Photoshop Vs Lightroom

Every photographer needs to edit a photo at a given time. However, the difference comes in on the type of editing tool one chooses. Photoshop is one type of editing tool that has made a great name in the world of photography. It is even used as a synonym for digitally altering an image. However, with time, another editing tool was introduced to the market that gave this great editing tool a run for it’s money, Lightroom. It is almost similar to Photoshop but with distinctive features. Now, the question that lingers on every photographer’s mind is which one should I choose? Let’s find out.

Photoshop

This is also known as an image editor that is pixel based. The editor takes control of all the pixels in the image and works on every single one of them. Some of the Strengths of Photoshop include:

• Retouching

This is the perfect way to retouch your photo to how you like it best. Doing it is faster and requires minimum details. Whatever you need to remove in your image, you can count on Photoshop to do it perfectly.

• Opacity and Layers

The one major principle that Photoshop works on is layering. You can easily create different layers of adjustments to your photos without losing the original format. You can also easily control the opacity of the layers. In simpler terms, you can control the layer’s intensity. This makes precision for editing your photo possible.

• Actions

Here, you can easily carry out multiple steps by simply clicking an action button. This is more of an automatic editing approach that saves you loads of time. However, these actions are normally quite complex and it therefore requires some skill.

• Compositing

You can use different photos to come up with one perfect photo. Taking different parts from a photo and pasting it to another. It allows for easy manipulation of images.

Lightroom

This is more of an image management tool as well as an editing program. This is a perfect option if you are looking for something to work with large amounts of images. With it, you can easily import your images, sort and organize them, process them as needed and then export and share them with others. Some Lightroom Strengths include:

• Efficiency

Lightroom deals with every step of what you may consider post-production process. There are so many features in the editor that you can do just about anything you need from importing, to sorting, tagging (with keywords), Raw processing, organizing, creating slideshows, you name it. It is all done using this single tool.

• Raw File Processing

To process Raw images, you need specific software. Lightroom is one software that supports Raw image processing. This allows you to make the necessary adjustments to your photos from scratch.

• Presets

These are more or less the same as actions in Photoshop. However, they are different because they don’t save the sequence of steps rather they record the way all the given slider adjustments are constituted. They are also very flexible and you can even make personal adjustments to the sliders.

• Non-Destructive

The good thing with Lightroom is that they do not change the composition of the original file. As a matter of fact, whenever you make any changes to an image, what is saved is a copy of the original. What’s more, you never have to worry about losing the original file accidentally which gives room for as much experiments as you want.

• Easy to Use

This is a more global editing program as compared to Photoshop since the adjustments are made to the entire image. This makes it more straightforward and easier to learn and use.

Conclusion

Depending on the nature of your work, once you understand the differences between Photoshop and Lightroom is key to choosing the most suitable one.