Software for Digital Prcessing

[peterogof]

View attachment 133692 Help - there are so many packages out there and variations on packages I just do not know which would suit a newcomer to digital processing of images. I use a MAC normally so would appreciate any advice please.


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[dxqcanada]

You referring to Free or ones that cost $$$, whats the budget ?

 

[peterogof]

You referring to Free or ones that cost $$$, whats the budget ?

Nope, not free ones, but sensible prices - hundreds not thousands


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[Dave442]

I currently have LightRoom as my main processor for managing my photos. From there I can send directly from LR to Photoshop, ON1, or the free Google Nik Collection. I also have Hugin as another option for panorama and Zerene Stacker for focus stacking. Also, the free Nikon software (but hardly ever use). I am using these on a MBP.

LightRoom and Photoshop have so much information available on how to learn and use them and that makes them very good options. Not sure if Google has done anything to improve the Nik package after they picked it up, but it is free and has a few good tools. ON1 has come out with better versions and is very photographer oriented and it ties in with LightRoom.

 

[peterogof]

I currently have LightRoom as my main processor for managing my photos. From there I can send directly from LR to Photoshop, ON1, or the free Google Nik Collection. I also have Hugin as another option for panorama and Zerene Stacker for focus stacking. Also, the free Nikon software (but hardly ever use). I am using these on a MBP.

LightRoom and Photoshop have so much information available on how to learn and use them and that makes them very good options. Not sure if Google has done anything to improve the Nik package after they picked it up, but it is free and has a few good tools. ON1 has come out with better versions and is very photographer oriented and it ties in with LightRoom.

Thanks Dave - what are the differences between Lightroom and Photoshop. Also, there seem to be several versions of Photoshop


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[Ysarex]

I currently have LightRoom as my main processor for managing my photos. From there I can send directly from LR to Photoshop, ON1, or the free Google Nik Collection. I also have Hugin as another option for panorama and Zerene Stacker for focus stacking. Also, the free Nikon software (but hardly ever use). I am using these on a MBP.

LightRoom and Photoshop have so much information available on how to learn and use them and that makes them very good options. Not sure if Google has done anything to improve the Nik package after they picked it up, but it is free and has a few good tools. ON1 has come out with better versions and is very photographer oriented and it ties in with LightRoom.

Thanks Dave - what are the differences between Lightroom and Photoshop. Also, there seem to be several versions of Photoshop


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Lightroom is a parametric editor and also contains a DAM (digital asset management) database for your photo collection. Photoshop is a raster or pixel editor and contains a file manager (Bridge). Photoshop Elements is a trimmed down (crippled) version of Photoshop and also contains a file management component geared toward the consumer market.

Can you be more specific about your needs? Are you interested in processing raw files or camera JPEGs. What camera are you using?

Joe

 

[KmH]

You can get the industry standard, professional grade version of both Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC from Adobe for $9.99 a month ($119.88 a year).
Lightroom was designed to be a front end image database management and initial editing application to supplement Photoshop.
Many, if not most of the edits photos need can be accomplished using Lr.
Lr doesn't have the precision selection tools nor the range of tools & functions Photoshop has.
Pros usually start by editing in Lr's Develop module and then finish editing in Ps.
Note: Lr's Develop module and Ps's Camera Raw are the same application - Adobe Camera Raw - though each has some minor differences

Since both are Adobe software the 2 are very tightly integrated

Adobe sells a consumer grade version of Photoshop CC called Photoshop Elements.
Photoshop elements is limited to doing 8-bit depth edits and the version of Camera Raw included with Elements only has about 1/2 of the tolls and functions found in Lr and Ps Camera Raw

 

[peterogof]

You can get the industry standard, professional grade version of both Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC from Adobe for $9.99 a month ($119.88 a year).
Lightroom was designed to be a front end image database management and initial editing application to supplement Photoshop.
Many, if not most of the edits photos need can be accomplished using Lr.
Lr doesn't have the precision selection tools nor the range of tools & functions Photoshop has.
Pros usually start by editing in Lr's Develop module and then finish editing in Ps.
Note: Lr's Develop module and Ps's Camera Raw are the same application - Adobe Camera Raw - though each has some minor differences

Since both are Adobe software the 2 are very tightly integrated

Adobe sells a consumer grade version of Photoshop CC called Photoshop Elements.
Photoshop elements is limited to doing 8-bit depth edits and the version of Camera Raw included with Elements only has about 1/2 of the tolls and functions found in Lr and Ps Camera Raw

Thanks a lot everyone - all is a lot clearer now. I will wait a while and see how I go with the Canon software which has limited editing included


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[Hermes1]

I have used Light Room and Photoshop for years. While I like both I hate dealing with Adobe, because if you need for any reason to contact them, besides getting through, their customer service sucks. Since Adobe has gone to the cloud subscription, I will be switching platforms, because I am not that in love with Adobe to buy into the subscription. Having said that, I can see the subscription service working for someone who likes to upgrade to the latest and greatest version, I am just not that guy.

