Lightroom Does the Heavy Lifting, Photoshop Does the Surgery — Here's How to Use Both

Lightroom Does the Heavy Lifting, Photoshop Does the Surgery — Here's How to Use Both

For years I had a bad habit. Every photo I wanted to edit, I’d open straight in Photoshop. Weddings, portraits, random test shots, it all went through Photoshop one at a time like I was hand-stitching a quilt. It worked, technically, but it was slow, messy, and my file organization was basically a folder called “FINALS” containing 47 files named “final_FINAL_v3_USE_THIS_ONE.psd.” Not exactly a professional operation. The thing that eventually fixed my workflow wasn’t a new plugin or a faster computer.

How to Edit a Fall Landscape Like You Actually Know What You're Doing (A Lightroom + Photoshop Breakdown)

How to Edit a Fall Landscape Like You Actually Know What You're Doing (A Lightroom + Photoshop Breakdown)

Fall photos are deceptively tricky. You’d think all that warm color does half the work for you, but if you’ve ever pulled a raw file of autumn foliage into Lightroom and just stared at it like it owes you money, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The sky is blown out, the shadows are muddy, and the colors look more “dying hospital plant” than “peak New England October.” I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit.

DxO PhotoLab 9: The RAW Editor That's Giving Adobe a Run for Its Money

DxO PhotoLab 9: The RAW Editor That's Giving Adobe a Run for Its Money

When Subscriptions Became Everyone’s Problem Let me take you back a few years. Adobe made a decision that felt like a gut punch to the photography community: kill perpetual licenses for Lightroom and go all-in on subscriptions. You know what happened next? The creative floodgates opened. Photographers, tired of monthly payments that never end, started looking elsewhere. And boy, did alternatives show up. One of those alternatives—DxO PhotoLab—just hit version 9, and honestly?