lightroom & CS3?

Can anyone tell me why I would buy lightroom if I would have CS3? I'm trying to figure out if Lightroom has special functions for editing that CS3 doesn't have. Thanks!!

My plan is to buy them together... maybe get DH to get it for Christmas. My understanding is that lightroom is like the premiere program for editing your photos and I've seen some really gorgeous effects for lightroom. I don't ahve it though, so I'm not much help. lol

It kinda depends on how you shoot and edit. If you edit in Adobe Camera Raw (which comes with CS3), then you probably don't need Lightroom since they are very similar. Either one is easier than editing using adjustment layers in PS, though, since you have a menu of "sliders" that lets you adjust almost everything about your photo (white balance, exposure, saturation, etc) all in one place rather than having to open a whole bunch of adjustment layers (like Curves, Hue/Saturation etc.).

Don't know if this helps, but here's some info from Scott Kelby, photoshop guru:

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/1308

DawnMarch said:

It kinda depends on how you shoot and edit. If you edit in Adobe Camera Raw (which comes with CS3), then you probably don't need Lightroom since they are very similar. Either one is easier than editing using adjustment layers in PS, though, since you have a menu of "sliders" that lets you adjust almost everything about your photo (white balance, exposure, saturation, etc) all in one place rather than having to open a whole bunch of adjustment layers (like Curves, Hue/Saturation etc.).

Don't know if this helps, but here's some info from Scott Kelby, photoshop guru:

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/1308

Click to expand...

Is the Adobe Camera Raw automatically in with CS3 or does it have disk with it you have to download? I just started shooting in RAW and I have been using lightroom but would love to learn to use CS3 for my editing as well since I have several actions for it but no clue how to use it.

I have been using Lightroom because I don't know how to edit in CS3. The flow seems easier for me at the moment but I guess that is due to me only having CS3 for about 2 months now and still such a long way to go.

Raw should be automatically part of CS3. I use Lightroom for organizing and basic adjustments, then I move the photos into CS3 when I want to use actions. If you right click on a photo in Lightroom, there's an option to Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS3. That's what I always use to easily get my photos from one program to the other.

I think the basic adjustments for RAW are the same in Lightroom and CS3. Lightroom is just designed more for people who need to process a bunch of photos at once. It also has a lot more options for organizing, comparing photos, creating slideshows, etc.

adobe camera raw is installed with cs3. there is also an option where you can have your jpg images open directly in adobe camera raw so you can edit them as if they were shot in raw as well.