OT photo software

GrannyX4

I'm thinking, wondering, can't decide, do I need, will I be able to learn how to use it, or which photo software - Lightroom or Elements for a Mac laptop. What brought all this up was I found a place to take classes for both of them and I might bite the bullet and challenge the old brain cells.

nolaegghead

Elements is image editing software whereas Lightroom is more image managing software.  You can use them together, but I could pick only one, I'd opt for Elements, and name your photos meaningfully. 

Finder is really good finding files based on name.

DMurf

What are you wanting to do with your photos? Elements is a great application if you are wanting to manipulate your photos, many of the features in prior versions of Photoshop have been incorporated into Elements. Lightroom will still give lots of control over your photos as well, many photographers use this as their primary photo application as it helps to manage your expanding gallery. 

Personally I use Aperture, much like Lightroom, to manager my photo library and go into Photoshop less and less. It provides the main tools that I use to quickly enhance my photos. As a recomendation both of the apps you are looking at have free trials so that you can try each out for 30 days. Load them up and see what is going to work best for you and your personal photography style and needs. 

Good luck in your decision.

GrannyX4

@DMurf, I'm looking to edit and enhace my photos. I will look for the free downloads to try and include aperture in my quest. Thanks ;;)

jfm0830

I used to use a combination of iPhoto and PS Elements. I used to spend quite a bit of time messing with my photos. I would do much of the image processing in Elements and then when the photos were back in iPhoto I would use the crop and straighten tools in iPhoto. I just like the iPhoto versions of those tools better.

About three years ago I switched to Aperture. It really compressed my workflow, because you can make import (and export) presets to do standard tasks like sharpening and white balance correction as the photos are imported. It takes slightly longer to import my photos, but when they are imported 90-95 percent of the work is done. I just need to crop them or straighten some of them. Several photos may need some additional help. Now Aperture is my one stop photo app. I still keep iPhoto and an old copy of PS Elements around. While Aperture does great books, it doesn't do calendars so once a year I open my Aperture library in iPhoto to make my year end calendar. About once a year I may need to add text to a photo and Aperture doesn't do this, but Elements does. 

Some or all of this can be done in the Adobe products as well. This is my own personal opinion, but I never have liked Adobe products because they seem to go their own way in terms of the interface and the way you use them. I have always found them a little harder to use and a little less intuitive than products from other companies. This may just be me, but if there is another choice on the market besides Adobe I always give it a long hard look. One strike against Aperture is Apple hasn't updated Aperture as frequently as Adobe has with their products. It has been three and a half years since Aperture 3 came out. There have been point updates adding new drivers for cameras or adding support for features like PhotoStream. But it does everything I need and I also prefer Pages '09 to Word because it does what I need in any easy to use fashion. 

As DMurf said there are demos available for all of the programs, I would suggest giving Aperture a spin too.

Jim

GrannyX4

Thanks for all the info Jim. I am working on a big project for Christmas and this is finally pushing me into making a decision and I am liking what I see in Aperture. I also found lots of video instructions to help me along and I need all the help I can get. I am putting together a photo book for the grands of MDSH accomplishments in his life and I'm working with some old material. It's a real labor of love and what I like most about Aperture is that all the programs i have talk to one another and seems to be an easy flow. ;;)