[RMabo]

Paint Shop Pro X6 or X7. Cost a lot less then going the Photoshop route and has a lot it can do.

Yes but Paint Shop Pro is not available on the Mac... We have Pixelmator and Acorn instead.

[watchingskyfallatm]

Since you're using Mac there are some things to consider here:

* Mac has built in RAW-processing with software that uses the built in Core Image library, so all applications which uses Core Image has the same RAW-processing, uses the same algorithms and therefore has the same results. Only features between the programs can differ. You are already using Preview, this uses Core Image, as well as Apples other image applications.

* Aperture is about to die and to be replaced by the new Photos application that will be released at the same time when Mac OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite is released. It will use ICloud photo library and be compatible with iOS. (iOS already has a version of the new Photos application). Reports from the beta-version shows it is really user friendly with nice power-on-demand for advanced RAM processing. This one will probably be released sometime in march - april this spring, probably at no cost at all.

* There's a new Photoshop contented for Mac, that is being worked upon now and is in beta version: Affinity Photo, from Serif Europe. It looks amazingly good! Very easy to remove parts of image and doing interesting stuff... I'm thrilled! Look at it here:
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

I believe Affinity Photos will use the Core Image RAW-processing algorithms, but you should also be able to use it within the new Photos application: Having Photos as the photo library and then access Affinitity Photos as an external photo editor if you wish. Today's iPhoto and Aperture can already do this...

* Corel AfterShot 2 is a new version of the Bibble Pro RAW-conversion from Bibble Labs (Corel bought Bibble Labs) I used it for some time and I was happy, but then I decided to switch to Aperture which I'm using today... AfterShot 2 is very fast and is very capable, and it has a low price too... But I prefer Aperture, and I will switch to Photos when it comes and I'm probably going to buy Affinity Photos.

I currently uses Pixelmator, it's like a low cost Photoshop 6 but much nicer Macish user interface... This is for when I have the need for advanced image manipulation. For me, Affinity Photos will probably replace it...

Capture One has been mentioned and yes this is very nice in terms of RAW processing, probably the sweetest of them all... I used it when I had Windows and it was wow...

Aperture, Lightroom, Capture One, and the coming Photos, are all photo library software with built-in RAW-processing tools. Photoshop, Pixelmator, Affinity Photos - they are image manipulation programs, they are not primarly RAW-processors. You need both, one library and RAW-processor - and one image manipulation program. THey do different things.

Dude that's awesome - tusind tak for det! I'll check into AfterShot and Pixelmator, but mind end up going with Photoshop/Lightroom.. Anyway, thanks again.

---------- Post added 02-22-15 at 08:19 PM ----------

+1 for Pixelmator. As OS X oriented as Pixelmator is I have a hard time believing they wouldn't be just as compatible with Photos as Affinity.

Affinity does look interesting for the Prosumer though, but if you don't need the CMYK & Adobe plug-in support it is kinda overkill.

Yeah that seems a bit much for what I need. Will look into Pixelmator though. Cheers!

---------- Post added 02-22-15 at 08:27 PM ----------

I am having a PC running WIN7 64bit and using Corel AfterShot Pro and PSP X6. I have every now and then tried Photoshop too, my friend is using it. However, I prefer my combination of these Corel programs better. I think it is easier, and I can do everything I need with it. Plus it is much cheaper too.

Most of these companies give a free fully functional trial period. Just try them all and figure out, what is that you like the most. Photoshop may be the leader of the markets, but do you really need it all and are you willing to pay for it. It is you, who desides.

Will try out the Corel stuff - cheers for the recommendation.

[RMabo]

Also look at Acorn 4, it is as powerful as Pixelmator and has similar features - but many prefers the user interface of Acorn, finding it simpler and more intuitive to use. Interface is indeed less cluttered than Pixelmator, more clean.
Acorn 4, a great Mac OS X picture and photo editor, built for humans.

[watchingskyfallatm]

Also look at Acorn 4, it is as powerful as Pixelmator and has similar features - but many prefers the user interface of Acorn, finding it simpler and more intuitive to use. Interface is indeed less cluttered than Pixelmator, more clean.
Acorn 4, a great Mac OS X picture and photo editor, built for humans.

Awesome - thank you again! Checking everything out.

[derekkite]

For Linux and Mac, Darktable. Open source and quite powerful.

[wildman]

What PP program should I use?

The one you have mastered and understand.

[emalvick]

Since you already have Photoshop, you should be able to make it work. Assuming you might have Bridge too (since it usually comes with Photoshop), you could in essence use Bridge and ACR (Adobe Camera Raw, the raw processor that comes with Photoshop) to do what you want and then use Photoshop to finish things off. Rather than invest in new software, you could just invest in a good book on Photoshop.

Also, the combination of Bridge and ACR is along the lines of what you'd get out of Lightroom. Lightroom is basically a more beefed up catalog program over Bridge and the processing (develop module) is a front-end over ACR.

