photo editing sw for iMac...???

[Wayne Crider]

My buddy, a professional wedding/portrait photographer, uses Aperture exclusively. I did some small 35mm work, scanned it and turned it over to him for a newsletter he was doing for a client of mine. I got to tell you I was very impressed with the capabilities when it ran me thru the palettes and showed me some of the tricks of the program. It's not a selection/layer type of program like PS, but it's color/saturation/brightness and levels abilities, (amongst others) and it's file handling is pretty sweet. It's more tuned in to the standard Photographers needs and not so much for the digital artist who really needs to manipulate/layer correct stuff. If I had a newer computer that could run it I'd buy it without a thought and it would be a perfect complement to PS as sometimes you just need a little revision, especially when working on a number of files.

[rphenning]

Aperture 2 slowed down/froze my computer with 10MB raw files from a digital so I wouldn't begin to think about giving it scans from film. I uninstalled and installed it, updated it, opened and closed it and nothing worked.

It was a cool program I suppose but I didn't like much about it at all simply because of the way it killed my Macbook Pro. I not too long ago switched to photoshop elements of all things and that is perfect for spotting negatives, resizing, and making sure the colors are correct to the negative.

[Gem Singer]

I use Photoshop Elements 6.0 with my IMac, along with 4 gigs of memory.

Works like a charm for both color shots with a DSLR and scans from large format B&W negatives.

Elements is a fraction of the cost of the full blown version of Photoshop, and it is much simpler to operate.

I'm not a computer genius, and if I can learn to use Elements for editing and printing, anyone can do it.

[Dennis]

I am still using elements 2 and it does everything I need. Might say more about my needs than the program. You can do quite a lot with photoshop elements.

[dcypher]

Nothing beats the Photomechanic and Photoshop (elements) combo, imho... Photomechanic is a very fast image browser, also works perfect with scanned images and it is the best IPTC captioning tool around. Once you get to know it, it will save you lots of time. PS or PS elements for the image adjustments only off course :-)

[bbauer]

For me Photoshop was an easy choice because of the number of books available for everything from a complete novice to the sophisticated stuff that I've never had a need for but glad to know is available if I ever move in that direction.

[BradS]

I actually have been getting on pretty well with Gimp. Running version 2.6 at home now and so far, it seems much better than the earlier version i had tried some years ago.

[Gregg Cook]

Google Picasa for freeware, Lightroom for workflow and basics, Photoshop if you need real image editing power.

[nossky]

i do some work with adobe - if you're currently enrolled as a student, you can pick up the student editions of creative suite 4 at 80% off the full retail price. also, you can pick up a 30-day trial (and get more information) at http://studenteditions.adobe.com.

[Joanna Carter]

i do some work with adobe - if you're currently enrolled as a student, you can pick up the student editions of creative suite 4 at 80% off the full retail price. also, you can pick up a 30-day trial (and get more information) at http://studenteditions.adobe.com.

Not forgeting that the student edition must no longer be used once you have graduated or finished your course; you then need to buy a full version to be legal.