04-08-2012, 02:23 PM

Hey all -

I am a new mac user(a little over a month) and new to amateur photography (have had a DSLR for a year and would like to do more with it). Which software do you guys recommend?


Thanks,
Hwilensky

04-08-2012, 03:03 PM

That's a bit like saying "I'm getting a new car - what do you recommend?"

FIrst off, use iPhoto that is probably already on your mac. When you become more conversant with what exactly you want to do you might like to look at Photoshoop Elements of the many free editing programs out there (eg GIMP).

04-08-2012, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Sawday

That's a bit like saying "I'm getting a new car - what do you recommend?"

FIrst off, use iPhoto that is probably already on your mac. When you become more conversant with what exactly you want to do you might like to look at Photoshoop Elements of the many free editing programs out there (eg GIMP).

Very funny!! Have to remember that line. What I would like to do is edit my pictures. Whether its cropping them, editing someone out of this picture, cleaning them up, editing something into the picture, sharpening the color, making pictures that are color and changing to black and white or sepia. Those kinds of things.

Thanks,
Hwilensky

04-08-2012, 03:31 PM

iPhoto has some decent basic editing features, if you need more power look at Photshop Elements (PSE) or Pixelmator.

04-09-2012, 03:21 AM

With respect to my colleagues, there is no one program for everything. I like iPhoto a great deal for both photo management and simple clean-up duties, but I mostly round-trip things from there in to Photoshop and back (this a built-in feature of iPhoto). When you get into the really large photo libraries, Apple's Aperture or Adobe's Lightroom are aimed at people who are a little more serious in the photography than I am.

Pixelmator is a great little graphics program (and inexpensive!) that does a number of things PS does but it's not really Photoshop and not the best choice for serious photo editing due to its inability to use PS plug-ins. Elements has the ability to use some PS plugins but I really loathe the way it tries to take over organizing your photos.

ACDSee Pro for Mac (disclaimer: I used to work for them) make a great program for people who prefer to avoid the "vault" (ie program-assisted management) of their photos, and it has *insanely* powerful batch processing capability, EXIF/IPTC editing, and amazing editing tools, but again it's no Photoshop.

04-11-2012, 04:10 PM

Stupid thing, but I since I posted topic, I get emails when some one makes a comment. However, over the last two days I have gotten emails that someone made a comment, yet it is not updating in here. Is there something wrong?


Hwilensky

04-12-2012, 02:13 AM

i have an iPhoto course (10 parts) on my blog - if you like a look: iPhoto - The Mac Mania

beside that i highly recommend photoshop elements - the one and only you need, you can already get it on the app store

04-12-2012, 05:55 AM

I have aperture 3 and lightroom 3 on my 2 macs..I mainly use aperture .. I have photoshop on my pc but very seldom use it ..

04-13-2012, 08:21 AM

What is the main difference between a software program like photoshop elements and Aperture? What would be some of the pro's and cons?

Thanks
Hwilensky

04-13-2012, 11:13 AM

Aperture, iPhoto and Adobe Lightroom are all photo management APPs with some editing capabilities.

Adobe PSE, Photoshop and Pixelmator are photo editing APPs (with some barebones management capabilities). They are intended to supplement each other. So Adobe PSE is not meant as an alternative to Aperture but to provide extended editting power

04-13-2012, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by Razormac

Aperture, iPhoto and Adobe Lightroom are all photo management APPs with some editing capabilities.

Adobe PSE, Photoshop and Pixelmator are photo editing APPs (with some barebones management capabilities). They are intended to supplement each other. So Adobe PSE is not meant as an alternative to Aperture but to provide extended editting power

I'll disagree some. Lightroom and possible Aperture (I don't use it so not positive) are pretty extensive editors as well as being photo managers.

04-13-2012, 04:51 PM

I would agree that Lightroom and Aperture both have pretty decent editting capabilities. I use Aperture for most things, but there are times when I need the additional tools and capabilities of PSE, so I have it set up as my external editor (too cheap to buy full fledged Photoshop).