Do I still need Photoshop if I have Lightroom?

Question

Well, the short answer is Yes, but the longer answer is "It Depends". The recent updates to Lightroom have made it much more powerful for editing your images Photoshop is still needed for those times when you need to push some pixels around. For example, Cloning objects in an image. Lightroom does have a cloning brush that does a good job for simple objects like a pimple or minor scar but if you need to remove a power line or need Content-Aware for a bigger job then Photoshop is the way to go. Photoshop also allows for more complex masking and composites that Lightroom can't at this time.

If you have a cloud subscription for Lightroom and Photoshop then you really do have the best of both worlds.

Answer 1

My short answer is YES.

In more detail - It all comes down to personal preference, but I like to think of Lightroom as a tool for adjusting photos and photoshop as a tool for heavily manipulating them. Lightroom is where exposure, white balance, etc gets adjusted and photoshop is where a flying monkey gets added into the photo...or taken out.

Answer 2

Lightroom is an excellent program to use and it simplifies the more difficult things you do in photoshop. But Photoshop is so powerful and can do just about anything creatively you can think of. So I'd say depending on what you plan on doing. If you're not too familiar and have worked with these programs minimally I'd say start with lightroom. But again, I'd have to find out what you're doing creatively and what you use these programs for to give a solid opinion. I hope that helps!

Ray