Photoshop vs Lightroom: Which is right for you in 2024?

Are you having trouble choosing Photoshop vs Lightroom? Of course, choosing the best of two powerful editing systems isn’t easy, and it’s even harder when it’s content from the same publisher. This is the case with Lightroom and Photoshop. But don’t worry, after reading this article, you can easily choose Photoshop vs Lightroom, as we will list the main differences in features, ease of use, pricing plans, skill requirements, editing capabilities, and accessibility

So, it doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or a professional in your photo editing experience; after reading this article, you will easily choose the best of these two photo editing programs. Of course, you will opt for a unique and professional output because of the high-quality editing capabilities, while ignoring the pricing plan as you strive to create satisfied customers in the photography industry. Let’s discuss Photoshop vs Lightroom in detail:

Photoshop vs Lightroom: A Comprehensive Comparison

If you want to know the difference between Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and be familiar with their comparison, then this table will be very fruitful for you.

Features	Photoshop	Lightroom
Non-destructive Editing	No	Yes
Versions	1	2
Catalog-based system for image organization and finding	No	Yes
Adobe creative cloud	Yes	Yes
Batch editing process	Yes	Yes
Post-processing tools	Yes	Yes
Image manipulation and graphic design tools	More advanced	Less advanced
Image manipulation and advanced local Editing	Complex	Easy
Integration with other software and mobile apps	Yes	Yes
Availability of ready-made presets	Yes	Yes
Text editing	Yes	No
3D art creation	Yes	No
Creation of digital illustrations	Professional	Simple

Photoshop vs Lightroom: Main Differences

Both applications are designed to edit photos and videos. So, the basic tools and editing process are the same, but some features differ. Due to the similarities and differences in their features, many users needed clarification in choosing the right one. Therefore, it is imperative to highlight the customizability, the fundamental difference in their features and their ease of use. Let’s discuss:

Ability to Edit

Both have the same basic editing tools and the same interface for making adjustments to the various filters. Both programs have the same sliding scales for balancing color, contrast, brightness, exposure, temperature, tint, highlights and more.

With Photoshop, we can create both high-quality images and 3D art. Its creative AI tools give us the ability to stretch an image in any direction by dragging it with the cursor. In addition, we can easily change the background of any image and add text hints in the images.

On the other hand, Lightroom offers all the features to create high-quality images and change backgrounds, but without generative AI support and requiring users to put extra effort into manual editing. With Lightroom, we cannot add text hints in images.

Best in Editing Capabilities: Photoshop

A Catalog System for Image Organization

We can easily organize our photos in Lightroom’s database and catalog system, as we can store our photos in the form of folders and subfolders on our laptop or desktop hard drive. We may forget the location of images due to different folders and subfolders. However, this confusion can be easily solved by placing images of the same category in a specific folder and giving it a specific name.

On the other hand, with the help of a wide range of catalogs, we can select “Notify me when starting Lightroom”, which will automatically open only the images that you want to edit.

Photoshop does not offer a high-end catalog system like Lightroom. Since Photoshop does not have built-in tools for organizing images, we have to use Adobe Bridge with Photoshop. Adobe Bridge is not a proper catalog system. It acts more like an extension of the file structure on our hard drive.

Winner in Image Organization: Lightroom

Non-destructive Modification

In destructive editing, the changes made are saved to the original image, which results in the creation of a new file. This is why we cannot get the original image, so this can be a better process in the editing process. In non-destructive transformation, any changes we make to the image are saved separately. while the original image remains unaltered. With Photoshop, you can add effects and filters to individual images independently of each other without changing the other layers, which is a highly helpful editing mode for photographers.

Thus, all changes are applied to layers while the actual image remains unchanged. On the other hand, Lightroom doesn’t have a layer system, so we need to integrate with Photoshop if there is a need to insert layers.

Winner for Layer Adjustment: Photoshop

Templates and Presets

If we don’t have enough time to manually apply certain settings to each photo and are not skilled in photo editing, we can easily apply the settings stored in Lightroom’s ready-made presets to each photo. It also offers stackable presets for workflows that can be easily combined. In these presets, we can adjust each filter without affecting the settings of another filter. Therefore, we can perform post-processing very quickly and with more flexibility in Lightroom.

Now we move on to presets in Photoshop. The process of adjusting preset effects on images is quite complicated and slow in Photoshop compared to Lightroom. That’s why I personally prefer Lightroom presets, but some photographers are more satisfied with Photoshop presets.

Winner for Top Preset: Lightroom

Batch Editing

Batch editing in Lightroom saves you a lot of time if you want to edit most of your images in a few clicks. This Lightroom feature is worth its weight in gold for professionals who need to edit hundreds and thousands of photos at once, especially event and wedding photos.Photoshop doesn’t offer a batch editing process like Lightroom.

Winner: Lightroom

Photoshop vs Lightroom: Pricing

Photoshop	Lightroom
7-day free trial with limited features	30-day free trial with limited features
US$22.99/month (full version)	US$9.99/month Full version (mobile, desktop, laptop)

Why choose Lightroom?

Why choose Photoshop?

Photoshop vs Lightroom: Pros and Cons

If, after learning from the long debate about Photoshop vs Lightroom, you are still struggling to choose the best between Photoshop and Lightroom, these pros and cons of both editing programs can help you:

Pros and Cons of Photoshop

Pros and Cons of Lightroom

FAQ,s

Final Thought

Lightroom and Photoshop have unique features, such as comparing oranges to apples. Photographers have different editing requirements depending on their field of expertise, so they should choose the best one. It’s time to put an end to the protracted discussion between Lightroom and Photoshop. Lightroom offers batch processing, which makes it which option is superior if you want to edit and organize a lot of photos.But, Photoshop’s AI-powered image enhancement effects make it the perfect choice if you want to give your shots an amazing retouch to really bring them to life.With it, we can make targeted adjustments using brushes, gradients, and more for advanced image compositions.