Can Lightroom 2 replace Photoshop CS3?

My apologies to the Retouching Forum poster at dpreview for stealing your thread title, but I don't see any way of stating the question more clearly. Lightroom is now over two years old and about to release Lightroom version 2, the question is a pretty logical one to ask at this point.

The answer is on the surface either yes or no, but there are of course a number of extenuating circumstances. Some people might say that amateur or beginning photographers can easily make do with Lightroom alone. Others will say that Lightroom is intended for professionals and that amateurs should use only the basic programs such as Photoshop Elements.

There are of course a lot of amateurs and beginning photographers with high end digital cameras such as the Nikon D3 and the new Nikon D700, they will want only the "best" software for their images. Should they be using Photoshop CS3 or Lightroom 2?

Here is a list of my predictions for various types of photographers:

1. Total amateur - by far the largest number of photographers are only interested in recording memories of family events, soccer games and their holidays. They will use any software that will help them save their memories and if someone shows them Lightroom (and explains it to them) they will love it. My guess is that in the (not too distant) future there will be a Lightroom Elements released for them.

2. The photo enthusiast - the photo enthusiast is forever in search of the newest. latest, camera body, greatest tripod head, sharpest lens, easiest to access camera bag, etc. Lightroom 2 will do 99 percent of what he needs, but he will also use thirty other programs, including CS3, so he can keep up with the other photo enthusiasts.

3. The digital enthusiast - these are the guys who know HDR and panorama stitching inside and out, they also actually know all of the Photoshop keyboard shortcuts. The obvious choice for them is Photoshop CS3 Extended and of course every other program available. The difference between the digital enthusiasts and the photo enthusiasts is that the digital enthusiasts know all these programs inside and out. More than likely they also use Lightroom, but only for the image sorting, slideshow and internet website capabilities.

4. Event & Sports photographers - these guys are too busy shooting to play with the pictures, so Lightroom is a much better fit for them than Photoshop CS. All they want to do is sort the good and bad shots, send the images to the client and get on with their work.

5. Wedding & Portrait photographers - Lightroom to view and sort, then Photoshop to make everyone look better, then back to Lightroom for presentation and delivery. There might be a few wedding & portrait photographers who can get away with using only Lightroom but I kind of doubt it.

6. Photo Journalists & Travel photographers - there are exceptions but most of these photographers deal with reality, so Lightroom should be enough for editing out bad shots, improving bad exposures and generally applying a personal look to their images. Lightroom can also help them present their images to their clients and put galleries on the internet.

7. Commercial photographers - there are actually two camps here, the photographers who do all the Photoshop work themselves or have an in-house retouching department, and the photographers who use independent retouching services and photoshop freelancers. Either way Photoshop CS is king in this environment. Lightroom is more than likely used only for image viewing, sorting and presentation.

This is only a partial list of all the types of photographers there are, but I think it is obvious that we will see both Lightroom and Photoshop CS flourishing in the photography world for some years to come.