So what photo editing programs do you have on your computer?

Gosh you can waste time looking at editing programmes during trial period. Im a rank beginner and not ultra computer savvy, but found DXO reasonably easy to use. Better than LR who knows as good as i reckon its but im a learner. Most of my photos are weather related lightning etc you guys reccomend one over another for my type of photography?
DXO and Topaz make fine products. I used them for years. I don't think we can recommend something. It is a personal choice and what works best for your workflow and taste. I waited for years for Adobe Denoise so I didn't care if others were better. All under one roof, no pixel peeping trying to decide which ones to use or renew. It was no brainer for me.

There are quite few reviews on Youtube. A few things I found is quite a few state Adobe Denoise looks more natural. Also most of the videos out there end by saying competitors show more detail. They stop short of saying how much more you can apply Texture, Clarity, Sharpening and Detail after Denoise without introducing artefacts.

There are more out there.




 
I'll add that I was infuriated at Adobe's move to the subscription model and fought against it by purchasing licenses for several competitors but I always came back because it worked for me without me thinking less about 'how to' and more about 'what I wish to do'.

I will say that Adobe has, IMO, played fair with its users. I dutifully hand over my U$10/month and in return, it has regularly upgraded the program in ways that are meaningful to me. It did not, as I feared, rest having captured its audience failing to improve the program once it had so many of us hooked.

I was afraid they'd go like $30/month after initial hook-period so I'm happy they have stayed at $10. I think what you get for that, it's amazing value. Like you said, it might not be for everyone but that's tough value to beat on any other product out there.
 
Find a few videos that show results from astrology as well.
good point works in well with my lightning photography at night. Probably didnt word original post well they all look good as a amatuer ease of use big one for me.
 
I was afraid they'd go like $30/month after initial hook-period so I'm happy they have stayed at $10. I think what you get for that, it's amazing value. Like you said, it might not be for everyone but that's tough value to beat on any other product out there.
Cancel plan button button is only 10 seconds away.
 
good point works in well with my lightning photography at night. Probably didnt word original post well they all look good as a amatuer ease of use big one for me.

A few more balanced reviews where they like DXO for some files and Adobe Denosie for others.


 
LR Classic most of the time. Sync to LR on my laptop if I don't want to sit at my desk top computer to edit. Photoshop for edits that don't work well on LRC. Topaz Denoise, Sharpen and Gigapixel, and now Photo AI since it is improving. Would still like better subject selection tools in Photo AI. Sequator for astrophotography stacking.
 
I started with Photoshop elements 2. Now at version 19 to get it to work with the R5 but will not upgrade anymore. At some point I went with the Creative Suite (from now Skylum ) which is now Luminar. I went from Luminar 1, 2 ,3, and 4 to Luminar AI and now NEO. I recently switched to Affinity because Luminar decided to go to the subscription route. I also use DPP from Canon. I also have Photolemur, and a some other editing software I acquired from software bundles but don't really use.
 
For proper sharpening of images, I have been using the PixelGenius PK Sharpen plugin for Photoshop for many years. They stopped updating or even selling the software and made it available to anyone who wants to download it. It is, in my opinion, the best sharpening plugin for any purpose, various print options as well as for Web and screen. If you want to give it a try, point your browser to the link below and download your free copy. Oh, everything is done non-destructively. It was developed by the leading names in digital processing and printing.

 
I have too many! I have tended over the years to work with some consistently and also try others, sometimes I'm at a trade show and there is a deal on something or around Christmas they all have specials on upgrades and I am a sucker for them. So here is what I have:

Adobe LR, Bridge and PS. These are my standards that I have used for 20 years now.
On1 RAW 2022. I use it off and on and done some upgrades over the years. Won't get 2023 because my video card is older and not supported. Maybe if I upgrade that.
Luminar 4 as well as Luminar Neo. For my tastes Luminar is superior for some things like sky replacement and removing wires from shots.
Luminar Aurora and Photolemur. Aurora is pretty good for HDR, Photolemur was an early attempt at AI editing and can do some nice things.
Topaz AI products... I have Photo AI which I tend to use the most now but also Gigapixel AI, Sharpen AI and DeNoise!I PRetty soon I think PhotoAI will replace the others.
Topaz Studio, Simplicity and Glow. Studio is there main editing program, don't use it much. The others are for fun stuff like making an image look like a painting.
Photomatix. Good software for merging shots for HDR, lots more variables and choices than Adobe offers.
PortraitPro Body Studio. From a British software company. I think this is the best for retouching faces and bodies, better than Photoshop for quick retouches.
Adobe Premier Elements. I don't do a lot of video editing but this is a typical well made Adobe program.
GoPro Studio and Quik. If you shoot GoPro these are a must. Easy to use and fast for making videos to share.

