Adobe Photoshop versus Adobe Lightshop

BoxcabE50 May 31, 2016

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    What are the differences between the two? My primary concern is such as editing scanned old 35mm slides, with all the debris which seems to have accumulated on the transparencies through decades.

    Anyone?
     
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  2. TwinDad

    TwinDad TrainBoard Member

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    My impression is that Lighteoom is in a sense "Photoshop Lite" but in another sense a different product that is aimed more towards photographers while Photoshop is aimed more toward ... image manipulators

    I'm not sure which would be better for cleaning up old images but if you are doing the subscription model you can get both and try them out see which does the job better. My impression is that Lightroom is quite powerful for the type of manipulation you are talking about...

    I'm no pro by any means, so take my input with a large grain of salt
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Probably would not do the subscription method. If it works as hoped, I'd prefer to buy. I can see where a business might be better with subscribing.
     
  4. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I'm no expert either, but think the same as TwinDad. Perhaps this might help to cull through freeware options: (Hint - he chooses GIMP as No. 1)



    SilverFast enjoys a good reputation for slide scans, but I have never used it. It is not free.

    I do not yet own a new-age (mine is very old) slide scanner, but hope to soon and am very interested in your findings. Most scanners come with software, but I can't vouch for its usefulness. Scanners with Digital ICE are supposedly able to edit dust, as they scan twice -- once normally and once with dust-seeking infrared, then the two scans are combined for a dust-free image. Digital ICE is more than software though (scanner needs infrared) and some users dislike the result.
     
  5. fitz

    fitz TrainBoard Member

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    I'm no expert either, but use Photoshop Elements, and not a new version, which has a tool that allows you to take out dust and hair and stuff that accumulated on your old slides. It is a time consuming project, doing each individual spec at a time. I'm sure new versions take them all off at one step. The slides I scanned and posted on the Random Photos thread are examples of what Photoshop Elements can do. I should have saved some of the original scans to illustrate how much stuff was cleaned up.
     
  6. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I figure I'll spend my entire post-retirement life scanning, cropping, color-correcting and cleaning up my slide images. :eek: One article I read said the first thing you'll realize is that you retired too late. :)

    I use an ancient version of Corel Paint Shop to work my current DSLR shots. As an aside, I really enjoy photography and my DSLR (my first, bought late 2011) has given my interest in railfanning a total rebirth. One thing I noticed with my DSLR is that if I set the camera's White Balance for the prevailing light, I rarely have to edit colors. My 'old skool' eye also does its best to take a good photograph with good light and solid composition and not depend on high tech computer corrections to make it look like I wanted it to in the first place.
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2016
  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I have often heard folks mention GIMP. (Guess I'll need to watch that video, above linked.) Somehow have never actually encountered anyone using it. Is it a program which Joe Average would easily pick up?
     
  8. TwinDad

    TwinDad TrainBoard Member

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    I use it. But when it comes to computer stuff, I'm not Joe Average.

    It's fairly straightforward to use for basic stuff, and there are a fair number of online tutorials and such. It can be a bit tricky, and the main problem is that it's not a Photoshop clone, so you spend a fair time trying to translate Photoshop techniques into ... differently-named equivalents, or using different processes to achieve the same result.

    But as "free" or "open source" apps, it's is one of the better-well-written ones. If you understand photo processing or drawing tools, you can probably pick it up fairly well.
     
  9. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    Ok, I like GIMP as well, but hey, I am also not a normal computer guy....but I have not used it for a year or two due to no need
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    If GIMP can de-speckle and clean up other such maladies, I might give it a try.
     
  11. Kenneth L. Anthony

    Kenneth L. Anthony TrainBoard Member

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    I use Adobe Photoshop Elements (and Premiere Elements for video editing), but I use spend more time on it for drawing than for photo manipulation. (I do more photo cleanups etc. but they are mostly quick and basic.)
    KKplanD.JPG
     
  12. clevermod01

    clevermod01 TrainBoard Member

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    Light room is a batch processor for organizing and adjusting exposure and color for large groups of files. Photoshop is a one at a time thing.
     
  13. clevermod01

    clevermod01 TrainBoard Member

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    They are vastly different from each other. Photoshop can do anything to an image it is intended for image manipulation and creation of raster images. Lightroom is for working on large collections of files at the same time. IE color, contrast, filter effects, organizing files etc but does not do retouching on individual images.
     
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  14. baldylox

    baldylox TrainBoard Member

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    lightroom is 5 products in 1. its a full photo suite. PS, Printing, ARchiving, etc etc. PS itself is whats its always been. GIMP is the free PS alternative.

    I've been using LR since the day it became a non apple only product. Its amazing, robust, and can do so much. It works seemlessly with the adobe family, and i do use PS with it when needed. 9/10 all editing and manipulation can be done in LR. I have over 20k images in my LR library, in that library i can tag, geotag, mark, rate, flag, keyword all along side with the advanced image manipulation.

    my .02 get LR on trial, then buy it and dont look back. if you need more image manipulation that what it can handle, unlikely, export to free gimp.
     
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