Which is better- Lightroom or Photoshop?

Invariably, when I teach a class, the question always comes up. Which is better, Lightroom or Photoshop? Or, often which one should I use?

Without being ambiguous, the answer is mixed. Adobe, the parent of both platforms, has produced a pair of excellent programs for digital photographers. Some professional photographers use only Lightroom, some only Photoshop. And many photographers actually use both platforms. And there is a good reason for doing so,

While it is true there is a distinct difference in capabilities and features in each of the two programs, they are designed quite well to work together. I will list differences in just a bit. But let’s look at the bigger picture first.

Adobe Lightroom

Lightroom is designed from the ground up by photographers for photographers. At the beginning, Adobe gave a group of the world’s best image makers a blank slate and asked what they would want and need in a photographic software platform. What came back was the first issue of Lightroom and it has grown tremendously from there.

Lightroom is a non-destructive, image-based editing platform. That means changes to images are made through modifications of the image metadata or Exif files and not the pixels. That means changes are forever changeable or reversible.

Lightroom is also a database of stored images, not simply a file browser. This provides excellent Digital Asset Management. (DAM). That is the outstanding feature of Lightroom. That means Lightroom knows where each image is stored in your computer system and becomes an excellent organizational and retrieval system. Images can be labeled, or tagged with meaningful keywords, organized in meaningful sets without duplicating files, and can retrieve images based upon these parameters, even years later. Lightroom remembers your camera data, lens data and if GPS enabled, your camera’s location.

Lightroom also has a robust editing or processing platform that is capable of managing JPG, TIFF and RAW file formats equally. It has features for retouching, dodging and burning, and masking. And all this is reversible.

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop was first developed for graphic artists for use in preparing images and artwork for the printing press. Photographers learned there were many features that provided capabilities to improve digital photographic images, so they quickly adopted the platform as their choice editing software. Because of that, Photoshop has greatly evolved into the most powerful programs around. It has become the industry standard. And, yes there are competitors, but not with the reputation of Adobe Photoshop.

Photoshop is a destructive, pixel-based editing software. Changes are made to the pixels themselves and therefore, not reversible. There are some workarounds that delay the pixel destruction, but not permanently. Photoshop can exit JPG and TIFF file formats and with the companion Adobe Camera Raw software, RAW files as well. It too, has features for retouching, dodging and burning, and masking.

A significant difference is that Photoshop can manage layers, enabling compositing of multiple images, and specialized color or tone value effects. Photoshop and TIFF files can be saved with layers intact, enabling modifications at a later date. And Photoshop can manage typography, introducing the written word or graphic symbology into the photographic image.

Better Together

Can you use one and not the other? Yes, and many well-known photographers do so. But there is an advantage to using both. First, they are delivered together for a single price, along with Bridge and Camera Raw with the basic subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud for photographers.

The beauty of the joint use is the database data management system, coupled with the non-destructive editing advantages of Lightroom. When finished complex editing or compositing in Photoshop, the image may be returned with ease into Photoshop enabling all the advantages there and easily returned to Lightroom to be again returned to the database.

My answer in a nutshell: use them both together. This is my best recommendation, especially to newer photographers who are just entering into post-production.

A brief outline of differences between the programs follows.

Strengths and Weaknesses

-Photoshop’s strengths

• Pixel-level editing– images created or opened in Photoshop are comprised of pixels, which are the small physical points in a raster image and are the smallest addressable elements in a photo. The software allows for editing even at this tiny level, meaning limitless manipulation is possible. Raster and vector images can be created from scratch.
• Layers – Photoshop allows for multiple layers to be stored within a master file, meaning that you can keep different images or edits on separate layers, and then hide, modify or enhance any of those layers independently.
• Actions – an extremely useful feature, actions allow manipulation steps to be chained together and recorded, letting you recreate an entire editing process with a click of the mouse.
• Compositing and blending– because of the ability to layer components within an image, it is possible to blend those layers together in unique ways. Masking allows you to protect specific parts of the photo from any adjustments being made down to the pixel level, simply by painting out the area you’d like to keep.
• Huge toolbox – each progressive release of Photoshop seems to bring more and more useful tools into the mix. From content-aware filling, reducing camera shake effects, photo filters, and automatic panoramic image stitching, there is a tool for almost every task a photographer would need. AI (artificial Intelligence) now incorporated into may tools that enhances usefulness.
• Typography– the ability to incorporate the written word into digital images.
• Workarounds are possible to delay the destructive process.

-Photoshop’s weaknesses

• Steeper learning curve – with great power comes… a steep learning curve. Although you have a massive array of tools at your disposal, mastering them is something that takes time and practice.
• No built-in RAW editing – unlike Lightroom’s native ability to manipulate RAW files directly from your camera, Photoshop relies on its companion program ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) or something similar in order to import and modify these files.
• No image management – Photoshop is built from the ground up to be a powerful image creation and editing tool. Although there are batch import and export tools available to make some aspects of the process easier, there isn’t a fully recognized, built-in management or workflow system for photographers.
• Destructive editing– due to pixel-level editing process.

-Lightroom’s strengths

• Non-destructive editing– because of metadata-level editing capability.
• Built-in RAW editing – no plugin required! Lightroom natively accepts RAW files straight from your camera and allows all of the editing you’d expect from within the software.
• Image management and workflow centric – Lightroom was born from the desire to give photographers something better to manage their photo libraries with. The entire program is based on creating a solid, consistent workflow that will help you make the most of the post-processing phase.
• Simple and easy to use – since Lightroom doesn’t have the huge toolbox found in Photoshop, there is MUCH less to learn. Everything from the tools available, to the interface itself, is simple, intuitive, and easy to manipulate.
• Presets – a photographer’s dream; imagine having the ability to string together exposure levels, contrast, and toning, and then save those to a handy file. Then imagine you can have unlimited variances of these and apply them to any photo with a click of the mouse. Welcome to Lightroom’s presets! Photographers around the world share these online as well, giving you limitless potential options for your photo’s look and feel.

-Lightroom’s weaknesses

• No advanced editing tools – because Lightroom wasn’t intended as a full-on raster editor, most of the editing functions Photoshop users take for granted are not present here. With the exception of a few basic tools, you’ll want to use Photoshop in situations where heavy image editing and detailed retouching is necessary.
• No layer management – the powerful layer system in Photoshop is non-existent as well. Effects and modifications can be stacked on an image, but there is no real separation of image segments or any ability to use blending modes.
• Photos only – again, Lightroom is intended as a workflow system for photographers, meaning you’ll only be able to import existing photos and modify them; there are no raster or vector image creation tools to be found here as there are in Photoshop.

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