PepperMillPatty Loc: Falmouth, MA

I, too, was in the same situation as you. And, I just made my move within the past two weeks. After researching and reading on UHH and elsewhere, I came up with a plan that is working wonderful for me. My Mac is a 15", 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 Processor, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Memory, and Graphics is NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB. My camera is the Canon EOS 6D. I do plan on my camera doing most of the work for me. It takes awesome pictures.

First, I purchased a Seagate 1TB Backup Plus Slim Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive from B&H. I spent many countless hours designing my own database structure for storing my photos. Something that would be easy for me to find just about anything. And, it worked! I then spent days moving (drag & copy) photos into the structure already set up on my external.

Second, I was so pleased with the ease of the move, I purchased a second Seagate just like my first one, and backed up one Seagate to the other for a duplicate copy. This whole process lifted a weight off my shoulders. I now owned my own photos.

Third, I patiently did wait for the new Photos. I, too, never used iPhoto. I was trained in Aperture. After playing with Photos a bit, I realized quickly that it did nothing for me as far as photo editing. However, owning the iPhone 6 Plus and an iPad, I did want the Apple Cloud sharing capabilities. Therefore, I am using the new Photos for downloading pictures from my camera. And, the Cloud for bringing in pictures from my phone. The only album I created in Photos was "My Most Recent" pictures. It is here that I filter and delete photos. The photos that are keepers, I might straighten and crop. And, that is it for the new Photos.

Fourth, I was going to go the route of Lightroom to Photoshop Elements 13. That, as of now, has changed. I do have Adobe Photoshop Elements 13. It is powerful and definitely can do everything that I need. I purchased the book "The Photoshop Elements 13 Book for Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby & Matt Kloskowski. The book is like my bible. Excellent! I have a learning curve. Any new package you purchase will require change and learning. As of right now, I can see no need for Lightroom for me. After working a photo in Elements, it will be backed up on my Seagates. I can find any photo I took easily.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 13 allows me to keep and use my plug-ins. I do have the NIK Collection, the complete set of Topaz Labs Products and I recently did the pre-order for the Macphun Creative Kit. All of this works flawlessly in Elements.

I wish you good luck. Making the decision on what is best for you is the hardest part. No two photographers think or work alike. There are plenty of threads on UHH of all the software I mentioned. I did remove Aperture from my Mac. This was strongly suggested by my buddies in my Apple Store. Just ask if you have any further questions. Good luck!

tropics68 Loc: Georgia

I use Photoshop Elements 11 and love it.:thumbup:

There is another program that is pretty versatile. Gimp 2 is worth the download and the price is super. Free!!!! :thumbup:

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I agree with bsprague, and would add that Photoshop and Lightroom are available from Adobe for $9.99/mo for the pair. It's hard to beat that, in my opinion (and others are going to disagree).

fishmaven Loc: Ohio right now

The NEW VERSION of photos has changed what the program can do significantly. I've got a lot of the MacPhun stuff but not the new package. I'm using Corel's AfterShot Pro2 on my iMac and my MBP laptop.
Dan Martin
fishmaven@gmail.com

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

LR and PS are both available through a subscription with Adobe.

Yes, There is a learning curve, but there was with Aperture, as well. Just work at it slowly. You can get lots of help here or on youtube.
--Bob

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Photoshop is just the best bar none, it is really not complicated, but what "kinda" makes it somehow complicated is the fact, that the learning never stops! There is practically nothing that Photoshop can not do, and there are hundreds of ways to do a single "thing". But overall, it's a pretty easy program to work in, and you will grow with it. Once you've got used to it, you'll never have to switch or upgrade to anything again (for live), as everything you'll ever want to do, you can do with Photoshop!!

tropics68 Loc: Georgia

Is the Photoshop advertised "unit" price limited to one platform? I have both Windows and Mac.

Are there capabilities to easily create and keep custom presets?

