What to use? Photoshop vs. Lightroom
When you set out to take a picture, you want it to be awe-inspiring. You want your masterpiece to look something like this:
Despite that, when you first take a picture, it looks something like this:
No need to fret! There are dozens of choices when it comes to editing your picture; the two main ones being Photoshop and Lightroom. Both are good for different purposes, and both are available in the Digital Scholarship Lab. So let’s breakdown the benefits of which one you should choose to edit your picture!
Photoshop
Once considered untouchable, Photoshop is now considered a “pixel editor”. The wide arrange of tools in this program make it easy to do things such as posters, graphic design, and photo manipulation. The program has immense power in what it can do which can overwhelm even the advanced users of Photoshop. One editing tab contains the same amount of editing options in all of light room, and there are 6 tabs to choose from in Photoshop. My photography teacher Mike Di Sisti (who is also a lead photographer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) told the class this, “Yeah Photoshop is cool and what I use, but honestly I only know like 5% of what it can do, it just makes me look fancy”.
It’s true, he only taught us the basic photography elements of the program — which makes sense since he’s a photojournalist and doesn’t need to manipulate his image, but that’s what’s so charming about Photoshop.
Once mastered, you’re able to do things like make clocks look like they melted, put your best friends face on top of the Rock, or draw stars in a glass of water. Photoshop does the average photography editing well, and goes the extra mile. I was able to melt the clock by using the liquefy tool on a clock that’s over a different layer of a table that I got from a stock image.
Despite the amount of power you control with Photoshop, people tend to shy away from the program because of the difficulty that comes with using the program. Here is a link to a YouTube channel that taught me everything I know about the application. A simple google search on how to do something in Photoshop can go a long way in learning how to use it correctly; which is honestly part of the fun. So if you’re knew and afraid to use Photoshop, I suggest learning to at least edit your picture on the software and then if you please, go further into what you can do with Photoshop. People all around the world are looking for qualified editors that can navigate the program, and pay good money for people that can get them what they want.
Lightroom
When describing Lightroom to someone I don’t know, I tell them this, “Think of Photoshop as that big sibling that knows all the Jeopardy questions, and think of Lightroom as the little sibling that you’d rather have at a party”. 99% of what you can do on Lightroom can be done in Photoshop, so why do we use it then? Lightroom is incredibly user-friendly. In fact, the main page for Lightroom is a library of all your images. This is the only feature that separates itself. Otherwise you can adjust the image’s exposure, contrast, color grade, white balance, and adjust the image size in both applications; it’s really the usability that turns people to Lightroom. This can be really useful as a photographer. As you can see in the screenshot I showed you, I have about 200 images in there, but thanks to the folders I can weed out about 60 in a folder I call portraits. That way when you upload more pictures, it’s easier to sort them.
Another feature that is pretty helpful is that Lightroom has all the adjustment tabs ready for you to use once you hit the edit button on the right hand side. This is convenient compare to Photoshop because in Photoshop you have to dig through the vastness of the application to find the one specific tool you’re looking for. In Lightroom, it’s all laid out in the most obvious spots possible for your leisure. Along the right hand side are all the other tools you can use, which includes a crop tool, a healing brush for zits, a regular brush to add effects, both a liner and circular gradient to adjust the background, and a settings tab to adjust the small quirks to make it unique to you.
Lightroom is geared towards photographers specifically however, so you don’t get the in depth editing focus that comes with Photoshop. You also don’t have access to the magic wand that helps with fine details of an image. Lastly, you don’t get the image manipulation aspect of Photoshop when you come to Lightroom, you just get the single layer and have to make due with that.
The Verdict
I suggest learning and using both programs to their fullest potential. However, if you want strictly photography elements when you edit a picture then use Lightroom. It was designed with photography in mind, and will save you a substantial amount of time in the editing process. If you do need that extra manipulation however, don’t shy away from Photoshop. It truly is powerful in what you can do, and is the most versatile software that Adobe has to offer. Both are offered for free on the computers in the Digital Scholarship lab, and our tutors are happy to assist you with both! Just remember it’s what you do in post production that makes a good photo a great photo!
