Alternatives to Lightroom for someone who isn't locked in to it yet?

Valvebounce

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Hi Folks.
I would like some help from the collective wisdom of the forum please.
First of all I am not opening this topic to a debate between perpetual and subscription, I have stated my thoughts else where, I intend to purchase LR 6 perpetual if I get Lightroom as I am a novice user and won't (ever? ;D) know what to do with 90% of the ability of the software let alone need all the new stuff that may come along! :)

I have recently been trying Lightroom, (5 days free trial really flew by) and I have realised that it has the possibility to raise the level of my post processing, no surprise there then! I particularly like the ability to auto select a whole area, for example the sky around a plane and make adjustments to that whilst completely ignoring the plane, making this my main requirement, (I don't have a steady enough hand or the patience to draw round something pixel by pixel) so my main question is, is there any other software I should be looking at before going ahead with Lightroom?
Thank you in advance.

Cheers, Graham.
 
Good Morning

My first post here, but thought I'd point you in the direction of Affinity Photo. I'm by no means an expert at post processing, but Affinity has loads of tutorial videos available. It's more like the full photoshop, but only costs £29 or $39 I believe at present.
It's not as simple as Lightroom to get started, but I find that I can do most things that I need to do quite easily.

Cheers

Chris
 
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YuengLinger

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As much as I've moaned and groaned about the subscription model, as things stand right now, for the money, initial ease of use, and future room to grow, PS CC is the way to go. You get LR included for the $8-10 monthly fee, and if you don't want the catalog features of LR, Bridge works great. You can stick to the Adobe Camera Raw module, but you get all the truly easy, simple power of PS.

If working on selections is a main requirement, wow, I don't know anything that beats PS CC. Sure, LR/ACR is nice with the brushes and gradient tools, but currently selections in PS are so easy it's FUN.

Your many posts suggest a much deeper knowledge of photography and processing than this current one; however, if one is truly new to PS, or has tried it and been overwhelmed, Scott Kelby has a new little book out that shatters the myth of learning curves, complexity, etc that the tutorial industry thrives upon. It is called How Do I Do that in Photoshop?

https://www.amazon.com/How-Do-That-Photoshop-Quickest/dp/1681980797

I use On1's and AlienSkin's latest stuff for plug-ins, and I've tried using them with images from scratch. They are not as good as LR/ACR for RAW, and I don't think they are better than Bridge for organizing and accessing files.

I've heard people say that PS CC is too complicated and has more features than they will ever use. My car has a speedometer which suggests it can go 140 mph. I'll never go that speed, or even 100mph now that I'm a family man, but I bought the car anyway...
My two cents. Good luck!
 
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Been processing photos since computers were invented and the first digital cameras were sold. Tried just about every type of software and have to say the LR/PS combo is hard to beat.

Yes, I liked it better when you could buy them on disks instead of a subscription, but there were so many bootleg copies going around I see why they changed it. Also it's constantly updated. Heard a new "sky replacement" feature is coming for PS. You can still buy LR2015 in disk form.

I bought the 5 day deal and learned some new tricks for LR and PS. I actually did some advanced courses advertised through some of the videos and learned a lot. I don't know when the 5 Day deal will be offered again but it's a great value, especially for novice users.

About the steady hand. I found a tablet and a stylus was better than a mouse, don't know what you're using. Also tried Topaz Remask, a PS plugin, which does work relatively well.
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi Chris.
Welcome to the forum.
Thank you for your reply (and taking the time to register so you could reply) I will have a look at affinity, hopefully it will do what I desire without being too complicated.

Cheers, Graham.

Woodwideweb said:
Good Morning

My first post here, but thought I'd point you in the direction of Affinity Photo. I'm by no means an expert at post processing, but Affinity has loads of tutorial videos available. It's more like the full photoshop, but only costs £29 or $39 I believe at present.
It's not as simple as Lightroom to get started, but I find that I can do most things that I need to do quite easily.

Cheers

Chris
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi YuengLinger.
Thank you for your reply, I'm fairly certain that for the foreseeable future a standalone version of Lightroom will suffice.
I found out about the auto select from watching several YouTube videos, it seems very easy to do the selections, and so far I am very impressed, I was trying to export a shot done with LR to post here and ask what I had done wrong (and I know that something was wrong, just not sure what ;D) when the trial expired and it seems to be the export that is disabled. Not unreasonable, but I would have liked about twice as long to try it out. :(
I appreciate your flattery regarding my abilities, and I think I have a fair grasp of photography, but my post processing skills are only recent and only with DxO so far and I find I struggle with that. I think I have reached that point when new info needs to displace older info from the memory and I think the erase is broken! ::) ;D

Cheers, Graham.

