Table of Contents
What is Lightroom?
Lightroom is a powerful photo editing software that allows you to import, organize, and manage your photos. It also lets you adjust the exposure, color temperature, contrast, highlights, shadows and other aspects of your photos in order to get the best possible results. Lightroom was introduced in 2006 by Adobe.
Lightroom is developed by Adobe Systems, creators of Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, After Effects and many other tools used by graphic designers and digital artists.
Lightroom is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. Lightroom can also be used as an extension for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements software users.
Lightroom is one of the most popular RAW image editors on the market today because it’s easy to use and is packed with many useful features such as presets and special effects that make editing images a breeze.
Lightroom is now available in two versions: Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic.
Lightroom CC is the newer, cloud-based version and is available as a subscription service. It’s a standalone app that you can use on your phone or tablet, as well as on your computer.
Lightroom Classic is the older version, which can only be downloaded and used on your desktop computer. But you can use Lightroom Classic to sync with your cloud storage.
With Lightroom, you can:
- Manage. Organize, label and find all of your photos quickly and easily.
- Edit. Correct color, remove blemishes and more—all in one place.
- Share. Export images to popular formats that are ready to print, sync across devices or share online.
What is Photoshop?
Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Systems for macOS and Windows. In addition to raster graphics, Photoshop can edit and compose text, vectors, animation, video, sound, and 3D computer graphics within one application.
The program has become so popular that it’s often used as a generic term for any photo-editing application (much like Kleenex has become a generic term for tissues).
Photoshop isn’t just for photographers: graphic designers, illustrators and other artists use it to create everything from illustrations to posters and logos.
It’s also useful for manipulating photos, such as removing blemishes or changing colors.
Photoshop: Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud). Both programs offer similar features but differ in price and what features they offer.
Photoshop has been around for over 20 years, but it’s still going strong. That’s because it’s extremely flexible and powerful.
How do I get started with Photoshop?
The first thing you need to do is check your computer’s specs. Adobe recommends at least 2GB of RAM, 4GB or more if you plan on working with large files. You’ll also need a fast processor and plenty of free hard drive space (at least 10GB).
Advantages of Lightroom
Lightroom has a lot of advantages over other photo editors. Here are some of the main ones:
- It’s fast to load and easy to use.
- It’s easy to organize your photos in collections or albums. You can add metadata like titles, locations and keywords to your images, so they’re easier to find later on.
- It has lots of presets that are useful for fixing your photos quickly — like “auto levels” or “auto contrast.”
- If you want more control, there are many sliders that let you tweak individual colors or tones in your photos manually (or automatically).
- It has good tools for making adjustments based on color temperature (“white balance”), exposure, contrast and more. You can also apply these adjustments selectively if needed (like only affecting the sky in an image).
- It’s affordable
- It’s faster to use than Photoshop.
- The user interface is more intuitive, making it easier to learn and work with.
- It’s optimized for photographers and graphic designers who need to import, organize and process their images quickly.
Advantages of Photoshop
Photoshop is a graphic editing software. It is used by web designers, photographers and artists to create and edit images, photographs, illustrations and 3D artwork.
Photoshop is the most widely used image editing program in the world. It has been around for more than 20 years, and it continues to improve with each new version.
Here are some of the advantages of Photoshop:
It is a powerful tool that allows you to do almost anything with your images. You can easily change the color of an object or add text on top of it. You can also make it look like there is more than one image in one image.
Photoshop has many tools that allow users to easily create stunning graphics without having to learn how to use complicated software programs. The tools found within this software application are very user-friendly and easy to understand even by someone who has never used such software before!
- Add text to images.
- Remove unwanted objects from photos.
- Change the color of objects in a photo.
- Change lighting conditions in photos.
- Add effects (like saturation, blur or sharpen) to your image.
- And so on
It has an unlimited Undo History which means you can go back through all the steps that you took to get to where you are now. This will save you from having to re-do things if you do something wrong or change your mind about how you want something done.
You can use layers to separate elements in a photo so that they can be edited individually without affecting other parts of the image. The layer masks allow for selective editing so that only certain parts of an image will be affected. Layers also make it easier when working with multiple images at once (if necessary) because each layer can have its own color, opacity and blend mode settings.
The Content Aware Fill feature allows for seamless editing of images by replacing unwanted areas with content from nearby areas within the same photo.
In short, if you want to edit your photo in any way possible, Photoshop will help you achieve this goal easily and quickly with its powerful tools and filters. You can also do much more with Photoshop than just edit photos! You can create logos for websites or print advertisements using these tools as well!
Learning to use Photoshop and Lightroom
Photoshop and Lightroom are both powerful photo editing tools. Learning to use them can take a long time, but once you’ve got the basics down, there are plenty of ways to improve your photos.
Here’s how to get started with Photoshop and Lightroom:
- Learn the basics. The first step is learning the basic tools and techniques in Photoshop. You can do this by taking a class or watching videos online, but it’s also helpful to practice on your own with images you’re familiar with.
- Start with presets. Presets are pre-built filters that adjust various parts of an image (like brightness, contrast and color). They’re great for beginners because they’re easy to apply and learn from — if you don’t like the way they look, just undo them!
- Get familiar with layers. Layers are what make Photoshop so powerful; they let you stack multiple edits on top of each other and change them at any time through their opacity settings (you can think of them like glass sheets that let light through).
