kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going on year 18 with Photoshop and I feel like I have barely cracked the surface. You can learn Lightroom's editing function in a weekend. The Library module is a little harder, but manageable.
All kidding aside, you don't have to know everything about PS to be able to use it to improve and enhance your images. It's one of those software packages that reveals itself in stages. Think of it as peeling the layers of an onion. My statement about it's learning curve, while written with tongue in cheek, does have some truth to it. Different people use PS for different things - to create graphics, animation, edit video, combine images into composites, retouching, restoration, as a replacement for the wet darkroom - the list is pretty endless. The good thing is that you are not likely to ever outgrow it. There will always be something new you can do with it that you didn't know you could do the previous day.
To shorten your learning curve, I suggest you join a local photo club, where you can find others who are more familiar with post processing and are willing to share.
Yes, to your question - PS/LR is the best and least expensive well-supported pair of applications in the world of post processing. And I am not an Adobe Fan-Boy. I've just used, and in many cases, continue to use other applications - but none are as rich and complete as PS/LR.
I have used Raw Therapee, Capture One, DXO Optics Pro, Faststone Image Viewer, On1 Raw, Corel PhotoPaint, PhotoLine, and a variety of plugins like NIk, Topaz, and On1 10. These are all pretty good, but none are as complete.