We're selling our photo business right now and headed into full retirement next month. As part of that, we'll be spending 6 months a year on the road and working from laptops.
Kinda chaps my nether cheeks to drop big buxx (once again) on Adobe products when our use of processing software isn't going to be so demanding. Is anyone processing photos these days without resorting to Adobe? Or, barring that, is happiness possible with Elements or some such?
I'm prepared to dump buxx on Photoshop if absolutely necessary, but gosh. I can spend more on travel if I spend less on Adobe.
The program you use for editing depends upon what your needs are. If you believe that you'll not need the full-on power of PS over the long haul, then a light weight program should be fine.
If I was in your position, I would likely go for Elements. You'd then have the option of an upgrade to the full PS at a lower cost, if you discover you need that power.
As to other programs, you might take a look at [IDImagere-PhotoSupreme. There is a MAC and Windows version that does allow non-destructive editing and DAM. It's pretty new and I haven't used it, but it looks promising.
I wish you all the best, and just because you're retiring, that no excuse to not be around NPN!
Thanks Preston! I'll look into Photosupreme, and if I decide to try it, I'll post a review back here. In the meantime I hadn't considered going with Elements and a later upgrade if needed. Thanks for that.
As for output, who knows which way the wind will blow. We certainly plan to do a whole lot more recreational photography, which should ultimately lead to more NPN time for us.
After seeing what our old Mamiya and LIndhof film gear is worth (Not!) today, I'm sure we'll be hanging onto it. Heck, we still have our old Zone XI 4x5 enlarger and a NIB Zone XI 5x7 enlarger sitting in crates out in the barn, along with all the fixtures from the darkroom we retired. Might even be time to get our hands wet, too.
The photo business has been really good to us and contributed mightily to our retirement, but the sale will leave a huge void in our lives. I bet it won't take long to start shooting what we want, rather than what we're paid to shoot!
Posted by David Bostedo on September 19, 2012 at 8:42 PM
I've tried/demo'ed quite a few things Hank...this is what I've tried over the years, but there are lots of others (and I currently have PS CS6 if that tells you anything...) But if you want to, I'd imagine some combination of other tools would suit your needs just fine.
Overall :
Elements if very very capable, but has some drawbacks in bit depth, advanced features, printing/profiling, and a more limited RAW converter. GIMP (or GIMPShop) is a full featured, freeware, open source Photoshop competitor. As such it's very powerful, but not as smooth and well integrated as Photoshop. It also has some warts related to bit depth and some other features, but I haven't used it in quite a while.
For RAW processing :
Adobe Lightroom is quite a bit cheaper than Photoshop, and with some of the targeted adjustment and other new features, a lot of folks are finding little need for Photoshop Corel PaintShop Pro is a full featured editor, but I never got into it enough to really know how good it is
Raw Therapee is a free RAW converter that works well but was very slow when I used it - not sure how current or updated it is either.
Posted by John Mumaw on September 19, 2012 at 9:06 PM
A lot depends upon how much editing and optimizing you perform. If you like using layers/adjustment layers, then Elements is what you want. If you can get most of your editing done using a robust RAW converter only, then Lightroom may be a good choice.
Posted by Gary McGhee on September 20, 2012 at 12:04 PM
Hi Hank,
I haven't used this but noticed it mentioned on another forum. I'm led to believe it was about $140 but is now free.
Thanks folks! I have lots to chew on- just what I hoped for.
Thanks to Sandy R, I'm going to try Elements as a partial step back from PS. And I'll certainly be playing with the others.
And no worries Ross- I like this place too much to go elsewhere, and I'm certainly continuing in photography.
Posted by Bill Chambers on September 21, 2012 at 11:55 AM
Congrats to you and Mrs. on retiring!!! With this economy I figure I'll be able to retire sometime in the fall of 2065! Hope y'all have a great time traveling and enjoying life!! Hope your internet connection might improve too so you can post more on NPN.
Posted by Bob Miller on September 23, 2012 at 12:36 AM
Glad to hear you will have time to shoot what you like. Be sure to send me an email when you get down this way. They are saying that we could be in for a good wildflower season in the spring. Organpipe?
