You would have access to layers, selection tools and adjustment masks too. Lightroom lacked the control for intricate edits and the result often looked less than seamless you’d be better off taking the image into Photoshop to repair it with the very controllable Clone Stamp, Healing brush and so on. Lightroom vs Photoshop – Lightroom cloning and healingĪ few years ago, there was a gulf between the image repair capabilities of Photoshop and Lightroom. Via a Creative Cloud subscription, you can get both programs as part of the Photography Plan or subscribe to each program separately. For reference, we used Photoshop v24.6 and Lightroom v12.4.

In this overview, we take a look at performing three key image editing techniques using both programs. Try using one of them on a third computer and you will be asked to log out of one computer to allow it. You do not have to be online to use the desktop Creative Cloud apps, but you can’t have more than two computers with working software. Put another way, if you’re starting with both programs from scratch, you’ll become more proficient more quickly with Lightroom.Īdobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop are available on subscription only (which is a negative for some people) and there’s a selection of plans on offer through Adobe’s Creative Cloud, for Lightroom and Photoshop combined or each program individually. It is fair to say though, that Photoshop takes a little more learning than Lightroom. Its usefulness goes far beyond photography the software is used by graphic designers, publishers, animators and so on. However, the ultimate image editor is probably Photoshop an advanced editing solution with endless potential. Lightroom’s image editing skills and its credentials as a one-stop editing software have been greatly enhanced with recent updates. With the recent addition of Denoise AI, Lightroom has now finally gained excellent noise reduction skills this feature is also in Photoshop’s Camera Raw. The interface bottom right is the TK8 plug-in panel Photoshop’s workspace can be customised so you can have different palettes on show and saved for future use. Furthermore, masks can be fine-tuned very precisely like never before including curves functionality.Īlso, being able to edit one picture and then copy those changes – including masks – to hundreds of others before batch processing and exporting them, with a choice of file types, is incredibly useful. Its masking function detects the background, subject, object or sky, and there are gradient and radial select tools. With its image-repair and enhancement tools and masking skills it’s now possible to make local alterations as well as global changes. Where Lightroom has progressed over time is with its editing features. Lightroom is an excellent workflow and image management program with capable cataloguing and keywording functionality which makes it easy to keep track of your images this assumes you make the effort of rating, keywording and using its collection/smart collection features in the first place.īeing able to search for images by their rating is really useful but you can narrow it down further by searching for the camera or lens used, or even the ISO rating. Lightroom Classic and Photoshop share many features such as the same raw processing engine and functions, but they are very different beasts. Lightroom has a module-based approach with Library and Develop being the main pillars of the interface

Nik collection vs photoshop