FWIW, I was an early user of DXO Optics as well as Nik but at some point moved away and stopped upgrading. Might have to give them a try again.

Other stuff for editing:
I have a Wacom tablet but still don't feel comfortable with it. Need to practice more. I also have a Loupedeck which is kind of a nifty interface that lets you twist knobs to make fine adjustments in Photoshop or Lightroom which can be easier than the sliders within the programs.
I have Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, Bridge, Photomatix, DAP Pro, Aurora HDR, DxO Photolab, FastStone, FotoSketcher, Helicon Focus, Irfanview, Luminar, Landscape Pro, Nik Suite, Perfect Effects, Photolemur, Photospills, PortraitPro, Topaz Photo AI, and Xnsketch, among others. I primarily use Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK, and DAP. The others, just occasionally. Many , though not all of the others can be Photoshop plug-ins. I use NIK a lot in PS, especially Silver Efex. The later is my go-to for b&w conversion. DAP Pro is a lot of fun for painterly effects.
 
Sounds like I’m the only Crapture One user? I almost exclusively use that, but I also have Neo, and the Topaz suite (PhotoAI, Gigapixel, Sharpen and Denoise).

Neo is for when I want to do horrific things to my images. (Today I made a waterfall glow neon green, like there was a chemical spill upstream). I used to have Luminar 4, which I got for free with a lens I bought. That was worth every penny I paid. :p

The Topaz stuff I usually open an image in, twiddle a bunch of sliders, don’t see any appreciable difference and close the software. It did do a really nice job on some 10 megapickle images from my old Sony and once in a while I have some noisy high ISO images I use it on.

I bought C1 a couple of years ago on a Black Friday sale for $150 because I hate subscriptions and despise the evil Adobe monster. So far, C1 hasn’t added anything I felt a burning need to upgrade for, so my monthly cost keeps getting lower… My editing skills have gained by leaps and bounds since I started watching Paul Reiffer’s videos. They’re based around C1, but he’s really good at SEEING things and explaining stuff.
 
I accidentally bought C1 years ago. I don't remember the details but I ended up getting a static (no sub) license when I thought I was getting a preview. The company was decent about it allowing me to transfer the license to a friend of mine who wanted it. I detested the workflow which is pure Mac style or incomprehensible to me. Mac style anything means it's great as long as I want to do things its way but is I stray, it walking up a steep hill with a tornado as headwind.
 
Canon DPP for all my image review, scrubbing and discard. I also use it to view focus points.
Adobe Suite
DXO and Topaz for noise reduction when necessary. I find that DXO has started to perform better on raw and use PureRaw4 to start post production when it's needed for noise. Last couple of months I've been real disappointed with Topaz and them releasing buggy application updates.
 
Late to this ongoing party.

PS 2025 with plugins: Topaz Clarity, Topaz Detail 3, Topaz Sharpen AI

Small Wacom tablet (5.5 x 4.5) with the active area scaled down to about the size of a business card.
 
Canon DPP for all my image review, scrubbing and discard. I also use it to view focus points.
Yeah, you and several others mentioned DPP and I went “…oh yeah, I have that, too…” So far, I only use it for depth composting, but have been playing with it a bit for my initial culling - since it shows focus point.
 
Yeah, you and several others mentioned DPP and I went “…oh yeah, I have that, too…” So far, I only use it for depth composting, but have been playing with it a bit for my initial culling - since it shows focus point.

It's a little slow but I like the fact that I can scroll through thumbs on the left with a full image displayed on the right, , view my focus point, view metadata, zoom on the full image and completely delete with a simple keystroke. It has worked out great in my process flow. I built a new PC which should be delivered in the next couple weeks, it should really speed up DPP and maximize my workflow.
 
