anotherview wrote:
Good morning. I have not yet read any other responses to your post.
But I can speak from experience and good sense. I use Photoshop Creative Cloud for my post-processing of photographs. Adobe rents PCC for $9.99 per month, last time I looked. This rental includes Lightroom (which I never use -- it doesn't include layers). I believe Adobe also offers a trial period of its photo-editing software.
With PCC you will have the premier photo-editing software on the planet. Many third-parties offer plug-ins for PCC -- for example the Google Nik Collection, a free download.
That said, I suggest you may wish to try Photoshop Elements to get your feet wet. Some say PE can do most of what a photographer needs to process his photographs. I make this suggestion because PCC does present a daunting learning curve. PE can serve as an introduction to PCC.
You may also wish to consider taking a workshop or two teaching the basics of photo-editing using PCC. This experience will give you some skills and confidence when using PCC.
Both, PCC and PE have tutorials, written and video, available on the Internet for learning these programs.
I could say more but leave it at this for now.
Your post, however, likely will generate the usual responses suggesting the numerous other free and low-cost photo-editing software. Some responses may include an attack on Adobe for renting its software instead of selling it outright to users. Please note that Adobe does not sell its software; instead, Adobe sells a license to users of its software.
Good luck to you in moving up to more capable photo-editing software.
Good morning. I have not yet read any other respo... (
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Those who never use LR probably don't understand its purpose.
Lightroom was designed in the mid-2000s as a competitor to Apple Aperture, and as a complement to Photoshop for professional photographers.
What throws most folks at first is that LR is a DATABASE. It is designed for:
• Storing original image files and NEVER modifying them. All changes are database references, only applied to COPIES when you export, print, or upload an image.
• Acting as a "cull editor" to review a job, rate images, and decide which to delete, ignore, or process further.
• Applying Adobe Camera Raw effects and "development" adjustments to images (raw, TIFF and JPEG, although functionality is limited with formats other than raw).
• Creating Photo Books printed by remote printers.
• Exporting images to files, to Photoshop, and to other editing programs.
• Printing to any sort of layout you can dream up, including packages.
• Uploading images to online web sites.
• Cataloging your work.
Lightroom is a complement to Photoshop. Pros who use it spend roughly 80% of their time in LR, 20% in PS. Lightroom does global things to images, while PS does pixel-level editing. One does not supplant the other. The things it does, LR does much faster and more elegantly than PS... and vice-versa.