(all student versions)

Lightroom 2- $99
Photoshop CS4- $199

or:




Right now, I am leaning towards either getting Photoshop and Lightroom alone. I'd like the website stuff...I wouldn't mind learning how to make a decent website, but I'm not entirely sure that I am willing to devote the necessary time and effort. On the other hand, the retail price for these is so high that I'm tempted to pick up what I can while I'm still a student, so I can still play with it after I graduate..

What do you think?

CS4 now eh? Any one have it and can tell me if it's any better then CS3?

You can buy these programs?

Has it ever been WORSE?

Anyway, Web Premium is an excellent buy. I wouldn't get Photoshop and Lightroom separate unless you REALLY just need Lightroom.

I was under the impression that Lightroom did a bunch of stuff that Photoshop didn't-- am I mistaken?

Lightroom's main purpose is just to manage and manipulate large collections of photos. That's it. Any manipulation it can do can easily be done in Photoshop.

So, in essence..., it's a fancy version of Picasa, Windows photo gallery, etc.

It's actually a scam run by some company.
They try to sell this free software.

Well someone should tell everyone it's free before they trick innocent people into paying for something like water.

But seriously, how do they justify charging for lightroom? It's... nothing? I mean, there's some awesome photo editing stuff in it, but they're all limited and require you buy plugins to do anything worthwhile.

I use lightroom for editing / managing raw image files. I wouldn't call it 'nothing' though

>>buy
>>adobe

(reactionimage.jpg)

I use Aperture (which is like Lightroom) for editing/managing raw image files, it was worth the money.

Anywho, with Adobe stuff you have to remember that having a student license doesn't permit commercial use. This probably won't affect you, but it's ultimately the reason why I didn't buy a student license when I still could.

Photoshop CS4 is an improvement on CS3.

HOWEVER.

Illustrator CS4 is a huge, huge disappointment. They have made a significant amount of very negative changes to features that did not need changing, and made them more complicated and less time efficient. Instead of hitting Alt+Comm+P to get my artboard sizes, for example, I have to his Alt+Comm+P, click on a new Edit Artboard in the new window, then it finally appears on a popup toolbar. If I wanted to change it, before I simply hit tab, enter number, tab, enter number, enter. Now I have to CLICK on the measurement field, because TAB doesn't work there, enter my number, tab works then, enter the other number, then I have to click in the field.

This is just one of several examples. I used to be able to run Illustrator 9,10-CS1-2-3 almost exclusively with my keyboard and shortcuts. It just kills my efficiency big time. For someone like me who opens 20-30-40 jobs a day, many of which are already heavier than they should be due to too much dpi or whatnot, it slows me down significantly, which is not good.

They've also added some features that would be totally awesome if they were not at the expense of other features / functionality, and offered a way to alter between the new and past modes. Both have their very, very different uses. The new one only promotes sloppy, malaligned design.

It is the first time I'm disappointed with an adobe software upgrade.

Ah well, can't have everything and I'm pretty certain they wont revert these ludicrous changes.

I still use PS 7

If you are shooting in RAW it really helps to have Lightroom. You can adjust one image and then have those setttings applied to several others. It also doesn't get rid of the original, so you can always go revert back if you'd like.

Fixed.

BUY LIGHTROOM! DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER'S BEST FRIEND!

seriously.

[edit]In more detail, lightroom is better than photoshop because all edits are non destructive. the original file is left in place. lightroom codes the edits into metadata leaving the original file as is. one need only export to whatever file type you wish to have a copy of the edited image to post to intarwebs or what have you.

in photoshop, any edit you make reduces the quality of the image, and saving over and over again (especially jpegs) brings in artifacts.

basically, lightroom is for purists who like to "keep the negative" safe. [/edit]

that is why you make sure to save in a lossless file format. :p

I'm still on CS2....

What's the diff? xD

I haven't actually looked it up yet.

Btw, I've never lost image quality with Photoshop.

CS4 takes advantage of your GPU, which is nice...

If you keep saving in jpg, sure...but if you go from raw to PSD until you export your final image, I don't see how that would happen.

still, any edits in photoshop are applied directly to the image, where in lightroom it's applied to metadata, and the image is left alone. its better that way.

Layers FTW.

iim with jlee on this one. Layers and adjustment layers are the best things ever.

yeah, but does photoshop have an integrated file management system? i didnt think so. can photoshop make a slide show for you? i didnt think so. can photoshop make an ugly web page for you? i didnt think so. (why is that even a feature? ugh) can photoshop set up files to print multiple copies on a page? yeah, probably.

but whatever. it doesnt have the first two!

[edit] i just think lightroom is neat and it does a lot of cool things. and its a nicer environment for non-graphics people than photoshop. it is limited in scope, but for 98% of things you want to do with your images, its got everything you need.[/edit]

why would an image editing software need those features?

We were talking about image editing, and the quality of said image.

is today "restate alpha1's post day" today or something?

people keep restating pretty much exactly what I am stating after I have posted it.

lightroom wasnt designed for heavy editing. it was designed for photographic workflow. file management, exposure adjustment/color correction, cropping, output (screen or print).

its a one stop shop for your photographic needs.

lightroom is really what facilitated my transition from film to digital. photoshop was more than i needed, lesser programs were missing features i needed, but lightroom had everything i wanted in a program.

basically, if you want to dumb down lightroom in an explaination, its photoshop + bridge, but one app, and prettier.

shush! these newfangled digital images are too complicated for me, and i'm just explaining what i learned from my photo teachers/meager forays into the digital world.

My photography professor was telling the class last night that a 7Mp was actually a 1.5Mp image because the file size was 1.48Mb.

I wasnt disagreeing with you!
Lightroom is built for photographers who want to edit their images. Photoshop can do essentially everything that Lightroom can do though. (ex- adjustment layers and whatever)

I just happen to prefer lightroom for raw files because... well because its the only thing that reads these CR2 Files

my photography professors were all commercial photographers at one point or another, and the one i give most credit to is a bigger geek than most of us here, while still maintaining awesomeness. he could give (and has) a 2 hour long lecture on what makes i[ a digital image, starting from bits on through to mega pixels.

In Lightroom and Aperture, EVERYTHING is nondestructive, including crops and rotates. They're also faster.

Man, those are expensive.
I think you can get Vista Ultimate for less then CS4 Premium.

Right, but do you need one if you have the other? Arguably, you can do all of lightroom's unique features for free in a number of programs, and photoshop can "nondestructively" edit photos without needing a second hefty program to pay for.

Learn to manage files and layer workflow.

I'm with you right there, Kirbs. To me, the whole concept of needing some hefty software to manage your files and workflow seems ridiculous at best.

you have to understand that photographers tend to have hundreds of files from a shoot, and oh **** it i'm tired of debating it. what the **** ever.

I actually use Adobe for professional reasons (anime art commissions), and I've never had any issues getting through my vast amounts of images.

So I don't know what you're talking about.

I dont know, I have thousands upon thousands of files on my computer spanning 5 years of 20-30-40 jobs a day here at work and I can find anything I need in a matter of minutes. Without any sort of file management software.