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Adobe Photoshop software made its debut in 1990. With the introduction of layers, Photoshop quickly gained popularity among graphic designers. Each new version offers more and better tools, making it highly appealing both artists and photographers.
Adobe Lightroom software became available in 2007 to answer the need for managing and processing large numbers of digital images. Renamed Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, the software now offers more editing tools along with improved image collection review and organization features. - Both packages offer editing capabilities such as adjusting color, brightness, contrast and sharpness. But Photoshop allows you to use an unique layer workflow for adding special effects. Each program lets you open photos directly from your digital camera and start editing them. While Photoshop lets you edit one photo at a time, Lightroom helps you import large numbers of images you can then view, organize and edit to prepare for print, web or slideshows.
- Photoshop's advanced editing techniques provide you with more options to get creative and make your photos picture-perfect. But if you need to organize large numbers of photos, Lightroom saves you time and effort by batch importing, processing and editing an entire group of images all at once. Lightroom then automates the process of readying your images for print, web or slideshows, saving you hours of time preparing each image individually.
- The main difference between the two software packages lies in their ability to handle large amounts of images and their capability for using advanced editing techniques. Photographers who need to import, process, manage and showcase large batches of images find Lightroom a great solution. If you only need to work on a few photos at a time and want all the editing techniques and special effects you can find, Photoshop does the trick.
- Many photographers think they must choose between either Lightroom or Photoshop. But photographers who take lots of photos and need the importing, processing and organizing features of Lightroom also want the advanced editing techniques available in Photoshop. While some of the features remain the same in both programs, Photoshop and Lightroom can work hand in hand to help photographers import, process, sort and apply advanced editing techniques to create picture-perfect photos for print or web.
