WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A PHOTO EDITOR

Everyone has different editing needs. Here are some things to consider…

1 ORGANISING TOOLS

Being able to edit your photos is one thing, but you also need to manage and organise them – and the more pictures you take, the more there is to organise. People have different needs, and some can manage perfectly well using a folderbased filing system and image-browsing tool like Adobe Bridge (included with the Photography Plan). However, this is not enough for many photographers, and a more advanced cataloguing tool is needed. Adobe Lightroom is the most popular solution, but there are some very good rivals, notably Capture One. ON1 Photo RAW, Exposure X7 and others have cataloguing tools, too, though perhaps not quite in the same league.

2 RAWPROCESSING

Photographers shoot raw files in order to achieve the best possible quality, but it’s wrong to assume that a raw file is always better than a JPEG, because it depends very much on your software. Capture One, DxO PhotoLab and Adobe Lightroom can all be relied on to get more from your raw files than you could get from an incamera JPEG, but other programs vary in their ability to extract extended shadow and highlight detail from raw files, or to successfully balance noise control and detail rendition. Even Adobe can drop the ball sometimes, as raw files in Lightroom can look noisier than JPEGs straight from the camera.

3 NON-DESTRUCTIVEEDITING

It’s a dilemma. If you want to be able to make editis that you can easily reverse or change at any time in the future, you need a ‘non-destructive’ photo editor like Lightroom, Capture One or others, but that does lock you in to that particular program. What’s more, if you want more advanced retouching tools, or if you want to apply more sophisticated image effects, you still need old-school photo editors like Photoshop and Affinity Photo. However, the balance is shifting. The range of things you can do in ‘non-destructive’ editors like Lightroom, Capture One or DxO PhotoLab is increasing, and the need for programs like Photoshop and Affinity Photo is diminishing.

4 LAYERSAND MASKS

Do you need – or want – to combine images? If so, you need a program that supports multiple image layers. The obvious example is Photoshop, but Affinity Photo can do it equally well, and without a subscription. ON1 Photo RAW can offer this too, albeit without the same fluency, and while Luminar Neo supports layers, it’s less sophisticated. While many different programs do support image layers, it’s really Adobe Photoshop and Affinity Photo that feel designed for the job. If you just want to add new skies to landscapes, many programs can now do this by using AI, including Luminar Neo, Photoshop and ON1 Photo RAW

5 PRESETSAND EFFECTS

Programs like Photoshop are all well and good if you know exactly what kind of effect you want to achieve, and you just need the tools to do it, but sometimes you need a little help in seeing what your images could look like, and that’s where non-Adobe programs really score. Two programs really stand out here – ON1 Photo RAW and Exposure X. Both offer a very wide range of creative presets, both contemporary and retro ‘analogue’ looks – and both offer the tools to create near-infinite permutations. Lightroom presets are fine as far as they go (as are Capture One Styles), but these programs go way further.

6 DESIGNTOOLS

It’s important to remember that photo editors can have other purposes, too. They’re used by designers, artists and illustrators to combine photos with other images, text and shape layers. This does mean that Photoshop and Affinity Photo can look complicated – this is because they’re serving a wider audience than photographers alone. They’re the best programs for the job if your work crosses into other disciplines, or if you collaborate with designers. Corel PaintShop Pro and Photoshop Elements also offer comparable tools, but they’re more limited, and aimed at a more amateur audience.