Can someone explain the differences (or advantages) of using lightroom as opposed to ACR?

Hi Linda,

It kind of depends on what version of Photoshop you are using. If you are using CS3, there is no difference in terms of ACR controls, although Lr has some extra tweaks that let you drag in the image and adjust Hue, Saturation, etc. The image dragging is not available and is a neat feature.

If you are using Elements 4/5 (and dont know about 6), you do not have access to more than the Basic (exposure) and Details (sharpening and noise reduction). There is a lot missing from this (Tone Curve, HSL, Split Toning and Lens Correction) - all of which add some pretty neat capabilties.

Beyond that Lr gives you extra tools that allow you to sift thru large numbers of pictures and get to the real gems. I have had Lr for about 2 months now, like it, but have not used this picture managament capabilities yet. Maybe soon.

Yes, Im using CS3.

So, in terms of Lr/ACR differences, everything htat is in ACR is available in Lr.

Lr has some ACR type capibilities that ACR via CS3 does not (sliders click and drag)

Lr has a great deal of photomanagement tools.

One other possible consideration is that although both Lr and ACR support presets, there seems to be a lot more presets that are available in Lr than for ACR.

Jlwilm,
Its been very helpful because i didnt understand what the big deal about lightroom was. Thank you for your opinion. I really appreciate it.

To me, LR is ACR on steroids. Once you get the hang of it, processing your pictures (especially RAW) right out of the camera can be done quickly and easily. All the adjustments can be done via slider, or presets that you can either create or download. The best thing for me, though, is that if you have a lot of pictures shot under similar conditions of lighting and exposure, once you've adjusted one, you can apply those same settings to all the rest. Whether its 1 or 100, just pick your photos in the filmstrip that runs along the bottom, hit Sync, and they are done in a matter of seconds.

After that, then its the final tweaks (if I choose to do any) in CS3 or PSE. One at a time.....ugh!! But with the new tools in LR2 coming out soon, I may end up doing less external editing. We shall see!

Found a reference to this article by Scott Kelby on the differences between ACR, Brdge, and Light Room on the Village site and thought it was pretty good.

Gene,

I think the article makes it clear that the only difference between the RAW processing capabilities is the sliders click and drag feature that I referred to. It really helps target in on selected teweaks to HSL adjustments and for the tone curve.

Both Bridge and Lr have the multiple settings capabilities for adjusting shots that have the same lighting potentials.

I tend to think that where Lr excels is quickly applying different presets and toggling back and forth between tweaks, but, regarding this as something of value is entirely dependant on how you use the tool andin that realm, I think we will all have a different approach.

I purchased Lr because Adobe offered a special deal bundled with OnOne software if you purchased CS3. If not for that, I would not have been able to rationalize the $300 price tag.