What Photo App Am I Looking For?

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I'm a very amateur photo-editor. I'm looking for an application/applications that would allow me to manage photos, perform touch-ups and color adjustments beyond what iPhoto offers, and something Photoshop-esque for for editing layers and all that jazz. I used to use GIMP on Windows, but I can't stand it's non-standard UI.

Thank you for your help.

(I'm willing to pay for programs, but I can't afford anything over $100)
 

RavingMac

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I'm a very amateur photo-editor. I'm looking for an application/applications that would allow me to manage photos, perform touch-ups and color adjustments beyond what iPhoto offers, and something Photoshop-esque for for editing layers and all that jazz. I used to use GIMP on Windows, but I can't stand it's non-standard UI.

Thank you for your help.

(I'm willing to pay for programs, but I can't afford anything over $100)

You can get Pixelmator or Adobe PSE, either one for under $100. Adobe PSE has a free trial, so nothing to lose. For that matter you can get Aperture from the APP Store for under $100 too.
 

CrimsonRequiem


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Adobe Lightroom.
 
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Lightroom isn't normally under $100. Occasionally it is, but haven't seen that price other than for promo's and those are kind of rare. That said, I'd highly recommend Apple's own Aperture. Forewarning though.. you're not going to get layer editing as you would in PS, in either Aperture OR Lightroom.

Aperture does have a nice cloning and healing brush feature though, better than Lightroom's which I'm quite jealous of. Adobe wouldn't dare implement such a feature in LR because that would be one less reason for people to purchase Photoshop or Elements! Content aware cloning in PS is pretty much unbeatable, but Aperture does a great job if you know how to work it.

Doug
 

BrianLachoreVPI


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Acorn has some layering capabilities. I have it - but have done absolutely nothing with it so I can't give you first hand knowledge of a seasoned user - it was an impulse buy - but it's not that expensive. Have a look. You may be able to get what you need here and supplement either Aperture or Lightroom or other - with out the need for full fledged PS. Acorn, a great Mac image editor, built for humans.
 
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The App Store price for Aperture makes it almost a no-brainer. I have CS3 on Windows 7 (using bootcamp) but there are times when just simple editing is required and a full reboot to Win7 is not something I feel like doing. That is why I went ahead and got Aperture. If I were to require heavy editing (including layers) I would go ahead and boot into Win7 and use Photoshop.
 

CrimsonRequiem


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Acorn has some layering capabilities. I have it - but have done absolutely nothing with it so I can't give you first hand knowledge of a seasoned user - it was an impulse buy - but it's not that expensive. Have a look. You may be able to get what you need here and supplement either Aperture or Lightroom or other - with out the need for full fledged PS. Acorn, a great Mac image editor, built for humans.

Haven't tried Acorn but seems very similar to Pixelmator.
 

BrianLachoreVPI


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Haven't tried Acorn but seems very similar to Pixelmator.

I have Pixelmator as well - not sure why I didn't mention it in my post. In reality - I have yet to edit outside of Aperture - but then - I'm as amateur as amateur gets. :Blushing:
 
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I have both Pixelmator and Photoshop, and use Pixelmator the most for editing images. For Library management, I use Aperture. I believe that Pixelmator is around $29 in the App Store right now, and if you buy from the App Store, you get v.2 for free when it comes out (I am pretty sure they are still running that promo).
 

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