Photo Editing Software?

Gig 'Em Mickey

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just got my first DSLR yesterday. Curious about photo editing software. Been watching NowInc's thread on photo edits and see lightroom, photoshop, photomatix, and a couple others. Do you really need all those? If I were to pick one, which one would prove more useful?

Also, I've seen the monthly plan for photoshop and lightroom together. How does that work? Do your photos have to upload to the cloud prior to being able to edit them, or is it just a temporary license that will expire if your monthly payment isn't received?

Only editing I've ever done is using the free picasa tool, but I'm wanting to do more and have more control in post-processing.
 

NowInc

Well-Known Member
Just got my first DSLR yesterday. Curious about photo editing software. Been watching NowInc's thread on photo edits and see lightroom, photoshop, photomatix, and a couple others. Do you really need all those? If I were to pick one, which one would prove more useful?

Also, I've seen the monthly plan for photoshop and lightroom together. How does that work? Do your photos have to upload to the cloud prior to being able to edit them, or is it just a temporary license that will expire if your monthly payment isn't received?

Only editing I've ever done is using the free picasa tool, but I'm wanting to do more and have more control in post-processing.

You absolutely do not need all of the programs that I use. In fact, some people hate Photoshop and Lightroom and do fantastic things using the software that comes with their camera. Lets break it down for you:

Lightroom/Photoshop: Yes, My preference. The monthly plan is pretty much a no brainer. For the low cost, you get both programs that can be used on TWO machines at once (Example: A desktop and a laptop). They work really well with one another. You do NOT have to upload anything to the cloud. The monthly payment is basically a licence month by month. Stop paying, the programs will stop working.

Google NIK: As I'm sure you have figured out by watching my videos, I am a HUGE fan of this moderately priced plug in set. Do you NEED them? No. I use them as shortcuts to things that can be done exactly the same way (through more steps) with native photoshop tools. The HDR suite that comes with it is simple, but in my opinion the inferior of the other one I use...which brings me to...

Photomatix: This is a one trick pony, but what a trick it does! It is, in my opinion at least, the best suite to use for Tonal fusion/Exposure bracketing (HDR). Sadly, that means its also the hardest. A lot of work goes into using it, but the final results are 9 times out of 10 the best you'll get.

If you are just starting out, I'd say avoid HDR. Its all too easy to make things LOOK too over-processed (a few here have been "nice" enough to point out my images being prime examples of that, apparently), and it can easily get you into bad habits.

Some will say that you should rely on the camera more than the post processing, and this is correct. However, RAW images need to be touched up. I have found that Lightroom is the easiest for doing this (OnOne is close, but I am not that familiar with it yet to give it a fair recommendation). Get as much right as you can in the camera, and fix the rest in post.
 

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