# Photo editing



## k_kearns (Jan 22, 2017)

Hello all! I am new to the camera world. I have been researching editing software and am unsure of what the best one is. I've read about the adobe photoshop lightroom and it seems to be good, but I did not find enough reviews about it. I have a Canon T5 rebel and absolutely love it. I would love some insight, help, tips, whatever it is you have for me! Thank you and I'm so excited to be apart of the photography world!! 


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## Ysarex (Jan 22, 2017)

k_kearns said:


> Hello all! I am new to the camera world. I have been researching editing software and am unsure of what the best one is. I've read about the adobe photoshop lightroom and it seems to be good, but I did not find enough reviews about it. I have a Canon T5 rebel and absolutely love it. I would love some insight, help, tips, whatever it is you have for me! Thank you and I'm so excited to be apart of the photography world!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Lightroom is the choice of most photographers for good reason. It's available two ways: Adobe wants you to buy it via subscription for $10.00 per month which you will then pay for as long as you want to use the software. As an added bonus you also get Adobe's Photoshop application. The two make a formidable pair. The other option is to purchase Lightroom as a stand-alone app for a one time price (approx. $149.00) but without Photoshop then.

You want to make sure you understand the difference between a parametric editor (Lightroom) and a raster or pixel editor (Photoshop).

If the purchase price of Lightroom gives you pause there are alternatives that cost less including free alternatives. A factor that will influence your choice is whether you intend to save raw files to process or camera JPEG files.

Joe


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## k_kearns (Jan 22, 2017)

Ysarex said:


> k_kearns said:
> 
> 
> > Hello all! I am new to the camera world. I have been researching editing software and am unsure of what the best one is. I've read about the adobe photoshop lightroom and it seems to be good, but I did not find enough reviews about it. I have a Canon T5 rebel and absolutely love it. I would love some insight, help, tips, whatever it is you have for me! Thank you and I'm so excited to be apart of the photography world!!
> ...



Joe,
   Thank you for your reply. I will need to do some more research on the difference between Lightroom and photoshop because I do not know the difference. I'm glad you gave me that information because I was very unaware. Thank you.

Kourtnie 


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## SuzukiGS750EZ (Jan 23, 2017)

Honestly, if you're just starting out the canon software which came with your camera is great. I personally use corel paint shop pro x9 and after shot 3 but the majority of my work I use digital photo professional. It's an easy way to learn how to process images before you jump into the big programs.


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## Peeb (Jan 23, 2017)

Depends on how much you wish/need to accomplish.

If I am going to select specific portions of an image to edit, I go to photoshop
If I am going to clone stamp out imperfections, it's photoshop
If I need to change the parameters of a photo in general (exposure, contrast, tone, shadows, etc.) just about all of them do that.
If I have a noisy (grainy) high ISO image that needs taming, I prefer DXO-Pro.

Not sure what you should do, but what I did was purchased Photoshop Elements (about $60) and that's all I needed for quite some time.  Does all the basic stuff that photoshop and lightroom do, and you don't pay every month.  At some point you might (or might not) want more expensive software but really, elements is quite good.


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## JoeW (Jan 23, 2017)

A lot depends upon how much photo editing your going to be doing.  If it's just...remove a blemish here or there, sharpen, crop, add some saturation, maybe brighten or reduce exposure...you don't need PS or Lightroom for that...there are a bunch of programs you can use.  But if you're going to get in to layers, composites, changing just one color, really big stuff, then yeah, you need a serious editing program.

If you use a Mac, look at Affinity Photo.  It's supposed to be an alternative to PhotoShop.  You can get it for $49 and there is no monthly fee, upgrades are free.


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## Ysarex (Jan 23, 2017)

JoeW said:


> A lot depends upon how much photo editing your going to be doing.  If it's just...remove a blemish here or there, sharpen, crop, add some saturation, maybe brighten or reduce exposure...you don't need PS or Lightroom for that...there are a bunch of programs you can use.  But if you're going to get in to layers, composites, changing just one color, really big stuff, then yeah, you need a serious editing program.
> 
> If you use a Mac, look at Affinity Photo.  It's supposed to be an alternative to PhotoShop.  You can get it for $49 and there is no monthly fee, upgrades are free.



