Photoshop or Aperture ?

tryin'

I am saving for Photoshop ... but keep coming across great reviews for Aperture (I am using a Mac OS X). Obviously Photoshop is considerably more expensive ... do you get what you pay for??

Something I particularly want to be able to do is sharpened a particular area - eg. just sharpen the eyes and apply some sort of 'softening' to the rest. Is this something you can do with both? or either?

I may need some friendly help when I get it. I have been using Corel Photo, and know I don't use every function (don't even understand some!!).

Advise?

Sue

DonRicklin

Have you tried the Lightroom Trial? Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom®

In fact all three have 30 Day trials!

Give them all a whirl and see for yourself.

Don

pathfinder

Neither Aperture 1.5 nor Lightroom allow selecting only portions of an image for editing - They only allow global editing to the entire image.

If you need to do selections and local sharpening or blurring or contrast changes, Photoshop is where you are headed.

I have not tried the new Aperture 2.0 but I think my comment is still accurate.

arodney

Two totally different applications and tools.

Aperture (and Lightroom) are primarily Raw converters with other functionality (database, print module etc). Photoshop is a pixel editor. Raw converters create pixels, Photoshop alters the pixel values of these rendered images. Its like the difference between a screwdriver and a saw.

As for only global editing in Lightroom, certainly not the case with the public beta (2.0 should be out soon) and even in 1.4, there are some selective tools to be exact (clone, red eye).

pathfinder

Andrew,

Cloning, to me, is not selective editing, its more like tidying up

I think of selections as referring to sky, or forground, or one persons face. I think of the ability to have a different curve for the subject versus, the background. Or blurring of sharpening only a selected portion of the image. None of these things can be done in Lightroom yet that I know of.

Will Lightroom 2 or Aperture allow these selective edits? - whether by color, shape, pen tool, whatever?

gus

pathfinder wrote:

Neither Aperture 1.5 nor Lightroom allow selecting only portions of an image for editing - They only allow global editing to the entire image.

I use these selectors almost constantly in photoshop. The more i use them the more i get from them.

arodney

pathfinder wrote:

Cloning, to me, is not selective editing, its more like tidying up

OK

I think of selections as referring to sky, or forground, or one persons face. I think of the ability to have a different curve for the subject versus, the background. Or blurring of sharpening only a selected portion of the image. None of these things can be done in Lightroom yet that I know of.

Most of what you want to do can be done in the beta (ski versus foreground dodge/burn/sharpen/blur/saturate).

pathfinder

I will look forward to LR ver 2 then.