which photo editing programme do you use?

[swimcraze]

In your opinion, which is more user friendly?
which do you prefer? why?

thanks for your input!

[KopiOkaya]

Originally Posted by swimcraze In your opinion, which is more user friendly? which do you prefer? why?

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is probably the most user-friendly RAW converter and photo-editing (with limited features) available currently. Its interface is direct and intuitional. Everything in this program is self-explanatory. You just have to follow the steps from one to another. Besides, Lightroom 2 works harmoniously with Adobe Photoshop.

[ortega]

photo editing and raw converter is 2 different things alltogether

[giantcanopy]

Photoshop

[serametin]

haha... why GIMP is not in one of the main choice?

btw, i using gimp

[babykailan]

PS but would love to try LR as it is more photo-centric. PS CS4 is just too bloated and slow. I hate it when they upgrade versions and make it slower. HATE IT. So i use PS CS more often than CS4.

[kaixiang]

Originally Posted by babykailan PS but would love to try LR as it is more photo-centric. PS CS4 is just too bloated and slow. I hate it when they upgrade versions and make it slower. HATE IT. So i use PS CS more often than CS4.

I think its your computer that is slow. Every generation of software uses up more computing resources to match the improvements in hardware. However, I think your advice is good because most people do not have current generation/top-end computers. For those who upgrade their computer as often as they upgrade software, CS4 would probably be a good option.

For Nikon users, Capture NX is a really useful RAW convertor. Quality of the photos are definitely better than Adobe Camera Raw, and control points are a lot more convenient than masking, although masking might be slightly more accurate if you know what you are doing. For image editing, nothing comes close to photoshop due to the things you can do and also the crazy number of plug-ins available.

[aspenx]

Originally Posted by kaixiang For Nikon users, Capture NX is a really useful RAW convertor. Quality of the photos are definitely better than Adobe Camera Raw, and control points are a lot more convenient than masking, although masking might be slightly more accurate if you know what you are doing. For image editing, nothing comes close to photoshop due to the things you can do and also the crazy number of plug-ins available.

Capture NX is great. I would have chosen it for this poll IF it had a more intelligent healing brush and a cloning stamp. Many photoshop tricks can be mimicked with Capture NX though. I use Capture NX only most of the time if there's no healing/cloning that I want to do although it runs so much slower than my photoshop.........

[trident]

I have been using ACDSee for sometime, find it very easy to use, features a bit limited, but usually sufficient.
Have started using LR2, still learning. Features are pretty good.

[Reportage]

actually photoshop belongs to a different category.

Picasa, Lightroom all these have excellent file archiving allowing you to find a photo easily as it auto-arranges for you but limited editing capabilities. Photoshop on the other hand is more hands on image manipulation.

[dan_1337]

PS CS3 at home, Picasa while travelling and Adobe Bridge to organise.

[.Hack]

Lightroom 2 for editing stuffs such as white balance, saturation, sharpness.
CS4 for more complicated editing.
All in all, i prefer Lightroom for its simplicity in editing.

[findjk]

It's photoshop for me.

[giantcanopy]

No money for CS4. . I will use my CS3 till CS10 comes out

[synapseman]

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

Pros:
Cheap
Has all the features that I (as a non-professional enthusiast) need.
Can cater to absolute beginners and fairly advanced users.
Plug-ins written for PS can also be used.

Cons:
Not many people use it, less web resources out there.
Slow in execution of commands.

Also use ACDSee Pro 2 for image management.

[photoart]

i have been using Photoshop since the day i started shooting. I have been lazy to learn other software since i have been so used to photoshop.

Even as new versions of photoshop is availiable, it is still easy to used since the fundamentals are already there, just need to learn the few functions addidtion.

So I will just stick to photoshop

[mulia]

Originally Posted by swimcraze In your opinion, which is more user friendly? which do you prefer? why? thanks for your input!

Photoshop CS4, the $99 version for MOE and students is good value, has everything any photographer needs. But I do agree with kailan that it is darn slow, even though I'm using core 2 duo with 3 gigs or RAM...

[pl4sMa]

GIMP + UFraw + QTPFSGUI

Yea, I'm *NIX geek... Don't have a Mac or Windows, so this'll have to do.

[Jupiters]

If you shoot hundreds of raw photo at one go, Lightroom 2 will be the excellent choice.
In Photoshop, you need to open up one by one... Too slow and time consuming.

However if you're just selecting a couple of photos for intense editing, then go for photoshop.

[swimcraze]

am really beginning to love Lightroom2

anyone knows how to edit the photos in lightroom without losing the original copy?
do you make a copy first before editing?
if so, how do you do that?

thanks.