YuengLinger said:
As much as I've moaned and groaned about the subscription model, as things stand right now, for the money, initial ease of use, and future room to grow, PS CC is the way to go. You get LR included for the $8-10 monthly fee, and if you don't want the catalog features of LR, Bridge works great. You can stick to the Adobe Camera Raw module, but you get all the truly easy, simple power of PS.

If working on selections is a main requirement, wow, I don't know anything that beats PS CC. Sure, LR/ACR is nice with the brushes and gradient tools, but currently selections in PS are so easy it's FUN.

Your many posts suggest a much deeper knowledge of photography and processing than this current one; however, if one is truly new to PS, or has tried it and been overwhelmed, Scott Kelby has a new little book out that shatters the myth of learning curves, complexity, etc that the tutorial industry thrives upon. It is called How Do I Do that in Photoshop?

https://www.amazon.com/How-Do-That-Photoshop-Quickest/dp/1681980797

I use On1's and AlienSkin's latest stuff for plug-ins, and I've tried using them with images from scratch. They are not as good as LR/ACR for RAW, and I don't think they are better than Bridge for organizing and accessing files.

I've heard people say that PS CC is too complicated and has more features than they will ever use. My car has a speedometer which suggests it can go 140 mph. I'll never go that speed, or even 100mph now that I'm a family man, but I bought the car anyway...
My two cents. Good luck!
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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Afinity isn't what you are looking for as it is primarily a PS clone.

The true strength of LR is the double barreled core functionality, it is a very good DAM (digital asset management) tool and is a very good RAW processor and editing tool.

The only tools worth looking at that offer similar double duty are ACDsee Photo Studio Ultimate and Capture One Pro. Both have their fans, though normally this is because they started out with a strong anti Adobe outlook, they also both offer free trials so give them a go.
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi Labdoc.
Thanks for your input, not withstanding having a look at Affinity Photo as suggested by Chris, Lightroom is looking like the solution, I'm not in a hurry so I will wait for any other recommendations whilst I try Affinity.
I have been working on a laptop with a poor screen, slight change in angle=huge colour and contrast change and occasionally my desktop with a better screen but the 'you don't spend much time with me' caveat.
Christmas sales saw a Surface Pro 4 with pen and keyboard which has a nice screen and very good viewing angle added to the tool kit.
I really like the functionality of the Surface.
Regarding cost, I have found a standalone LR6 for £89.

Cheers, Graham.

Labdoc said:
Been processing photos since computers were invented and the first digital cameras were sold. Tried just about every type of software and have to say the LR/PS combo is hard to beat.

Yes, I liked it better when you could buy them on disks instead of a subscription, but there were so many bootleg copies going around I see why they changed it. Also it's constantly updated. Heard a new "sky replacement" feature is coming for PS. You can still buy LR2015 in disk form.

I bought the 5 day deal and learned some new tricks for LR and PS. I actually did some advanced courses advertised through some of the videos and learned a lot. I don't know when the 5 Day deal will be offered again but it's a great value, especially for novice users.

About the steady hand. I found a tablet and a stylus was better than a mouse, don't know what you're using. Also tried Topaz Remask, a PS plugin, which does work relatively well.
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi PBD.
Thanks for your reply, I can eliminate Capture One Pro on a price basis, just looking at ACDSee Photo Studio, do you know the difference between the Pro and Ultimate products, I couldn't find a comparison facility and from reading the descriptions it looks like either one would do what I want, and cost is a big consideration.
I should have said that I'm not anti Adobe, I am trying to minimise outlay and maximise potential.

Cheers, Graham.

privatebydesign said:
Afinity isn't what you are looking for as it is primarily a PS clone.

The true strength of LR is the double barreled core functionality, it is a very good DAM (digital asset management) tool and is a very good RAW processor and editing tool.

The only tools worth looking at that offer similar double duty are ACDsee Photo Studio Ultimate and Capture One Pro. Both have their fans, though normally this is because they started out with a strong anti Adobe outlook, they also both offer free trials so give them a go.
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi Folks.
Whilst looking at alternatives I realised I forgot one of my questions, I have read the licence for LR6 (perpetual licence) and still don't understand if I'm allowed to run it on 2 machines, it says I can have a copy at home if I use it at work, but I'm unclear whether that means I could legitimately run it on my desktop and laptop providing I'm not using both at the same time?
Anyone using LR6 perpetual on 2 machines at home?

Cheers, Graham.
 
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Pro 10 is closer to LR, Ultimate is closer to LR+ PS with layers processing etc.

I didn't think you were anti anything, just pointing out that many peoples reviews of other software comes from a very negative position that minimises issues. If you have an open mind you'll get the best fit :)

Yes you can run LR on two machines, though I believe they both have to be either Windows or Mac.

