B&H has Lightroom 3 on sale for $149.99 today only..... Am I better off with this for the lower end editing that I'm capable of, or should I just get PSE 10? I use Topaz Adjust as well, but that's it. Does Lightroom handle plug-ins?
I use lightroom with Topaz (adjust, detail, denoise and a couple others I don't use), SEP, HDR Efex, photomatix and other plugins without any trouble. I like using Lightroom for a baseline photograph manager. I then export to PS or any of the above whenever I want to accomplish something. It's a good work flow I think.
IMHO Lightroom is about 30% editing and 70% archiving. If you want to go through all the pain of sorting and metatagging for fast searches and being able to use all those old images you have in storage, then Lightroom is great. If you just want an editor, Elements would give you more tools.
IMHO Lightroom is about 30% editing and 70% archiving. If you want to go through all the pain of sorting and metatagging for fast searches and being able to use all those old images you have in storage, then Lightroom is great. If you just want an editor, Elements would give you more tools.
This may explain why I bought lightroom and went back to PaintShop Pro after few weeks.
B&H has Lightroom 3 on sale for $149.99 today only..... Am I better off with this for the lower end editing that I'm capable of, or should I just get PSE 10? I use Topaz Adjust as well, but that's it. Does Lightroom handle plug-ins?
TIA for your views & insight.
Jebb - Lightroom does fill the need for basic editing and can even do some pretty sophisticated stuff. It also supports plug ins as I use all the Nik Suite with it. BUT - if you want to do layering and change blend modes and such you will need PSE10 or PS5. I use both but I find I do 90% of my work in Lightroom. I do prefer to go into PS when I work with Nik Filters as I can layer them and change opacity and such.
I know, this was not a helpful answer but in the end you will need both. I worked with Lightroom 1, 2 and 3 along with PSE 7 & 8 before getting a copy of PS5. I now have more capability than talent!
Knowing your work, Jeb, I think you';re better off with Elements.
R.
I wholly concur with Robert.
With respect to plug-ins specifically, Lr will work with them, but you will be faced with intermediate files, one more each time you apply a plug-in, because Lr does not do layers.
Lr is an absolutely fabulous file manager, including import, export, rating/culling, etc.; it is also a great RAW converter. It is not meant to do more than limited local editing/retouching.
