Editing software

[alotofyarn]

I'm shooting in JPG + RAW and really want to be able to better edit the RAW files. I know we had a brief discussion about PS Elements vs Lightroom vs PS in the other thread, but I thought I'd open it back up.

I did a trial of PS Elements and mostly liked it, although it was kind of a pain that you had to open up PSE then ACR to edit them - or did I do this wrong? Also, as far as I can tell, you can't use presets, which seems like it might be nice.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Presets like editing actions? You can definitely do that PSE, I use them all the time.

[Ladybug]

Presets are for lightroom. You cannot adjust/mask with layers in LR (unless that's been changed recently, there were rumors). I think LR is a great editing tool, but it runs about $300, and the presets make global changes to your images. There is an adjustment brush for local changes, but it does not give you as fine local control that PS does with the layers and masks. I love my presets, but I end up carrying all my favorite images over into PS to make final tweaks.

I did purchase the Adobe creative cloud for photography membership which gives you PS and LR for $10/month for one year. It's a DEAL considering what I've paid for software in the past. The cloud membership is revolutionary and will greatly reduce cost for editing software YiPPy! Learning how to use it to it's fullest potential is a lifetime endeavor, but there are classes, even free online streaming classes at creative live. It's becoming more and more accessible to everyone.

Good Luck! I like editing just as much (maybe more) than photographing. It's half the fun!

[alotofyarn]

T&S - I downloaded the free ones from ClickinMoms, for Lightroom and ACR, but I don't think I can use those.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Yeah, you have to use in the specified format. So Lightroom ones wouldn't work in PSE.