P.S. You can run them at the same time too, I do all the time.
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi PBD.
Thanks for that, I think if Pro is closer to LR alone then it is closer to where I'm looking, although if I can buy it in $ then ultimate could be in the running.
Sorry, the anti Adobe bit was not aimed at you, it was merely clarifying the situation along the way.
Yes I understood the Windows and Mac licences were different, they make that crystal clear, the muddy bit for me was the 2 installations at home yea or nae! :) Work and home is clear yes.
Edit. Oops, Sorry, I was looking on my iPad, I just looked on the Surface (to download the trial) and the product comparison is right there!
I'm really not that lazy, to get someone else to do the work for me.

Cheers, Graham.

privatebydesign said:
Pro 10 is closer to LR, Ultimate is closer to LR+ PS with layers processing etc.

I didn't think you were anti anything, just pointing out that many peoples reviews of other software comes from a very negative position that minimises issues. If you have an open mind you'll get the best fit :)

Yes you can run LR on two machines, though I believe they both have to be either Windows or Mac.
 
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Valvebounce

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Hi 3kramd5.
Thank you for the reassurance, fortunately I'm not in need of cross platform installation.

Cheers, Graham.

3kramd5 said:
privatebydesign said:
Yes you can run LR on two machines, though I believe they both have to be either Windows or Mac.

Correct. That is one advantage CC has over the perpetual: you can install cross platform.
 
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greger

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We bought PS Elements 15 from Cost.co.ca for $124.99 CDN including shipping. We ordered on a Thursday and it was here by Tuesday. I prefer full versions of Photoshop. I plan to buy Lightroom 7 when it comes out. I have Lightroom 5. I use DPP to make adjustments to my raw files then convert to Tiff and JPEG. The jpeg can be sent by email to friends and I have the Tiff If I want to open in Elements or PS 5 and print it from there. I haven't done much printing so can't comment on how well this works. I couldn't eliminate noise from a picture that I took of an Eagle in a tree last winter. I should open the raw file in Elements 15 and see if I can fix it there. The Adobe Camera Raw in Elements is not as full featured as the version in PS or LR. It might be good enough for what you do.
 
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Valvebounce said:
Hi Folks.
Ok, so anyone using ACDSee Photo Studio Pro10 know what the licence is, can it be installed on more than 1 machine, I did see Capture One is single user 3 seats, and I found the licence for LR but I can't seem to find one for ACDSee.

Cheers, Graham.

I have ACDSEE Ultimate Pack, I've used ACDsee since we were using Unix for Internet and the World Wide Web did not exist!

I upgraded to the lifetime version for $79 just last week when they offered a special deal.

I get 3 users per product, there are 4 products in the pack(+1 Mac Product). Some of my family members like the basic ACDsee program, while I install the Pro or Ultimate on my Computers. There are 4 of us in the family, and a lot of computers, so all those licenses are handy.

For editing, I could not spot any difference between Pro and Ultimate, so its likely some function that I do not use that is different.

I also subscribe to Adobe CC Photographer package, which I use for serious editing.

I do not use ACDsee to edit raws unless I am desperate, its slow and a pain compared to Lightroom. I use ACDsee for jpeg edits for images where I want a quick and easy image, for craigslist or ebay. If I want to remove the background though, Photoshop is fast and easy. ACDsee does catalogue your images, so you have some search capability, but not a match with Lightroom.

My wife uses the base version of ACDsee.

In the past, ACDsee has been slow to update the raw modules for new cameras, it can take months. They tend to have lots of bugs, and they nag you incessantly when time for a upgrade comes along. No one has been able to remove the nagging. Its very unprofessional.

If I only had one, it would recommend the Adobe CC package but the standalone Lightroom is fine. They may stop supporting version 6 at any time, updates often come in the Spring.
 
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I try very hard to use the Raw Converter for all of my processing, but, as hard as I try I can't avoid having to use Photoshop for any retouching (cloning/ healing) or selective sharpening/ colour adjustment using masks. Lightroom/ Adobe Raw/ Capture One are just not good enough for these tasks. 90% of Photoshop I don't use, but that tiny essential amount mentioned above cannot be found in the Raw Converter, so, like it or not Photoshop is essential.
Never be put off by the alleged complexity of Photoshop, there is only a small amount you need to know.
Were I not to have Photoshop I would need something similar, after a lot of thought over several months I came up with Adobe Elements to cover the lot.
Maybe couple Lightroom with Elements.
Be careful with auto select in Photoshop or Lightroom, zoom in and check the results afterwards, I was horrified with some of the results, I don't use it any more.
 
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