Which should amateur photographers use?
When it comes to editing photos, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop are the two giants. Both are powerful, but they’re built with different goals in mind – and for amateur photographers, the choice can feel overwhelming.
Here’s a clear breakdown of how Lightroom and Photoshop differ, their advantages, and when each is the better tool. And at the end of this page, there’s a guide to costs.
We also have a page on the best FREE photo-editing software for your computer or mobile phone.
Lightroom: the photographer’s workflow hub
Lightroom was designed for photographers and will handle 80–90% of most amateur photographers’ editing needs. But it’s not just an editing programme – it’s also a library and workflow manager. The key advantages are:
- Organise your images: import, tag, rate, and keyword photos, making it easy to manage thousands of shots.
- Batch editing: apply the same adjustments to multiple images at once – a lifesaver for events, travel, or weddings.
- Non-destructive workflow: your original files are never touched; edits are stored as instructions you can undo anytime.
- Quick presets: apply looks and styles instantly across your collection.
- Simple interface: beginner-friendly sliders for exposure, colour, contrast, and more.
- Speed: ideal for culling, quick edits, and large batches.
Photoshop: the pixel-level powerhouse
Photoshop was built for detailed manipulation. It’s the tool of choice when Lightroom isn’t enough, and it’s the stock-in-trade for graphic designers (as part of the Adobe Creative Suite).It goes far beyond photo editing into design, illustration, and compositing. Here’s what Photoshop does best:
- Advanced retouching: perfect skin, remove stray hairs, fix wrinkles with pixel-level precision.
- Layers and masks: combine multiple exposures or blend images seamlessly.
- Selections: cut out complex subjects (like messy hair – although Canva is so much better at this!) with fine detail.
- Creative composites: replace skies, add objects, or build surreal artworks.
- Graphics and text: add titles, logos or watermarks directly into your image.
- Generative AI and content-aware tools: remove distractions, extend backgrounds, or reimagine parts of your photo.
- Warping and liquify: adjust shapes, correct posture, or reshape elements.
Which should you use?
Use Lightroom if you want to:
- edit large batches efficiently
- improve exposure, colour, and contrast
- keep your photo library organised
- apply consistent looks across a series
Use Photoshop if you need to:
- do complex retouching or compositing
- remove or add elements seamlessly
- prepare images for print or publication
- create designs, collages, or artworks
The hybrid approach
Most photographers end up using both. The typical workflow looks like this:
- Import, organise, and do general edits in Lightroom
- Send the tricky images into Photoshop for advanced work
- Save back into Lightroom to keep everything organised
Adobe has even streamlined this with a built-in ‘edit in Photoshop’ option inside Lightroom.
Final word
- Lightroom is your daily driver: fast, organised, beginner-friendly, and perfect for improving your photography
- Photoshop is your scalpel: precise, powerful, and essential when you want to push an image further than Lightroom can take you
For amateurs, start with Lightroom and add Photoshop as your skills and ambitions grow.
A guide to costs
Adobe products aren’t bought outright, they’re on an annual subscription basis, paid monthly. This means an ongoing commitment/cost, but the 2 key advantages are:
- You’ll never end up with an outdated version that becomes obsolete (ie unsupported by Adobe). For exampe, Photoshop used to cost about £800 to buy outright – which you’d have to do again every few years!
- You get ‘free’ upgrades of new features and bug-fixes, and you get them automatically as soon as they’re released. So you’ve always got the latest tools at your fingertips.
Bottom line for an amateur photographer:
Prices are as of as of October 2025. They include VAT, are part of an annual contract, and are billed monthly
- If you just want Lightroom, it’s £12 per month and comes with 1TB of cloud storage space for your photos.
- If you just want Photoshop, it’s £9.98 for the first 3 months, then full price (£22) for the remaining 9 months. Includes 100Gb of cloud storage space.
- If you want Lightroom AND Photoshop, there’s a ‘Photography’ bundle at £20 per month, with 1TB of cloud storage.
Adobe’s pricing is all here.
Avoid the full ‘All Apps’ plan unless you’ll make use of many of the other Adobe tools (video, graphic design, etc).
And always check Abobe’s current offers and there are discounts for students – you could make quite the saving!