Am I missing the boat in post editing?

I have only used the DPP program that came with Canon XSi. I mess around with sharpness, saturation, and the little levels on the tool palette, but that is about it.

Would I have much more tools to mess around with my shots if I purchased Photoshop Elements 8 or Aperture 2?

It's hard to say. To me I almost never do pixel level editing (dodging , burning, cloning, selective sharpening etc etc) that make CS4 or similar really worthwhile. Perhaps that is a failing on my part, but it is the way I work. I use PS Elements for the occasional needs I have for this type of stuff.

I use and love Lightroom. It is awesome for global edits and it makes RAW workflow a joy. WIth LR (and probably Aperture) there is pretty much no reason to ever shoot JPEG for most photographers.

IMO if Lightroom had been available 6-8 years ago then Photoshop would never have caught on and would be used only by rare people with specialized needs.

I shoot in RAW now (even though I am a novice)...but when I edit a picture and want to put it on my blog or share, I always convert the final product to a jpeg and delete the RAW file to save space...is that the wrong way to go about things?

Lightroom huh? I will have to see if it is available for my Mac

I didn't see Lightroom on Apple's website

+1 for Lightroom! Best software to have.

Lightroom is by Adobe, not Apple.

LowSpark420 wrote in post #9174042
I didn't see Lightroom on Apple's website

I think Aperture is the Mac verson of LR.

Here is the LR workflow in a nutshell:

1. Import RAW files and apply preset global level edits (non-permanent).
2. Sort and edit pictures.
3. Export JPEGs as needed for prints.

The whole time though, LR keeps your untouched RAWs. You can always undo any edits you have made. You can re-export new JPEGs at any time with different edits or with different output sizes or crops. It is the RAW master.

Do you store your RAW files on an external HD or something? I have a 200GB MacBook Pro, but I also have a 500GB external HD I keep in our fire proof safe.

Check out some of these tutorials.. It will give you a better idea on what Lightroom is about.

http://www.adobe.com …ir2am_videotuto​rials.html

Lightroom is really nice. You might only occasionally want to do some Photoshop for certain things.

So the equal to LR for a Mac is Aperture 2? Is that right?

JeffreyG wrote in post #9174013
It's hard to say. To me I almost never do pixel level editing (dodging , burning, cloning, selective sharpening etc etc) that make CS4 or similar really worthwhile. Perhaps that is a failing on my part, but it is the way I work. I use PS Elements for the occasional needs I have for this type of stuff.

I use and love Lightroom. It is awesome for global edits and it makes RAW workflow a joy. WIth LR (and probably Aperture) there is pretty much no reason to ever shoot JPEG for most photographers.

IMO if Lightroom had been available 6-8 years ago then Photoshop would never have caught on and would be used only by rare people with specialized needs.

I completely agree. I use Lightroom with the Nik software suite and almost never need Gimp (photoshop).

Hey all, I wanted to jump in here. Aperture is a photo editing software developed for Mac. It is similiar to lightroom, but not the same. I have both programs, and I have to say that lightroom kicks apertures butt. Well, IMHO. Nik plugin's are awesome. Lightroom does have a MAC version. I just downloaded photoshop cs4 and plan on using all three. I wouldn't delete your raw photo's. Everytime you open up a jpeg, it loses information. Or atleast that is what my photoshop instructor (he is a pro photog as well) explained to us. I hope I helped.

LowSpark420 wrote in post #9174411
So the equal to LR for a Mac is Aperture 2? Is that right?

Aperture is developed by Apple, for OS X only. Lightroom is developed by Adobe, for Windows and OS X. Both have the same underlying principle, of a streamlined, unified RAW workflow from import, editing, and printing. The difference is in how that workflow is implemented.

I've used Aperture since the beginning, can't wait to see how Aperture 3 responds to Lightroom 3 (which looks sweet).

LowSpark420 wrote in post #9174411
So the equal to LR for a Mac is Aperture 2? Is that right?

They're two separate programs. Aperture is made by Apple, and Lightroom is made by Adobe. Aperture is a Mac-only program, while Lightroom has both Mac and PC versions (just as Photoshop does).

I use Lightroom and Photoshop Elements on a Mac. The more I've gotten used to LR, the less I use Elements - I don't do a lot of pixel-level editing, so Lightroom more than fits the bill for me about 99% of the time.