what software to use when going professional

[JerryPH]

If that means at the moment editing the pixels in ms-paint, then keep on doing it.

I use MSPaint to resize the pics quickly if I want to PM them to someone when chatting with them, its a lot faster than using CS3... lol

Best tool out there for that! :lmao:

 

[Garbz]

Oh dear you do know I was kidding with mspaint right?

 

[JerryPH]

I wasn't! :lmao:
Of course during those times, my LAST concern is quality... it's just to make it small (reduce it from 5/7mb to under 100k), to send to someone to look at and do it fast as we are talking about it online.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Photoshop is OK for image editing but if you are going to take digital photography seriously then you need a program to manage image storage.
I use Aperture on a Mac which has the capability to manage almost an infinite number of images. It also allows very good control of most aspects of the RAW files.
Stuff it doesn't do very well - or can't do - can be handled using plug-ins.
Nik software does a range of filters, pre-print and sharpening controls that you can also get as plug-ins for PS.
Tiffen does a useful range of stuff and you can get other plug-ins like Noise Ninja.
PS, as I have said, is OK for image manipulation but if you are just going to do the basics like sharpen, reduce noise and prepare for print then you are advised to get plug-ins as these make the whole process easier. And if you are going to use plug-ins you might as well operate them from your image management software.
Remember, if you are working as a pro then your time is expensive and you don't want to waste it fanny-ing about trying to figure out how you do something in PS when another piece of software will do it for you a lot quicker

 

[tsaraleksi]

Photoshop is OK for image editing but if you are going to take digital photography seriously then you need a program to manage image storage.
I use Aperture on a Mac which has the capability to manage almost an infinite number of images. It also allows very good control of most aspects of the RAW files.
Stuff it doesn't do very well - or can't do - can be handled using plug-ins.
Nik software does a range of filters, pre-print and sharpening controls that you can also get as plug-ins for PS.
Tiffen does a useful range of stuff and you can get other plug-ins like Noise Ninja.
PS, as I have said, is OK for image manipulation but if you are just going to do the basics like sharpen, reduce noise and prepare for print then you are advised to get plug-ins as these make the whole process easier. And if you are going to use plug-ins you might as well operate them from your image management software.
Remember, if you are working as a pro then your time is expensive and you don't want to waste it fanny-ing about trying to figure out how you do something in PS when another piece of software will do it for you a lot quicker

I think this really depends on just what kind of work you are doing-- if you are a journalist who needs to turn in 5-10 photos, then it's probably going to be Photo Mechanic--> Photoshop and then maybe back to Photo Mechanic to email. If you are going to be outputting a much larger number of images, then other software like Aperture or Lightroom becomes more useful. Capture One is another similar software that is very popular in the professional community.