Photo editing newbie Aperture vs. Photoshop

[J'aime]

I want to get into photo editing and I'm wondering, what's the difference between Aperture and Photoshop? Which one do you wonderful photographers prefer? Which is easiest to use? etc.

p.s. sorry if this has been done before. i did a quick search and didn't find exactly what i was looking for.

 

[swiftaw]

Aperture and Photoshop do two different things. Adobe's equivalent of Aperture is Lightroom.

Aperture offers file management and processing for digital photos. Photoshop, is an editing suite.

Aperture and Lightroom both have free 30 day trials, I'm not sure if Photoshop does.

 

[j5uh]

Aperture and Photoshop do two different things. Adobe's equivalent of Aperture is Lightroom.

Aperture offers file management and processing for digital photos. Photoshop, is an editing suite.

Aperture and Lightroom both have free 30 day trials, I'm not sure if Photoshop does.

I agree with what swiftaw said. Photoshop does offer trial test out.

 

[BanjoBanker]

What do you want to do?

What you are planning to do with your images should really guide your choice. As mentioned, Aperture and Adobe's lightroom are not the same as Photo Shop. You can perform some marvelous things to digital images in RAW format with Aperture as well as catalog your work. The enhancement ability is awesome. However, image adjustments are all you can do. If your intent is to add/remove elements from your image, or any other drastic image modification, PhotoShop is the only way to go. The advice to download the free trials is excellent. The best way to make up your mind is to poke around in each to see what their respective pluses and minuses are. I have both Aperture and PhotoShop CS3 and find I use Aperture more. Which either way you go, practice as much as you can and never shy away from trying a feature. But, always remember, the BEST digital image is the one the "see" before taking the shot. No amount of post processing can make up for a poorly thought out shot. Work on producing images that do not require a lot of post processing.

 

[compuwar]

You can perform some marvelous things to digital images in RAW format with Aperture as well as catalog your work.

At least for Nikon's raw format on the D2x, Aperture's raw converter is the worst of the set that contains Nikon Capture NX, Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop CS3, and Bibble by a fair margin.

I'd suggest testing the trial versions of each before settling on Aperture as a part of your raw workflow. I like it for cataloging, but I'm no longer using it to convert.