Questions about photo editing software ..

[Rayallyn]

Having gone to college for photography and graphic design. I used Photoshop CS3 but I had the whole package photoshop, indesign, and Illustrator. Now that I have retired I find that Corel PaintShop Pro can cover most of my needs. For the money it's a good buy but I intend to go back to photoshop later. I believe that Corel makes a version for Mac.

 

[sharkbaitDAN]

To the OP:

What is it you want your software to do, and is there something iPhoto does not do that you want it to?

The reason I ask is that I have seen people getting into underwater photography and want to use more complicated equipment or software without really knowing what they are getting themselves into. For example, on dive trips I spend 1-2 hours each evening dealing with camera gear, downloading photos and doing some light editing. After the trip I will spend an additional 2-12 hours (depending on how long the trip was, and how I liked my photos) doing additional editing, uploading to websites and choosing photos to print.

I use lightroom 4 for organizing and Photoshop 5 for editing. I shoot exclusively in RAW and each photo can take up anywhere for 15MB (original RAW) to 300MB (TIFF). For me iPhoto was nowhere near powerful enough, or fast enough to deal with images that large, but I still use it for organizing jpgs and videos that I am going to upload to my website. I used Aperture for awhile and never really liked it, just a personal thing, I like lightroom's organization and editing tools better.

If iPhoto is doing what you want right now, there is no reason to switch. You know how to use it, and it's free. I would wait to see what the Yosemite photo program is like before recommending a switch. If you think that you have no interest in spending as much time as I do (and I know people who spend much more time), I wouldn't recommend using the same software that I do.

A couple years ago I was working at Optical Ocean Sales, and took a phone call from someone who had been reading online about focal nodes, and virtual focusing, and ideal distances from the lens to the inside of the port. He wanted to order a new port extension because of what he read ($225 or so for 5mm difference). I asked if his lens was focusing with his current extension, and he said yes. I asked if his photos were sharp, and he said yes. I asked if his equipment works for what he is doing, why would he spend money on something that the internet said was better? He did not end up getting the extension.

Just because something works better for someone else, there is no reason to switch unless you feel like your equipment is not working for you.

 

[LowVizWiz]

To the OP:

Just because something works better for someone else, there is no reason to switch unless you feel like your equipment is not working for you.

You make way too much sense to be on the internet!

Anything I can possibly add to this thread you said much better than I could have done.

I also use Lightroom 4 and only shoot in RAW. I have yet to find a reason to upgrade to v5.

 

[Interceptor121]

I disagree with the comment of not changing if you are happy. There will be pictures in your disk that you have rejected because iPhoto could do nothing with it that with good software use can be not only rescued but prove very interesting. The most important difference between iPhoto and Lightroom is that with iPhoto you alter the whole picture whatever you do. Lightroom let's you work on part of the image which is really key for underwater photo. You don't know what you don't know sit down with someone that knows and see what they do and you will see you need a better software

 

[deeper thoughts]

Lightroom does much more than iPhoto especially in the latest 5 version
Think of iPhoto as a library program and lightroom as a more advanced one near to what a proper software like photoshop can do

What you cannot do in lightroom is one shot removal of backscatter, applying content sensitive scaling and other tricks and manipulate colors aggresively on very deep shots. Most of the rest you can do and is much better than iPhoto

Having said that there is a learning curve and at the beginning the improvement will feel large but once you start knowing how to use it definitely light years better

X

could you tell me which program has one shot removal of back scatter?
i have photoshop 11

 

[Interceptor121]

I have seen it done in photo shoot with i think some proximity or contour intelligence after that you may be left with some individual specks to take out manually. This in contrast to heal or clone adjustment in Lightroom that are long winded and single dor

 

[bvanant]

I don't know what "proper editing software is" but for most UW photographers that I know, LR is quite enough, Photoshop is really designed more for compositing, layers and making things that have embedded text like advertisements. In terms of Aperture, why would anyone trust 40K images to software that is no longer being supported by Apple. The new Apple software is Photos (and will be most likely part of the next OS, like iPhoto is now) and details are not very thick on the ground, except it will supposedly have 3rd party extensibility (can you say APP store).
In any case, download LR, and PS and anything else you think you might like, play with them and see what fills your needs.
Bill

 

[NautilusCairns]

You make way too much sense to be on the internet!

Anything I can possibly add to this thread you said much better than I could have done.

I also use Lightroom 4 and only shoot in RAW. I have yet to find a reason to upgrade to v5.

Lightroom 5 is needed if you shoot RAW with an Olympus. I changed cameras and then needed to upgrade.

 

[ShootingUnderwater.com]

There's a free program online called Pixlr that works too. It's not as advanced as most but has the same tools that PS and LR offer. Depending on what your editing needs are, this could be an option.