Two part question here, i’ve been on and off photography for about 8-10 years and while i don’t know everything and anything about my camera, everything about composition and editing, I feel i know enough to edit photos the way i like and making them decent compositions. at this point, should i start thinking about investing into a laptop/iPad and lightroom rather than relying on the free portions of editing apps to create better edits?
Well I use a 4 year old 15" Dell laptop & a 27" BenQ monitor.
I got the monitor two years ago when I retired and wished I had gotten it sooner. Makes a huge difference with editing, comparing before and after edits and side by side comparisons of virtual copies edited in different ways to see what I like best for the image.
I have been using editing programs similar to Lightroom since my first DX camera. But switched to Lightroom about 4 years back with my DX D5500 for its consistent upgrading and sticking with a single program to keep expanding my editing skills. Any editing question I have I can find on the Internet as so many use Lightroom.
For me, my goal is to continually get better with my compositions in camera, then to be able to edit them to how I saw them or try new styles with them.