Sounds like I’m the only Crapture One user? I almost exclusively use that, but I also have Neo, and the Topaz suite (PhotoAI, Gigapixel, Sharpen and Denoise).

Neo is for when I want to do horrific things to my images. (Today I made a waterfall glow neon green, like there was a chemical spill upstream). I used to have Luminar 4, which I got for free with a lens I bought. That was worth every penny I paid. :p

The Topaz stuff I usually open an image in, twiddle a bunch of sliders, don’t see any appreciable difference and close the software. It did do a really nice job on some 10 megapickle images from my old Sony and once in a while I have some noisy high ISO images I use it on.

I bought C1 a couple of years ago on a Black Friday sale for $150 because I hate subscriptions and despise the evil Adobe monster. So far, C1 hasn’t added anything I felt a burning need to upgrade for, so my monthly cost keeps getting lower… My editing skills have gained by leaps and bounds since I started watching Paul Reiffer’s videos. They’re based around C1, but he’s really good at SEEING things and explaining stuff.
love your humour satire writing style tickles my funny bone
 
While I have the full Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop and Lightroom (I learned photo editing in PS many years ago), I mainly work in DxO PhotoLab 8, which I've used since it was called DxO OpticsPro. I find that my standard import profile works very well for everything, unlike Lightroom which makes me fiddle with every shot. I'm much happier with DxO's color/contrast rendering than Adobe's, and I like that that test lab cum software company creates their own lens and camera profiles, even if it means waiting a while for a profile for a new lens. (Canon lens profile 2 weeks. Sigma profile 2 months!)

DxO sticks to doing the basic stuff real well, so If I want to do something fancy like a merged panorama, I have DxO send DNGs from my RAW files into Lightroom for it to merge, and then have Lightroom send a DNG of the merge back to DxO to keep working on it. I could focus-stack or do HDR the same way, but I generally don't bother with those.

Since I'm using an ancient laptop built for Win 7 (upgraded to Win 10 with 8GB of RAM and SSDs), I tend to avoid using much software noise reduction because of how long it takes to write out JPEGs when it has to do the AI-assisted upper-level noise reduction in the process.

I'd rather buy fast lenses (f/2.8 is my baseline) - and I added an R6 Mark II to my kit this summer to supplement my R7 for low light situations.

I'm awaiting my pre-ordered Sigma RF-S 56mm f/1.4 DC DN - which is razor-sharp wide open, unlike Canon's fast 50s, which are generally not sharp until stopped down to f/2.8. Sigma's fast sharp new RF-S lenses give new life to my R7, helping it catch up with the rest of the APS-C crowd that's had these Sigma lenses for a few years now.

My R7 usually wears the Sigma RF-S 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN, which at 10 oz. is the size of the original kit lens, though much faster. This rig is actually a little smaller and lighter than my 35mm film Canon FT-QL with the FL 85mm f/1.8 - the rig I used to shoot Kodacolor 400 and Plus-X (pushed to 320 in Accufine) for nearly 40 years, from 1968 when I graduated high school until I got my first Digital Rebel in 2006. After seeing my DSLRs get bigger and heavier with every upgrade, the R7 is a return to home.

My R6 II, which I added to my kit this summer for better low light and AF performance, usually wears Canon's new RF 28-70mm f/2.8 IS STM - which is almost half the weight and usually less than half the price of the RF 24-70 - "so no L designation for you!" despite Canon saying it has "L quality optics and weather sealing." I got it an aftermarket lens hood and put a green rubber band festooned with red twist ties on the front of the lens barrel, saying "Joyous No L" !
 
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After many years using Corel PaintShop Pro I settle down using these:

LrC
PS (I do not use this one that much or at all)
DxO PureRaw
Topaz, Denoise, Sharpen
Luminar Neo and 4th
 
For proper sharpening of images, I have been using the PixelGenius PK Sharpen plugin for Photoshop for many years. They stopped updating or even selling the software and made it available to anyone who wants to download it. It is, in my opinion, the best sharpening plugin for any purpose, various print options as well as for Web and screen. If you want to give it a try, point your browser to the link below and download your free copy. Oh, everything is done non-destructively. It was developed by the leading names in digital processing and printing.

Will this plugin work with Lightroom?

PS. Answering myself, no it does not have a plugin for LR. It seems that they worked with Adobe that their code is included in LrC.
 
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