Adobe Lightroom Vs. Elements
Adobe Lightroom is a program that organizes and processes photos. Adobe Photoshop Elements is the simplified, consumer version of Photoshop, the well-known image editing program. Photoshop Elements is recommended for consumers that want something cheaper and with fewer editing options than Photoshop. Both Lightroom and Photoshop can be used separately to edit images.
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Modules
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Lightroom is setup so that users can go through a specific set of steps to organize and eventually print their images. It has 5 modules or modes. The Library Module is like a digital file cabinet where you first sort and save images. The Develop module is where you find image processing options like removing red-eye. The Slideshow module creates presentations. The Print module manages print settings. The Web module sets up photo galleries formatted for websites.
File Formats
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Lightroom can handle a wider variety of formats including JPEG, TIFF, PSD, and PNG. Lightroom can edit and save RAW images. RAW, which is not an acronym, means all original settings are included in the image. The files are larger and you have more processing options. For example, you can white balance the image in the computer if you forgot to do it with the camera. Photoshop Elements doesn't process RAW images without automatically converting them to JPEG format. The JPEG format is much smaller and doesn't allow white balancing if you forgot to do it earlier.
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Image Organization
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Lightroom not only edits images, it acts as a database for them. It can save the original and edited images as separate catalog files in a folder. These have lrcat file extensions and are like filmstrips. This makes importing, organizing and finding photos faster. Photoshop Elements doesn't have a cataloging system, so users must keep track of original and edited images themselves.
Advanced Image Editing
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Photoshop Elements offers advanced editing options like applying multiple filters to images and drawing with many different kinds of tools. Lightroom has much simpler offerings, which are also in Photoshop Elements, like contrast and brightness adjustments. It has no drawing tool options.
Web Images
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Lightroom processes and uploads images intended for the web. The program can process photos and place them in galleries for a website. The gallery can be saved as a collection file so that the images can be transferred easily to an FTP site. You don't need to know HTML or Flash since there are templates within the program. Photoshop Elements doesn't have this option.
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References
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- Photo Credit pile de photos image by Oliv from Fotolia.com
