Which Photo Editing Software

[Honkylips]

Hi,

Just starting out ans was wondering which editing software I should buy and where to purchase? I understand Photoshop is good but which version? Also is there a cheaper place to purchase than Adode?

Thanks.

[alsocass]

Amazon is the cheapest that I have found.

Are you a student/teacher? My understanding is that they are pretty pedantic about checking you have an edu.au email account.

[Koko]

I love light room 4 I find it very friendly to use. Adobe offer a 30 day free trial so give both photo shop (6 is the latest) and Lightroom 4 and have a play to see which you like best

[agb]

You have the choice of free ones too , Rawtherapee is I think is a free product for raw development and Gimp is a free Photoshop alternative.

[ameerat42]

^. (Tick.) With these two, the interfaces are rather different from Photoshop, but you can still learn the ideas behind the processing of images. But from what I have seen of Adobes PS Elements, it is also different from Photoshop.
Am.

[Speedway]

Photoshop Elements does differ slightly from the full version but not a great deal. I have been using it for over six years now (version 5 and now 10) and I'm still finding new things it is capable of. It will do everything and more than most photographers will ever need at a reasonable price. I got mine from B&H.
Cheers
Keith.

[Avalon]

I started with Picasa (free from Google) moved on to Photoshop CS5 (which was very expensive and intimidating to learn to use) and now find Lightroom 4 suits my needs best at a very reasonable price. It seems to be much more suited for photographers and is easier to learn.
Can't beat Picasa for a free program which does the basics though.

[Riaan Moolman]

Which computing platform do you use? Windows or Apple?

If you are on Apple, and on a budget, Aperture (which is very similar in functionality to Lightroom) will serve most of your needs, at a fraction of the price.

Lightroom is brilliant for processing raw images. It has built in lens correction profiles for most lenses (essential if you shoot in raw), and adjusting things such as white balance , exposure (curves) and colour balances are easy. I find that Lightroom serves my needs for 95% of the photos I work on.

What does Lightroom not do?
1) Panoramic Photostitching (Photoshop does it). However, there are numerous third party applications (some free) that will do this for you.
2) HDR - High Dynamic Range processing. Again, a function default in Photoshop. Again, numerous cheaper (some free) applications on the internet exists to do this.

Hence - why do you need photoshop then? The last aspect, not mentioned above, is the ability to layered photo editing in Photoshop using layer masks and the ability to blend layers into a photo - which is perhaps the most commonly used aspect of Photoshop. You can not do this in Lightroom.

I find that I only go to Photoshop for panoramas, HDR and when I want to work with layers.

Do you need CS6? Jury is out on that one. I recon Photoshop Elements (the reduced and much cheaper version) will typically be all you need.

My recommendation:

1) Go for Aperture (if you are on Apple and on a tight budget).
2) Go for Lightroom if you have a bit more money to spend (Lightroom runs on Apple Mac OSX and Windows) and augment Lightroom's functionality by using third party apps as needed (pano's, HDR, etc.)
3) If money is no issue, go for Lightroom and CS6 through Adobe's creative cloud. Google it for more details.

[ricktas]

The Gimp - Free
Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop Elements
Photoshop Lightroom
Aperture
Photoshop

Cheap and Expensive are relative. Some see photoshop as expensive, others think for the top of the line product is is a reasonable price to pay. I would suggest Elements or Lightroom if you use PC or Aperture if you use Mac, at a beginner photographer level.

[Mark L]

What brand camera do you have? As you're just starting out, it may be worth playing with the PP software that came with your camera. This together with something free like Gimp (which can do layers) can help you learn while you're also learning about your camera.
I still only use DPP, Canons free software.

[ameerat42]

What brand camera do you have? As you're just starting out, it may be worth playing with the PP software that came with your camera. This together with something free like Gimp (which can do layers) can help you learn while you're also learning about your camera.
I still only use DPP, Canons free software.

This one Mark.

[angelamassie]

I did a photography workshop in Busselton- when I asked one of them which would they recommend the answer was Lightroom. I think this is a great starting point, if you really advance then you may consider Photoshop CS5. Lightroom is quite user friendly

[Graham]

As a keen amateur I have both Photoshop elements (10) and Lightroom 4.

I must admit I use Lightroom more than I do any of the other programs , a big plus for me is the ability to sort and retrieve my photos within the Lightroom workspace.

Any editing and adjusting that I need to do is also done in Lightroom
Hope this is of some interest use
regards
Graham

[Honkylips]

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated

[ricktas]

If members want to learn lightroom we have a great video resource here : http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...earn-Lightroom

They are quite long and in-depth, but you will learn a lot by watching them and practicing as you go.

[brettbickle]

i use paintshop pro x5 and find it great ,have been using paintshop pro since number 5 when jasc owned it .

[bobt]

i use paintshop pro x5 and find it great ,have been using paintshop pro since number 5 when jasc owned it .

I'll drink to that ... great program. However, if I don't want pixel level editing, and just want the other stuff - ACDSee is my weapon of choice - and an excellent program.

[Janene]

I use CS5 and love it. Although I work at a TAFE so therefore was able to purchase at a discount. I did instructional courses on how to use it (Highly recommend, it can be very intimidating) but once you have the hang of it, there's no turning back

[swifty]

I'm trialing pixelmator atm for pixel level editing. Currently on special at $16 I think. Not too shabby but I need more time with it b4 making any conclusions about it.
But Lightroom does 90% of my general editing needs. Aperture's very similar too.

[nimrodisease]

I started out with Photoshop as I had it from days before I was into photography, and I still find Photoshop to be the better tool for getting what I want out of my photos. However I now also use Lightroom for RAW conversion, basic editing and library management.