I won't use it or won't need it. Would you concider using PSE8 or a point and shoot camera because you haven't used a DSLR or CS4 or Lightroom? Just because I am "newer" on this forum doesn't mean that my needs for photography aren't as great as yours in using software or editing pictures. I am sorry if this is rude, but it is insulting to me for people to assume that because I haven't ever used something that I don't have the need to use it. You don't know everything that I do in the editing process. Just because I said I don't use "Lightroom too much", doesn't mean that I don't use other photo editing software to get the pictures edited.



    FYI: The computer I was refering to, isn't a laptop, but a desktop that I just upgraded and removed alot of the security software.

  10. #10
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    I am pretty sure you can use photoshop online with adobe and pay a licensing fee or a per use fee. there are a couple of advantages to this. one is you always have the best version around and another is that adobe's servers do the hard number crunching - meaning you don't need such a powerful computer to run it. the downside is that you have to upload your photo to work on it which may be painful if you have a slow internet connection or low download limit.
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur


  11. #11
    Member byjamesderuvoDHQ's Avatar
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    Re: Lightroom or CS4

    Frankly, I haven't found CS4 to be all that great from an upgrade standpoint. If you're buying in, sure. But from CS3-CS4 or just from Lightroom in general, unless it has a feature you can't live without, I agree, use the money for something else.

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