- Take a look at the Help menu in each program (Help > Help) and browse around to see what’s available there. There’s a lot of great information that can help you understand how things work in Photoshop and Lightroom.
- Take some photos with your phone or camera, load them into Lightroom, and start playing around with them! Try different presets and sliders until you find something that looks good enough for your purposes.
Advice for beginners who would like to use Photoshop:
The first time I loaded up Photoshop, I didn’t know what to do. It was like being handed a skateboard and told to ride it down a hill.
So here’s my advice: don’t try to learn everything at once. Instead, focus on learning one thing at a time and practicing it until you get it right.
To get used to using the tools in Photoshop, start with this tutorial. It will walk you through some basic things like selecting areas of an image and changing their color or brightness. These are important skills that will help you do all kinds of things later on.
Once you feel comfortable with these basics, move on to this tutorial on how to edit photos using layers in Photoshop. That one will teach you how layers work and how they can be used for things like correcting mistakes and adding cool effects to your photos.
Once you have those two skills under your belt, check out this tutorial on how to create abstract art from photos in Photoshop (it uses layer masks). The process involves creating a new layer that acts as a mask for the main photo layer below it.
After that, you can move on to learn more advanced tutorials about Photoshop and Lightroom.
Choose your photo editing software wisely.
We have written this section as a guide to help you decide which photo editing software to use to enhance your photographs. However, it’s not possible to write about all the options out there, so we recommend that you make use of the many user forums, articles, websites and blogs available and read the tutorials online.
There is no single best photo editing software. Different programs will suit different people’s needs and requirements. Some will let you edit images very quickly while others will give you much greater control. Some will offer you a wider range of tools for your creativity while others will be more basic. Others will be cheaper than others, or have special features. For example, one program might be able to work on RAW files while another can’t. There are no rules and it’s important to choose the one that’s right for you.
The main decision you will have to make is whether you want to edit images in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom. Both of these software programs are very powerful but have slightly different approaches. For many people, choosing between Photoshop and Lightroom will depend on how easy you find each of the following aspects of the programs:
Adobe Photoshop
• Controls.
Photoshop lets you edit your photos using numerous tools, sliders and controls. These can be used to add or remove color, adjust exposure and contrast, increase or decrease the brightness of an image, crop the edges, create different effects on the picture and alter the appearance of your image in various ways.
• Tools.
Using the tools available in Photoshop you can select or move parts of the picture, add text and shapes, adjust the color of objects and colors in your image, sharpen and soften, add special effects and create new images and documents.
• Interface.
The interface is similar to a computer operating system and makes it easier to work with and understand. This means that it’s not too overwhelming and can be adjusted to suit you.
• Speed.
Photoshop can often seem slower to use than some other photo editing programs. But nowadays, the latest Photoshop program can be very fast and you will be able to use it easily. If your laptop or RAM are strong, running Photoshop will not be a problem.
• Larger size.
Photoshop has a larger capacity and is more powerful than some other programs.
• Cost.
Photoshop is not free. Now you will need to pay a monthly fee to use it.
• Support.
Photoshop is very popular and is supported by Adobe, which means you can easily find help and advice.
• Documentation.
If you need help, there are thousands of tutorials and videos on the internet and books to read.
• Accessibility.
It is possible to change the look of Photoshop through the use of plugins.
• Availability.
You can buy Photoshop software via the official website of Adobe.
• Ease of use.
Some people find it hard to use Photoshop. However, it is possible to get support from Adobe. And after some training and experience, you will be able to use it without any difficulties.
• Tutorials.
There are thousands of tutorials available on the Internet, but it’s not always clear how much you need to know before using Photoshop. The best way to use Photoshop is to actually use it for your work and learn from there.
• File formats.
Photoshop can work with many file types including JPEG, TIFF, GIF and RAW files.
Adobe Lightroom
• Controls.
Lightroom gives you full control over your photographs. There are hundreds of ways to change, manipulate and enhance your images. You can adjust the levels, change the brightness of an image, use the cropping tool, apply special effects, add text and shapes, change the color of an image and adjust the colors in an image.
• Tools.
Lightroom gives you a much wider range of tools than Photoshop. For example, you can use the clone tool to replace sections of an image with a different color. You can also blur areas of your photograph, apply a vignette and a soft focus effect, reduce the amount of noise in your picture and sharpen the image.
• Interface.
The interface in Lightroom is similar to a computer operating system, and makes it easier to work with and understand. This means that it’s not too overwhelming and can be adjusted to suit you.
• Speed.
Lightroom is faster than Photoshop.
• Larger size.
Lightroom has a larger capacity and is more powerful than other programs.
• Cost.
Lightroom is not free. You can subscribe to the Adobe Creative Cloud to get access to both Photoshop and Lightroom.
• Support.
There are forums and support groups, where you can get help and find information.
• Documentation.
The documentation is also available for users to learn and work with Lightroom. It is also on the official website of Lightroom.
• Accessibility.
Liek Photoshop, tt is possible to change the look of Lightroom through the use of plugins.
• Availability.
Lightroom like Photoshop is also available for purchase via the official website of Adobe.
• Tutorials.
You can find so many courses, tutorials, and training on the Internet to learn how to use Lightroom.
• Interfaces.
If you are familiar with Photoshop, you will not find any problems when using Lightroom.
What to choose:
It is not so hard to decide what software is suitable for you:
Lightroom is an organization and processing tool for photos, while Photoshop offers more manipulation and creative tools.
You can also try both products and decide what is the right option for you.