Long as "spring" doesn't happen too late! We're headed north again in April. Current plans are for a month in Big Bend around Feb. But we need to get to know you're area better too!
Posted by David Bostedo on October 4, 2012 at 10:53 AM
So far my dinking with Elements has revealed one frustration. Selective Color is integral to my routine in Photoshop, but it's nowhere to be found in Elements. Other than that, I'm finding a lot to like.
Posted by Dan Roberts on October 4, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Can't believe you'd leave this great state just before another wonderful winter. Then again, don't know what Kodiak was like but SouthCentral didn't have a summer I was envious before that you made a living with photography, even more so now that you get to do it full time just for fun ! Be careful out there among them outsiders.
After a rotten winter, we almost never saw the sun this summer- yet we were over a foot behind on rainfall! The storms that plagued the mainland gave us mostly wind and clouds. I don't think it hit 70 all summer.
And yup, we'll be careful outside! First thing I'm going to have to do is stop thinking "who will buy this?" when I put the viewfinder to my face.
Discussion
15 repliesKinda chaps my nether cheeks to drop big buxx (once again) on Adobe products when our use of processing software isn't going to be so demanding. Is anyone processing photos these days without resorting to Adobe? Or, barring that, is happiness possible with Elements or some such?
I'm prepared to dump buxx on Photoshop if absolutely necessary, but gosh. I can spend more on travel if I spend less on Adobe.
The program you use for editing depends upon what your needs are. If you believe that you'll not need the full-on power of PS over the long haul, then a light weight program should be fine.
If I was in your position, I would likely go for Elements. You'd then have the option of an upgrade to the full PS at a lower cost, if you discover you need that power.
As to other programs, you might take a look at [IDImagere-PhotoSupreme. There is a MAC and Windows version that does allow non-destructive editing and DAM. It's pretty new and I haven't used it, but it looks promising.
I wish you all the best, and just because you're retiring, that no excuse to not be around NPN!
--P
As for output, who knows which way the wind will blow. We certainly plan to do a whole lot more recreational photography, which should ultimately lead to more NPN time for us.
After seeing what our old Mamiya and LIndhof film gear is worth (Not!) today, I'm sure we'll be hanging onto it. Heck, we still have our old Zone XI 4x5 enlarger and a NIB Zone XI 5x7 enlarger sitting in crates out in the barn, along with all the fixtures from the darkroom we retired. Might even be time to get our hands wet, too.
The photo business has been really good to us and contributed mightily to our retirement, but the sale will leave a huge void in our lives. I bet it won't take long to start shooting what we want, rather than what we're paid to shoot!
Overall :
Elements if very very capable, but has some drawbacks in bit depth, advanced features, printing/profiling, and a more limited RAW converter.
GIMP (or GIMPShop) is a full featured, freeware, open source Photoshop competitor. As such it's very powerful, but not as smooth and well integrated as Photoshop. It also has some warts related to bit depth and some other features, but I haven't used it in quite a while.
For RAW processing :
Adobe Lightroom is quite a bit cheaper than Photoshop, and with some of the targeted adjustment and other new features, a lot of folks are finding little need for Photoshop
Corel PaintShop Pro is a full featured editor, but I never got into it enough to really know how good it is
Raw Therapee is a free RAW converter that works well but was very slow when I used it - not sure how current or updated it is either.
I haven't used this but noticed it mentioned on another forum. I'm led to believe it was about $140 but is now free.
http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/perfect-layers/?ind
Hope your retirement goes well.
Gary.
Thanks to Sandy R, I'm going to try Elements as a partial step back from PS. And I'll certainly be playing with the others.
And no worries Ross- I like this place too much to go elsewhere, and I'm certainly continuing in photography.
So far my dinking with Elements has revealed one frustration. Selective Color is integral to my routine in Photoshop, but it's nowhere to be found in Elements. Other than that, I'm finding a lot to like.
After a rotten winter, we almost never saw the sun this summer- yet we were over a foot behind on rainfall! The storms that plagued the mainland gave us mostly wind and clouds. I don't think it hit 70 all summer.
And yup, we'll be careful outside! First thing I'm going to have to do is stop thinking "who will buy this?" when I put the viewfinder to my face.