Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Yep!

It is probably safe to assume the OP does know the difference, or will quickly learn it. Rongnongno will not.

dandi Loc: near Seattle, WA

I also mostly shoot JPEG, when light is difficult I shoot JPEG + RAW and try to expose for highlights.
Before I discovered Faststone I tried Lightzone, I found it to be an interesting program but a little confusing and not very easy to use. I think Photoshop is one of the most amazing programs that I ever used but for something simple Faststone works quite well. It's very easy to use and has a lot of features.
I don't want to sit in front of computer for hours editing my photos, for me it is a hobby, but I like this hobby.

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

I have been teaching Photoshop for the last 15 years at the college level. There is none better for image optimization. PS and LR are identical in this regard. As for getting more detail from highlights and shadows, they are excellent. There are other applications and plugins out there that work as stand-a-lone or within LR and PS such as Onone, DxO, Perfectly Clear, NIK. Topaz, etc. including proprietary applications from Canon and Nikon. Just about every manufacturer has their own post processing application. They all do the same thing, just differently (some better than others of course), and they all borrow liberally from LR and PS. Instead of laying out individual tools like LR and PS, the other applications combine effects into presets. In most instances you can see the effect before you select. This visualization helps many who are unsure as what the effect will do or not do. Some have a better interface than PS or LR but that does not mean they do a better job.

There is no telling what will happen in the future with any of these third-party applications. They are smaller businesses than Adobe and it is not sure if they will be around in years to come. I have seen camera manufacturers, Apple and others abandon their software over the years and left their users out in the cold. I don't expect that to happen with PS or LR. It is the gold standard among professionals. There is tremendous support for their products, books, magazines, tutorials, videos, workshops, seminars, college courses, on-line, off-line, etc. You can usually find an answer to any issue.

The attached shot was processed in PS. Before I took the shot, I was already thinking about how I was going to process it, what tools I was going to use based mostly on the visible highlights and shadows. I saw this as a BW before I pressed the shutter. When I got on my computer to process I went directly to the tools I wanted to use and it was done in a minute or two. I did not try every slider to see what effect I would get. That would be such a waste of time and likely destroy the image.

PS and LR will do all that you want and you can still add NIK and others to work as filters/plugins within each of them. It is the best of all worlds.

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

I am using Photo Shop Elements and getting :thumbup: results.

Bushymonster Loc: Oklahoma City. OK.

Mark I want to first tell you that you posted a great photo. I am new to all of these except Photoshop that I know a little about but I have a lot ways to go. RONGNONGNO is knowledgeable but has poor people skills. dpullum I like to see post he is kind and I like people like that. As far as the other hog users they are all smart and know what they are talking about and I have learned a lot from this website and respect all, yes RONGNONGNO I include you as a good source of information. Thanks hogs..
-Bushy

dandi Loc: near Seattle, WA

Mark, thank you for taking time sharing about Photoshop. Couple years ego I was involved in Photoshop, spent time learning, read some books, watched many videos-learned enough just to understand how powerful this program is, but still only scratched the surface of it.
You are right, the photographer first need to visualize the image in his mind, he needs to know what he wants to achieve and use what he has to accomplish it.
The composition in Your photo is very well thought-out like in all others that I saw here.

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

Thank you bushymonster and dandi. We are all bitten by this photobug. Your passions are evident. It is the required element in all our pursuits.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

That is a great image.
Do you have a recommendation for a resource to learn PS? Something I don't need a PhD in computers to understand.
I am trying the subscription to CC Photo and I use LR a lot, I had/have LR5.7 that I used with PSE 13 occasionally and Paint Shot Pro X7. I never reached expert on any of them. I learn to do what I want for a project and then move on. So my skills are very spotty. (I used Corel Draw suite to produce classroom visuals for 10 years or so then since I didn't need the rest, switched to PSP for my photo hobby when I retired. I tried Topaz and NIK, NIK won, I use it fairly often.
I am about to drop the subscription and get the stand alone LR6, team it with NIK and PSE 13 with PSP X7, even though they don't really mesh that well.
As a retired History/Geography teacher I mainly do non artsy, realistic detailed "record" images. With good composition etc when I can. I often put them together as photo essays, even though I don't teach anymore, I just enjoy doing it. I have gotten into birds and flowers and am attending a workshop on macro at Image One Camera in Riverside the 16th.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

There is one free good source... probably several and I figure you can watch all and select which makes most sense. I like Anthony Morganti http://www.anthonymorganti.com
he does Lightroom 5.x, then has Lightroom CC / 6 updates and changes from 5, then has photoshop and several others including Topaz. Best is he is free has lots of examples and good at explaining.. I know there are others and I snag any that anyone sends to add to my list.

Erdos2 Loc: Vancouver, WA

I used FastStone and really liked it until I started working with raw files. I don't know what FastStone does with raw files, but I saw strange things with some of my edits. So I went looking elsewhere for the free or inexpensive alternatives.

Ironically, I ended up using Lightzone and found it to work well with raw files. There was a short learning curve, but I felt it was worth it and have never looked back at FastStone. There are some tutorials on youtube that are helpful.

canon Lee

One of the great advances in LR is the highlight and shadow sliders, making exposure even more flexible. Check out the exposure wand for spot enhancements. However if you need pixel moving tools you will have to use PSE or CS programs. One of the biggest values of LR is that I can export huge quantities of images, (same size), all at the same time.

dandi Loc: near Seattle, WA

Take a look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/user/bluelightningtv

Marty Geller is the founder of Blue Lightning TV, he is REALLY good, I think. I used to watch his videos a lot and learn from these videos.

canon Lee

I agree as long as the image is not blown out excessively. The highlight slider will in many cases reduce the hot spots. It has save some of my shots. I shoot youth sports clubs and the young ones have almost china white skin, which is a challenge to get some color and not have hot spots. I use the highlight slide as it works with RAW data. LR is my go to program for exposure, cropping & exporting. Adobe CS program for pixel editing. It is so easy to jump out of LR and go to PS CS for edits and back into LR.

Lundberg02

Iridient RAW Developer

mrjcall Loc: Woodfin, NC

Awww, you poor thing..... ;-)