Thank you for all of the welcomes. My local camera shop offers camera classes basic and intermediate. They have a special right now. It's two 2.5 hour classes with a software bundle Photoshop Elements 12 and Lightroom 5 for $170. This is a deal as Lightroom alone is that much. I have been in photography since the 70's with a lot of film cameras (Minolta) collecting dust and digital since 2003. I wish I had invested in Nikon back then. This site is very informational and look forward to future posts.

After further investigation on the internet they all have their niches. It would be nice to be able to have all 3. It appears that Capture NX2 reads Nikon NEF Raw files differently than the other programs. They all have free trials and I might check them out before purchasing. I am a novice with all 3 of these products. Those proficient with these products make it sound so easy to use. I'm retired and have plenty of time to get acquainted. Thank you for your input. There is a deal on Photoshop Elements 12 and Premier Elements both for $89 on Amazon.

Can anyone tell me the difference between Photo Elements 12 and Adobe Lightroom 5? I have Nikon camera equipment. I also have a free trial of Nikon Capture NX2. What might be the best software to use?? I have mainly shoot fine JPEG and would like to try using Raw.