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Inexpensive alternative to PS and LR

ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
edited January 25, 2010 in Street and Documentary
Lightzone costs $100, converts all RAW formats, offers both global and local editing (as opposed to LR which is exclusively global, i.e., no burning and dodging, no cloning, etc, etc.). It is based on Ansel Adam's darkroom ideas, particularly zones. If I were starting PP from scratch as a photographer, I'd try this first.

I played with it for B&W conversions. In addition to a number of built-in B&W styles, it supports the basic concepts of channel blending which I think are essential to full artistic control over conversions.

And there is a free trial (I don't know exactly how it's crippled.)
If not now, when?

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    michswissmichswiss Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,235 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2010
    Hey Rutt. Good that you are keeping an eye out for LR/PS options. I'm an Aperture user and I'm somewhat surprised to hear that LR doesn't have Dodge & Burn or Cloning. I've thought about what to add to my toolkit when I need a bit more horsepower for a single image. The three that are always front of mind are PSE, PS or GIMP, but I've struggled to make a decision knowing that any of them will be a large investment to develop skills, much less the potential out-of-pocket costs.

    My question though is: What should absolutely be in the toolkit of a PJ/Street/Doco photographer. Dodge & Burn, certainly. Cloning? I use cloning to clean up dust spots and lens flare on occasion. For the other stuff, I'll normally depend on a couple of technicians I work with for any final PP for printing. That's when PS comes into the equation to optimise the image for final output.

    Your thoughts?
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    cj99sicj99si Registered Users Posts: 880 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2010
    There are plenty of local adjustments available in LR, you must be referring to the original version. As well as dust spot removal.
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    ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2010
    cj99si wrote:
    There are plenty of local adjustments available in LR, you must be referring to the original version. As well as dust spot removal.

    OK, my bad. I was so frustrated that I gave up pretty quickly. Really, I was responding to B.D. who said that PS was too expensive for most people. LZ is nice and cheap and does virtually everything in a very elegant way.

    Here is a conversion I just did in LZ with no manual reading and about 10 minutes of (guess) work:

    773119446_u3NzX-XL.jpg
    If not now, when?
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    bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2010
    rutt wrote:
    Lightzone costs $100, converts all RAW formats, offers both global and local editing (as opposed to LR which is exclusively global, i.e., no burning and dodging, no cloning, etc, etc.). It is based on Ansel Adam's darkroom ideas, particularly zones. If I were starting PP from scratch as a photographer, I'd try this first.

    I played with it for B&W conversions. In addition to a number of built-in B&W styles, it supports the basic concepts of channel blending which I think are essential to full artistic control over conversions.

    And there is a free trial (I don't know exactly how it's crippled.)

    I don't want to fight with Rutt, and I am curious about Lightzone. But - Lightroom does indeed offer selective burning and dodging, spot removal, and numerous other selective adjustments. As is the case with CS, the more time you spend with it, the more of its features you discover. :D
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
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    bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2010
    rutt wrote:
    OK, my bad. I was so frustrated that I gave up pretty quickly. Really, I was responding to B.D. who said that PS was too expensive for most people. LZ is nice and cheap and does virtually everything in a very elegant way.

    Here is a conversion I just did in LZ with no manual reading and about 10 minutes of (guess) work:

    773119446_u3NzX-XL.jpg


    LOVE the photo - and great conversion -but why in God's name would it take 10 minutes to convert this? rolleyes1.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
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    ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2010
    bdcolen wrote:
    LOVE the photo - and great conversion -but why in God's name would it take 10 minutes to convert this? rolleyes1.gif

    Because it was the first ever time I did ANYTHING in Lightzone, didn't read the manual, so it includes all the overhead of figuring out how to do a green channel conversion, something I still haven't figured out how to do in LR.
    If not now, when?
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    rainbowrainbow Registered Users Posts: 2,765 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2010
    FWIW, Adobe Lightroom 2 is currently the "Gold Box Deal" at Amazon, today(1/25) only, until sold out for $189.99.

    Also, LR 3 is on its way and is a free trial at the Adobe Site and usable until 4/30/10. This also indicates that LR 2 will continue to drop in price.
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