Which program for my needs?

[Higgs Boson]

Alright so I am getting into photography and editing, etc. I have tried CS4, Lightroom, Picasa, GIMP, etc and I can't find what I am looking for. Can anyone recommend a program that I can make basic adjustments to a bunch of photos at once that OVERWRITES the original upon saving? Picasa builds a giant hidden folder, Lightroom increases the file size (or makes a hidden folder - not sure yet), and GIMP takes way too long editing one at a time (CS4 too AFAIK).....

Anything out there? I can't understand why companies are making their features non-user selectable. Like in GMAIL with the conversation style email string. I hate that and I can't change it to regular view style. Don't they ask the consumer what they like anymore?

 

[Machupicchu]

think youv tried most of them... i like lightroom but photoshop has most of the same adjustment. plus you can edit multiple photos at the same time with batch processing.

 

[StudioBin]

My vote is for Lightroom. Not a steep learning curve and you can always move on to CS4 when you get better.

 

[Higgs Boson]

well i have been playing with photoshop for years and I have cs4 on my fiance's mba student license..... but I am looking for something that can batch edit and overwrites the file instead of the metadata edits, etc.

 

[TiCoyote]

Photoscape has a batch editor, it's free, it's simple and fairly straightforward, and I believe it has a setting that allows you to overwrite the original.

 

[Big Mike]

well i have been playing with photoshop for years and I have cs4 on my fiance's mba student license..... but I am looking for something that can batch edit and overwrites the file instead of the metadata edits, etc.

Why are you so concerned about overwriting the original files? Lightroom was basically created just for easy batch editing...and one of it's greatest strengths is that it doesn't overwrite the original files in any way. It uses a non-destructive workflow.
You can, of course, output the files in any format you want.

 

[Higgs Boson]

well i have been playing with photoshop for years and I have cs4 on my fiance's mba student license..... but I am looking for something that can batch edit and overwrites the file instead of the metadata edits, etc.

Why are you so concerned about overwriting the original files? Lightroom was basically created just for easy batch editing...and one of it's greatest strengths is that it doesn't overwrite the original files in any way. It uses a non-destructive workflow.
You can, of course, output the files in any format you want.

I don't know. I guess I just want to be able to move files or do whatever I want with them at any time without the extra step(s) of "export" and I am not afraid of not being able to go all the way unedited. I also want to use the least amount of HD space than necessary but maybe I am just being anal/too minimalist? I'd at least like the option. I'll check out Photoscape, thanks!

 

[Big Mike]

HD space is cheap, too cheap to worry about using it for photos etc.

 

[Higgs Boson]

It's not the cost, it's the horror!

I guess I will just use Lightroom. I like it and all the other programs save the same way.... blah.

 

[szebah]

I use Lightroom for basic editing like White Balance, Crop, Exposure, a little sharpening, noise reduction then go in Photoshop to finish procesing the picture.

 

[Higgs Boson]

Alright I picked up Lightroom 2 to go with PS CS4 so I will start climbing up the learning curve. Thanks everyone.