What processing software do you use?

[psimon]

When you get your photos ready for printing (or anything else you do with them) are you an Adobe Photoshop fan? Adobe Lightroom? Both? Something else?

Curious what is the popular choice.

Thanks...


---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[zackiedawg]

I'm in between your last two choices. I often shoot to avoid post processing necessity, therefore often can use what I get out of the camera...that's my goal.

However, if and when I do need any processing, from the minor stuff like a little crop, noise removal, sharpening, or bigger stuff like cloning, layering, curve adjustments, stacking, masking, etc..I prefer Corel Paint Shop Pro X4 to Photoshop. I used Photoshop Elements long ago, and side-by-side with Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8, and just liked PSP much more as far as interface and layout, while it had all the same controls, took the same plugins, and was cheaper to boot. When upgrading a few months ago, I decided to stick with PSP and went to Pro X4 - and it's been great. I still vastly prefer the layout and controls in PSP over Photoshop, and the latest PSP update seems to have pretty much identical functionality, features, controls, and capabilities as PS...just laid out differently and much cheaper.

I use Topaz & Nik Photoshop plugins with PSP Pro X4 as well.

 

[Cafeen]

The bulk of my workflow and organization is Lightroom (I'm still back on 3, but it works just fine). And this is also where I do the vast majority of my tweaking, from cropping and noise reduction, to adjusting color balance and that fun stuff.

I'll use Elements if I have to do something particular that LR doesn't allow me to do.

I also use Photomatrix Pro for my HDR processing (which then gets reimported into LR for organization and final tweaking).

Again though, 99% of my work is within Lightroom.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

I just started shooting RAW this year and have been using Digital Photo Professional (DPP) - the free software that came with my Canon.

I downloaded a trail version of Lightroom but have yet to open it up and give it a spin. I guess that means I'm content with DPP.

 

[havoc315]

Paint shop pro4 on the computer, snapsort and iPhoto on the iPad.

 

[nbaresejr]

I voted for Elements and Lightroom.

the majority of the my work is done in lightroom but on occasion i need to is elements to clone or erase things from the image. In addition this this software i also use Photomatix for HDR and Nik Color Efex 4 through lightroom for additional tweaks.

 

[SrisonS]

I just started shooting RAW this year and have been using Digital Photo Professional (DPP) - the free software that came with my Canon.

I downloaded a trail version of Lightroom but have yet to open it up and give it a spin. I guess that means I'm content with DPP.

Give that Lightroom trial a spin. You may no longer be content with DPP. I was in that same mindset for a while. LR can do so much more, and all with the same ease as DPP.

 

[handicap18]

I have Elements, but rarely use it. I've tried Lightroom and Aperture, but they are not for me. I use Nikon Capture NX2 for 99% of my editing. That's what works for me. I don't like to do a lot of post processing, adjust exposure and saturation and cropping is about the extent of what i like to do. I will do more if the image requires it, but I try my best to get it as close to perfect as I can when I take the photo.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I used to always use Elements and Canon's Digital Photo Professional. I've since got Lightroom, and my only complaint with it is sharpening. Everything else is great and so easy to use, and fast. I love how quickly I can go through a day's worth of Disney pictures!

 

[MICKEY88]

Lightroom 4 for all RAW processing
Corel Paint SHop Pro 4 for more in depth processing/playing
Portrait Professional for portrait processing, blemish removal etc..
PhotoKey4 Pro, for all studio stuff
Smart Photo Editor, when I wanna play around and do crazt stuff..LOL
Topaz Labs plugins/photofx lab with Lightroom and paint Shop Pro

 

[Renysmom]

I always start with Adobe Lightroom as that is where I store my catelog. If I need to tweek them I do it in there or if I am looking for a different look I use
Paint Shop Pro X4 , Photomatix for HDR, and Topaz Labs Plugins.

I am very happy to see so many using Paint Shop Pro X4. I have used PSP since version 3 and it has really progressed into a wonderful editor program that does everything that Elements does but I think a bit easier (IMO)

 

[racreel]

PaintShop Pro X4 and Topaz Labs plugins.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I use Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6 together. Most of my time is spent in Lightroom, with Photoshop used for things like spot removal, cloning things out, and to add filters like the gaussian blur to select areas.

Knowing much of our three-day holiday weekend was going to be a rain out, I also just purchased the Nik Software complete collection, and have been playing with those tools through Lightroom. It's funny how having the right post-processing tools can turn photos you thought were throw-aways into real keepers.

Another valuable Lightroom addition I recently found were Matt Kloskowski's free Lightroom presets. (If you use Lightroom, you really need to check out Matt's site lightroomkillertips.com.) He's recently posted camera profile presets for both Canon and Nikon. If you shoot in raw, you can use these presets while importing to come very close to the camera's internal processing and JPEG preview. It saves lots of time tweaking the sliders. http://lightroomkillertips.com/2012/lightroom-4-camera-calibration-profile-presets/

 

[KCmike]

Canon's DPP. I hate to post process. I try to stay as close to as the original shot out of the camera. Just a minor sharpen of contrast or sharpening.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

I've been using Photoshop Pro for years. It's great for retouch (I retouch senior photos for a professional photographer, and some of these poor teens have terrible acne... don't want them to have to remember that forever), but I really want to try out Lightroom for batch photo editing because Photoshop retouch can be painfully slow when you're just slightly adjusting the light and color.