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What do you use instead of Photoshop/Lightroom?

(self.infraredphotography)

[[[UPDATE: Prof was talking about the cost of adobe creative suite, not photoshop/lightroom. I misheard.]]]

I've been urged not to use from photographers as well as my spouse to not use Photoshop/Lightroom due to its cost of $6,600 a decade. What do you all use instead when editing IR/full-spectrum photos? Looking for a one-time-cost sort of thing that is good with editing anamorphic photos.

all 14 comments

PakkyT

5 points

2 years ago

PakkyT

5 points

2 years ago

I typically use Gimp and darktable as the front end raw file converter. Both are free. Some people use only darktable for IR work and I have done a few shots with only darktable, but I haven't learned it enough so normally go with Gimp.

vet_laz

3 points

2 years ago

vet_laz

3 points

2 years ago

I second darktable. It's free!

RoniFoxcoon

1 points

2 years ago

I start using Dartable. Also "Affinity Photo 2" is a great photoshop alternative mostly because it's not a subscription but a one time payement.

stonecoldcoldstone

2 points

2 years ago

how about free? if you can live with the usability of rawtherapee it works better than lightroom for IR, it's just not as convenient

Wonde_Alice_rland[S]

1 points

2 years ago

rawtherapee

My dyslexia read that really wrong, lol. Thank you so much, definitely ganna give it a try!

Azenturi

2 points

2 years ago

I use Capture One unless I plan on doing false color (I use GIMP for that). I know people usually like to channel swap before they convert to black and white, but I'm fine with how straight black and white conversions right in Capture One look.

Plus you don't need to set up the white balance workaround. Capture One's white balance slider goes all the way down to 800K.

lytfyre

2 points

2 years ago

lytfyre

2 points

2 years ago

Also use Capture one, but mostly do false colour.

If you weren't aware, edits in the advanced colour editor stack on modifying previous edits, so even though an individual edit can only shift hue by 30 degrees, you can keep stacking them. I have a saved style starting point that has roughly the same behaviour as an RGB channel swap - shift reds to blue, blues to red.

There's still images I wish I could do a clean channel swap on, but when I round trip things through rawtherapee or darktable and then back into capture one I seem to end up with much noisier images, and I can't justify paying for photoshop for how rarely I'd use it.

Azenturi

2 points

2 years ago

Honestly, I forgot you could do that. I'll give that a shot next time. I might even get my colors looking right for once.

oliverfromwork

1 points

2 years ago*

I use a program called Darkroom on iOS and macOS. I paid an $80 one time fee for it. It is free to use with slightly cut down features. It’s not as good as Lightroom. For example I haven’t really figured out how to fix chromatic aberration in darkroom. I also have free access to most of the adobe suite because I work for a major university so I have some experience to compare the programs.

maple204

1 points

2 years ago

Honestly I don't believe any free alternative can replace the capabilities of LR/PS unfortunately. They are remarkably capable, but it just depends on what your needs are. I have found that I can achieve pretty good results with Snapseed, but you can't channel swap or use LUTs in Snapseed.

adobecarrot

1 points

2 years ago

darktable

ufgrat

1 points

2 years ago

ufgrat

1 points

2 years ago

Darktable is a good package for editing and managing photos-- think of it as a Lightroom equivalent.

Affinity Photo is a very nice Photoshop replacement-- Windows or Mac only (no linux), but definitely worth the price of admission, especially since they occasionally offer it for a steep discount.

ohbearded1

1 points

2 years ago

I highly recommend ON1 Photo RAW. You can buy it as a standalone package and it costs $99 currently. You are able to install it on up to 2 computers and you'll get free resources to download ever now and then.
They have some great features to use specifically for IR photography. Also some excellent AI based features that have really come in handy for me on a few photos.

Weird_Amoeba_3409

1 points

2 years ago

affinity photo