Plus I added a “local adjustment” gradient to darken the sky at the top of the frame. Raw Image AFTER Development in Adobe Camera RawĪbove is the image after development in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), using sliders under its Basic, Tone Curve, Detail, HSL, Lens Corrections, and Effects tabs. This image of the sky is designed to be composited with one taken without the tracker turning, to keep the ground sharp. But it does show up noise well, including hot pixels. Keep that in mind, as it will always look fuzzy in the comparison images. The camera was on a tracking unit (a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini) to keep stars pinpoints. The lens was the Sigma 20mm Art lens at f/2 and the camera the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600. Original Raw Image Out of the Camera, BEFORE Development Note: Click/tap on any of the screen shots to bring them up full screen so you can inspect and save them. This is the image I threw at all the programs, a 2-minute exposure of the Milky Way taken at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in southern Alberta in late July 2017. Touted as a Photoshop replacement, it isn’t there yet. However, it lacks some of the key functions (listed below) needed for nightscape and time-lapse work. It has an innovative interface and many fine features, and it allows layering and masking of multiple images. The “Pro” version of Pixelmator was introduced in November 2017. NOTE: Windows users might find Corel’s Paintshop Pro 2018 a good “do-it-all” solution – I tested only Corel’s raw developer program Aftershot Pro, which Paintshop Pro uses. It’s just that ON1’s license is “perpetual.” However, ON1’s cost to buy and maintain is similar to Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photo subscription plan. In fact, ON1 allows you to migrate your Lightroom catalog into its format. Of all the contenders tested here, this is the only program that can truly replace both Lightroom and Photoshop, in that ON1 has cataloguing, raw developing, and image layering and masking abilities. These programs can not only develop at least single raw images, if not many, but also offer some degree of image layering, compositing, and masking like Photoshop. Photoshop Contenders: Four Raw Developers with Layering/Compositing Yes, it’s free, but the learning curve is precipitous. It offers a bewildering blizzard of panels and controls, among them the ability to apply dark frames and flat field images, features unique among any raw developer and aimed specifically at astrophotographers. This free open source program has been created and is supported by a loyal community of programmers. DxO also recently acquired the excellent Nik Collection of image processing plug-ins, so we can expect some interesting additions and features. While it has an image browser, PhotoLab does not create a catalog, so this isn’t a full Lightroom replacement, but it is a superb raw developer. The ELITE version of what DxO now calls “PhotoLab” offers DxO’s superb PRIME noise reduction and excellent ClearView contrast enhancement feature. The MacOS version resembles the Windows Pro version. Only the Pro version offers the full suite of raw development features, in addition to cataloging functions. Windows users have a choice of either a Standard or Professional version. My question is, how well do they work? Are any serious contenders to replace Photoshop or Lightroom? Lightroom Contenders: Five Raw DevelopersĪCDSee Photo Studio (current as of late 2017)Ĭost: $60 to $100, depending on version, upgrades $40 to $60. Thus the popularity of these alternative programs. Though $120 for a year is not far off the cost of purchasing many of these other programs and perhaps upgrading them annually, many photographers prefer to purchase their software and not subscribe to it. Photoshop and Lightroom complement each other and are now available together, but only by monthly subscription through Adobe’s Creative Cloud service, at $10/month.
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