SONY DSLR users ...

What is your current post process pixel manipulation software?

Feel free to elaborate why you feel this is all you need or whether or not if is enough or you do not appreciate the question

Lightroom + Photoshop and some custom/built in filters manipulations, etc....

I also use Sony RAW drivers to view the thumbnails in vista to help make things easier when browsing through explorer.

Lightroom is wonderful for me because it keeps things nicely organized and uniform. Before, I would have random dated and named folders and wouldn't know if I had or had not unloaded my pictures.

Ah poop - I didn't read all the options, so didn't check Sony's software. I use 'other' = Picasa3 for much of my general-needs work (rotate, crop, simple lighting, occasional collage) and Elements 6 for RAW and detail work. I occasionally use IDC, the interface isn't great but since I'm not used to Elements entirely it's a tossup for now. One shot that I labored over in Elements came up right the first time in IDC, so I can't justify abandoning it just 'cause it's quirky!
I also bought 'other' = NeatImage, but haven't used it enough to catch its subtleties yet. My first use was overcooked, noise was gone but so were the bird's feathers (looked more like a furry hamster with a beak).

I use, to the best of my ability Sony software, I also have lightroom ver.2 "a free copy from a good friend" and elements 6 that my daughter uses for the video and knows her way around elements somewhat, we also have paintshop on the computer but I don't use it.

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Originally Posted by seanhoxx

I use, to the best of my ability Sony software, I also have lightroom ver.2 "a free copy from a good friend" and elements 6 that my daughter uses for the video and knows her way around elements somewhat, we also have paintshop on the computer but I don't use it.

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You should get photoshop too and start messing with image masks (selectively applying different modifications to only a selective part of the image) for adding bokeh and everything else.

I've been messing with a lot of different pixel manipulators, but Photoshop CS3 and LightRoom 2 are the one-two punch for most things. They are ones I would recommend for nearly any photographer. LR2 has improved so much over the earlier version, it is almost like an entire rethink of its tools.

Your skills improve each time you use them ... and any tutorial or class you can get will result in a much deeper appreciation of their capabilities.

I use Photoshop CS2, I find the RAW importing better than Lightroom 2.2 (explanation below).

The only post processing I do to my photos is the auto tone you can find in either program, but I find that it looks much better in CS2, not to mention it takes up much less resources.

-Matt

I have been using lightroom for almost everything. I have a little bit of photoshop experience from working at Kinko's for a while, but it was mostly using it in ways it wasn't intended (almost as a substitute for Illustrator.)

I bring everything into <User Folder>/Pictures/RAW/<year>/<date> with lightroom, and then use lightroom for any cropping or punching up I want to do. Then I export as a high quality jpeg to a very un-organized folder system within <User Folder>/Pictures/jpegs/. I let Time Machine do backups, and I also have been trying (and failing) to make DVD backups of all the RAW and the exported jpegs to leave offsite (my mother's house).

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Originally Posted by laydros

I have been using lightroom for almost everything. I have a little bit of photoshop experience from working at Kinko's for a while, but it was mostly using it in ways it wasn't intended (almost as a substitute for Illustrator.)

I bring everything into <User Folder>/Pictures/RAW/<year>/<date> with lightroom, and then use lightroom for any cropping or punching up I want to do. Then I export as a high quality jpeg to a very un-organized folder system within <User Folder>/Pictures/jpegs/. I let Time Machine do backups, and I also have been trying (and failing) to make DVD backups of all the RAW and the exported jpegs to leave offsite (my mother's house).

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Except for the time machine part, that's how I do it. Extract it to a jumbled mess of photos to be placed on flickr ;)

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Originally Posted by dr4gon

Except for the time machine part, that's how I do it. Extract it to a jumbled mess of photos to be placed on flickr ;)

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I've been thinking about switching to PC for my photo handling tasks. I've gone as far as to throw a 320GB drive in my MacBook, but I'm already starting to push that out with all of the RAW photos. I could move back to a PC desktop and throw all the cheap HDDs at it that I want, and I think LR2 runs a little faster on the PC, which is kinda sad considering how much Adobe favored Apple for so many years. I guess with stuff like iPhoto, Aperture, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Logic, etc, Apple is sorta invading Adobe's space, and they don't seem to like it much.

Adobe originally left Apple when Apple was struggling so much there was a mass exodus of creative professionals from the Mac to PC, but now that the Mac is on a bit of a comeback, I'm disappointed to see Adobe's rather lackluster support.

Any other Mac users here?