Lightroom and PS Alternatives

[debm5469]

New to the forum and just getting back into photography after a stint running an art gallery. I have used PS since the 90’s (previously a graphic designer in another life) but never got to know LR. Now I’m rusty and curious to learn if there are any decent LR alternatives. For a time I enjoyed some of the Topaz plugins for PS but they are pricey. I realize there are many apps and online services but have no idea if there is anything decent or if they are all just fluff and, more importantly, if they all reduce resolution.

 

[Ysarex]

New to the forum and just getting back into photography after a stint running an art gallery. I have used PS since the 90’s (previously a graphic designer in another life) but never got to know LR. Now I’m rusty and curious to learn if there are any decent LR alternatives. For a time I enjoyed some of the Topaz plugins for PS but they are pricey. I realize there are many apps and online services but have no idea if there is anything decent or if they are all just fluff and, more importantly, if they all reduce resolution.

LR is both a image processor as well as a DAM (digital asset management) database. If you're really looking for a combination of the two it's probably the best overall option. Other apps that offer the DAM function are generally weaker on that score. If you're primarily interested in the image processing side then there are competitive alternatives:

Capture One
PhotoLab
On1
ACDSee
DarkTable

A competitive Photoshop alternative is Affinity Photo.

 

[debm5469]

LR is both a image processor as well as a DAM (digital asset management) database. If you're really looking for a combination of the two it's probably the best overall option. Other apps that offer the DAM function are generally weaker on that score. If you're primarily interested in the image processing side then there are competitive alternatives:

Capture One
PhotoLab
On1
ACDSee
DarkTable

A competitive Photoshop alternative is Affinity Photo.

I had a feeling there would be some competitive options. Thank you!

 

[SunriseAvenue]

Affinity Photo is their best rival, and imo Photoworks would be one of the second bests. There is an article about this one, it's biggest pro is that it doesn't follow the subscription model, but it's not exactly sophisticated. If you're an expirienced user, it might seem a bit lacking to you.

 

[r1ch]

New to the forum and just getting back into photography after a stint running an art gallery. I have used PS since the 90’s (previously a graphic designer in another life) but never got to know LR. Now I’m rusty and curious to learn if there are any decent LR alternatives. For a time I enjoyed some of the Topaz plugins for PS but they are pricey. I realize there are many apps and online services but have no idea if there is anything decent or if they are all just fluff and, more importantly, if they all reduce resolution.

I have used most of them. I like On1 the best. It is like Lightroom and photoshop combined. It does raw editing, but it has filters as well. Your old Topaz plug ins and Adobe plug ins will work in On1. On1 has all the functionality that Adobe does, including AI for masking which does not send your images somewhere else. It can even run as a plug in to Photoshop/lightroom. It has layers unlike lightroom. They have a trial so you can try it out.