Most photographers, at some point, face the decision about how to manage and edit their photos and I was no exception. That decision almost always includes Apple's Aperture and Adobe's Lightroom.
Once you have dozens of shoots or thousands of pictures, the ability to find what you are looking for quickly becomes very nice to have. And having a way to incorporate editing into the management workflow can save a ton of time.
My workflow consisted of folders for each shoot and editing the images with a combination of Canon Zoom Browser and Photoshop. That worked for a while, but tens of thousands of images from dozens of shoots over 5 years, my strategy started to become less than ideal.
I decided to weigh my options and come up with a better solution. I downloaded both a 30 day trial of Aperture and Lightroom and put them both to the test managing editing and using my images.
Feature Sets
First let me start by listing the features of both applications and try to identify where they overlap and where they diverge.
Loaded images and tested workflow times between the two applications. While everyone will have their own personal opinions, here is what I thought.
Aperture I love the loop tool for zooming in and viewing details. I think the full screen mode is better than Lightroom, it appears to isolate each image better. The ability to stack images in collections is more intuitive than Lightroom. I like the idea of the digital light box.
Lightroom Dual monitor support in Lightroom was more flexible and more useful than Aperture. Lightroom's ability to be used on both mac and PC was a plus as well as the lower system requirements to run. Image editing seemed more natural and more robust. Image output options were broader and more useful. The use of sidecar files increases my ability to migrate my changes to a different application in the future.
Summary
I am completely satisfied with my decision to purchase Lightroom. I can now feel confident that my management and editing are secure and that I will always be able to find the images I need. I worry less about the details of my shot and focus more on not missing the moment since I know I have all the tools I need to come back later and tweak my shots into perfection.
The time I save and the lowered stress all but pay for themselves and the results speak volumes as well.
and Adobe's 
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