[Mike Peel]

I can either buy Photoshop or Aperture - they're roughly the same price after a student discount - but not both. I currently have a large library of photographs, which is constantly growing, and I typically need to do minor adjustments to them (levels, contrast, occasional cloning).

Which package would people here recommend for me, and why? Or are there other options that might also suit my needs? (iPhoto's out - I want to manage the filesystem of my photos myself).

Thanks in advance.
Mike Peel

[Dark_Lotus]

I don't know of any other programs that would fit your needs. My suggestion is to buy Aperture if your only going to do minor adjusting and since you say you need something to manage your photos. This might sound stupid but maybe you could use a program called ImageBuddy (ImageBuddy • Digital Image Printing Software) just to manage your pictures and use PS to do any editing to them.

[Goldfinger]

I hope you realise that Aperture is NOT a photoshop replacement... You can't really compare them. But if you only need minor adjustments and library management then Aperture is the obvious choice IF your computer is up to it. You need some serious power to run Aperture at an acceptable speed.

[mduell]

Aperture is good for managing photos and making minor changes. Photoshop is more appropriate for making a lot of edits.

They have totally different focuses. Aperture is for workflow, Photoshop is for editing. They overlap a little.

[Mike Peel]

I currently have a MacBook Pro 2.16GHz C2D, and a PowerMac G5 1.8GHz DP, both currently with 1GB RAM (I keep meaning to increase that at some point). Both machines should have the power to run either application.

[Oisín]

Easily. I run Aperture on a 1.67 GHz G4 with 1 GB RAM (ATI Mobility Radeon 9700), and though it’s hardly lightning-fast, it’s perfectly acceptable. Faster than Photoshop, I’d even say.

[Goldfinger]

Originally Posted by Mike Peel 

I currently have a MacBook Pro 2.16GHz C2D, and a PowerMac G5 1.8GHz DP, both currently with 1GB RAM (I keep meaning to increase that at some point). Both machines should have the power to run either application.

The MBP yes, but the G5... depends on the graphics card. You really NEED a serious graphics card for Aperture or it'll be slow as hell.

Do you shoot RAW or JPEG ?

[Mike Peel]

Currently, JPEG. I'm debating about switching to RAW at some point soon, though. Does it make a difference?

[Oisín]

Very much so. Size-wise, RAW is about three to four times larger than JPG. Quality-wise, editing RAW is a whole other ballgame from editing JPG, since you’re editing metadata rather than the actual image itself—that means no pixelation or weird distortions, and far greater control over exposures, balances, contrasts, etc.

[OreoCookie]

You might be able to get Photoshop Elements and Aperture. But if you have a lot of pictures to manage and organize, you will benefit a lot from Aperture. If you only do basic image manipulation (fiddling with color settings, sharpen parts of the image, etc.), then Photoshop Elements will suffice. (I still run PS7, because it has all I need; I'll get PS Elements once a native version for Intel is released.)

[th3ph17]

ok, i checked out your website, i'd say Photoshop would be a better toolset for you to learn how to use. Once you get into it a bit more, then perhaps you will have concerns about speeding up your workflow, then get something like Aperture.

there are some cool bits in photoshop that are directly related to Astronomy and Astro-Photography btw, especially things like Equalize and Levels adjustments of Histograms.

[cbrfanatic]

buy photoshop, then go to apples website and download the trial version of aperture for free. you can use it for a month and really get to see if it is worth the price tag. if your into torrents, well, theres your answer. i use both, aperture and CS, one to organize and quickly edit pics on a small level, and CS when i need to do more editing or break out into some serious things aperture cannont do. Like already stated, they can work together if you know what you are doing. they only thing that i didnt like about aperture is that it was finicky with my nikon d80 until i learned about the patch, but perfect with my d40 and canon 300d.

[Veltliner]

Adove Lightroom, also called "Photoshop Lightroom" would also be worth considering.

It has been in a public beta testing phase for years and has received vivid comments by photographers world wide.

It is both an application to organize your photos and to edit them.

I haven't really looked into it in detail yet, but what I have heard it takes the photo editing capabilities of PhotoShop, and puts it into another program, which is streamlined for a photographer's needs.

PhotoShop will be more the application for graphics professionals, Lightroom will be the photographer's tool.

The cloning feature will, among others, be part of Lightroom.

So, if you consider buying only one application it is worth looking at. Lightroom 1.0 will have an introductory price of 199 until I think May, and will then cost 299$.

Compar the feature between Aperture and Lightroom.

Tests about Lightroom's quality can possibly seen at the Lightroom site. There are also manuals there. Quality will possibly match what you find in CS3.

PhotoShop has become a labyrinth over the years, and this application is modern and streamlined for the optimized - and now the catchy word of the year - "workflow".

[SatCure]

Forgive me for jumping in on my first post but I found this forum by searching for Lightroom. Can you tell me how Lightroom organises your photos? Is it logical or does it use a crazy nest of date-dependent folders like iPhoto?

I particularly want to keep folder size below 4.3GB in order to make DVD backups easily.

Just found a Lightroom review:
Macworld: Review: Photoshop Lightroom 1.0

And an Aperture review:
Macworld: Review: Aperture 1.5.2

[parsec_kadets]

Have you considered waiting until Photoshop Elements is updated with a Universal binary? MSRP is $80, and it might be even less with your education discount (hell, Amazon will probably have it for closer to $60). It does everything you described, and may allow you to buy both Aperture and Elements. This is what I plan to do, and it may be your best option as well. I just wish Adobe would hurry up already. They've already released Elements 5.0 for Windows, what the hell is taking them so long? The only thing I can think of is they're waiting for some new APIs in OS X 10.5.

[chris v]

Bridge with PS3 will just about replace all the cataloging abilities of Aperture. Also, the new Camera Raw plug-in that'll ship with CS3 is much improved. I'd say Photshop, hands-down.