Post Processing Software for a Non-professional

[Derrel]

Lightroom 4. It's fast, and it will do "almost" everything that needs to be done by any beginning to intermediate shooter. It's more-capable than many people give it credit for.

 

[ronlane]

Mind my piggybacking onto this thread, but does anyone use Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. I have Lightroom 4 and am wondering is Photoshop Elements worth getting?

That is the combination that I use and I like it alot. I am new to post processing so this combination suites my needs just fine. I couldn't justify spending the money for CS6 at this time. Maybe on my next computer (Which I hope to be a Mac).

 

[ronlane]

Lightroom 4. It's fast, and it will do "almost" everything that needs to be done by any beginning to intermediate shooter. It's more-capable than many people give it credit for.

Absolutely right. I admit to being lost without it after just a month of working with it. I was at a point that I didn't want to process a picture without it.

 

[KmH]

Lightroom 4. .... It's more-capable than many people give it credit for.

Lightroom can also be less capable than many people give it credit for.

 

[runnergirl]

What can Lightroom do that aperture can't? Just curious as I have a Mac and am very apple-minded...is Lightroom intuitive? I watched a couple videos about using aperture and thought it might be good for me but now I'm curious about Lightroom.

 

[John27]

What can Lightroom do that aperture can't? Just curious as I have a Mac and am very apple-minded...is Lightroom intuitive? I watched a couple videos about using aperture and thought it might be good for me but now I'm curious about Lightroom.

I haven't used aperture but I stumbled upon this the other day: http://www.travelphotographers.net/article.php/aperture-vs-lightroom

I surmise from that that if you have aperture, you probably won't need lightroom. But if you haven't purchased either, lightroom might be the better bet for you. (Kind of like minor upgrades to camera bodies or lenses or speedlights, not worth spending the money to upgrade, but if you are going to start from scratch your better with the new version)

I think Adobe still does a free trial of lightroom, they used to. Check it out and see what you think?

EDIT:

Here it is; https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom&promoid&promoid=DTEML

Download it and give it a try. Hey it's free why not? Let us know what you think, I'd be curious too how it stacks up with Aperture. Personally I love lightroom, but I've never tried Aperture!

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

What can Lightroom do that aperture can't? Just curious as I have a Mac and am very apple-minded...is Lightroom intuitive? I watched a couple videos about using aperture and thought it might be good for me but now I'm curious about Lightroom.

Aperture has 100% more Mac-iness then Lightroom.

 

[runnergirl]

Ahh haha I love the phrase Mac-iness. . I wanted to trial both but apparently apple took away the aperture free trial!

 

[runnergirl]

I haven't used aperture but I stumbled upon this the other day: http://www.travelphotographers.net/article.php/aperture-vs-lightroom

I surmise from that that if you have aperture, you probably won't need lightroom. But if you haven't purchased either, lightroom might be the better bet for you. (Kind of like minor upgrades to camera bodies or lenses or speedlights, not worth spending the money to upgrade, but if you are going to start from scratch your better with the new version)

I think Adobe still does a free trial of lightroom, they used to. Check it out and see what you think?

EDIT:

Here it is; https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom&promoid&promoid=DTEML

Download it and give it a try. Hey it's free why not? Let us know what you think, I'd be curious too how it stacks up with Aperture. Personally I love lightroom, but I've never tried Aperture!

Thanks for the link! That is helpful.

 

[480sparky]

Hi everybody!
Do you guys know if there is a downloadable pdf version of theAdobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers, and where I can find it?

Thanks.

Lemme guess... you don't want to pay for it.

 

[unpopular]

How on earth do they write an entire book on Lightroom. Is there really that much to it?

 

[The_Traveler]

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers by Martin Evening - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

only ~$30

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

How on earth do they write an entire book on Lightroom. Is there really that much to it?

It's like an Onion, layer after layer. I keep running into things that can be done in lightroom that I didn't know about the week before and think...DAMMIT, that would have been useful to know. It's kinda so very un-Adobe. Adobe products like PS and Illustrator are just covered with every feature on the face of the planet and blow you down with their massiveness. But then along comes lightroom that really just has a simple layout you'd think it isn't as feature rich, but it really is.

 

[KmH]

How on earth do they write an entire book on Lightroom. Is there really that much to it?

It's only 667 pages.

Lightroom 4 has 7 different modules.

Learning to effectively use the Library module alone requires a DAM book - The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers

 

[John27]

Hi everybody!
Do you guys know if there is a downloadable pdf version of theAdobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers, and where I can find it?

Thanks.

Lemme guess... you don't want to pay for it.

I sure hope that's not the case. This is a photography forum, full of people who are very proud of their intellectual property, some who make a living off of it. None of them would appreciate their pictures taken for free, without permission, and printed out and used by just anyone! Likewise I'm sure they wouldn't support doing the same to adobe.

BUT, if that wasn't the case, you can get it on B&N nook for $25 and you can read it on your PC, or with a nook app on your tablet or smartphone. (Or, you know, on a nook!)