which photo editing software?

A

Alan Clark

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I have been using Affinity Photo for several years, but it keeps crashing - more and more often. So I would like to try something else. I mostly make black and white digital prints from scanned negatives, but occasionally use my digital camera to make b&w and colour prints.
I would appreciate any suggestions as to what to go for.

Alan
 
If you are tech-savvy, then Gimp is free
If you want something robust with active support then Photoshop is the industry standard or their cut down version called photoshop elements
 
I have used Adobe Lightroom for the past decade, with an occasional round-trip to NIK Silver Efex for my B+W photos. I recently migrated from the old standalone Lightroom to the subscription model, the desktop version.

I only resort to Photoshop if I'm doing photo illustration. For basic editing, Lightroom is better suited and has the advantage of keeping my library organized, not to mention it allows me to manage image metadata.

EDIT 27 MARCH 2024: One other advantage of Lightroom is that editing is non-destructive. Your original files are never changed and you have a complete history of edits stored in the application database.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions so far. On1 Photo Effects seems to be something you run with other software - but I have just downloaded it anyway.
Ian, I don't really want to fork out for Photoshop, and I have tried Elements and it seemed too basic.

Any other suggestions?
 
@Alan Clark , it works as a standalone as well. Also Elements Plus can be added to Photoshop Elements which expands its capabilities. It is not expensive and gets great endorsements from people I know who use it.
 
I used to work on a MacBook and frequently used iMovie for video editing, which surprisingly helped me understand the basics of photo adjustments, like balancing contrasts and shadows which are crucial for b&w prints.

After switching to Windows, I found Movavi to be a decent alternative for iMovie for Windows, especially for basic video edits. It’s straightforward and has photo editing features that are useful for quick edits and corrections. This shift made my photo editing process smoother, especially for adjusting the details in my prints.
 
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Darktable for free RAW edits, Photopea in browser, and lately Luminar Neo for AI stuff. One‑time buy and easier than Adobe.
 
Likewise, I have found Affinity's product very glitchy, unstable and by no means up to Photoshop or Lightroom. However, I have found Corel Paint-Shop Pro in its standalone version to be good - it can be downloaded foc while there is also a fully licensable version.
 
Another vote for DXO Photolab here, it's not expensive and a one-off purchase, and it combined with The Nik Collection makes for superb editing.
 
Border man said:
combined with The Nik Collection makes for superb editing
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Were you aware that you really don't need the extra overhead and complexity of exporting to Nik tools and creating unnecessary files?

DxO's FilmPack and ViewPoint add-ins can be run from within the PhotoLab main window and everything can be done on the original RAW file.

I know some folks here are firmly convinced that Nik Tools do a better job but, after many years of using FP and VP and having bought and tried out Nik, I am firmly of the opinion that, buying Nik for use with PhotoLab is a total waste of money. After all, Nik was primarily designed to supplement Adobe's and other less competent editors.

We and other photographers have tested the results for the PhotoLab bundle against wet prints and simply can't tell the difference, or find that PhotoLab actually produces better results, especially when it comes to precision dodging and burning.
 
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Joanna Carter said:
DxO's FilmPack and ViewPoint add-ins can be run from within the PhotoLab main window and everything can be done on the original RAW file.
Click to expand...
That's how I use it Joanna, I do my sharpening in NIK Sharpener output and save it as a Tiff, works well for me.
 
Joanna Carter said:
Inkjet prints on Canson Baryta Photographique II paper from a Canon Pro 1000 printer
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But Joanna, using DxO, Canson paper and a pro 1000 printer isn't the only, exclusive, way to produce a print that looks very much like a wet print.
I can produce the same result using Affinity Photo 2 , Fotospeed Baryta paper and an Epson P 900 printer.
 
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