First Software Purchase

<p>Hello all. I'm looking to purchase software to process and maipulate photos. I have Canon DPP and use it some, but am looking for something to allow HDR and Draganization. I have looked at Lightroom 2 on Adobe's web site, but don't know enough about these techniques to discern whether Lightroom 2 will allow me to perform these manipulations. Would Lightroom 2 with Photoshop Elements make this possible if Lightroom won't do it as a stand alone?<br>

I'm looking to spend less than the cost of Photoshop if possible. I know these are many plug-ins for Photoshop. Are these compatible with Lightroom 2 as well?<br>

I thank everyone for their input.<br>

DS Meador</p>

<p>many people use Photomatix for HDR. </p>

<p>a variation of HDR is 'exposure fusing' and there is an LR plugin to do that 'LR/enfuse'.</p>

<p>plug-ins for PS are not compatible w/ the LR plug-in architecture</p>

<p>Lightroom is really designed for professional photographers who regularly need to process a lot of pictures. If you are starting out, I would go for Photoshop Elements, which is a bargain considering what you get compared to the full Photoshop. Leave Lightroom for the time being unless you need the database features for managing many images. I am not sure what you can do with HDR in the current version of Elements, but Photomatix is not expensive. Elements + Photomatix will cost you much less than a full copy of Photoshop.</p>