hey people, the more i look the more i find and the more i get confused.
can anybody give me some help in deciding what photo proccessing software i should get as a first time buyer and a beginner (with good promise i might add Im not willing to spend too much (300 +, recession etc) on this at the moment but would like some honest opionions on some software kits that maybe some of you guys have tried and can vouch for. even just say the name to me and ill research it my self. ill be working with mac.

thanks

Stephen.

Hi Stephen ---I use Aperture 3 and I'm very happy with it. Good for organizing pics and does a nice job processing. I'm pretty sure you can download a trial copy. Getting some One on One lessons on the basics at the Apple Store is also very beneficial.

Good luck.

Linda

enjoy the journey

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I also recommend Aperture, not very expensive considering its tremendous capability. A couple of Aperture plugins I find very useful are PT Lens and Topaz Denoise.

Visit my gallery.

Add me to the list of fans of Apple's Aperture 3 (current version is 3.2.3) which I have been using since last summer on my MacBook Pro. Apple has several short (2-3 minute tutorials) on their site, and there are countless other tutorials that people from around the world have posted on YouTube. (You be the determiner of their quality.) It is very user friendly and converts NEF files.

It's an easy download from Apple's website for only $79.99.

Howard O

I think Aperture deserves some research so thanks people.

I also vote for Aperture. Great program and easy to use.

Cheap is relative to desire

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

It's a fantastic value at $80 through the App Store.

(oops, meant to reply to the OP)

Kent

I originally did my post-processing in Capture NX2 and indeed still do, mainly because I like its RAW converter best, and frankly, most of the PP I do isn't very sophisticated. However, as it started looking increasingly like NX2 might not have much of a future, I purchased both Lightroom 3 and Aperture 3, as I found specials where I was able to get each of them at a decent price. I also purchased some aftermarket tutorial books, and spent a little bit of time learning the ins and outs of Aperture and Lightroom.

Prior to buying the software, I researched this a LOT, hoping to find a clear winner between Aperture and Lightroom, and true power users who really understand the nuances of these programs can make passionate arguments for why one or the other is better, and the reality is that at that level, each program does certain things slightly better than the other. None of this is likely to matter to the average user. All of them are great programs, and will do pretty much anything you're likely to need to do. I will say that I found Aperture 3 to be the most intuitive and elegant of the three, in spite of the fact, as I said, that I still work mostly in NX2, but everyone's brain works differently, and you may find that you like the look and feel of one of the other programs better.