Which program is finest, Adobe Digicam Uncooked vs Lightroom? And which do you have to use on your pictures workflow?
On this article, I’m going to share a radical comparability of those two packages. I’ll focus on all the important thing options, from enhancing capabilities and file varieties to digital asset administration and integration.
By the point you’re finished, you’ll know which program is best for you – and I’ll even clarify how one can successfully combine each packages into your enhancing workflow.
Let’s get began.
What Is Adobe Digicam Uncooked?
Adobe Digicam Uncooked (ACR) is a RAW file converter. It turns a RAW file right into a extra versatile file sort, similar to a TIFF, JPEG, or perhaps a PSD – so as to simply preview, share, or edit your work.
ACR started as a Photoshop plugin, permitting photographers to open RAW recordsdata, convert them in Digicam Uncooked, then proceed with enhancing in Photoshop. Nevertheless it quickly grew to become a everlasting fixture of the Photoshop setting (manner again in 2003, when Adobe first launched Photoshop CS).
Since then, Digicam Uncooked has gone via loads of iterations. At present, it presents tons of of enhancing choices, together with fundamental publicity changes, fundamental shade changes, and focused (native) changes by way of brushes and filters. Whereas ACR can’t match the expansiveness and depth of Photoshop, and whereas it’s technically nonetheless a Photoshop plugin, it now packs the facility of a standalone editor.
What Is Lightroom?
Lightroom is a picture enhancing and digital asset administration (DAM) program provided by Adobe.
Not like Adobe Digicam Uncooked, Lightroom is cut up into a number of modules, every with a delegated operate. For example, you get a picture library (for importing and organizing photographs), a Develop module (for making edits), a Print module (for making ready photographs for print), and extra.
Lightroom was initially labeled “Photoshop Lightroom,” with the purpose of high-volume picture processing that simply wasn’t attainable in Photoshop. Notice that Lightroom’s builders took the (already current) Adobe Digicam Uncooked and caught it into Lightroom’s Develop module – so the enhancing options in each packages are functionally similar, with the identical sliders, the identical adjustment instruments, and as of the newest main replace, an analogous enhancing format.
In different phrases:
In relation to enhancing, ACR and Lightroom are primarily the identical program.
That stated, there are some necessary variations, particularly in relation to workflow and digital asset administration (and I focus on these in depth under).
The Benefit of Nondestructive RAW Enhancing
Each Digicam Uncooked and Lightroom are nondestructive RAW editors, which implies they modify RAW recordsdata with out overwriting the unique picture.
So should you enhance the publicity in ACR or Lightroom, you’re not truly brightening the unique pixels; as a substitute, you’re writing the modifications to a picture catalog (Lightroom) or to a sidecar file (ACR).
The unique RAW picture at all times stays untouched.
Why is that this necessary?
It means that you could make as many modifications as you need to your recordsdata, but you’ll by no means destroy the unique. The whole lot is reversible. In case your tastes change otherwise you make a mistake, you possibly can at all times reset the edits and begin over.
Additionally, ACR and Lightroom (together with Lightroom Traditional, Lightroom, and Lightroom Cell) all acknowledge each other’s catalogs and sidecar recordsdata – so you possibly can edit in a single program, change to a different, and head into a 3rd with full continuity.
And since ACR and Lightroom presets are the identical, you possibly can import any Lightroom presets into ACR and vice versa.
What Are the Benefits of Lightroom?
As I defined above, Lightroom and ACR supply similar enhancing packages.
However Lightroom presents a stage of performance on high of its enhancing:
Digital asset administration.
In Lightroom, you possibly can import recordsdata of every type (together with each RAWs and JPEGs), then you possibly can arrange them into totally different collections, give them key phrases, scores, flags, and far, far more. And after organizing, you possibly can transfer into the Develop module to make edits, then again into the Library module for additional group, and so forth.
This can be a enormous deal. It’s a option to preserve the complete photographic workflow – from group to enhancing to exporting – in a single place, and that is invaluable for inexperienced persons, fanatics, and professionals. Plus, Lightroom isn’t simply a digital asset administration program, it’s the digital asset administration program, one which outperforms a lot of the different choices available on the market and is utilized by loads of world-class professionals.
Examine this to Adobe Digicam Uncooked, which incorporates zero group capabilities. You click on to open a file, you edit the file in ACR, and also you put it aside, export it, or proceed on to Photoshop. There’s no organizing photographs into folders or collections or the rest. (You may add a star ranking, but it surely’s not particularly helpful until you employ Adobe Bridge, mentioned under.)
What Are the Benefits of Adobe Digicam Uncooked?
As you’re now conscious, Adobe Digicam Uncooked is generally only a portion of Lightroom that converts recordsdata for Photoshop.
However this does include some advantages.
For one, ACR doesn’t use a catalog; picture edits are saved alongside the unique RAW file. This may be helpful if you wish to share RAW recordsdata with one other laptop – as a substitute of sending your RAW file plus the entire Lightroom catalog, you possibly can simply ship the RAW file and the sidecar file (which is conveniently situated proper subsequent to the unique RAW).
(You can make Lightroom do that, but it surely takes some setup, plus it takes up extra space for storing.)
And two:
Adobe Digicam Uncooked is made for Photoshop, so it’s extremely simple to start out in ACR, do some enhancing in Photoshop, after which (by way of Adobe’s Digicam Uncooked filter) make extra modifications in Digicam Uncooked.
Sure, Lightroom does supply Photoshop integration. Nevertheless it’s not practically as handy because the ACR-Photoshop workflow, so for individuals who plan to spend numerous time in Photoshop, ACR is very interesting.
Digicam RAW + Bridge vs Lightroom
For these of you who like Adobe Digicam Uncooked however are annoyed by the dearth of DAM capabilities, there’s a resolution:
Adobe Bridge.
Bridge was launched again in 2005, and it’s simply a picture organizer – so it might act because the DAM companion to ACR’s enhancing.
For photographers preferring to not use Lightroom, Adobe Bridge is a lifesaver. You may arrange photographs in Bridge, then do RAW conversions and fundamental edits in Adobe Digicam Uncooked earlier than making main changes in Photoshop.
Plus, Adobe Bridge is a picture organizing program that’s utterly free.
How you can Use Lightroom and Digicam Uncooked Successfully
Adobe Bridge is nice – however what if you wish to stick to Lightroom for picture group, however you additionally need to have the ability to entry Adobe Digicam Uncooked? What do you do?
You may mix ACR and Lightroom via a helpful little workflow:
First, you import and arrange your photographs in Lightroom.
Then, you can also make fundamental changes within the Lightroom Develop module.
When you’re able to do higher-level changes, you possibly can right-click on a picture and choose Edit In > Open as Sensible Object in Photoshop.
Your file will open in Photoshop. You may make any Photoshop changes you want. And you may additionally use the Digicam Uncooked filter, which helps you to entry ACR inside the Photoshop interface.
Adobe Digicam Uncooked vs Lightroom: Conclusion
Adobe Digicam Uncooked and Lightroom are each wonderful packages. The secret’s to find out which one works for you.
In the event you spend most of your time in Photoshop, ACR (plus Bridge) may be the higher selection. However should you favor Lightroom’s enhancing and group capabilities, you possibly can at all times work successfully with Lightroom and Photoshop – and, if you want it, the Digicam Uncooked filter!