good editing programs

[chuasam]

if Free is so good, why is Adobe Photoshop by far the most dominant player?

For the same reason every other successful company is successful - they have a good marketing department. Dominance and quality are not even slightly related. Compare a Ford to a Rolls Royce - only one is dominant and only one is quality.



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Ford? the American "car" company that has abandoned making all but TWO cars (Mustang and Focus Active) Ford to stop selling every car in North America but the Mustang and Focus Active

 

[vintagesnaps]

So do photographers (need to eat, pay the bills); why should programmers be paid well? photographers who use it aren't.

Pick another brand (I don't think JohnM lives in the US and chances are just named a common car brand) - I think the point is, lots of things are popular among the general public, but that doesn't mean something is necessarily the best.

I think I paid $70 for Photoshop and have gotten more than a year's worth of use out of it. I don't like subscriptions that keep continuing to bill. It was a matter of budgeting for it.

It's not really a matter of being an amateur, a pro, or somewhere in between. I don't work as a photographer for income I depend on, but minimal if any editing is all I need to be able to produce photos that have gotten accepted into juried exhibits and hanging on a wall somewhere.

To get back to the OP, part of the reason good photographers are able to produce good quality photos is because they have the ability, learn and practice, know how to get proper exposures, are good at framing and composing images, etc. Whether it's in a wet darkroom or editing digitally, those things to me seem to be the key (particularly getting proper exposures). That way any editing done can be to enhance images rather than to fix photos that didn't turn out well.

 

[DanOstergren25]

From what I hear, Affinity is pretty good and is low cost. Not sure if they make you pay for future updated versions though.

I use photoshop, as it's what I was taught from an early age so I'm very proficient with it. I've been using it for 16 years and have no complaints. As for the subscription model, the subscription made it so I could finally afford to pay for Photoshop rather than pirating it. It's not expensive to me, it literally costs the same as two days bus fare per month.

Affinity on the iPad Pro is far better than Photoshop on the iOS (which is pretty much rubbish). I've been meaning to get proficient at Affinity Photo (iOS) but add that to my long list of things to do.

My boyfriend has been pushing me to learn Affinity on his ipad pro, but it's been a struggle for me. He has the pen that turns the ipad into a graphic tablet, but I still seem to have issues with accuracy, especially with dodging and burning; issues that I don't have while using my wacom on my desktop computer. I'd still like to have a mobile editing option though, so I'm trying to figure it out anyways. I just have my workflow in Photoshop down to an accurate and quick process, so it's difficult for me to use anything else proficiently and in a timely manner.

 

[john.margetts]

Pick another brand (I don't think JohnM lives in the US and chances are just named a common car brand) - I think the point is, lots of things are popular among the general public, but that doesn't mean something is necessarily the best.

No, thankfully I do not live in the USA and Ford are pretty dominant here. At least, in the street outside our house, there are more Fords than any other make.



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[weepete]

Use it, don't use it, I don't care.

I'm perfectly happy with it and, for what it is, I consider it cheap. If you don't or it's not for you then that's ok, you don't need to use it.

 

[smoke665]

Use it, don't use it, I don't care.

I'm perfectly happy with it and, for what it is, I consider it cheap. If you don't or it's not for you then that's ok, you don't need to use it.

Yup, think I said the same back 4 pages ago "May not be for all, but for me it works."

 

[chuasam]

to sum it up, if you want a skill that can grow and you can find resources and a support group and magazines - Photoshop
if you're a dilettante - just get whatever.

 

[MonkMayfair1937]

Lightroom is missing from my Adobe Photoshop CS5 master bundle. Does Affinity perform the same things? Rather annoying that Lightroom isn't in there - it has about every other program known to man.

For philosophical reasons, I'm reticent to subscribe to the Adobe cloud. I'm forced to, in essence, buy a new program each year. If I can't have a hard copy, I won't use it.

I'm a rank beginner to manual photography. Lightroom would help.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Lightroom is missing from my Adobe Photoshop CS5 master bundle. Does Affinity perform the same things? Rather annoying that Lightroom isn't in there - it has about every other program known to man.

For philosophical reasons, I'm reticent to subscribe to the Adobe cloud. I'm forced to, in essence, buy a new program each year. If I can't have a hard copy, I won't use it.

I'm a rank beginner to manual photography. Lightroom would help.

No Affinity has no library facility so its not a replacement for LR. But I think from the meant to be coming up with one at some stage.