What is the Best Photo Editor
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GIMP is pretty good. It doesn't have all the patented features that come with Photoshop, but it gets the job done quite splendidly. Plus it's free software ("open source").
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Stick with Aperture its as good as anything out there - unless you want to heavily process an image with multiple layers and adjustments in which case you will need Photoshop
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A few ideas.
Pixelmator
Photohop CS 3
Photoshop Elements
GIMP
iPhoto which is already on you mac
Pixelmator
Photohop CS 3
Photoshop Elements
GIMP
iPhoto which is already on you mac
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I'd say Aperature and Photoshop for the editing. To me they're almost equal, but I'm not much of an advanced user. For organizing iPhoto is perfect. Just my personal preferences 
Try the free trials of all of them. Aperture, lightroom, and Photoshop Elements all have them. As noted earlier, GIMP is free.
I would call myself and enthusiastic hobbiest. Lightroom and Aperture are nearly a wash in my opinion besides price and some differences (most obvious: 3rd party add-ons available for Aperture). I found that I like Aperture because it interacts so well with the rest of the Mac programs and adds more control of photos than iPhoto. I have GIMP, but am pretty amateur with it. I haven't found the need to play with layers in my photos much yet, and Aperture has met most of my editing needs. I can't justify the price of Photoshop unless I begin to sell/work in photography. I tried Photoshop Elements. It's interface with iPhoto was a bit choppy (confusing switching into PE from iPhoto to edit and then going back), it interacted with Aperture flawlessly. PE seemed to be a large program though with several components (Bridge, which I didn't see the need for with if you are organizing with another program; Camera RAW).
Lengthy, but my advice is try them all for free. Play with how they interact with each other and other programs on your Mac. Consider your needs and program prices (ie. for ~$80 P. Elements my cover all your needs for organizing, editing, etc.).
Good luck.
I would call myself and enthusiastic hobbiest. Lightroom and Aperture are nearly a wash in my opinion besides price and some differences (most obvious: 3rd party add-ons available for Aperture). I found that I like Aperture because it interacts so well with the rest of the Mac programs and adds more control of photos than iPhoto. I have GIMP, but am pretty amateur with it. I haven't found the need to play with layers in my photos much yet, and Aperture has met most of my editing needs. I can't justify the price of Photoshop unless I begin to sell/work in photography. I tried Photoshop Elements. It's interface with iPhoto was a bit choppy (confusing switching into PE from iPhoto to edit and then going back), it interacted with Aperture flawlessly. PE seemed to be a large program though with several components (Bridge, which I didn't see the need for with if you are organizing with another program; Camera RAW).
Lengthy, but my advice is try them all for free. Play with how they interact with each other and other programs on your Mac. Consider your needs and program prices (ie. for ~$80 P. Elements my cover all your needs for organizing, editing, etc.).
Good luck.
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It depends how "deep" you want to go...
Photoshop is my program of choice. It is such a versatile program and offers an enormous amount of creativity and endless features.
But at the same time, there is a lot to learn, and it will take time to understand most of photoshop's more "common" image editing features.
As suggested above, definitely download some trial versions of different programs. Like Photoshop CS3 or whatever is available.
If you think that Aperture isn't giving you the flexibility that you want, then the next step up would be the Photoshop line-up.
So try it out and see what will suit you best.
Photoshop is my program of choice. It is such a versatile program and offers an enormous amount of creativity and endless features.
But at the same time, there is a lot to learn, and it will take time to understand most of photoshop's more "common" image editing features.
As suggested above, definitely download some trial versions of different programs. Like Photoshop CS3 or whatever is available.
If you think that Aperture isn't giving you the flexibility that you want, then the next step up would be the Photoshop line-up.
So try it out and see what will suit you best.
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