:?: :?:

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

Abridged version of lev29's Initial Post:
1. I'm looking for a program that I can use for importing, filing, sorting, and exporting photos PLUS the ability to do "some" photo manipulations ...
2. [including, if possible,] swapping color channels, altering colors, "stitching" photos together, creating cine-loops, etc.
3. The program must be able to function on my Apple laptop ...


First, I want to thank all who have responded through Oct. 15th. Next, I cannot conclude that bsprague's comment on point #2 is incorrect, as I mentioned more than one option I'd like to have. But of those mentioned, I really would like to be able to swap the color channels, as I do some digital IR photography. From my own queries using Google, I get the impression it can do this. There's one maneuver suggested to do this on Lightroom; its author labeled it as a "gimp" method. I subsequently encountered two posts that this gimp method was a disaster.

Do any of you actually use Lightroom presently? If so, are you familiar with its ability to any or each of the following:
- channel swapping
- stitching photos together
- time-lapse editing

... and what brand or types of plug-in modules can be used by Lightroom 6?

The above query does not necessarily imply I've decided on Lightroom. I've taken a quick gander of about 2/3's of the other software programs y'all have suggested.

Thank you and feel free to opine again.
lev29 :D

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

I used Photoshop Elements for years before I advanced to Lightroom. Elements is great for a beginner. Lightroom is not intuitive and will require some study (but great once you figure out how you want to use it). I'm just starting to learn Photoshop so I can't comment on that.

Since you have a small HD, keep your photos on a large external drive and another backup of your choosing (another external hard drive, "cloud" storage, etc.). That's my 2 cents worth!

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

I recently bought Macphun on sale for $59. It seems very good and easy. My understanding is that the people that developed Nik software (which was sold to Google) developed Macphun. You still need an organizer. Macphun can be used as a plug-in with Lightroom.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

Thank you! I'll keep these remarks in mind. I have a follow-up QUESTION for those familiar with any of the Software programs mentioned to date in this thread:

IN ADDITION TO HOWEVER MUCH DISK STORAGE SPACE IS REQUIRED ON THE COMPUTER THAT IS HOSTING THE APPLICATION AND RUNNING IT, HAS ANYONE NOTICED A MINIMUM AMOUNT OF EMPTY STORAGE SPACE THAT'S NECESSARY TO OPERATE THE PROGRAM? OR IS IT SIMPLY LIMITED BY THE COLLECTIVE FILE SIZE OF THE IMAGES THAT ONE WANTS TO WORK UPON AT THE TIME? OR IS IT THAT ONE NEEDS TO HAVE, SAY, ONCE OR TWICE THE AMOUNT OF AVAILABLE SPACE COMPARED WITH THE SIZE OF AN INDIVUAL PHOTO?

I ask because I'm not planning to buy a desktop computer within the next year and my MacBook Pro with RD, a 2GHz Intel Core i7 CPU, & 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, has only a 250 GB SSD drive. I'm trying to get an estimate as to how much storage space I need to keep free in order to use the software. Obviously, I need to acquire another External HD to store the images on. My portable 1TB spindle HD and 256 GB SSD aren't sufficient.

I'm going to pose a similar question in a new Topic regarding Dropbox and the like.

Thank you,
lev29 ☺️

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

Light room requires a minimum of 16 GB of Ram. That's what I have on my iMac & it runs just fine. I'll be getting a MacBook Pro for travel, but I think I'll opt for more Ram since I can't add more later like I can on the iMac

Bike guy Loc: Atlanta

Where did you see the $89?
The starter's edition is $99.99 on their web site.
I am looking for a program for a mac that loads quickly.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Having re-looked at your origional post, Capture One Pro is not going to fit the bill.

It will work with only 4gb of ram, has the best RAW converter, is fastest out there, is very easy to learn and operate, but it does not create pictures from pieces of several other pictures. You can only work on the origional photo and not create a photo. Maybe in the future it will but to my knowledge not yet.

For that you'll need something like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop.

treehugger Loc: Eastern Idaho Highlands

I am concerned by being "forced to phase out my Aperture program on my Mac laptop".

I have been using Aperture for years, and am quite comfortable with it.. Is ther something I need to know?