The photographer Georges Mann has written an article tackling the "Can Lightroom 2 replace Photoshop CS3?" question on the O'Reilly Digital Media blog. This of course is a question that triggers endless debates, Byzantine arguments and lots of harumphs from both sides of the aisle..sort of like the Canon vs Nikon debate.
I believe that Lightroom 2 does all I need and more, and I'm glad that I've opted to go for it instead of spending my life's savings on CS3 (or on its endless stream of successors).
In a nutshell, Mann's 6th prediction in the article is precisely my view. I'd be less cautious in my verbiage than he is, but we all have our own writing style.
"6. Photo Journalists & Travel photographers - there are exceptions but most of these photographers deal with reality, so Lightroom should be enough for editing out bad shots, improving bad exposures and generally applying a personal look to their images. Lightroom can also help them present their images to their clients and put galleries on the internet."
Exactly! As a documentary and travel ethnographic photographer, I'm into reality ( I seldom crop, for instance), not fantasy...and I'm not a pixel-pusher, so CS3 is a software program that I don't need.
I occasionally listen to the arcane discussions by CS3 (or its other versions) users, who extol the minutiae of layers, adjustments, and other tools, that just make me roll my eyes to the heavens and yawn!
Via Imaging Insider.
