Photoshop or Lightroom

I have version 6.1 of Photoshop that just seems overwhelming to me. I have been using the Beta of Lightroom that I like alot. I could pay $169 to upgrade to CS2 or wait and pay unknown amount for Lightroom. But my version of Photoshop is at the bottom of the upgrade qualifications so if I possibly wait for another version to emerge I may have to pay full price. Any thoughts of which way I should go? Is photoshop really a totally professional program that would be too difficult for someone who is still trying to master his camera to take on? Version 6.1 seems somewhat frustrating. Thanks

isn't there any opensource/freeware product which is equivalent to Photoshop/lightroom, though not as fully functional or fully loaded but something similar to do most of the common operations?!

I use Lightroom too. However, Lightroom does not let you edit pictures. For editing purpose you can get Gimp for free or cheap editing software like Corel Paintshop.

I like lightroom's concept of never touching your original RAW images. I plan to stick to lightroom. I have been playing around with Capture NX but am not convinced I like it.

Hold off. It may be tempting to go ahead and get photoshop now, but it's due for an upgrade probably in the next 6 months.

Meanwhile, enjoy lightroom. If you want to see what else is out there, download some trial versions and test them out for the trial period. By the time your freebie options run out, CS3 should have hit the shelves.

Vempati said:

isn't there any opensource/freeware product which is equivalent to
Photoshop/lightroom, though not as fully functional or fully loaded
but something similar to do most of the common operations?!

Click to expand...

I'm very pleased with PSE 5! Does pretty much everything an advanced amateur needs to do, and more. Levels, curves, smart sharpening, raw conversion (although that's the one weak point), and a great organizer, too. I got it for $59 as an upgrade - a steal!

For raw conversion I use Capture 1 LE. Very high quality conversions - the LE version lacks a few features, but PSE 5 complements it very nicely!

Never felt the need to get CS 2

Cheers

Mike