In addition to McLion's comments, let me add that the Lightroom "organizer" is a superior piece of software than the PSE Organizer ... it has more capabilities and fewer bugs.

But if you don't need an "organizer", then maybe Lightroom isn't for you, as you are forced to import your photos into the Lightroom Library Module in order to use the rest of the features in Lightroom.

Of course, I think you (and everyone else who works with digital photos) needs an organizer ...

I also think that even if you are shooting only JPGs, Lightroom is a great piece of software. It's not for Raw shooters only.

jdur4567 wrote:

 

 

 

Does lightroom have image editing features that are not in photoshop elements or not in the full version of photoshop?

 

 

PS is capable of many things that LR cannot do and isn't designed to do. PS is a fully featured graphics application, whilst LR is for processing and managing image files from camera to end usage, such as printing, displaying on the web etc. There is nothing as far as processing images goes that LR can do that can't also be accomplished in PS. However for 99% of photographic usage LR does it quicker and with more ease than PS as well as being non destructive and doing away with the requirment for huge file sizes on your disks.

PS elements is a very cut down version of PS primarily aimed at basic graphic processing required by amateur users. Its ability to process RAW files is very limited in comparison to LR, but for jpgs it is fine and it incorporates a management tool, which whilst not as sophisticated as LR's will do the job. It also works well with Premier Elements for creating videos.

If your primary objective is to process your own photographic images from the RAW file in your camera to end usage, LR is the best bet. If you are happy with jpgs and want to also shoot and edit video the the PS and Premier elements package will do best. For professionals then LR and PS are essentials, even though these days trips to PS are rare!

As you can trail all these products give them all a spin. LR has a learning curve and it will take you the full 30 days to get used to how it works and just what it is capable of. Once you have got to grips with it most users would never return to relying on straightforward bitmap editors such as elements or PS again.

1) Smart sharpening  My understanding is this is a newer and better algorithm than unsharp mask.

2) The layer blending modes: "darker color" and "lighter color:

3) Adjustment layers - where you can change the parameters of an existing layer without having to undo and go back to when you added the layer.

4) Noise reduction with separate controls for luminance and color

1, 2 and 3 are not in Lightroom (no layers in Lightroom at all)

4 can be done in Lightroom

Many people use Lightroom to do the initial editing of the photo and then another image editor (PSE or CS4/5) for additiona; editing

I have decided to use Lightroom as my organizer after using PSE for several years.  I have upgraded my exisiting PSE catalog to Lightroom, but ONLY the files that currently reside on my hard drive transferred.  Any files that had been moved to external disk using PSE, didn't transfer.  In the PSE organizer, it knows those files are on an external disk and gives you the disk name so that you can retrieve them.  Is there a way to import these files WITH their keyword information into Lightroom?  If not, this appears to be a real disadvantage of trying to upgrade from PSE to Lightroom.  Appreciate any help with this anyone can offer

dj_paige wrote:

 

Use PSE to transfer the files that are offline back to your hard disk, then upgrade the catalog to Lightroom again.

I have LR 4 (using 4.1 RC2 at the moment) and want to upgrade my PSE Organizer 9 catalog with over 50k photos.  The PSE catalog is on my internal hd, but I have these photos on a 1tb external hd.  They are not on my internal hd because there is not enough space for all of them (that is why they are on the external hd).  So, there is no way to transfer them to my internal hd.  As long as the external hd is connected at the time I upgrade the catalog using LR will everything be okay?  I have many keywords and star ratings on all those photos that I sure don't want to lose.  It was a tremendous amount of work taking months to do all that.

That is what I was hoping to hear!  I only asked because you wrote this earlier:

"Use PSE to transfer the files that are offline back to your hard disk, then upgrade the catalog to Lightroom again."

It sounded like you were saying the files needed to be on the local hd.  Sorry for the misunderstanding.

When I run LR and tell it to upgrade my Organizer catalog does it replace the Organizer catalog or upgrade and copy so that the original Organizer catalog is still there?  Of course, I have my Organizer catalog backed up, but I am just trying to understand a bit better what LR is going to do.  I couldn't find any info about this subject in the LR help.  Thank you.

By the way, is this upgrade something that will take a long time, i.e., I should start it before going to bed because it will take all night?

This discussion has been very helpful.  I think I'll get Lightroom but I have one question.  Can you merge separate images into one image with Lightroom?  For example, create a diptych consisting of two images side by side with a narrow whitespace between and around both images? Can you do this in Lightroom without layers?

Thanks dj_paige. That's helpful.  So it seems like Lightroom and Photoshop complement each other nicely and getting both is the best solution. 

Meansis, you might want to avoid posting your address and phone numbers here in the forums.

I am using Picasa as a image organizer and PSE (9) as a real editor (can't afford full PS). I realise that LR also has editing features lacking in PSE and Picasa. If I  still am working at a fairly elementary level is the LR4.2 organizer any better than that of Picasa?

Biletubes wrote:

 

This discussion has been very helpful.  I think I'll get Lightroom but I have one question.  Can you merge separate images into one image with Lightroom?  For example, create a diptych consisting of two images side by side with a narrow whitespace between and around both images? Can you do this in Lightroom without layers?

That's actually extremely easy with lightroom's Print panel. I do this all the time. The only limitation is that you can only print it or export to a jpeg. Just google "triptych Lightroom" and you'll find 100's of videos showing how to do it but anybody can figure this out with a little playing in the Print Panel.

" Lightroom is non-destructive..."

I am quite new to Lightroom, and have spend some time with Elements, but it seems to me that this so-called "non-destructive" behaviour you mention is quite the same as in Elements...

It is always your personal choice to "destruct" and even do a "overwrite" and not to blame the software?!