Hi!

Last week, I asked whether you all would be interested in photo-editing advice, and the response was enormous, so thank you! I’m still going through and making notes of everything that people requested, but rest assured that I will do my best to tackle a variety of post-processing topics in the coming weeks. 

In the meantime, however, I did have some folks ask for post-processing software recommendations. Therefore, in today’s newsletter, I’ll share a few of my favorite editing programs. I’ll also share the latest dPS bi-weekly challenge, as well as two more photo critiques. 

Let’s get to it!

My favorite photo-editing programs

There are dozens of post-processing programs on the market, so picking a good program, especially when you’re starting out and haven’t yet determined your preferred workflow, can be a real challenge.

However, I’ve tested quite a few editors over the last decade or so, and I do think a few of them rise above the rest. Here are my recommendations:

For Beginners

If you’re a complete beginner to photo editing, I’d recommend you go with Adobe Lightroom Classic, Luminar Neo, or ON1 Photo RAW. 

Lightroom Classic is the best choice if you’re looking for a program that you can really grow with - in other words, it’s suitable for both beginners and professionals - and it also offers extremely robust image-organizational tools. It’s the program that I use for my personal editing workflow (though part of that is because I started using Lightroom in high school - back in 2009 - and now my catalog has ballooned so much that I struggle to imagine ever transitioning to another program). But it’s only offered as a subscription, and it’s the most difficult to learn of the three (though we do offer a great Lightroom Classic course here at dPS, taught by the amazing Jim Hamel - if you’re interested, you can check it out here!).

Luminar Neo is the easiest to delve into, and it offers a slew of powerful AI features that do a good job of enhancing images without much work on your part. You can purchase it either as a subscription package or a lifetime license (though right now, the lifetime license is on the expensive side). The biggest downside to Luminar Neo is the lack of comprehensive image-organizational features. It also requires a higher-end computer if you want the best performance (that’s been my experience, at least!).

Finally, ON1 Photo RAW is a good budget option for beginners. It offers plenty of effective editing tools, good organization features, and some nice AI enhancements that allow for more streamlined editing and image management. You can purchase a lifetime license for under $100 USD, and there’s also a subscription option for those who prefer it. I’ve always had a soft spot for ON1 Photo RAW, myself; it’s a very good program that’s never really achieved the popularity it deserves. 

For more experienced editors

If you’ve already used an editing program or two and you’re looking for something a little more powerful or just a little different, then I have some additional recommendations. 

I do think that Lightroom Classic (see above) is always worth considering for both beginners and advanced users, especially if you combine it with Photoshop; the integration is very smooth, and Photoshop offers most of the advanced editing features that Lightroom lacks. Plus, it comes as part of the standard Lightroom Classic subscription plans, which makes the prospect of paying for two editing programs more palatable. 

But the Lightroom Classic + Photoshop combination isn’t right for everyone, so here are a few additional options to consider:

Capture One is the most pro-friendly program on this list; its editing tools are slightly more flexible and powerful than Lightroom’s, and its image-management tools are truly outstanding, especially for folks who prefer a session-based workflow or who regularly do tethering. The learning curve is relatively steep, but if you’ve already used a program such as Lightroom or Luminar, it won’t be too tough to get started. I do wish the program were cheaper, however; you’ll pay around $300 USD for a lifetime license, or you can pay $14-34 USD per month for a subscription (depending on which package you need). 

I also like DxO PhotoLab 7; it’s cheaper than Capture One, is only offered as a lifetime license, and includes plenty of powerful editing tools as well as solid image-management features. DxO is known for its lens corrections technology, and it also boasts U-point technology, which offers a very cool - and unique - way of targeting specific portions of an image for adjustment. In my experience, the program is a little resource-intensive, so you’ll want to make sure you’re using a reasonably powerful computer before buying.

For those of you who are searching for a post-processing program, I hope that helps - this list is far from exhaustive, and there are certainly other great programs out there, but all of the above options are excellent choices (and many of them offer free trials, which can be a great way to test out the different options for yourself). 

The dPS bi-weekly challenge: Interesting Boring

Something mundane in the right light might be more interesting - that's your challenge this week, find something interesting in the mundane, something that comes to life with a little light shinning on it at the right angle. 

