Mdsmith Loc: North Carolina

I changed from a PC to a MAC about two months ago, and still haven't purchased anything to edit photos. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Lightroom, Aperture, Elements, etc. I am not a professional, but would like to be able to do some editing, besides the basic things that come with the computer.

NiagaraJim Loc: Niagara Falls, ON

There is a free software available from Gimp Software.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Don't fool with Gimp or Photoshoop. Both are very complex. You'll do much better with Photoshop Elements. It is a quality program with much more capability and you can get it for under $50 often.

I have been working with Elements for almost a year now. It does have a significant learning curve (but nothing like Gimp or Photoshop). If you go that way get Kelby and Kloskowski's book on it. I was frustrated with it for three months and they made me a happy camper in three days.

I recently decided to go for it with Lightroom. It is much less complex than Elements. It has limitations relative to Elements but might do what you need done.

Elements is really three programs: the Organizer, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), and the Editor. The Editor is a light version of Photoshop: including the capabilty for layers. The Organizer and ACR are a somewhat light version of Lightroom...but not by much.

If you shoot in RAW you should get Lightroom first. But I don't know which to recommend if you shoot in jpeg. Elements is much more capable.

Quicktee Loc: Finger Lakes

I have a Mac and use Aperture. I find that it is the easiest to use and has all the features of Elements. Hope this helps.......Tom

Shaka Loc: Brisbane, Australia

I too have an iMac and use Aperture 3. It is easy to use and learn.

originalgeezer Loc: Burlington, Ont.

I have PSP, Elements 9, Picture It plus a very good, easy to use program called Sagelight.It doesn't do Layers but it does everything else including very good Bokeh. It's well worth looking into.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

I agree with using Aperture which can use Faces to help organize your photos of people. Also Apple allows you to purchase apps and install it on up to 3 devices with no extra charge.

MtnMan Loc: ID

The Elements Organizer also has face recognition. It works pretty well. You can install Elements on two machines.

If you shoot RAW using the Elements Organizer and included Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) seems to do just about everything Lightroom does. Many people don't learn how to use the Elements Organizer. Too bad.

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

You wont go wrong with Adobe Photoshop elements 10.

Mdsmith Loc: North Carolina

Thanks for all the info. Guess I will have to do some sifting thru all the programs. I have a goal, though, to try to take good pics to start with, so I don't have to fix so much. I don't have RAW on my camera, but didn't think it was important when I bought it. Oh, well.

slickrock Loc: jacksonville

Go with LR. Build your system from a solid foundation.