Affinity Photo is available on Windows as well. It is inexpensive and a good Photoshop clone but it is seriously crippled for use with raw files.

Joe


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## crimbo2047 (Jan 23, 2017)

There is No best -just what is best for you 
Try all the free trials 
For me its Capture One 

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## Derrel (Jan 23, 2017)

I gave a three-hour photo lesson to a lady last February using her Cannon Rebel T something. After we shot for about an hour, we came back and I loaded her images into Lightroom and showed her how even basic edits markedly improved her photos. hbought Lightroom put it on her MacBook Pro, and a week later came back for another lesson, this one exclusively on Lightroom editing. Since that time she's called me a few times and I've seen her Facebook images. Lightroom has helped her tremendously in terms of editing her photos. A lot of Old-Timers bashnLightroom, but I think they really do not understand how capable it is and how fast and easy it is to learn. Old school editing programs were mostly about "developing the RAW image", and lacked some of the more useful tools like the adjustment brush,Lightroom presets, vignette control, and easy selective color and Hue and saturation adjustments,  tooth whitening, and the all-important Dodge & Burn tools.

I used Photoshop for over 15 years. Once I got Lightroom in 2012, I had less and less and less need for Photoshop.


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## Didereaux (Jan 23, 2017)

k_kearns said:


> Hello all! I am new to the camera world. I have been researching editing software and am unsure of what the best one is. I've read about the adobe photoshop lightroom and it seems to be good, but I did not find enough reviews about it. I have a Canon T5 rebel and absolutely love it. I would love some insight, help, tips, whatever it is you have for me! Thank you and I'm so excited to be apart of the photography world!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Always shoot in RAW mode (see camera manual) and use the Digital Professional Editor from Canon that came with your camera (if it did not then you can DL it for free from the Canon site.  It does a remarkably good job using nearly the sme controls as Light Room   I do not recommend their ZOOM browser though...leave it on the CD!


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## Peeb (Jan 23, 2017)

Didereaux said:


> k_kearns said:
> 
> 
> > Hello all! I am new to the camera world. I have been researching editing software and am unsure of what the best one is. I've read about the adobe photoshop lightroom and it seems to be good, but I did not find enough reviews about it. I have a Canon T5 rebel and absolutely love it. I would love some insight, help, tips, whatever it is you have for me! Thank you and I'm so excited to be apart of the photography world!!
> ...


I agree that shooting RAW gives you your best images, but I can think of 2 scenarios where jpg would be preferred:

1) you are running low on in-camera memory with no ability to replace cards (jpg files are much smaller)
2) you need longer bursts of rapid-fire shots (jpg files fill up the buffer slower due to smaller size).

Those scenarios are not 'every day' for most of us, but the use of the word 'always' made me wanna qualify just a tiny bit.


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## k_kearns (Jan 23, 2017)

Peeb said:


> Didereaux said:
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> > k_kearns said:
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Thank you so much. I will try this my next "shoot" and see how it goes. Thank you so much!


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## Didereaux (Jan 23, 2017)

Peeb said:


> Didereaux said:
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> > k_kearns said:
> ...



 I was addressing her T5i Rebel specifically.  It only has a frame rate of ~3fps so loading a buffer is more or less a non-issue.   As for filling cards it is is hard to find less than a 16GB HD card these days and with her camera that is approx 800 RAW files....anyone leaving that many photos on a card deserves to lose them or have to quit shooting for the day!  lol


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## greybeard (Feb 14, 2017)

Lightroom is powerful enough to grow with you.  Most less expensive options usually hit a wall after a time where as Lightroom just keeps on going.  Photoshop takes over where Lightroom leaves off.  Often you will read "if all you are going to do, you only need (fill in the blank)".   And that is true but, the more you do, the more you will need and Lightroom/Photoshop will do just about anything.


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