47 Comments

• nathan:

  There really is no “you must use” software to perform post on your photos. It’s whatever gets you the results that you want. If you feel it works and your viewers like what they see, then you’re on to something :)

  October 31, 2010 at 3:43 pmReply

• Steve:

  I think Lightroom and Aperture are about the same. I like Adobe’s lens correction and noise reduction, though. Nothing about Lightroom or Aperture can approach the flexibility and power of Photoshop, but for most of my images, there is no need for complex masking, cloning large areas out or any of the creative things you can only do in Photoshop. I wouldn’t be without Photoshop, though.

  October 31, 2010 at 3:45 pmReply

• Shane:

  Agree with Nathan.

  I like to use both Lightroom and Photoshop. There are certain things you can do in PS that you can’t in LR.

  I think it is up to the individual if they post process or not and wish that everyone would respect the choices of others when it comes to doing it.

  October 31, 2010 at 3:51 pmReply

• leppod:

  My workflow consists of three choices, one of which is not mentioned in the poll. Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop & Nik Software plugins. In my experience the “debate” is between those who process their own images and those who let the camera do it for them. As a person who grew up in the chemical darkroom, I just don’t understand the latter. As for which software is “best”? Which ever one rocks your boat. What matters is the end result. Not the camera, nor the software.

  October 31, 2010 at 3:57 pmReply

  • Keith Doucet:

    Couldn’t have worded that better myself. I too am of the Chemical Darkroom generation and know from experience what gos on in there to make a great photo. Digital is no different except we no longer have to work in 15watt red light environment. I’d be willing to bet my last dollar even Yosuf Karsh did his fair share of dodging and burning.

    November 5, 2010 at 5:29 amReply

• Bran Everseeking:

  I use Digikam/Showfoto under Linux. for editing and workflow.

  October 31, 2010 at 4:21 pmReply

• Bran Everseeking:

  I use Digikam/Showfoto under Linux. for editing and workflow. 16 bit colour depth and its not graphic design oriented overkill for photo work

  October 31, 2010 at 4:25 pmReply

• salnel:

  I use Lightroom 3 for the majority of my editing and then take it into PSC5 for anything Lightroom can’t do. I think you have to find the program that suits you the best and for me, Lr rocks!

  October 31, 2010 at 4:35 pmReply

• Kim Merrild:

  Aperture because it’s cheaper than LR2 and they basicly do the same job

  October 31, 2010 at 4:37 pmReply

• Tom:

  No iPhoto? Really?

  October 31, 2010 at 6:44 pmReply

• maclimius:

  I work as a government photographer. At work for archival purposes we use Capture NX 2 due to the fact that it is the only software that allows us to write changes to Nikon’s NEF file format without converting to DNG or using sidecar files (or a separate Lightroom catalog for that matter). It also does a much better job of reading the camera settings since most of the time we are on time constraints and the only processing is adding metadata, cropping and adjusting file sizes. Capture NX does this just fine although a little slow. The major issue I find with Nikon’s Software is the character limit (500 characters I believe) in the file description which doesn’t exist in any other piece of software that I have found (View NX included). Most people are unaffected by this because they don’t have to worry about adding such long descriptions (photo journalists would be an exception). We also use Photoshop for more detailed montage and layered photographic work.

  For personal and outside use I use a combination of Lightroom 3 and Photoshop. The vast majority of the time I only use Lightroom because I don’t need the extra complexity and control that Photoshop offers. I have dabbled with Aperture but being a primarily PC user I don’t see the need to change my operating system for it when Lightroom does the job just fine. In my opinion Aperture and Lightroom are comparable.

  Photoshop is an immensely powerful tool but for cataloging purposes requires separate software (Bridge usually supplied with it and Lightroom integrates with it).

  All said it is up to you to decide what sort of work flow you require and how best each piece of software allows you to fulfill those criteria.

  October 31, 2010 at 6:49 pmReply

• Alan:

  Lightroom 3 and Photoshop PS3.

  October 31, 2010 at 7:33 pmReply

• Jared:

  My went to Lightroom but really it is a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop.

