What software do you use for image editing?

djspinner2k

I use Adobe Lightroom 1.3 and Photoshop CS3. What other good editing software is out there? I just like learning and playing with new software. Please let me know what you use.

zacker

djspinner2k wrote:

I use Adobe Lightroom 1.3 and Photoshop CS3. What other good editing software is out there? I just like learning and playing with new software. Please let me know what you use.

thats about the best there is right there... its like $1200.00 worth of digital goodness.

I use CS3, photomatix, Neat image... an older version of PSP (#8...i love it) and various other small programs.

Pupator

I use PSPX2, which you don't need if you have photoshop - and I2E Image Editor which is great for batch processing huge amounts of files.

Icebear

You might want to look into a noise reduction program like Noise Ninja. Forget the lame noise reduction algorithms is CS3 and LR. Waste of disc space compared to a dedicated program. NN works for me, but some folks say it's not the best available.

Other than that, you've got the best foundation already with LR and CS3.

Cuong

Pupator wrote:

I use PSPX2, which you don't need if you have photoshop - and I2E Image Editor which is great for batch processing huge amounts of files.

I have PSP9 and just ordered PSPX2. Have you used the HDR feature in PSPX2?

Cuong

djspinner2k

I never heard of photomatix and I2E Image Editor. I need to look into that.

What is Noise Ninja used for? I guess I can't tell if my pictures have nosie on them or now.

dogwood

I use Photo Mechanic to download, archive, and sort out my selections. It's much faster (and more intuitive) than Bridge. Not sure about LR since I don't have that.

Zeus1

Photoshop only for straightening crooked photos ("keystoning")
NoiseNinja for grain reduction
Photomatix for HDR photography
PhotozoomPro to enlarge selelcted photos taken with a point-and-shooth camera

All the important work (like altering lighting, sharpening, color alteration etc etc) with Lightzone

Pupator

Zeus1 wrote:

Photoshop only for straightening crooked photos ("keystoning")
NoiseNinja for grain reduction
Photomatix for HDR photography
PhotozoomPro to enlarge selelcted photos taken with a point-and-shooth camera

All the important work (like altering lighting, sharpening, color alteration etc etc) with Lightzone

Wow - that's quite a workflow. Each of those programs performs those functions better than anything else (IYO) I imagine?

djspinner2k

wow thats alot of software to use. I hate when i can't get something to look right in LR and have to open up Photoshop.

claudermilk

Well, LR being "best" is debatable. It's hard to argue with PSCS3 for pixel editing (other main competitors I know of are PSP, GIMP, Picture Window Pro). For DAM & RAW conversion, there's lots of options--run a search here.

Zeus1

Seems I need to explain a bit....

After d/l the pictures to my Apple computer, I catalogue them with IView Media Pro (latest "independent" version, not the Microsloth version).

I only use Photoshop for correcting keystoning (pictures taken with a wide-angle lens with important distortion of buildings) and when using NoiseNinjaPro (perhaps the best tool to combat noise - in any case better than the tool in Lightzone). These steps are the first in correcting an image.

Afterwards, all major work is done using Lightzone from LightCraft.
http://www.lightcrafts.com/products/
I use Lightzone since right after its release, at a time when I tried to study and use and understand Photoshop CS2 (failed miserably with PS). Lightzone is intuitive, a tool for photographers, not like PS which is geared more to image creation and which seems to me a collection of different tools, some trying to do the same functions.

From time to time, I make a HDR picture. In that case, I use PhotomatixPro, if necessary followed by further work in Lightzone.

PhotozoomPro is used to enlarge cropped pictures before putting them in a Blurb book. ImageWell comes in handy from time to time to change a pictures dimensions.

As hardware, I use a 20 inch iMac (PPC version) under OSX10.4.11 (Leopard lies on my desk, waiting to be installed, but only after a stable Photoshop release).

HarlanBear

Zeus1 wrote:

As hardware, I use a 20 inch iMac (PPC version) under OSX10.4.11 (Leopard lies on my desk, waiting to be installed, but only after a stable Photoshop release).

Just curious. You say you do not use PS (except for keystoning and noise) because it's too cluttered and yet you're waiting to install Lepoard until there is a "stable" photoshop. What is wrong with Photoshop? Haven't experienced or heard about stability problems. But I'm on a PC.

cabbey

HarlanBear wrote:

Just curious. You say you do not use PS (except for keystoning and noise) because it's too cluttered and yet you're waiting to install Lepoard until there is a "stable" photoshop. What is wrong with Photoshop? Haven't experienced or heard about stability problems. But I'm on a PC.

Dunno about the OP, but PSCS3 has been solid as a rock for me... LR on the other hand, I've heard some horror stories about under Leopard.

colourbox

HarlanBear wrote:

Just curious. You say you do not use PS (except for keystoning and noise) because it's too cluttered and yet you're waiting to install Lepoard until there is a "stable" photoshop. What is wrong with Photoshop? Haven't experienced or heard about stability problems. But I'm on a PC.

Adobe already issued a Photoshop update that's more Leopard-friendly. There is still a problem with entering numbers, but the bug is Apple's fault, so the next update for a Photoshop Mac user to wait for is not for Photoshop but for OS X.
Adobe tech note about it

cornerstone

PSCS2 is still my main software..catch up to you CS3 users sometime, but I just made the jump from PS6

I also use Noise Ninja Pro and love it. I still use the given profile for my 1600 ISO shots on Canon 30D, I keep meaning to make my own.. but it works great.

And though it is not an editing program I really like Canon's Zoom Browser.

William M Porter

Lightroom + LightZone are a good team
I've been using Adobe Lightroom for the last year (since near the end of the beta period) and like it. But recently, I added Light Crafts' LightZone to my workflow and I'm very pleased. I now use Lightroom to import my raw files, convert them from PEF (Pentax raw) to DNG, and to do the very important step of tagging and selecting photos, adding metadata, etc. But once I've figured out what photos I want to process, I jump over to LightZone and work on 'em there. LightZone's zone mapper tool is fantastic but perhaps the best feature of LightZone is being able to select and edit regions. Can't do this in Lightroom and I like LightZone's regions much better than Photoshops layers and masks.

CAFields

PTLens
In addition to the software listed above, not really a "software" but an indispensable (IMHO) Photoshop plugin is PTLens for correcting distortion (windows). An absolute bargain at only $15.

http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/

Similar tools for mac:

http://www.kekus.com/index.html

HarlanBear

CAFields wrote:

In addition to the software listed above, not really a "software" but an indispensable (IMHO) Photoshop plugin is PTLens for correcting distortion (windows). An absolute bargain at only $15.

http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/

Similar tools for mac:

http://www.kekus.com/index.html

I love this Plug-in and have made it part of my workflow. I check pretty much every shot through PTLens and it has a very nice vignette filter as well. Highly recommend it.