Returning to Digital Editing - Novice Level - PhotoShop, Lightroom or Capture One

[David Cantor]

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I have been using Affinity Photo for six years.  It does everything I need and a lot more.  It is a one-time purchase and frequently updated.  A 30 day free trial period is available.

The online tutorials are excellent and usually waffle free, Affinity Revolution is a very useful resource on Youtube.
 

David

Edited June 8 by David Cantor
Further comment

[LocalHero1953]

A comment on Lightroom CC. It has limitations compared to Lightroom Classic, many of which are of minor importance or one can get over them. The major one for me is its absence of a printing facility. The only practical option is to export an image as a tiff or jpg and use other software. Personally I would not touch Lightroom CC as my only editing app, though I use it while travelling. Of course, if you don't print, this drawback is irrelevant.

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[jaapv]

My workflow is: convert in DXO, basic edit in ACR, open in Photoshop, first run Topaz Photo AI and if needed refine in Photoshop. I find that this brings the best quality with the least hassle. 

[roydonian]

3 hours ago, Olaf_ZG said:

 I used c1 for many years and it is a great tool, but with a steep learning curve.

In the last four decades I have coped with Apple DOS, ProDOS, MS-DOS, Windows 3.0 to 7, various versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and Access, plus Photoshop 5 to CS-6, Netscape, Explorer, Firefox, Pale Moon, and Thunderbird. I use Capture One 20 for RAW conversion, but it is the first program for which I've I had to create a 'crib sheet' in order to be able to use it for even the simplest tasks.

[hansvons]

1 hour ago, jaapv said:

My workflow is: convert in DXO, basic edit in ACR, open in Photoshop, first run Topaz Photo AI and if needed refine in Photoshop. I find that this brings the best quality with the least hassle. 

You use 4 programmes to process 1 image. Wouldn't call that hassle-free.

[jaapv]

They are all linked by “process in” or plug-in. There is no difference to processing in one program. 

[zeitz]

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5 hours ago, jaapv said:

convert in DXO

Jaap, what you you mean by "convert in DXO"?  And I am curious why you don't use Bridge.

[jaapv]

I use Bridge as a catalog. Bridge has the option to transfer your file to any editor but that is not really postprocessing. I transfer from Bridge  to DXO for raw conversion which I really like and then from DXO open  the file in ACR and move from ACR to Photoshop. Once in Photoshop I apply the Topaz plug-in and take it from there. Actually a fairly standard Photoshop workflow with  DXO added 

[250swb]

On 6/7/2023 at 3:37 AM, lencap said:

Years ago I tried learning PhotoShop/Lightroom, but found the learning curve very challenging.  I turned to Apple Photos as a simple tool.

That's your first mistake, with any software and especially the daunting power of Photoshop you shouldn't need to learn it, only learn the small bits that you need or are interested in. This makes Photoshop and Lightroom easy. In Photoshop I've never really gone beyond emulating what I could do in the darkroom which is simplicity itself. I no longer use Masks and Layers or the techniques other photographers so often mention as I once did but use Nik Suite as a plugin to make all the complicated stuff even simpler. And speaking of simplicity when choosing software I think you have to look at where Adobe are going with Ai, both that which is already implemented like Ai Denoise (which can revolutionise old digital files), and the Beta programmes for content fill etc. It's not so much about manipulating photographs (which is what photographers have always done since the 1840's) but accuracy and ease with corrections.