Which software to buy? need advice

[Pete7D]

I just bought the new Macbook pro 15" I need to buy a software to edit my pictures, since I am only using Iphoto but you can't do anything with it.

What would you recommend?

thanks for your help.

[GB1]

Photoshop is the 'standard' if you can afford it. Lightroom or Elements are also very good (and cheaper). The CorelDraw suite contains Corel Photo Paint, which I find very easy to use and powerful enough for many things. Are you a student? They give incredible discounts for student status.

G

[PWhite214]

I am learning, and using lightroom. I love it, though going back to import the last couple of years photos is quite a task.

I have tried:

Paint Shop Pro (Corel) Right now, $59.00, download to you
http://store1.corel.com/corel/produc...d=PK_TU13ENESD

SilkeyPix About $354.00, download
http://www.isl.co.jp/shop_v2e/cgi-bi...37-UP2OZPDYSRQ

You can get a 30 day trial of either to try.

That said, I really like Lightroom, pretty intuitive, easy to use, and lots of support.
Also has a 30 day trial. I think it is the best.
$299.00 download.

[Pete7D]

Thanks..

I start using the 30 day free trial of lightroom, not to dificult to use, only a couple questions, will this software supports raw files?
how to add watermark to my photos?
Can you do text on the pictures?

thanks

[WesternGuy]

Thanks..

I start using the 30 day free trial of lightroom, not to dificult to use, only a couple questions, will this software supports raw files?
how to add watermark to my photos?
Can you do text on the pictures?

thanks

This software does support raw files, the latest version of Lightroom 3 is version 3.4 which has added a few cameras, but it does support most of the common ones, Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc.

Adding a watermark is a little more confusing (my term) and is done through the Export dialog, or within the Print or Web modules. You can check this URL out for one approach to this topic...http://www.digital-photography-schoo...in-lightroom-3, alternatively, the Adobe help files also give some instructions on how to do this... http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Lightroo...684d-7fff.html

Doing text is very simplistic and within Lightroom, is very limited to what you can do. I would suggest that you Google "Lightroom 3 adding text" and this will give a variety of different approaches to adding text. It is not as simple as it is in Photoshop CS5 or Photoshop Elements, but it can be done. I have CS5 and use it to add text to my slides when I need to do this.

If you find that you need to do a lot of editing at the pixel level using masks and layers, etc, then you might want to investigate Elements (I believe Version 9 is the latest), which can do a lot of things that Photoshop CS5 does, but it is a lot cheaper and probably a lot easier to learn( e.g., CS5 has over 500 menu "commands" alone)

The difference I found between Lightroom and Elements, other than the obvious differences in editing functionality, is in their respective ability to catalog your images. I used Elements - started with version 4, then 6 and 8. I moved to Lightroom because of its Library module that allows you to key word your images and maintain them in a "library" much better than the "Organizer" in Elements (my opinion from using both). I find that I can do about 90% of my editing in Lightroom and for the other 10% I use CS5 as required.

If you are serious about learning Lightroom, then I might suggest that you get a copy of Kelby's book on Lightroom 3, download the book's images from the net (the URL is in the book) and work through the book with his images. Note: not every image that is in the book is in his download, but there are enough to give you a very good understanding of how Lightroom works and what it will do for you. You can find his book here... http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Ligh...4062292&sr=1-1

If, on the other hand, you decide to go with Elements or CS5, then I would strongly suggest that you investigate evening or weekend courses in the product at your local community college or technical school - that is how I got my start in Elements - a community college course - 2 nights a week for about 8 weeks,

As far as getting help with Lightroom, there are a couple of forums on the net that you can join (no cost) where there are a number of very knowledgeable folks that can help you out. For example..http://forums.adobe.com/community/li...ssions&start=0 and... http://www.lightroomforums.net/forum.php

Hope this helps...post back if you have any more questions.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[Pete7D]

Thank you very much for all the information.'

I will try to keep using lightroom and find that book you are suggesting.

Once again thanks

[srblough]

I've have Elements for the Mac and the photo library function is in a separate program call Bridge, which is not terribly intuitive and online support is hard to find. Am I missing something? Does Lightroom for Mac have the library built in?

[PWhite214]

The Classroom in a Book series is a good resource too.

Phil

[OlgaKa]

I bought PanoEdit to stitch panoramas on my Mac. It's pretty simple and works fine.

[SmartWombat]

Don't forget Aperture on the Mac, competitor to Lightroom.
Nothing is as good as a rigged demo, but using top end MacBook pro I found Aperture was smoother and faster than Lightroom on my quad core PC at home.

[Eyelene]

Have you ever heard of OnOne Perfect Photo Suite?
It looks pretty awesome.

[benlinus]

I'm Using PhotoScape. This is really a different class product than the editors above in that it does things that are beyond the focus of the average editor, and is more of an image suite. It includes a batch function utility, a couple of collage creation tools, a gif animator, a batch renaming utility, a raw image converter, a screen capture utility, an image splitter, a photo layout and printing utility, and several other tools. The editor itself is quite robust.

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks for the heads-up on PhotoScape, but the OP was looking for Mac software ;-). Even still, there are so many image editors currently available for both platforms, from free to expensive.

[Giron]

well, I'm recently changed from pc to mac, and the photo editing software I use has the mac version. Lucky me.
BTW, the software I use to edit photos is PhotoStudio.

[losceriffo]

Thank you very much for all the information.'

I will try to keep using lightroom and find that book you are suggesting.

Once again thanks

Hello there,
I've a Mac and I actually have Lightroom and Aperture.

Aperture is "user friendly" and one of the good things is that you can edit photos from your iPhoto Library. This is a very good point.

Personally, even if I use Apple computer since 1999 I find Lightroom more specific and photographer oriented. Once you start to use it, you 'll never get back to Aperture. Moreover, if you want to add some advanced editing with photoshop Lightroom is perfect for you.

There is actually a trial version of Lightroom (beta 5) on official Adobe website, you can use it free until 30 June; You can download a trial version of Aperture from Apple website.

Enjoy

[georgimz]

For mac pc lightroom is the best solution

[alva]

I use Photoshop

[gryphonslair99]

Capture One Pro Capture One Pro 7 - photo editor with world renowned image quality

And Photoshop.

[Arina]

Photoshop is the best one, but when it comes to affordability, then you must go for Lightroom. Way cheaper than Photoshop.

[Dinod]

I use PhotoScape)

[TitaniaX]

I like lightroom and online editor pixlr

[mariajames]

Definitely Photoshop is the best software.

[Sammy388]

I like lightroom and online editor pixlr

I actually have LR3 but have encountered serious issues with exporting has anyone else encountered something similar? From what I understand it's not an issue with earlier versions of LightRoom

[patrickjohnson]

In my opinion Lightroom 6 is a better option to solve your problem do check the latest version it has very good user interface.

[William Smith]

Yeah this is good information thanks for this :-)