Editing Software?

This was one of the things I forgot to ask you all to include in your intros :) Editing is a huge deal in the photography biz whether you do a little or a lot. There is so much to be learned in this realm and it's just as daunting as learning the basics of shooting in manual mode if not moreso! So lets just start with the Adobe programs out there and give little run down of them (not by any mean exhaustive) and then I'll share what I use and why.

Elements is essentially the condensed version of Photoshop although with Elements 9 you can do just about anything from adjusting exposure in RAW files to applying layers of editing techniques. It can be bought anywhere from $50-85 depending on where you shop.

Lightroom was designed specifically for photographers and their workflow needs. It is used for cataloging and editing lots of images at one time and has special features for saving and storing photos so that all of your photography business needs are met and made easier such as uploading to FTP, resizing for web or doing edits on multiple images at a time. It runs about $200-$300.

Photoshop is big... hmmm where do I start :) First of all there are lots of different versions from the very first, Photoshop to CS5. This program is designed for people who want to be able to change any little thing to their photos and now videos, yep, newer versions do video editing! It can be bought for between $250 and $650.

I use CS3. It's an older version of photoshop and I did some extensive research on buying legit software on ebay which is where I ended up buying it for around $200 about 2.5 years ago. For me it's all I'll ever need unless I go into video work which isn't happening any time soon ;) I've had friends who use elements and loved it as beginners but were quickly frustrated when they started trying to process through a wedding's workflow. I've also had friends who use lightroom and for the most part I've heard very few complaints on that... in fact I can't think of any. I like photoshop and while I don't know all I could know I love having the ability to fine tune my work. Do I think it's necessary, certainly not. There are lots of other things out there that you can use and for a while I used something called Digital Image Pro. There are free online programs like picnik and picasa and while these are pretty limiting they can work just fine. My editing style has change A LOT since I started and while experimenting with photoshop in the beginning was fun, I think it was a bit to much and allowed me to go overboard before finding the balance. Now days all I do to any given photo is adjust the curve (to be talked about more later) and sharpen. I'll occasionally smooth skin or make the eyes more sparkly but even that has been significantly decreased since really pinpointing what I want to be doing with my photos and with my time.

Please share what you use and your thoughts on it! If some of you use aperture or any Apple software I'd love for you to share because I know some of you are Applets ;) Some of you shared some advice in the Basics post so if you're looking for software look in those comments too.