Comments on: What Post Production Software Do You Use Most?

By: Pauline Lewis

Pauline Lewis — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:20:09 +0000

I used to use CS4 and Bridge for all my uploading, organising and editing. Then, for some reason not yet resolved, Bridge stopped working. Now I use Picasa to organise my files and still use CS4 for editing.

By: TSchulz

TSchulz — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:47:50 +0000

Like Johnny Inside said, I also use Corel PhotoPaint almost exclusively in Windows. I’ve used Corel Graphics Suite since version 3 and have been on their beta testing program for 5 different versions of the suite. It does the same things Photoshop does but has a significantly lower learning curve (and much lower price tag). You can also install many Photoshop plugins into it! It also supports RAW files.

I’ve used Picasa a lot for organization but have been finding it more and more to take up a lot of system overhead. It can really slow your system down. I’ve started dabbling a bit with Lightroom. While confusing at first it seems to have great promise.

I’ve started playing around with Photomatix Pro 4 for HDR images. Again, it’s a little confusing at first, but that is a pretty slick program!

If you use Linux, there’s a great alternative to Adobe Lightroom. It’s called Darktable. It’s another workflow management program and it has many similarities to Lightroom. I also have been using a program called Entangle. With either Darktable or Entangle you can tether your camera and do live preview shooting in Linux!!

Another couple of good photo management apps are F-Spot and Shotwell.

As an additional tool to use besides PhotoPaint or Photoshop, I’ve been trying GIMP. It bears more similarities to Photoshop than anything, which means it also has a higher learning curve, but it’s very powerful. Awesome app! Oh, did I mention it’s FREE!!?

By: Skip

Skip — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:31:26 +0000

I use Photoshop CS4 with a couple of NIK software filters, Mainly the tonal contras filter found in their Color Efex Pro suite, then de-noise the shot with Nik’s Define filter.

By: Laureen

Laureen — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 03:26:14 +0000

Photoshop CS5 and Light Room 3

By: Tom Schriefer

Tom Schriefer — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:37:00 +0000

I use LR3 to organize and if working with RAW format. For .JPG files I use PSE8, if I need it and PICASA3 for small touch ups.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:13:43 +0000

I use mainly Paint.NET and then Pentax’s software for RAW

Yay for free!

By: Larry Nicosia

Larry Nicosia — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:10:38 +0000

I use Photoshop CS4 and a few plugins.

By: james towle

james towle — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:42:40 +0000

cs3 is my main software, but i really like light room for quick touches

By: Ariana Murphy

Ariana Murphy — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:07:14 +0000

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned a really basic but very versatile program – Windows Picture Manager. I know it’s very much for amateurs (which I am) but it is easy to use and gives great results. It can crop, alter light and dark balance, colour tweaking, resize, straighten etc. with a very simple interface. It’s also a great picture manager of my many thousands of pictures. If I need stuff it can’t do (sharpen, or more advanced tweaking) then I use Photoshop Elements 6, which I’ve only just scratched the surface of what it can do.
I would like to mention that for some reason I have not been able to access my RAW files at all (I got my Nikon D60 in October) so I’m looking forward to exploring the Capture NX(2) program mentioned in this thread.
Once again, DPS to the rescue!

By: arthurL

arthurL — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:19:05 +0000

Since I enjoy taking pictures I try to get the best quality photo at the time of capture so I don’t spend alot of my time dealing with post-production. I personally find Aperture w/NiK plug in software collection (love the U-Point technoligy, very natural w/o artifacts) cuts my post production time considerably. But,….if you have a need for “constructing photo’s” for the type of photography you enjoy you should consider Photoshop cs3 or cs4.