Software Preference

I hope I am posting this in the proper section, forgive me if I'm not. I finally upgraded my computer to a 27" imac and am interested in upgrading software. So far I have used iphoto and Canon DPP. I am starting to work more with RAW and presently use a Canon 50D. Most of my photography is either my sons sporting events or macro. I am considering Aperature 3 or Photoshop. Any input would be great and if there is something else out there I should consider, let me know. Thanks.

Aperture, Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom are the three "big guns" of Raw processing, although Photoshop is a top-of-the-line comprehensive image/pixel/graphic editor as well (and costs the price).

You should know though that Photoshop Elements 8 on a Mac comes with Bridge, the Photoshop browsing, keywording, and processing "home base" that gives you access to the full version of Adobe Camera Raw, the top-of-the-line Raw processor that also is built into Lightroom. And, there are a few other Raw processors that have a following here in this forum -- I'll let the fans list them.

It would be worth your while to take your time reading up on Raw processing and the Raw workflow (check the stickies here, including the book list). And, as you are ready, take advantage of the free trials that all the "main" apps offer!

CaptureOne is a great RAW processing application, and handles RAW very differently to Aperture or ACR

I should add that PS Elements includes a "smaller" version of the Photoshop image editor, but is quite packed with capabilities (and costs less than $100 USD). A lot of people here prefer it to the full version of Photoshop and use it along with a Raw editor (or the built-in Camera Raw).

I also recently bought a mac and purchased PS Elements 8 and Lightroom 3. The RAW processor in LR has a bit more control than PSE. I use PSE for a few other non-photo related things so I wanted that also. Bridge that comes with PSE is very useful for choosing which pictures to keep.

Thanks for all of the replies. Looks like I have quite a bit of research to get to. If anyone uses aperature, I would love to hear from you too. Thanks.

goldboughtrue wrote in post #10879242
The RAW processor in LR has a bit more control than PSE

Actually, on OSX, you can access the full ACR through Bridge.
ACR 6.2 should have (nearly) identical options to LR3 for raw processing. (Match total Exposure in LR is the only real exception I can think of)

My preference is DPP.

René Damkot wrote in post #10881346
Actually, on OSX, you can access the full ACR through Bridge.

News to me! I'll check it out.

I prefer to convert all my raw images in DPP first and then work on them in Photoshop. DPP is totally underated, I find it much faster than Photoshop. No waiting around for image previews and the raws are the same as on the back of my camera.

Great info, thanks to everyone. When I get some time during the week, I think I will download the free trial of Aperature 3. See how I like that, then I may try the free trial of one of the photoshop applications.

The control and adjustments available in ACR make it my default converter.
More control of sharpening.
More control for WB adjustment
More picture styles available including custom profiles
More adjustments of color and tone
And these are just a few.
The closer you can get to your finally image before converting means the better your final output will be after tweeking in PS, lightroom or whatever.
This book was excellent:
"Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS4"

DPP is great for quick and dirty and is under-appreciated.

DXO

Photoshop

Bridge


There are pro's and con's with most converters, editors and libraries/catalogs.