I've tried them all, I did the demo of Aperture and was never really that impressed. I've used iPhoto too since it does support RAW images and does most of what I need. Then I stumbled on a sweet deal and got CS3 and Lightroom for free.
For me shooting weddings and portraits, Lightroom is the ultimate. It's very user friendly, powerful, and gives a great result. But that being said, Photoshop CS3 can do all the same stuff Lightroom can, and Bridge can act in much the same way Lightroom/Aperture do with regard to photo organization. Photoshop CS3 has the same tools as Lightroom they are just housed in a less elegant and straightforward interface. And as far as doing layers and some design stuff that doesn't even involve photographs well Lightroom and Aperture aren't going to do a thing for you in that department.
If I had to settle on just one, it would have to be CS3, I wouldn't want to be stuck with a less capable program when I could have had it in the first place. If I could go with 2 it would be Lightroom for 99.9% of my Photographs, and Photoshop for that .01% that need something more.
SLC
For me shooting weddings and portraits, Lightroom is the ultimate. It's very user friendly, powerful, and gives a great result. But that being said, Photoshop CS3 can do all the same stuff Lightroom can, and Bridge can act in much the same way Lightroom/Aperture do with regard to photo organization. Photoshop CS3 has the same tools as Lightroom they are just housed in a less elegant and straightforward interface. And as far as doing layers and some design stuff that doesn't even involve photographs well Lightroom and Aperture aren't going to do a thing for you in that department.
If I had to settle on just one, it would have to be CS3, I wouldn't want to be stuck with a less capable program when I could have had it in the first place. If I could go with 2 it would be Lightroom for 99.9% of my Photographs, and Photoshop for that .01% that need something more.
SLC
