I find the power of Lightroom to be quite dramatic. This might not be the best example, but it will do.
Camera profile, white balance, tone curve, graduated filter of less exposure and more saturation in the sky, vignette, vibrance, clarity, spot removals, saturation shift of blue, orange, red, and yellow, noise reduction and sharpening – all contributed to the final product.
Others can use all the power in Photoshop, or Aperture, and that works for them. Lightroom works for me. If you’re struggling with Aperture or find Photoshop to be too intimidating, try Lightroom!
First off, what a huge difference in the two images. If you’re shooting RAW, the image capture is only the first step, you have to post process. I agree that Lightroom is relatively easy to use and learn. Much easier than Photoshop.I’m back to using Aperture as my main image editing software for now but that could change and I can go right back to Lightroom. I would recommend to anyone to get and use a book devoted to their software. There’s always something to learn.