Lightroom or Capture 1???

Boojum

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Capture One for me!
Even though the article clearly shows that you can accomplish great results with either, I'm staying away from Adobe's subscription for a while longer.
 
CP! all the way. I migrated over 5 years ago within regrets. The color rendition and editing capabilities are outstanding.
 
A couple of years ago I tried out various editing programs in the search for something to replace my beloved Aperture, which Apple had already discontinued and was no longer supporting. I tried Capture One, but found it to be overkill for my needs and so eventually went on the hunt again and when I found DXO PhotoLab 3 I was good to go. That program seemed more intuitive to me and I got the kind of results I was hoping for. I tend to be pretty basic and simple with my editing -- no major retouching, no fancy layering, no substituting of skies and faces or backgrounds, no need to tether the camera in a studio setting, etc. I don't shoot portraits, either, or people very often at all, so nailing accurate skin tones and other issues aren't a major concern for me. Now in DXO PhotoLab 5 and still liking it very much. It just works for me in the way that suits my editing style and needs.

I had tried LR many years ago, at the time both it and Aperture were first being released, and hadn't been particularly interested in it then, choosing Aperture instead. Not keen on the subscription model, either, or what I've heard about the catalog/DAM module setup there. I know a lot of people swear by LR and won't use anything else -- it's very popular -- and that's fine. We're lucky to have so many choices!
 
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C1 for me I tried light room and photoshop a while ago and found them a little difficult for me to work with
 
I do very little editing. I am mostly in the Linux side of the house so there are a lot of good open source apps available. For super editing there is GIMP with its steep learning curve. There are others, too. I currently use Photopea a lot. It is a free on-line editor a lot like Photoshop. Darktable is another good free one. I know GIMP and Darktable are cross platform and as an on-line app Photopea works anywhere, too. So if you are a cheapskate like me there are plenty of choices. GIMP is reputed to be able to do anything Photoshop can do, and for free.
 
I love shooting photos but I really dislike editing them afterward! Unfortunately when one shoots only in RAW, as I do, editing is a necessary evil. I prefer RAW, though, as I do have more control over the finished product than when shooting in JPG.
 
I love shooting photos but I really dislike editing them afterward! Unfortunately when one shoots only in RAW, as I do, editing is a necessary evil. I prefer RAW, though, as I do have more control over the finished product than when shooting in JPG.
OMG yes! I am right there with ya!
 
Learning to edit you images and getting really skilled at is is a a MUST HAVE in my opinion. Shooting in RAW gets you the best starting file, but to get the full potential of your images you must master at least the basics of editing. Just like you had to learn how to develop and print in the good old film days, in the digital age editing is a core part of being a photographer. Just my 5 cents.
 
Of course ideally it is best to get things absolutely right in the camera at the time of shooting, but even at that one has to do some editing when having shot in RAW. I have difficulty in getting beyond the basics of editing, and become impatient with the whole process. I have no desire to become super-skilled at all the ins-and-outs of serious retouching and image manipulation. At some point, IMHO some people's images become more about how skillful they are at retouching than in merely making routine adjustments to what they actually shot. Then the result often becomes more "digital art" than actual photography.

Fortunately for me, I am not a professional trying to earn a living at this, and I do not do much shooting of people. Mostly animals and flowers here. If I shoot something and dislike the results, I'll discard it. If I am able to make appropriate adjustments and corrections in editing without going to extremes I'll do that, but if I see that I'm running into trouble and that the situation is becoming too complex for me, I'll simply discard that image as well.

Digital photography these days requires two very different types of skill sets, and some people may be blessed with the ability to acquire and use both, while others may not.

I miss the days when I shot rolls of film and took them to the lab and the lab handed me contact sheets a day or two later and I indicated what I wanted done and they did the prints to my specifications and that was that. Freed me up to concentrate on shooting interesting images....
 
Wait, back to the point of the original post... I have Capture One Express for Sony, a free download. Is my interpretation correct that it will continue to work on my PC? Or will April come around and then it will stop working with a prompt for me to buy the <rather expensive> full version?
 
Of course ideally it is best to get things absolutely right in the camera at the time of shooting, but even at that one has to do some editing when having shot in RAW. I have difficulty in getting beyond the basics of editing, and become impatient with the whole process. I have no desire to become super-skilled at all the ins-and-outs of serious retouching and image manipulation. At some point, IMHO some people's images become more about how skillful they are at retouching than in merely making routine adjustments to what they actually shot. Then the result often becomes more "digital art" than actual photography.

Fortunately for me, I am not a professional trying to earn a living at this, and I do not do much shooting of people. Mostly animals and flowers here. If I shoot something and dislike the results, I'll discard it. If I am able to make appropriate adjustments and corrections in editing without going to extremes I'll do that, but if I see that I'm running into trouble and that the situation is becoming too complex for me, I'll simply discard that image as well.

Digital photography these days requires two very different types of skill sets, and some people may be blessed with the ability to acquire and use both, while others may not.

I miss the days when I shot rolls of film and took them to the lab and the lab handed me contact sheets a day or two later and I indicated what I wanted done and they did the prints to my specifications and that was that. Freed me up to concentrate on shooting interesting images....
OH I so much agree. I shot in black and white and did my own darkroom work. It has taken me a while to go to digital. I miss the darkroom but it is just not feasible any longer. Sad - but - onward and upward!
 
There are very good free photo editors, GIMP and Darktable come to mind for starters. I'm on Linux and there are a few more good editors. I am sure there are good oneson whatever OS you are in other than Apple.
 
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