Image editing on a MacBook Pro

Mart61

Mart61

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Martin
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Having been a Windows user for donkeys years I made the switch to Mac last spring. I now find myself wanting a decent image processing suite for my MacBook.

The spec is pretty high and has a retina display, i7 processor, 16gb ram, 512gb SSD etc.

I've used CS3 on the Windows machine and have been using Gimp on the MacBook for a while but I'd like something a little easier to use.

I only want to spend about £150.

Any suggestions as to what I should get?
 
If you don't use layers then how about Lightroom 5. You can download a trial version from adobe otherwise elements might do.
 
lightroom + cs6 are imo the two must haves depending on your needs

Lightroom can do nearly everything and is very easy to use
 
Seems that Lightroom may be worth a go, especially if there's a trial version.

I thought I'd read somewhere that Elements doesn't support retina displays. Is this the case? Does Lightroom?
 
Mart61 said:
Seems that Lightroom may be worth a go, especially if there's a trial version.

I thought I'd read somewhere that Elements doesn't support retina displays. Is this the case? Does Lightroom?
Click to expand...

I use lightroom on my retina display, and afaik it all works as expected. I've only ever used it on my MacBook so can't compare it with anything else but I've got no complaints
 
You could subscribe to Photoshop and Lightroom for under £108 a year, but I would go with @sep9001 that Lightroom is better for image editing. I also use Photoshop but I suppose because I'm a graphic designer I need that for other stuff, I stick to LR for editing photos.
 
Have a look at pixelmator - it's cheap so you'd expect it to be rubbish but actually not bad at all!
 
Thanks for your input one and all. I've just downloaded Lightroom and am having a play with it. It's a bit of a learning curve but seems OK thus far...

:D
 
Lightroom is good as a basic image processor, but it's also really useful for cataloging and exporting images. If you don't need that kind of control then also look at Perfect photo suite 9 from onone: lots more image processing options, but without the catalogue control that makes lightroom so powerful a tool.
 
I've been flitting between Lightroom and Capture One and haven't really used Photoshop at all recently because both of them are so good and I'd recommend them both. I've found Lightoom better for simplicity, very quick ratings and sorting, Capture One for detailed control over the image and finer accuracy. If I have one real gripe about Capture One, I shoot weddings with a 5D mark 3 and a mark 2. Lightroom gets the colour balance spot on whatever the camera if you copy the setting across images where as Capture One seems to render identical colour balances differently on different cameras. It can be quite frustrating when editing several hundred images together but I admit it's a pretty niche gripe.
 
Again thanks for your input. I'm still on the learning curve. I gave learned one thing tho - having printed a few B&W pictures for my wife last night I need to calibrate my monitor.

:D
 
I would suggest that Lightroom is going to be the simplest, and cheapest option. If you need to do any retouching .i.e. cloning then Elements would be a good addition. The full blown version of Photoshop has more than you need , so is really a bit of a waste of money. Unless you go down the £9.00 month CC option with both Lightroom and Photoshop. You could also look at Pixemlator as an addition to Lightroom. I didn't get on with it though. It may be I've had to much exposure to Photoshop :)
 
Failing Lightroom, you could use Apple's Aperture, which I think is around £50 odd in the app store, I personally use Lightroom 5 and CS6 on my Macbook Pro with no problems at all. I have also been having a slight browse at Google's 'Nik' software.
 
As a User of Windows and Osx, I prefer Aperture on the Mac and I use Lightroom on my PC. On both machines I would use other adobe software for editing the images.

There is loads of plugins available for both packages, Nik Software is the best along with Onone
 
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Thanks again for the input. At present I've got the trial version of Lightroom and am plugging away with that. I'll see how I get on with it and try some of the other suggestions at that point.
 
I don't know about you but I find Photoshop to inevitably become a necessary tool so I pay for the photography package on the creative cloud.

Gives you access to Photoshop & Lightroom for about £8/9 a month.
 
Just dropping by again: I've recently started using DXO Optics Pro alongside Lightroom for basic image development. Lightroom tends to push me toward bright, bold images that can lack subtlety and I find it much easier to get more neutral and finely detailed images in DXO. I can make pictures developed in LR look a lot like those from DXO, but that's not how it makes me want to work.

I'm using DXO OP 8 which was available as a free download (and may still be available) along with DXO filmpack that somewhat replicates the behaviour of a range of classic film types (I don't remember Kodachrome 25 ever having a green cast, but anyway). After processing in DXO I import into LR to apply gradients, dust spot removal and fine tuning black & white points etc. DXO is slower to use than LR, and would not be my sole choice of processor, but it's very useful as an alternative tool.
 
A bit of advice invest in a calibrator like the Syder4Express. Then look at how different your photographs are. Obviously the Express version is the cheap one but you might not want to spend much.
 
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