For several years now, Adobe Photoshop has been topping as the king of image editing programs. Photoshop has become a household name among youths presently as the mention of the name instantly hints at digitally changing an image. Based on this established reputation, Photoshop has always  been the first choice among several photographers to excellently edit photos. However it now has a capable competitor  – Adobe Lightroom .

Although it is identical to photoshop, it offers a variety of fantastic pictures that are obviously different from Photoshop. Now the major question every photographer ask is  “Photoshop or Lightroom. Which is best for me?”

PHOTOSHOP VS ILLUSTRATOR

 #1 ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

Photoshop is a pixel based image editor. Do you know what pixels are?  They are tiny dots that make up photographs. 

PHOTOSHOP: THE STRENGTHS

• Editing photos with Photoshop gives you total control up to the individual pixels. It is even more remarkable when it comes to retouching. If your aim with the image is to whiten your teeth, take away stray hair strands, edit blemishes or even do anything else, Photoshop offers the quickest way to accomplish that.
• Photoshop possess handy tools including patch tool, clone stamp and even the spot healing brush to ensure a fast and efficient retouching.
• Photoshop works on the principle of layers where you get to come up with several adjustments and control their intensity. This gives you an intelligent control of the look of your photo.
• You are also allowed to save a set of related steps so that all you need to do is click on a button and they’ll be carried out automatically. Saving a sequence of steps only to use a click of a button to carry it out can be complicating but Photoshop’s great learning curve let photographers purchase ready-made packages to accomplish specific effects.
• You can also copy from one image and paste into a blinking icon on Photoshop. This is possible because of the program's pixel-based image editor status. Its ability to choose specific pixels and paste into another photo proves that Photoshop is a great way to maneuver and combine images.
• Another magical feature Photoshop possess is the Content Aware Fill that can be used in several ways. Gigantic and distracting elements from models can be taken off entirely on this feature. I’m talking about aspects like a building or a tree that are so unwanted then. It is also useful for stretching or extending an image artificially.  

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PHOTOSHOP: THE WEAKNESSES

• One notable bad side of Photoshop is that it is expensive.
• Saving over your original file can mistakingly happen making it difficult to go back to the untouched image. So there is a potential to destroy what you've created.   
• Also since Photoshop gives you comprehensive control, learning how and when to make use of all its features can be very difficult.
• Photoshop functions only with individual images. Group photos are not put into consideration. Going through each picture individually instead of collectively can be  time-consuming and stressful.
• Due to the fact that photoshop is a pixel based editor, you are required to make use of other programs like Adobe Bridge for sorting, organizing and checking your images out. As for shooting pictures in RAW format, you need to resort to processing your photos in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) or Lightroom before heading back to Photoshop.

#2 ADOBE LIGHTROOM

This is an image management and editing program by Adobe. With this awesome program, photographers can do beautiful things like importing, sorting and organization, processing and finally, exporting and sharing in their photos. It is a program that allows you to work effectively with plenty of images.

LIGHTROOM: THE STRENGTHS

• Lightroom has the same Adobe Camera Raw engine present in Bridge and Photoshop, but in a better-designed interface. Adjustments can be done to the exposure, contrast, saturation.
• Lightroom possess presets identical with the one in Photoshop. What differentiate how they both function is, instead of saving a sequence of steps for how you want the photo processed, Lightroom presets allow you to record how the adjustment sliders are configured. The presets that come with this program are less adaptable because you cannot control your opacity easily like in Photoshop.
• Lightroom consumes less time as the time used to apply a preset to a group of images is far minimal compared to applying Photoshop action to a group.
• Lightroom is more productive as it does several photos at the same time.
• Lightroom does not tamper with your original data whether you are using RAW files or JPEGS.
• Whenever you go ahead to adjust an image on Lr, you get a set of instructions on how Lightroom should save a copy of the file. These guidelines are stored in the Lightroom's catalog file or in your XMPs.
• Lightroom is easier to learn unlike Photoshop. 
• The interface is also designed to assist you to do things with your photos in a rational manner.
• Lightroom is more affordable than Photoshop.

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LIGHTROOM: THE WEAKNESSES

• Lightroom lacks the tweak control or speed needed for extensive retouching. Hence you need photoshop for its clone stamp and spot healing brush that ensures faster retouching.
• You can't bring photos together, combine images, or even engage in any major maneuvering work on lightroom. Lightroom is best for global adjustments on images. 
• Adobe Lightroom is mainly for editing photos while Photoshop is used for editing pictures and other aspects of graphics.

FINAL VERDICT

There you have it right before you! The comparison of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. You can obviously use both Lightroom and Photoshop together because they work quite well and that way you get to pick a thing or two from the benefits that come along with both.

If you are still a novice or amateur in photography, Lightroom is advisable for now so you can include Photoshop to your photo editing software sometime in the future.

Both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are amazing software packages that can bring out your creativity and skills, you just need to focus on choosing the appropriate editing program that suits your editing photo needs according to the project before you.

We hope you must have understood the reasons one of them is preferred to the other. This article is necessarily of great benefits to you. You can share your experience on photoshop and lightroom with us by making use of the comment box below.