lightroom v elements v aperture

[hercrane]

hi - new here - hoping to learn lots from you guys as i pursue my dream of photography as a career. i know that i need photo editing software - i have a mac and have used iphoto but, obviously, need much more. in particular, i'd like to be able to: (forgive my layman's terms here!)
create b/w photos with selective coloring
take things out of the background and fill it with more of the same background (saw that photoshop contour fill does this but feel like photoshop is waaay more than i need)
play with color/styles (you know the instagram app? the color/styles on there? that kind of thing)
batch editing - i will have photo sessions with families, babies, pets, etc so will have many pictures with the same lighting/background/etc
again, i think photoshop is more than i need. i have read about elements and lightroom and it sounds like elements may be better for me (except for batch editing?), but am not sure. i've seen aperture mentioned and i know it's for the mac so i could use that, but honestly i haven't searched for info on it yet - i will do that as soon as i post this though!
any and all advice will be much appreciated!
thanks so much!

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by hercrane

any and all advice will be much appreciated!
thanks so much!

LoL.. Come back and post what you find so we can link to this post for all newbies who come along and ask the same questions.. You won't be surprised that the things you want to know are pretty much the same as every newcomer.. You're welcome here, we're happy to help, but please use the search function first, it'll save the rest of us a lot of repetative typing.

[Hill Country Hack]

Welcome to DPS.

This has been discussed here before. I did a quick Google search for you and came up with this http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...VQiBqJ_lY6Jhzw

I personally use Lightroom3 (LR) for all my editing, storage and organizing. LR is an outstanding organizational tool and still pretty much fits my needs. I've yet to REALLY get after it yet. Granted there are some things LR just cannot do. What I've heard around here is many use a combination of LR with a Photshop Elements.

[brianxlt]

If you have the money, I would suggest getting PS-CS5 rather than the other two. As you progress you will find them limiting although LR3 and CS5 RAW are almost the same Elements and CS5 are not very close. Even if you are still just starting out CS5 would be the better chose.

[graciousness]

Photoshop is intimidating for new users. It is only recently that I started really using it due to things that I learnt you can do with Photoshop that Aperture or Lightroom can't do.

This doesn't mean, however, that you only have to choose one. Most people use Lightroom or Aperture 90% of their editing workflow and 10% Photoshop. That's what I do, too.

Being a mac user, use Aperture. I love Aperture. Or you can just do trial on both for 30 days and see what you like most. You can also do trial on Photoshop and judge for yourself what you want to do.

[mosgood]

I use LR3 & PS Elements for all my editing. I use LR for my lighting, WB, & other minor tweaks. If I have to do any cloning beyond the minor dust speck, I turn to PSE. Between the 2 programs, I can deal with most anything.