The former is a newer program aimed at more casual users. It now comes in two forms: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Lightroom is a non-destructive image editor with image organisation, batch-processing, and intelligent editing tools. Introduced by Adobe in 2006, it's one of the most popular photo-editing programs among photographers If you're looking for alternatives, see our list of the best photo editing software. See the best Adobe Creative Cloud discounts to see how much you'll have to pay after the trial – or see today's best prices below). You can get a free trial of Creative Cloud (opens in new tab) to try them out.

It allows you to make much more complex manipulations using layers to add or remove objects to images, create composites and transform elements in a scene.ĭon't have either program yet? Both are tools offered on a subscription basis either together in a photography package or in an all-apps package. Photoshop, meanwhile, is a more powerful and broader program aimed at graphic designers and illustrators as much as photographers. you can save settings as presets for super fast editing, and can batch process images.

It lets you rate and categorise your images, making the output from large shoots more manageable, and it lets you make all the basic non-destructive adjustments to exposure, the tone curve and colour grading, including masking options and basic object removal. Lightroom is designed specifically for photo editing and organising images. They have different purposes and for many photographers and editors it's not a question fo either or – they use both but at different stages of their editing process.

As you'll see below, Lightroom vs Photoshop is less a question of which is best but more a question of what you want to do.

Photography photoshop