Photo Editing/Organizing Solutions?

[EuroTex]

I just recently bought my first dslr. I am NEW in every sense of the word. I have heretofore used Picasa for organizing my P&S photos and doing basic cropping and such. I'm on a Mac and have struggled with Picasa not always being cooperative (not recognizing folders with photos in them...or only recognizing a portion of the photos in a given folder). I'm increasingly convinced that you get what you pay for so I'm ready to make a purchase and dump Picasa for good. My struggle...what to buy? A good friend uses Lightroom and loves it but she is also a semi-professional photographer and does lots and lots of post-processing. I'm considering PS Elements...mainly because it's cheaper. I feel like $300 software is a bit much for a girl that scarcely knows what she's doing with her new camera! Thoughts? I have done lots of reading comparing different software but they tend to be discussions amongst experienced photographers about specific capabilities. I'm looking for some advice for a beginner. I need software that will be easy to manage and organize my photos, and help cut my teeth on a bit of post-processing as I'm learning to use my new toy. Appreciate any input or if you can point me in the direction of any existing discussion on the subject, that would be great too!

[audiman90]

PS Elements is a good place to start and you can download a free 30 day trial from adobe to see if you like it.

[JFeinbergPhotography]

Adobe Lightroom 3 is the best option. Pretty easy to use, plus it is much better than Bridge for organizing and you can do some pretty powerful editing just shy of PS.

[3bayjunkie]

isn't picasa an online storage for photos? i didn't realize it was for editing as well. maybe im just out of the loop

[SwissJon]

Adobe Lightroom IS expensive, but there's a lot of work that's gone into the product.. I would download a trial and see if you get on with it.. I did, then I shelled out my $300 tto buy it because I liked it so much.

[JFeinbergPhotography]

Lightroom is, but you get the trial first. I got mine for free from a friend who had a copy. I am in love with it.