Lightroom vs Photoshop: Which One Should You Use.The rapid spread of digital photography has made image editing software an absolute must for photographers, whether beginners or professionals. Adobe has released two of the most popular graphic editors – Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. But what is right for you?In this article, we’ll discuss Lightroom and Photoshop, their similarities and differences, and when to use either program.
Lightroom vs. Photoshop: The Rundown
Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop are powerful photo editing programs that use many of the same post-processing features. However, while they share similarities, they are designed to meet different needs and offer a range of different toolkits to accomplish those tasks.
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is designed for photographers to manage and edit their photos. It allows users to manage image libraries, edit RAW files, and post-process multiple images at the same time.It has many tools to add information to images, such as certain keywords, checkboxes or stars, to help you sort through thousands of photos and edit them in batches. It also allows you to export directly from Lightroom to social networking websites such as Flickr and Instagram. 
Lightroom has two versions: Lightroom Classic and Lightroom (formerly Lightroom CC).Lightroom Classic has additional features but is only available on desktop (and is the most commonly used version).The Adobe Creative Cloud edition of Lightroom is a cloud-based, cross-platform entry for beginners, and you can use it on desktop, web, mobile, and tablets like the iPad.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a specialized image editing program that goes far beyond the editing tools available in Lightroom. While Lightroom is designed specifically for photographers, Photoshop is not just for photographers, but also for graphic designers, architects, illustrators, 3D artists, and more.Photoshop’s capabilities are too extensive to list, but it allows users to create more detailed and in-depth edits than Lightroom. Photoshop itself can’t open RAW files (you need other file types like JPEGs or PNGs instead), but it has an Adobe Camera Raw plugin that serves as photo editing software for RAW images. 
Another difference is between destructive and non-destructive editing. While Lightroom allows for non-destructive editing (meaning the original image is not affected), Photoshop requires you to use layers to ensure you don’t modify the original file.It is important to note that many professional photographers use Lightroom and Photoshop in combination. For example, they may use Lightroom for their day-to-day workflows and switch to Photoshop when more detailed editing is required.
When to Use Lightroom
Whether you’re a beginner or a professional photographer, Lightroom is an all-in-one digital studio with more than enough features to organize and edit your photos.Lightroom is best for photographers who:
- Need image organization software. Lightroom is a powerful image management tool. You can easily organize your photos into image libraries, rate your photos to determine the best shots, and add keywords and metadata to find exactly the images you want to edit next.
- Want basic to medium edit image . Lightroom’s Develop module lets you modify every aspect of your photos. Using simple sliders, you can easily apply presets or manually adjust lighting, white balance, color, sharpness, and noise. You can also whiten your teeth, remove red eyes, and remove dust spots and other blemishes with a treatment brush.
- Required batch edit. Lightroom Styles allows you to apply settings to a batch of photos with a single click. This will save you a lot of time cataloging similar photos (let’s say you just shot a wedding and all the photos were taken in the same lighting).
- Beginners. Lightroom is more beginner friendly and will let you learn the photo editing process if you are new to it. Its interface is much simpler, and the Develop module is laid out in a linear fashion, making it easy to work with each image. Adobe also offers a set of Lightroom tutorials to help you get familiar with the program.
- Work on the go. Lightroom (Creative Cloud edition) is available for PC, mobile and web, which means you can access and edit your cloud photos from wherever you are. For additional functionality, you can use Lightroom Classic for desktop.
Thus, you should choose Lightroom if you are a photographer who takes a lot of images and needs a tool to organize and retouch them.
When to Use Photoshop
Photoshop is best suited for images that you want to dive into while doing detailed enhancement or image manipulation.Photoshop is best for creators who:
- Want to do a detailed retouch. Photoshop contains hundreds of imaging tools that allow you to change the look and feel of your photo in a way that Lightroom can’t. For example, you can replace the background, combine multiple photos, or create art from multiple digital assets. However, this comes at the cost of a much steeper learning curve than Lightroom.
- Create digital art or vector art. Photoshop has a set of tools designed to help artists and designers create surreal images and digital assets.
- Want to change images at the pixel level. Photoshop allows you to enlarge and resize images at the pixel level. Lightroom doesn’t enforce this resolution, instead focusing more on global editing.
- Want to create composite images. Photoshop allows you to add countless adjustment layers that affect different parts of an image, and they can be combined for more control over the final product (for example, create HDR images or panoramas from hundreds of individual photos).
- Remove unwanted objects. While Lightroom provides a basic healing tool, it’s not as powerful as Photoshop’s cloning capabilities. Photoshop lets you create clean edits by removing entire objects, people, and backgrounds using their advanced content-aware software.
Note. Adobe now also offers Photoshop Elements 2023, a simplified photo editor version of Photoshop designed for beginners. like a subscription).
Photoshop vs. Lightroom: Pricing
In terms of pricing, Adobe offers several subscription options for its image editing software. Interestingly, if cloud storage isn’t a big deal for you, you’d be better off merging Lightroom and Photoshop as they cost the same as Lightroom on their own. 
- Lightroom. Single Lightroom subscription costs $9.99 per month and includes 1 TB of cloud storage.
- Photoshop. One app Photoshop subscription costs $20.99 per month and includes Adobe Fresco.
- Price Plan: Adobe Photography Plan is $9.99 USA per month. and includes both Lightroom and Photoshop. However, it only includes 20 GB of cloud storage. It can be upgraded to 1TB of cloud storage for $19.99 per month.
The Verdict
Lightroom is probably the best choice for photographers – it’s easier to learn and has more than enough post-processing features. However, if you want to keep editing or do some more creative editing or art work, Photoshop is probably best for you.Also, since Adobe sells both in an affordable package, it might be worth using both. These two programs work great together (using Adobe Bridge) and can take your photo editing skills to the next level.
Lightroom vs Photoshop: Which One Should You Use
Lightroom vs Photoshop: Which One Should You Use