Ultimately, I definitely wouldn't install another pixel level photo software (e.g. Paintshop Pro or GIMP) unless your version of Photoshop is old. The Raw processing, you might try a couple like Lightroom, Capture One, etc, but I'd also try what Photoshop has to offer first. You can actually do quite a bit of what Lightroom does with it.

[Murfy]

I have used only Photoshop, lightroom and capture one, capture one just blows me away. But like someone mentioned it is expensive. However, I also dont find you need the extras. I know a lot of people who use nik software for noise and sharpening, and I just dont see a need for it with capture one, but I do with lightroom, so maybe it evens it out. I mean yes you can use lightroom without nik or topaz or other plug ins, I do, but I see a marked improvement when I use the plug ins. I know people buy them for the sharpening features and unfortunately with Nik that is another $159 or so for that.

But if you have photoshop than by all means stick with it because I know photographers who use Photoshop alone and never use lightroom. Nothing wrong with that, I just have lightroom so I dont find myself using Photoshop

[rrstuff]

Hi all,

What program is best? Lightroom? Aperture? Gimp? Or will Photoshop do everything I need I just need to learn more? I don't mind if there's a steep learning curve, I just want the best results. Also I don't mind b uying a program, though I don't want to be spending hundreds, but around $100ish is ok.

Thanks!

In that price you only have lightroom, but it's not that powerful. I got a photography subscription from Adobe, which includes both Photoshop and Lightroom for $10 a month. I think it's worth it.

I found the image quality to be the nicest in subjective terms from Capture One, but their express version for $99 has no local adjustments and their Pro version is expensive.

DXO is supposed to have some really good features, but lack of real-time updates in images makes it cumbersome to use.

You can download a trial version (30-60 days) for each of these and decide yourself.

[ps1984]

Hey,

Don't want to create a new thread, so posted here.

My question as OP asked: which PP program you recommend?

I tried Lightroom 5, but my vista 64-bit does not support Lr 5
and on my laptop with Win 7 32-bit 4 GB RAM while processing HQ RAW files it simply crashes...lacking enough memory I guess.
Lr 4 supports vista but not into retail anymore I think.

Installed RawTherapee but not familiar with it yet and not sure about it performance...

Heard about Gimp with plug-in for RAW files but not installed yet.

What are your suggestions?

Greets

[atupdate]

Hey,

Don't want to create a new thread, so posted here.

My question as OP asked: which PP program you recommend?

What are your suggestions?

Greets

I'm one of the minorities that use Paint Shop Pro (Version X4 for me). You can get the latest version (X7) on Amazon for for less than $60, version X6 for less than $50 and version X5 (newer than mine) for less than $25. All will work on your systems.

Amazon.com: paint shop pro: Software

PSP has all the tool photoshop has but some are operate differently. Although there aren't as many web-based tutorials available for PSP, most of the tutorials for Photoshop can be translated into PSP. PSP also accepts almost all of the plug-ins for Photoshop.

Applied a gradient background to this image



B&W Conversion and cloned out some stuff in the backgroun in this image



Combined 5 exposures in this image.



A little masking and shifting of Hue in this image.



All I can say is that PSP has the tools at a pretty reasonable price.

Tim

[rrstuff]

Hey,

Don't want to create a new thread, so posted here.

My question as OP asked: which PP program you recommend?

I tried Lightroom 5, but my vista 64-bit does not support Lr 5
and on my laptop with Win 7 32-bit 4 GB RAM while processing HQ RAW files it simply crashes...lacking enough memory I guess.
Lr 4 supports vista but not into retail anymore I think.

Installed RawTherapee but not familiar with it yet and not sure about it performance...

Heard about Gimp with plug-in for RAW files but not installed yet.

What are your suggestions?

Greets

4gb ram should be enough. Just contact adobe help desk, I think it all should work. I used lightroom with 64-bit vista and I think it was version 5.

[GeneV]

I seem to be using Photoninja more and more. It started out that I just used it for the noise reductions, but the versions have gotten better and better to the point where the demosaicing is often noticeably better than Photoshop ACR. In addition, the exposure handling in raw conversions is superior to most. I shot some pueblo ruins against beautiful bright blue sky with interesting clouds. In Photoshop, I needed us use a 3 shot bracket and HDR to get results similar to Photoninja's default processing of just one of the exposures.

[csa]

I was interested in going to Photoshop CC, but it seems the only way to get it, is the $9.99 month/yearly. I do not want to lock into fees like this, would rather buy it outright, but evidentally that's not possible.

[RCDREAMS]

I have used a wide range of processing programs over the past few years and no matter which one you use, there will always be another program that has another feature that you need. The final conclusion is that you will usually need to have more than one program to cover all the things you might need (or want) to do with your images. And sometimes you will just want to have fun with your images. With that in mind I highly recommend you check out Smart Photo Editor. This is a really fun program that is extremely powerful, yet easy to use. It only works with JPG or Tiff files, so no RAW feature (at least for now). It takes a while to learn all the ways you can use it, but it is fun to explore the numerous options. Another great thing about it is that it is community based, so new filters are always being added. t's not free, but it costs less than $40. Compared to everything else I have used, this is the best program for the cost. Just Google Smart Photo Editor and check it out.