Need some Advice

[greg194799]

Okay I have taken the plunge, I bought a digital camera and taken some photos in jpeg.
I’m thinking of using Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 as my editing programs.
What I would like to start doing is shooting in RAW and editing the photos myself.
I don’t want a program that makes birthday cards or any of that kind of stuff, but I do want to be able to burn and dodge, resolve color balance and do the usual darkroom kind of editing.
My question is, Are these two programs more than I’m need or are there programs out there that cost less and will give me a good high-quality print?

Greg

[Debbi]

If I were you, I would start out with LR2. It will do most things needed for processing.

[L Stegall]

I've found I do 95% of my work in LightRoom2. I'd start with that before taking the plunge on CS4. Scott Kelby's LightRoom book is a must have and it will walk you through LR quite well.

[MicWayWal]

Greg,

You are on the right track. PS & LR are the way to go. Lesser programs only leave you wanting more that only PS can deliver.
But I would only climb one hill at a time. I would recommend only buying and using CS4 to start on the path of digital manipulation. In fact learning PS in CS4 will make the learning curve much easier in LR.

The choice really depends on what kind of photographer you are wanting to be. If you are going to be dealing with hundreds or thousands of images like from a wedding, you may want to use LR. If not CS4 would be a better place to start. CS4 has a built in program called Bridge which does the same thing as LR. So my low volume of 200 - 300 image sessions can be handled very well in Bridge.
But the main reason I would recommend CS4 is that once you start working with your images, you will get to the point where you will want to do more with them than LR can deliver.
Having and understanding PS in CS4 will give you the opportunity to experiment on your own.
There are great books and seminars out there by PHOTOGRAPHERS to help you get started.

[Wes]

I've heard and read a lot of good things about Photoshop Elements. At $100 or less it's kind of hard to go wrong and it will give you a good foundation for moving on to the full blown version of Photoshop later. YMMV.

[studiocygnet]

Something you might not realize, since you don't own these yet, is that Photoshop has a kind of Lightroom application built into it, called Adobe Camera Raw. Many of the same features as Lightroom. So you could start there and use the ACR feature to edit your raw captures.

[greg194799]

Thank you all for your help so far but I think that I may need to expand my needs or better said, my wants as far as photo editing goes. I have seen images made from photos that look like oil paintings, watercolors, and pastels. Can that be done with PS CS4 or with a plug-in to PS CS4?
I would like to do that along with the usual photo editing.
My typical photograph runs about a few hundred to around two thousand yearly.
I’m not a Professional but I do take the craft serious as a hobbyist.
Thank you for any help and advice you can give

Greg

[texkam]

You also might see if GIMP would work for you. It's free so you would only be investing your time.
GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program
Review of GIMP - Free Photo Editing Software, Including Must-Have GIMP Plugins!