You can make a photo story for the next two weeks, up to 5 photographs - individual posts or a single post with 5 images. 

Make sure you include the hashtags #dPSWeeklyChallenge and #dPSInterestingBoring in your post, in the comments of our official weekly challenge page, or over on social media. You can tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!

And you can also share your image(s) in the dPS Facebook group!

Two more photo critiques

Once again, I’m back with some more critiques (and as always, if you want me to critique one of your images, feel free to hit Reply to this email and send me the file!).

First, a beautiful forest landscape scene from Pam L:

Things I Like:

• Pam, I’m loving your approach to composition in this photo; the path does a great job of leading the eye from the foreground to the background. Plus - and for me, this is a big deal and often difficult to do well - the trees are well organized so that they don’t overlap in distracting ways, but also so that they cover the sky to prevent distracting spots of blue.
• I also like how the path fades away as it moves toward the left of the the scene, which adds a bit of mystery to the image.
• The photo is tack-sharp nearly everywhere and includes lots of gorgeous detail; I’m guessing you used a relatively narrow aperture to maintain foreground-to-background sharpness, and the result is beautiful. 

Things to Improve:

• As I mentioned above, I really appreciate the huge amount of detail you’ve managed to capture here. My only recommendation in this regard would be to watch out for nearer foreground elements when setting your focus and aperture; to my eye, the branch poking out in the bottom-right corner is a little soft, and perhaps with a slightly nearer focus point, you could have kept it in focus. (Alternatively, you might reframe to exclude it from the frame; while it does blend in with the overall scene, it’s perhaps slightly distracting, especially with those bright spots of sunlight.)
• The other item to think about is the lighting. It looks like you photographed toward the middle of a sunny day, which resulted in higher-contrast lighting - and while you’ve done a great job of maintaining shadow detail, there are some bright areas (on the path, for instance) that are overexposed on my monitor. Of course, depending on the circumstances, you might have been unable to wait for the light to change or to come back later - but for a forest scene like this, I generally recommend either golden-hour lighting, where the warm sunlight filters more gently through the trees, or overcast lighting, which is very balanced and can give a moodier effect.

Second, we have a peaceful lake image from Zrinka L:

Things I Like:

• Zinka, I really like the sense of atmosphere here - you’ve framed a wonderful scene with such a peaceful, serene feeling! 
• And the lighting is excellent, too. The golden-hour light is wonderfully warm, and the backlit direction does a great job of enhancing that amazing mist. 
• The reflections in the water are a nice touch, and I like the single pop of red created by the object just in front of the boat.

Things to Improve:

• When I view the image large, I notice a decent amount of noise in the darker parts of the water and the background; I’m guessing that the image was shot with a relatively high ISO or that the file was initially underexposed but you brightened it to bring out shadow detail. You might be able to handle some or all of this noise with a bit of post-processing, so that’s definitely worth trying - and in the future, I’d recommend keeping the ISO setting at its base value and/or doing your best to prevent underexposure. (Of course, that can be easier said than done, but it’s just worth bearing in mind!)
• I’d also encourage you to play around with different compositions. Right now, the boat is right in the center of the frame, which feels a little static, and there’s a gap in the reflections at the bottom of the scene that draws the eye away from the main subject. I’d also love to see more of the trees in the background, which seem like they’d have beautiful backlit leaves! The rule of thirds might be a good way to create a more dynamic composition here, where you reframe so that the boat is located a third of the way into the frame, and it might also be worth trying to crouch down for a lower angle; that way, the rising mist will become even stronger and the reflections will take up more of the scene.
• There are some statues at the top of the scene that are a tad distracting. I do think it would be possible to compose the scene to include the statues if they’re part of what you wanted to capture, perhaps by repositioning yourself so that the statues and the boat are on separate sides of the frame. However, simplifying the shot by eliminating all but the essential elements is often a great way to approach composition, and I think it could serve you well here!

A big thanks to both Pam and Zrinka for sending in their (great!) photos, and I look forward to offering some more critiques next week!

Talk to you next Saturday,

Jaymes Dempsey and the dPS team