Nikon Software ? Photoshop ? Elements ? .........

keyboard

Senior Member
Hi All
I am looking to purchase some editing software...

Should I be looking at Nikon Software ?
Should I be looking at Photoshop ?
Should I be looking at Elements ?

Keep in mind that I am a novice beginner..

Thanks
Ron
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Well... to be honest, if you don't have any of the listed programs, and haven't invested time and money learning them... then I'd recommend that you look at Adobe's Lightroom... which is more suited to a photographic workflow...
 

Ijustwant1

Senior Member
Well... to be honest, if you don't have any of the listed programs, and haven't invested time and money learning them... then I'd recommend that you look at Adobe's Lightroom... which is more suited to a photographic workflow...
Just as Fred said ! And you might want to have a look at the Niks collection ! Lightroom is excellent for editing and organising your photos !
 

keyboard

Senior Member
I am at the start of a learning curve and have purchased some books......They all seem to recommend Photoshop. Is the Commercial Nikon Software equal to Photoshop?
I have to pick a product then commit to a learning curve.... From what I read , I really like Photoshops "Unsharp" .... Kind of makes sense " sharpen up your photos

Does Nikon Software offer the same thing as " Unsharp" ?
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
This is an easy question - obtain a copy of Lightroom. After you get proficient with Lightroom, you will know which way you'll want to go (ie - PS or PS-E and Nik or Topaz, etc.)
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Capture NX 2

Photo Editing Software

Would this be a good software to begin my journey?
View NX2 is free, which is good. Is it as powerful as Lightroom or Photoshop? No. But then only you can decide if you how deeply you're going to delve into post processing your photos. If you're going to go all out, I'd say get an Adobe Photoshop Photographers Program. For $10 a month you can install both Lightroom AND Photoshop. Learn them both and decide which one you want to use as your primary tool.

I'm a Photoshop guy, personally. But then I don't need Lightroom to catalog or organize my photos -- I can do that myself. Still, Lightroom is pretty awesome, I'm just used to working with masks and layers and such so Photoshop is my go-to application. And don't be scared of Photoshop, it's no more difficult to learn than any other application, it's just bigger and more powerful so it can do more; but that doesn't make it more difficult to grasp.

...
 

nickt

Senior Member
I like Lightroom. Check out some of Adobe's training videos to get a feel for what it does.
Learn Lightroom 5 | Adobe TV Also plenty of Photoshop videos there too.

As much as I hate subscription software, the $10/month for Lightroom and Photoshop that HF linked above is a tempting deal.
 

dukatum

Senior Member
Well I was writing a big reply to introduce you to many more options, GIMP, DxO, NX-D (beta from nikon), SilkyPix (which NX-D is based on), Darktable, etc etc.

But to be honest, Lightroom is probably more than enough for majority of photographers in the world today, and since a lot of the work in photoshop can be done in Camera Raw filter (which is same editing engine as Lightroom) the advanced usage for Photoshop may be something you never touch in years if ever.

But the reason I'd recommend lightroom is because of the number of tutorials and books available to get you up and running quick, not just with image editing, but tagging, cataloguing, printing, the web, etc.


Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5: Classroom in a Book Classroom in a Book Adobe: Amazon.co.uk: Adobe Creative Team: Books <<-- Excellent book, read it cover-2-cover
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book for Digital Photographers Voices That Matter: Amazon.co.uk: Scott Kelby: Books <<-- Great book, read it cover-2-cover as well

Read one of these books and you'll be running full steam ahead. I read both simply to get two slightly different points of view and for it to re-inforce little things I might have missed or forgotten from the first book.

EDIT: Oh also the $9.99 a month deal from Adobe is great. But if you want want to subscribe then just buy the LR5 software on it's own. $80-90 last I saw.
 
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BackdoorArts

Senior Member
If you're planning on getting serious about photography, get a copy of Adobe Lightroom now and learn it as you learn to take photos. Yes, there are plenty of free things out there, and yes, you can be a "serious photographer" and not use Lightroom. But it's quickly become the defacto standard foundation platform for the industry, and everything and anything else can be stacked on top of it, so there's a very strong chance you're going to wind up there eventually. LR5 can be had for around $75 if you look, and by the time the next release becomes necessary/desireable you may be ready to go subscription and add Photoshop to the bundle.

I've invested a lot of money in software in 3+ years of shooting, and Lightroom is the only piece I can't live without.
 

keyboard

Senior Member
Just bought it and installed it successfully on my MacBook Air and on my Surface Pro.... Now I have to decide which computer to use....

Any suggestions ?


Ro
 

Dave_W

The Dude
Use whichever computer allows you the easiest ability to make small changes with a mouse (or other device) and one that has the highest resolution.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
 
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