 

[KmH]

With the subscription there is no more "upgrading".
We get each new feature, tool, capability, or version as soon as it's ready.

Since Ps was $699 and Lr started out at $299, at $119.88 a year for both, the subscription seems like quite a bargain.

 

[Hermes1]

With the subscription there is no more "upgrading".
We get each new feature, tool, capability, or version as soon as it's ready.

Since Ps was $699 and Lr started out at $299, at $119.88 a year for both, the subscription seems like quite a bargain.

Yes but it is an annual expense I care not to make as it is rare I need the latest and greatest.

 

[peterogof]

Thank you all for your very helpful comments. I certainly won't be purchasing annual subscription software - a scam in my view


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[KmH]

Compared to the cost of other professional grade software applications, say for something like mechanical drawing, Photoshop and Lightroom are dirt cheap, even by subscription.

By the way.
Those having an older, pre-subscription version of Ps & Lr can't use them to open the camera make/model proprietary Raw files of cameras available after whatever older version they have.
The camera makers do not provide Adobe with their proprietary Raw file information.
Adobe has to 'reverse engineer' those new Raw files. Doing so requires a considerable effort, and expense, on Adobe's part.

Like most things, you get what you pay for.
If it only costs a little, or nothing, be sure you adjust your expectations accordingly.

 

[Ysarex]

Compared to the cost of other professional grade software applications, say for something like mechanical drawing, Photoshop and Lightroom are dirt cheap, even by subscription.

Mechanical drawing?? How about photography? I'm betting we're all photographers here.

Now don't get me wrong I recommend Lightroom as the photo app of choice but I think the dirt cheap characterization is off base.

Let's do a side by side cost comparison over 5 years: Adobe's easy -- 60 months X $10.00 = $600.00. If at that point you decide to stop paying the software stops working.

By comparison let's go with one of the more expensive options and pick an app that is frankly more sophisticated and more capable (as an editor) than Lightroom, Capture One. Purchase price is $300.00. Phase One has behaved very traditionally and consistently over the years and you can expect a new full version about every 18 months. At that point your upgrade cost is $99.00. If you buy each upgrade when released in five years you'll have spent $600.00. If you skip one of those 18 month cycles because you didn't buy a new camera every 18 months Phase One is cool with that and will still charge you only $99.00 to upgrade. Let's do that and in five years you'll have spent $500.00. If you decide at that point to buy no further upgrades your software will keep working -- indefinitely.

Now with the purchase of Capture One you don't get Photoshop, but since Capture One is a more capable parametric editor than Lightroom what do you really need Photoshop for -- cloning out utility wires? Most photographers using Lightroom will tell you they get the job done in Lightroom and rarely use PS. If PS is only needed for light duty like some occasional cloning or spotting you can supplement Capture One with a cheap PS clone like Affinity for $49.00. So over the course of five years using Capture One and Affinity you save $50.00 compared with Adobe and have working software even if you don't want to spend more. By comparison, Adobe is not dirt cheap.

Joe

 

[Derrel]

By the way.
Those having an older, pre-subscription version of Ps & Lr can't use them to open the camera make/model proprietary Raw files of cameras available after whatever older version they have.
The camera makers do not provide Adobe with their proprietary Raw file information.
Adobe has to 'reverse engineer' those new Raw files. Doing so requires a considerable effort, and expense, on Adobe's part.

The workaround so far has been to use free Adobe software to convert raw files from various newer cameras to .DNG format. Or to use another raw developer that CAN open the files, and to then convert to .DNG or to a 16-bit .TIF file format, or to a PSD format, or to own or use a camera that has .DNG as one of its raw output formats, like cameras from say, Pentax.

And of course, Adobe does a pretty s****y job with the raw files of some cameras, and HAS for over a decade, such as the raws from the Fuji S2,S3 S5 Pro bodies, and newer Fuji X-Trans sensor files...Adobe sowtware has been pretty shoddy for Fuji users for a loooong time now...I recall the days when I converted ALL of my Fuji .RAF files using non-Adobe software, like MacBibble, or SilkyPIX, or Fuji's very own EX Converter.

There is more than Adobe in the RAW file development business, so if the hook that keeps people buying their drugs from Adobe is RAW file development...there is more than just big, bad ole' Adobe hanging around the alleys these days.

Adobe's $10-a-month offer was, as we all recall, preceded by an outrageous $50-a-month EXTORTION PLAN that went over like a lead balloon. After millions of loyal users cried foul, Adobe dropped the ransom demand from $50 a month, to what the market deemed their software to be worth: $10 a month.