Help for Daughter's laptop LR, Aperture or Elements

[Allen in Montreal]

I have to get either Lightroom, Aperture or Elements for my daughter's photo class at school. I need to get her setup by Tuesday next.
CS5 is out of the question.

I have never used any of the above, so in a nut shell, has anyone worked with them and have a strong reason to get one over the other?

From what I can see, Elements is not upgradeable?
Must you buy a new version each time?

She is shooting with a Canon 60d and runs a 13 inch Macbook Pro.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[Jon Shiu]

I know photoshop is out of the question, but just to note, it is $175 right now at academic superstore.

Jon

[LF4Fun]

before plunking a chunk of change, give gimp a try, it's FREE

[Allen in Montreal]

Thanks guys,
The course requires she use 1 of the 3, Lightroom, Aperture or Elements.
The school computers have Elements.

I down loaded the trial versions and played with them a little.
Ap seems more user friendly and quick to get around. But LR seems a little more complete at quick glance.

[Ron Stowell]

I'm using Elements and it does everything I want it to do. How serious is your daughter? If this is a passing fad I wouldn't spent a lot of money.

[John NYC]

I'd get Lightroom since there is a very good chance she will still use that after she becomes more advanced and wants/needs Photoshop.

[Asher Kelman]

I have to get either Lightroom, Aperture or Elements for my daughter's photo class at school. I need to get her setup by Tuesday next.
CS5 is out of the question.

I have never used any of the above, so in a nut shell, has anyone worked with them and have a strong reason to get one over the other?

From what I can see, Elements is not upgradeable?
Must you buy a new version each time?

She is shooting with a Canon 60d and runs a 13 inch Macbook Pro.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Allen,

She may not need any software as she has iphoto. That's so simple to use and allows cropping, rotating, B&W conversion, adjusting exposure, pulling back the brights and opening the shadows, contrast correction, saturation, color correction and sharpening. What it does not do is local editing but this can be done using Topaz Fusion Express, (it works with iphoto, Lightroom and Aperture) allowing one to use Topaz Photoshop plugins.Topaz B&W Effects is on sale at $29 instead of $60! Remask plugin, $69, allows one to select and apply local effects:

• Easily extract intricate image details like hair & fur.
  
• Replace backgrounds or isolate areas for selective adjustments.
  
• Create multiple cutouts for unique compositions.
  
• Maintain transparency in hard-to-mask objects like veils and hair.

Source

The great advantage is that iPhoto is in itself able to do most of what's needed except local effects. Adding Topaz is a no brainer when you find she needs more.

I happen to use iPhoto for a lot of images when I am sitting near my tea supply and using my wife's iMac and have to send out my pictures without delay and fuss.

You might find this useful to see what iphoto can do by itself, remembering you can do much more now with topaz. iPhoto is free!

Asher

[bob carnie]

Allen I would recommend lightroom

[dsim]

Allen,

I agree with Asher's advice. Also all three software packages mentioned offer a trial period. Download the demos. Have her try them to decide which one she prefers.

[Asher Kelman]

Allen I would recommend lightroom

Bob,

There's no question that lightroom is the more advanced product but also more to learn. I'd get it anyway with the current giveaway price:

Well right now, until Sept 4th, there's a discount on Teachers and Student's edition of Lightroom. So one can get this from BHPhotovideo for just $66.95 wityh free shipping. This is a great bargain!

Still, iPhoto should do all her work anyway. Local adjustments and cataloging are done directly in Lightroom.

Asher