I currently use Photoshop and Bridge for my workflow and it works out well. I recently downloaded a trial of Lightroom and I found a few features that I think would be really beneficial... BUT... do I really NEED it? Its a lot to spend on something I may or may not see as a vast improvement. Maybe I just need a good tutorial on an effective workflow.

If you use Lightroom and it has really made a huge difference in your workflow, tell me why!

I'm a "Bridger" as well, from what I've seen or used of lightroom I can justify it as a "reasonable" expense. If you know Bridge and it works well in your workflow don't change it.

ummm all i have to say is that lightroom is quite possibly THE BEST piece of software i've ever purchased aside from the CS3 suite. in an all raw workflow with tons of shoots to sort, process, organize, export and archive, it's quite possibly one of the most powerful programs on the market for all of those things.

Lightroom is like 95% of my workflow now with bridge/photoshop being 5% (if even that).

Lightroom just makes things easier and it's non-destructive photo edits are da bomb. It takes a little mindset change over bridge/photoshop, but otherwise, I haven't looked back since starting to use Lightroom.

I owned LR before I bought CS3, so I've never used Bridge, but I will add my LR love. It makes sorting through lots of pictures really easy (I take lots because I shoot kids and they aren't always cooperative). I love that I can work on my pictures non destructively (RAW or jpg) and do nearly everything I need without going into Photoshop at all. One thing to get used to is the idea that because your edits are stored in your LR database, the only time you have "finished" files is when you export them as new files--whether web sized, full res, whatever.

I would buy it again and I definitely recommend it. Definitely check out the resources like Inside Lightroom and Lightroom Extras (there are others listed on the LR user forums). And this guy Matthew who does The Turning Gate (http://theturninggate.net/) does great web galleries and shares them.

I never used Bridge, but use LR and love it!!! I would hate to edit a wedding without it. By far the best investment!

I used to use BR/ PS. However, since i got LR, i don't even touch BR. And, it cut my post-processing in half right away. And in half again once i got used to it! I'm very happy with it- and very happy with the many pre-sets i have. Some purchased, some free, some created by me! I think my presets and the advanced in-program photo adjustments are what really sold me on it. I can proof an entire wedding without ever opening PS.
Definately demo it some more. I gave it a full 30 days worth of attention before my purchase.

I have used Bridge, and I must say LR is Just smart..Plain Smart and very intuitive. Get it!!

For those that use and love LR, can you give some advice ... I tried it out and really liked it, but noticed once I pulled my images into PS, the color is different ... or off. It looks good in LR, but weird in PS. Is that just some color setting I need to adjust?

Sorry for threadjacking I did like LR when I was testing it out, though!

No doubt that Bridge will do the trick, but for the sake of ultimate speed and control, especially with various keyboard shortcuts, views, slideshow tools, flash gallery creation, etc, etc, etc, Lightroom is definitely the more powerful of the two and is actually designed as an image processor. Bridge is technically only a file browser.

I think that there is enough of a difference that I designed Photographer's Edit's workflow around the software, and that's ALL that we use!

Feel feel to let me know and I'll break the differences down a little more for you!

Oh, and by the way... Here is a quick comparison on the Adobe site!

Have you checked your monitor calibration? And doublecheck your color settings in PS because there are a lot of options--make sure that the PS is using the same color space as what LR is using on its export. LR uses some special rendering method or something for color; I don't really know. The Adobe user forum probably is more helpful, definitely worth checking out. I know there are others who have had similar issues.

Thanks, Robin! I'll check it out!