  October 31, 2010 at 8:09 pmReply

• Robert:

  Bibble 5. There is no other alternative on Linux desktop. In fact, I do not need any alternative because Bibble is fast and powerful.

  October 31, 2010 at 10:08 pmReply

• Robert Ash:

  Unfortunately my favorite post-processing software is not listed. It’s Capture One by PhaseOne. It has the best color rendering of any preprocessor, slightly besting Nikon Capture NX 2. Unfortunately Lightroom re-renders my .NEF previews and changes the colors unattractively, especially skin tones. I still use Lightroom a lot, especially for image management, but until it get the colors right upon import it’s unfortunately not my favorite. My 2nd favorite software is Photoshop. It works wonders once you get the colors right in Capture One.

  October 31, 2010 at 10:10 pmReply

• Alex B:

  Rawtherapee on Linux for me.

  October 31, 2010 at 10:44 pmReply

• tobi:

  Canon Photo Professional. I like the workflow.

  November 1, 2010 at 12:32 amReply

• Gerhard:

  I never install any Adobe products on my Mac. It sucks.

  I use Aperture 3.1 and if I have to do somethings I can´t do in Aperture I like Pixelmator.

  For me the best combination at all.

  November 1, 2010 at 12:53 amReply

• Jan:

  I use:

  Aperture – because its beautiful and (imho) more intuitive than Lightroom

  DxO – when I pushed the ISO too hard or when I suppose that lens correction would be better for the image

  Photoshop (CS3) – only when absolutely necessary

  Photomatix – when I feel like experimenting with drugs

  Canon Photo Professional – for tasks like tethered shooting or special batches (which are two of the tasks Apple Aperture is really not good at)

  November 1, 2010 at 2:49 amReply

• Kathleen:

  I use Elements as it gives me editing and cataloguing in one programme.

  I shoot RAW and do a lot in post but find CS5 more than I need, it’s graphic-design oriented, and Elements is 1/10th the price!

  November 1, 2010 at 6:00 amReply

• peni:

  LightZone for processing RAW and Paint Shop Photo Pro X3 for further tweaking.

  November 1, 2010 at 6:08 amReply

• Kathleen:

  I use Elements as it gives me editing and cataloguing in one programme.

  I shoot RAW and do a lot in post but find CS5 more than I need, it’s graphic-design oriented, and Elements is 1/10th the price.

  November 1, 2010 at 6:12 amReply

• Gabor:

  I prefer Lightroom too for simple adjustments and keeping my photos organized. For more serious edits, Photoshop has no competition imo.

  November 1, 2010 at 6:23 amReply

• Happy Tinfoil Cat:

  Due to lack of money:

  Photo Studio 5.5
  Digital Photo Professional
  Noise Ninja (stand alone)
  and just bought
  Expression Media 2

  November 1, 2010 at 8:49 pmReply

  • Happy Tinfoil Cat:

    I forgot

    Picnik Premium for Flickr stuff

    November 2, 2010 at 10:43 amReply

• 100iso:

  I prefer specific software for specific tasks. There’s not one, that can do everything well as I need it. With large amounts of pictures, I prefer Aperture for the developing process and the database management. Photoshop for the more refined work and Nikon NX II or Photomatix for special tasks. I think, they all work best for special purposes.

  November 2, 2010 at 3:26 amReply

• truckpilot:

  I have Aperture and CS4, but use Aperture most of the time as that’s what I’m most familiar with.

  November 2, 2010 at 4:43 amReply

• gilril:

  I always start w/ Capture NX, using Nikon Transfer to download, and View NX to organize folders etc. These 3 work well together. If I need to do any cloning or spot remove I then go to PS Elements. I use Picasa to put albums available to the web.

  November 2, 2010 at 6:11 amReply

• JamesF:

  You left out ImageMagick, which I use for bulk and scripted edits, like resizing/sharpening for web or print.

  Bibble because it rocks, it’s available for Linux, and it means I don’t need to care when Adobe will get around to porting Photoshop.

