Photoshop and Lightroom are both amazing tools for photographers to use. Each program has their own pros and cons and the more seasoned of a photographer and editor you are, the more you probably enjoy using each program for its unique offerings.

While both programs are wonderful and can be great to use, there’s something to be said for how accessible and effective Lightroom is for photographers. In today’s post, we are breaking down why Lightroom is easier than Photoshop and why, if you’re going to take the time to learn a program, Lightroom should be the first one on your list of the two to tackle.

What’s so great about Lightroom?

Lightroom was designed specifically for photographers. The way Lightroom intuitively and almost seamlessly works for photographers will make it easier for you to use. Lightroom houses most of the image manipulation tools that you’ll need for editing your images. On top of that, importing your images into Lightroom first will help catalogue your images! What a bonus!

Why do people use Photoshop?

Photoshop was originally designed for simple digital photo editing, but as the capabilities grew, photoshop became the go-to for all your graphic design needs-- from architects to graphic designers, publishers and more. Photoshop has such a wide range of capabilities, that it is often overwhelming when you’re starting out. Photoshop now caters more to the graphic designer than the everyday photographer.​

Why should I use Lightroom?

Lightroom is a staple because of its easy-to-use format and the way it can also help catalogue your images, apply presets in important and can overall improve your workflow. Here are my top favorite reasons to use Lightroom…

1 - You import your RAW files into Lightroom and can create collections, add keywords, and save all your files into specific catalogues.

2 - You can apply settings on import! If you know you’re going to be applying a certain preset to all if your images, you can apply settings when you import the images so when see them, they already all have the same settings applied. This is especially amazing if you have a studio where you control the lighting. You can apply the same settings to all of your images and just make minor tweaks to images as needed.

3 - No “save” button. Lightroom automatically saves all of your tweaks automatically so you have a database of edits and history of all the images you’ve edited.

4 - The editing panels are easy to understand. Everything is laid out easily and the tools are easy to understand. Each tool does exactly what it says it does-- brightness, saturation, vibrance, noise reduction, lens correction and more. It’s all straightforward and easy to apply with sliders so you can see how the selected tool modifies the image.

5 - Presets! Most presets are designed to work with Lightroom! Presets are total game changers and I love using my presets for all of the images I edit in Lightroom!

​These are just a few of the reasons Lightroom has my personal vote as easier to use than photoshop. For the basic editing you need to do to an image you took, this is it! An extra perk is Lightroom for your mobile phone. Presets can work on your phone so any image you take on the go can be edited on-the-go to match your style so you can post to your social media feed or send a client a sneak peek before you even get the images onto your computer.

Do you prefer Lightroom or Photoshop? Why? Share below.