I've been using iPhoto for over a year (since I moved to Mac). I really like how quick and easy and light-weight it is, but there are still a number of things I'd like to do better.
First, I'd like some selective editing. The kind of thing where you use a brush or something to de-saturate or lighten exposure to just a certain area, rather than the whole thing. I've tried this in my LR2 trial, and really like it. I also see Bibble 5 has this. (Does Ap2?)
Second, I'd like better noise reduction than what's built into iPhoto. I just find iPhoto a little rough in its approach. Same, too, with red eye reduction. I find the iPhoto red eye tool to be hit or miss, with more misses than I like. I'd love to use Noise Ninja as a plug-in for noise. Does PSE6 support a NN plug-in?
Third (and a distant third), I'd like to tinker a bit more with RAW (actually TIFFs, converted from the raw of my a650), but I am still going to mainly do jpgs. So, I don't wont this to be my focus.
Finally, I don't really want to move my library management outside of iPhoto unless I have to. I like everything else iPhoto brings to the table for basic management.
I have pixelmator, but don't find it that user friendly. I've trialed PSE6, and like some of the tools in it. I've just downloaded LR2, but it runs really slowly on my older Mac. I've also tried Ap2, which ran OK. But both Ap2 and LR2 might be overkill for what I want. Finally, I've heard a lot about Bibble Pro, but would probably look at Bibble lite.
Any recommendations for helping me try out these 3 things (selective editing, better noise reduction and red eye, and tinkering with RAW) without getting too involved in a new platform? Any one of these tools fit this criteria, or is there a good Mac-based one I'm missing?
First, I'd like some selective editing. The kind of thing where you use a brush or something to de-saturate or lighten exposure to just a certain area, rather than the whole thing. I've tried this in my LR2 trial, and really like it. I also see Bibble 5 has this. (Does Ap2?)
Second, I'd like better noise reduction than what's built into iPhoto. I just find iPhoto a little rough in its approach. Same, too, with red eye reduction. I find the iPhoto red eye tool to be hit or miss, with more misses than I like. I'd love to use Noise Ninja as a plug-in for noise. Does PSE6 support a NN plug-in?
Third (and a distant third), I'd like to tinker a bit more with RAW (actually TIFFs, converted from the raw of my a650), but I am still going to mainly do jpgs. So, I don't wont this to be my focus.
Finally, I don't really want to move my library management outside of iPhoto unless I have to. I like everything else iPhoto brings to the table for basic management.
I have pixelmator, but don't find it that user friendly. I've trialed PSE6, and like some of the tools in it. I've just downloaded LR2, but it runs really slowly on my older Mac. I've also tried Ap2, which ran OK. But both Ap2 and LR2 might be overkill for what I want. Finally, I've heard a lot about Bibble Pro, but would probably look at Bibble lite.
Any recommendations for helping me try out these 3 things (selective editing, better noise reduction and red eye, and tinkering with RAW) without getting too involved in a new platform? Any one of these tools fit this criteria, or is there a good Mac-based one I'm missing?
