Free Photography Software

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Handinon

DJ Extraordinaire
Oct 1, 2014
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First, a really good Lightroom "Light" - PT Photo Editor.
PT Photo Editor
The free V3.8 is great, a lot more intuitive than Darktable or Rawtherapee. I will probably spring for the paid V4, IMHO a very reasonable $29.95.
Here's an excitable young man who will walk you through it -

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPcS0FAy9Qc&t=7s


Second, GIMP. Yeah, I know - but V2.10.2 isn't your Grandpa's Buick any more. Just like Mixxx, this open source program has come a long way.
...and it can still run the old National Geographic script. Reluctant model -

Ginger.jpg
 
Yes, Adobe is still King, but is isn't free. Their subscription model is a good deal - if you use it a lot - but their "Terms of Use" can be changed at any time, and historically they played the game of forcing you to get updates to keep ACR current. While the "Subscription" has certainly made Photoshop more "hack proof" (Photoshop and VDJ were probably the two most illegally distributed programs ever), I don't think the dust has settled on this yet.

There is another good "free" software I failed to mention, but it is brand specific, Canon's Digital Photo Professional V4. It now supports their older models (like my Canon 5D), and is a big improvement over DPP V3.
 
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We've also bought Portrait Professional, which actually is better at face-shaping. PortraitPro - Easy Photo Editing Software
Also good stuff (instant weight loss!!), but again, not free.

For free, we need a Photoshop Plugin developed by a Crazy Ivan -
Плагины для Adobe

Scroll down the chart to "C3C Glamour", and download the 32 or 64 bit .8bf file (depending on your version of Photoshop or Elements), and put it in your plugins folder.

1) Open image
2) Create "Duplicate Layer"
3) Run "C3C Glamour" filter - run it as many times as you think necessary - look closely!
4) I usually reduce opacity of the Layer to 50%
5) Finally "Merge Visible" or "Flatten Layers"

Does a beautiful job without giving skin that "plastic" look.
 
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When we first started doing photography, I tried convincing my wife that "Gimp does everything that photoshop does." I was wrong. WAY wrong. While it may be true, there are freebie photo editors, my view, there simply isn't anything for free that will match up to Lightroom and/or Photoshop. For one thing, keep in mind that these editors are geared towards single photo editing. Lightroom is geared toward batches (2k-3k in our case) of photos and it provides a workflow and editing tools that cut thru piles of photos quickly. When the photo requires more sophisticated editing (taking objects out of photos), then it bridges seamlessly over to photoshop. You make the change on that single photo, then fly back into Lightroom. It's probably the best money I've spent on our photography.
 
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The "PT Photo Editor" I referenced at the beginning of this tread also does batch processing.

A lot of photographers got P.O. at Adobe for starting their monthly subscription. This opened the door for Lightroom alternatives like Luminar and ON1, two of the biggest one's experienced photographers have switched to, and now actually prefer to Lightroom (and they all do batch processing). However, for Newbie's, the big advantage Adobe still has is the shear amount of support you can get from just watching self-help YouTube Videos.

Anyway, I'm not trying to defend Adobe or their competitors, but simply highlight what IMHO is some good free software. Technique/equipment will only take you so far - as always, it is the person behind the camera and how they use light/composition that will make the real difference.
 
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Actually I am still using Paint Shop Pro v7 - it was taken over by Corel and has been updated to v19 so far - but v7 that I have been using is still king and the best part I can use Photoshop addons in Paint shop pro plus another good feature for mine is that its also PORTABLE!
 
The PT Photo Editor looks like a blatant rip-off of Lightroom .. I mean on the verge of software Piracy type rip-off.

And you have to have the paid version to do batch editing (you can do batch conversions with the free one) according to their site.
 
I actually found the Creative Cloud suite to be perfect for what I need for $10 a month, and have found Adobe's service to be top notch. I have been on the $10 a month plan and bumped up to the $80 a month (thought I would start using after effects with some of the projects at church) but after 6 months, really did not use it enough, called them, and they allowed me to drop back down to the $10 a month plan without a problem at all
 
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I actually found the Creative Cloud suite to be perfect for what I need for $10 a month, and have found Adobe's service to be top notch. I have been on the $10 a month plan and bumped up to the $80 a month (thought I would start using after effects with some of the projects at church) but after 6 months, really did not use it enough, called them, and they allowed me to drop back down to the $10 a month plan without a problem at all
I'm sorry, but I give zero creadance to a Sony Traitor! :laugh:
 
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The PT Photo Editor looks like a blatant rip-off of Lightroom .. I mean on the verge of software Piracy type rip off.
It sure does, but many of Lightroom's competitors have a similar GUI. Remember, part of Adobe's creation of Lightroom was their purchase of Pixmantic's Raw Shooter.
 
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Well, I found out if you link PT Photo Editor to your Facebook page, you get a code for a $5 discount - so it's a one time cost of $24.95. I bought it - it even has the DeHaze filter like the newest version of Lightroom. Can't go wrong for that small of an amount!

If you've been following this, and you picked up on my goof remark about sightandsounds, maybe he will give us a follow up report on his transition to Sony mirrorless. I am not ready to jump ship yet, and if i do, I'm still not sure between Sony or Fuji (I know only Sony has FF).