Photo editing software

[live4christp1]

Was wondering if anyone here would share their favorite photo editing software/tools (if it's available by free download that's even better). I have a Canon Rebel EOS3.

Please share your favorite and why you like it? Is it easy and time friendly to work with?

Thanks!
Cristy

 

[NLD]

Probably the same as everyone else: Lightroom.

Does most of what I need in terms of editing and makes file management easy.

 

[wiigirl]

Probably the same as everyone else: Lightroom.

Does most of what I need in terms of editing and makes file management easy.

x2 for Lightroom.

 

[sflyboy]

Lightroom. It does cost, but it is the best for editing and organizing. You can even upload to social media such as facebook right from the program. It's awesome!

 

[PoohLover78]

Another yes for Lightroom. If you want to do more artistic stuff with your photos, get Photoshop. It does all Lightroom does plus a lot more For general stuff like white balance, color adjustment etc. Lightroom will be enough though.

 

[toomanycars]

Adobe Lightroom 5

 

[photo_chick]

Lightroom is awesome for image management, RAW processing and basic editing. When I need more I use Photoshop. If I were forced to choose I'd go Photoshop (even PS Elements) over Lightroom because it gives you all of the editing tools Lightroom has and then some and to me that's more important than image management.

 

[DDuck4Life]

It's lightroom for me as well. Worth the cost.

While I would enjoy have the heavy lifting functionality that Photoshop provides I can't justify the cost for both so lightroom it is for me.

 

[Cafeen]

95+% of my processing work is done in Lightroom. Couple the relative simplicity of the program with the organizational tools and it's a very solid package. Most of the rest is pushed to Photomatrix Pro for my HDR processing (exported from LR and then back in too ), with a tiny tiny bit left in Photoshop Elements. While I barely use elements, it's good to have for those times when LR won't cut the mustard.

Of course, I also don't do any compositing or anything like that. Just basic cropping, exposure tweaking, noise reduction, and some minor color density tweaks.

What you're looking to do will really decide which program you end up using more (as photo_chick above alludes to.) If looking for more image editing stuff, a photoshop-esque piece of software will work better. If looking for basic settings tweaks and organization, then a Lightroom-esque will work better. Unlike her, my choice would be Lightroom, since the organization and the level of tools contained within are more than sufficient for what I use it for. Of course, there is no right answer .

I'd look into downloading trials of both of them and seeing what you like and what you end up doing more in.

 

[cobright]

Lightroom.

It is so good that after a year with it I felt so bad about using a pirate copy that I went out and bought a legitimate license for it. Made an honest man out of me, so to speak.

Was like $150, which is a serious bit of scratch but nothing else is nearly as good.

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

I hate to sound like a broken record...Lightroom. I barely use Photoshop anymore, relatively speaking.

 

[NLD]

Just in case you're not convinced....

It really is amazing how much a little tweaking in Lightroom can do for you:


BeforeAfterExample_LRabilities by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

 

[Mickey1Fan]

gimp

get it free at getgimp.com

 

[Prisstina]

Just in case you're not convinced....

It really is amazing how much a little tweaking in Lightroom can do for you:


BeforeAfterExample_LRabilities by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

That is amazing!

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I'm a Photoshop Elements guy with the Topaz Suite plug-in. I just upgraded from Elements 8 to Elements 12. Elements wasn't too costly, however Topaz comes in between $200-$250.

 

[SrisonS]

Lightroom. It is so good that after a year with it I felt so bad about using a pirate copy that I went out and bought a legitimate license for it. Made an honest man out of me, so to speak. Was like $150, which is a serious bit of scratch but nothing else is nearly as good.

I took this route as well!!!!

 

[Experiment_626]

I have Lightroom, but I don't use it much -- mostly for finding and creating collections of related images for special projects. I've tried, but I still find myself going to Bridge and Photoshop nearly all the time. I tend to tweak most of my photos well beyond Lightroom's capabilities, and Bridge is less of a resource hog. As it is, I have three different Lightroom catalogs (one for each 2TB hard drive I have), but when I'm actually developing shots and need the same power that Lightroom offers, I find Adobe Camera RAW from Bridge to be snappier. Also, I've been using Photoshop since version 2.5.1, so I'm pretty well used to it.

Scott

 

[GrumpyGoat]

Another vote for Lightroom. I've been using it since version 1 and I'm up to version 5.2 now...

 

[golfntob]

Maybe you guys can answer a question I had during my trial version of Lightroom. We currently save our photos on our network external hard drive that we access wirelessly.

I was not sure how to use Lightroom with this system. I want to continue to store my photo files on the network external hard drive and it didn't seem like Lightroom was able to do this. However I loved the results I got from Lightroom.

 

[toomanycars]

What great timing considering the nature of this thread.


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