Just starting

[chardy]

Your thoughts please...

I do video and sound but I'm a brand new photographer. Got myself a new canon digital rebel. My photo editing skills extend to iPhoto (which i understand is great for people who have no idea what they are doing) I would like to get a better editor. I'm eager to learn. I can get Aperture and Photoshop CS3 at the same price, about $300. Of course, once i get some decent pics to edit i will do the free aperture trial, and i have a buddy that can show me PS. So.... new photographer+new camera=i have no idea which to get. let me know. thanks

chardy

 

[devilot]

Photoshop. If I understand the very basic premise of Aperture correctly, it's more of a photo importer/ organizer, granted, it's more complex and feature-rich than just that... but for actually tweaking photos? I don't think you can beat PS.

 

[beige matchbox]

If your just starting, consider photoshop elements. As well as being perfectly good for most people (i've been using the reduced photoshop since 5), it's also a lot cheaper.

I think since using Elements/LE i've wished i was using the full version maybe a half dozen times, and that must be over 6 or 7 years

Having said all that, i'm sure if a copy of CS3 landed on my desk i'd quickly get used to all the advanced gubbins

 

[chardy]

two examples

here are two examples. it's just iPhoto. Minor edits.

 

[dmw007]

Between the two I would go for Photoshop. But both are great programs (I have Aperture and Photoshop CS on my Power Mac G5).

 

[bmat]

what is it you want to do?

CS3 is a full fledged editing program, and is the standard. It's worth far more than the $300 you'd be getting it for -- I assume some ed type discount. If you're using iPhoto now, it's clearly overkill, but at that price I guess you can't go wrong.

Aperture is a good raw processing program that has nice organization abilities. The processing is good, but not great, but it has a lot of nice powerful tools. But, for many photos, you need an external editor as well. Elements would do, but a lot of the nice plug ins aren't as compatible with Elements 4.

So, if you really want to edit photos, layer, etc., then CS3. Otherwise Aperture. But CS3 is a better deal at the price, and make sure your Mac can handle Aperture, which is very memory and graphic card intensive (which I assume should be ok if you do video editing anyway).

 

[chardy]

what is it you want to do?

CS3 is a full fledged editing program, and is the standard. It's worth far more than the $300 you'd be getting it for -- I assume some ed type discount. If you're using iPhoto now, it's clearly overkill, but at that price I guess you can't go wrong.

Aperture is a good raw processing program that has nice organization abilities. The processing is good, but not great, but it has a lot of nice powerful tools. But, for many photos, you need an external editor as well. Elements would do, but a lot of the nice plug ins aren't as compatible with Elements 4.

So, if you really want to edit photos, layer, etc., then CS3. Otherwise Aperture. But CS3 is a better deal at the price, and make sure your Mac can handle Aperture, which is very memory and graphic card intensive (which I assume should be ok if you do video editing anyway).

awesome. thanks. i want to learn how to use layering effects, and how to make my pics look amazing. yeah it is a edu discount. i was amazed to find it at apple with a $700 discount. I do low budget wedding videos and i want to add photography to my services.

 

[ChrisA]

Your thoughts please...

I do video and sound but I'm a brand new photographer. Got myself a new canon digital rebel. My photo editing skills extend to iPhoto (which i understand is great for people who have no idea what they are doing) I would like to get a better editor. I'm eager to learn. I can get Aperture and Photoshop CS3 at the same price, about $300. Of course, once i get some decent pics to edit i will do the free aperture trial, and i have a buddy that can show me PS. So.... new photographer+new camera=i have no idea which to get. let me know. thanks

chardy

Get Photoshop Elements. It will do everything you need at a much lower price than PS CS3. If you decide later you need PS CS3 Adobe will let you upgrade so you can just about recover the money spend of "Elements". I've yet to hear from many photographers that really need the full up PS.

Aperture is NOT a competitor to Photoshop. It is complimentary. Aperture competes with Adobe's "Lightroom". Aperture, lightroom and iPhoto are not image editors, they are for making small "tweaks" or adjustments to images and for cataloging and sorting images. All three of these programs are designed to work _with_ Photoshop or Elements.
most of these programs have free trail downloads. I suggest you check them out

I would go with the combination of iPhoto and Elements until you see a limitation with one of them. Aperture is a "bigger" iPhoto and Photoshop CS3 is a "bigger" Photoshop Elements.

 

[Father Jack]

Photoshop Elements should do all the minor "fixes" you will need. If, after getting to grips with Elements you feel you need more facilities, then it's time to move up to Photoshop CS3

FJ