Am I going to hell for not using lightroom or aperture?

Whatever program you were using before, you were getting some cool photos.

LR is a cataloging application that happens to include adobe camera raw in it, thats it. It is not a true photo editing application. Thats what photoshop is for.

No, Photoshop was designed solely for putting Tanner Hall's face on pre-much anything.

No way, it's called "Lightroom", not "Catalogue". Photoshop is for going above the capabilities of lightroom - serious touchup, straight up changing things, real heavy photo manipulation. If you're the sort of person that sits with one photo doing edits for hours, and you have a PS workflow, that's great... but even going through a day of shooting skiing, much less a bunch of photos from an event you photograph, etc, LR is a way better option.

Doing all of your photo work through photoshop is a bear even with a good workflow compared to lightroom. It should be a last step if you need to do more than you can do in LR or a similar program, or if you're the sort of person that spends forever in the details of a single photo, and you like doing that in PS.



OP - you aren't doing anything "wrong", but you're not doing yourself any favors either. LR workflow is so damn good. It's faster to go through any number of photos, organizes for you, inserts metadata super easily, and is non-destructive in the editing process (it never changes the original file). I would suggest you get into it.

LR doesn't do much more then adobe camera raw, the vast majority of the application has nothing to do with photo alteration. It's a cataloging application that is intended to be used in part with PS. We discussed this in school with an adobe rep when he came to talk to us about the creative suite.

I just thought I'd say ya got some sick pictures hahaha I don't think it matters what you use to get them.

What are the selling points of camera raw? Never heard of it to be honest :)

To convert your raw files into a useable format. If you have ever opened up a raw file directly into PS that window that pops up with initial editing is ACR, which is the exact same thing built into LR with the same amount of control, it is only intended to get you a workable file type (psd/tiff). Now if you don't need to do anything beyond that, great, but if you do then you have to take it into PS. LR is for organizing/managing your images and initial raw processing, thats it.

that is literally what someone working for adobe told us

Well, their employee doesn't agree with what they claim about their software as a company, and doesn't know much about common workflow these days. Hopefully he gets his pitch straight before they find out.

lightroom is good for cataloging, like balto said, but its two most important uses, imo is the ability to very easily batch edit, and the fact that you can nondestructively edit raw files, without altering the original file.

Its a fantastic program, it will be a great aid to your work flow once you get it figured out. Speed will come with use. I do a huge part of everything in just LR, as many tumes there is no need to go into PS, but LR does have its limits to how much control you have compared to PS. They work great together as there are some things done better in photoshop if you need them, and having them connected is very useful. Keep using LR, you can do most everything you will probably need to with it, but if the shot calls for it bring it into PS.