  November 2, 2010 at 9:40 pmReply

• Mark:

  Yeah most definitely Bibble! It owns the DAM and postprocessing world for me on all platforms (Windows, Mac and ofcourse my favorite: Linux!)

  November 2, 2010 at 10:14 pmReply

• gareth:

  Bibble processes all the way from Raw to perpective correction to heal/clone to remove annoying blemishes. That’s all I need.
  I don’t often do image manipulation in the Photoshop sense – and when I do I use PhotoImpact at a tenth of the price :-)

  November 2, 2010 at 11:42 pmReply

• Bill McCracken:

  Bibble and Aperature are in a league by themselves. Bibble has the best workflow abilities of the two. I’ve used both extensively. The point of photography is to spend LESS time at the desk and more time on the shooting scene, Bibble enables this. Bibble is simpler and more expedient product than Photoshop. Photoshop for most photo workflow is too expensive, too bulky to get photos out the door and into buyer’s hands. The other products or freeware should be considered photo managers or picture viewers. Not sure why they would be in the same quality of poll, but someone lobbed them in there. ALL of my photos are handled in Bibble.

  November 3, 2010 at 10:53 amReply

• bryan:

  photoshop and light room iphoto makes me sick

  November 4, 2010 at 6:44 amReply

• João Almeida:

  I kinda limited in Linux so I ended up choosing Bibble, and despite having room to improve it’s a great piece of software. I also use Gimp for retouch/digital darkroom processing

  November 4, 2010 at 11:02 amReply

• Tfromo:

  My favorite is Aperture with Nik plugins. Nik is really the awesome part of the duo.

  November 4, 2010 at 4:18 pmReply

• Liju Augustine:

  I use capture NX2 for whatever basic adjustments that’s needed. I’ve never been a fan of Photoshopping. I am not going against the flow, but somehow I haven’t warmed up to the idea of heavy post processing. I would like to remain and grow into a photographer, not to a photoshopper.

  Regards
  Liju Augustine
  http://lfotos.wordpress.com – Learning by sharing.

  November 4, 2010 at 4:33 pmReply

• Jack McGuire:

  I picked Lightroom even though I also have Photoshop Elements 7. I find the learning curve for LR is not as steep as it is for PE7.

  November 4, 2010 at 6:40 pmReply

• pRm:

  hi friends im pRm here for my friends and family.

  November 4, 2010 at 7:40 pmReply

• cwiddied:

  All though I use photoshop and Nik Efex…I upload straight into Lightroom where my files are catalogued. I do any adjustments if needed there first, i then export to other programmes should i require specific processing!

  November 5, 2010 at 12:33 amReply

• zeroequalsinfinity:

  DXO for Raw conversion is a must have for me. The camera and lens corrections are excellent, and I love the ability to make many corrections at this stage with relative ease. (I do love my presets; they enable creating a good starting point, and hence save me a fair bit of time.)

  Photoshop is my other software of choice for all the reasons that anyone who uses it is already aware.

  November 6, 2010 at 12:25 pmReply

• Ron:

  Definitely should have been multiple choices allowed. While Lightroom has become my main software it is not always LR only but often LR + PS.

  November 6, 2010 at 4:49 pmReply

• Angela:

  If you think about it, every big name photographer in the darkroom used some sort of post-processing. It may have been dodging and burning areas of the negative but they processed it no matter what. So why is any other method of post-processing so objectionable? Even composites were common in the darkroom era… so why not composites using software today?

  I think it is just a matter of those who don’t know how and what post processing software is really for who find its use objectionable.

  I use Photoshop, Lightroom, Painter, Capture, and a variety of plugs to enhance my art.

  November 9, 2010 at 5:30 pmReply

• H. Arenas:

  Photoshop the one stop shop…..

  November 10, 2010 at 10:25 amReply

• A Killer Collection of Adobe LightRoom Tutorials « Oxford School of Photography:

  [...] LightRoom remains one of the most popular pieces of post-production software for photographers and for Light Stalking readers. Luckily, there are a lot of clever and generous people around the internet who have taken the time [...]

  May 18, 2011 at 4:00 amReply

Leave a Comment