Question:Where can I find in-depth, unbiased reviews of software for photographers? I have looked on the net but what I mostly find are pretty abbreviated descriptions. No real in depth analysis and suggestion of what works well together.
Short Answer: All reviews are biased; you are your own best reviewer.
Long Answer: Any review of software is necessarily biased. Asking this question of me you will likely find my preference for Photoshop and Elements, but I'll do what I can to make sense first.
Reviewers need to be familiar with software to do a good, in-depth review. This usually means reviewers have to be users of what they review, which forms a bias. There are many packages on the market, some more and less obscure. Popular packages like
Photoshop,
Photoshop Elements,
Lightroom,
Aperture,
Paint Shop Pro,
Corel Draw, and
GIMP all have their supporters. But even somewhat more obscure packages like
Microsoft's Digital Image Editing Suite,
PhotoImpact and
Photoline32, can be substantially powerful options for image editing and show pockets of advocates. It has been my experience that many of these programs can function reliably at a high level. There are likely other programs as well.
What really makes an image editing software package "the best" is what makes it the best for you and your needs. If you are looking for full-featured image editing, many of the packages will provide what you need with a variety of different abilities and tools--some of these options may have been packaged with your camera (Photoshop Elements is popular as software bundled with digital cameras and scanners). If you are looking for a robust package that will handle web graphics, animation, video editing, vector graphics/type and multiple file formats, you may have no other choice than Photoshop. If you are looking for ease-of-use and quality results, then you may want to consider looking at newer programs specifically designed to provide easier image-editing solutions, like Lightroom or Aperture.
Ultimately, if you are looking for an opinion that will absolutely tell you which is best, it won't happen. Your choice should be based on your needs and interests, with a nod to the popularity of the package. Package popularity becomes important when it comes to finding help, tutorials, courses and additional support. Where there are lots of users, there are lots of tutorials and help.
I prefer Photoshop and Elements because I use them, and have for a very long time. I have an aging comparison page that looks at Photoshop vs. Elements vs. Paintshop Pro:
http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/vs_elements.htmlThese are three programs that I have used and have written about. A lot of the information still holds true.
As far as 'what works well together', I like to keep it simple, and stick to one program that covers it all. To me that is
Photoshop OR
Photoshop Elements. Using either of those, I can steer away from plugins and add-ons by using a full featured program that doesn't require integration. I do have exceptions for
add-ons that I have made myself that extend the functionality/ease-of-use of Elements and Photoshop. Other hardware would include
an additional monitor and
video card,
trackball, and
calibration device. You really shouldn't need several software packages to get your image editing done, unless you like the added complexity. For every software package and plugin you add, you increase the learning curve. If you are having trouble doing a particular task, it may not be the image editing program that has to be changed, and you may not really do any better adding a plug-in that promises to 'do it for you' : it may be that you will need to change your approach to tasks, and changing your approach to tasks may be facilitated by learning more about the program (through the Help feature, tutorials, and possibly books and courses). Learning from others can save tremendous amounts of time.
Postscripts:* Richard now teaches 4 courses on betterphoto.com
- A beginner-level introduction to Photoshop: Photoshop 101
- An intermediate-level course for mastering color management Color Management for Digital Photographers
- A second intermediate-level course dedicated to core imaging techniques Correct and Enhance Your Images
- And an advanced-level, specialized focus on using layers Leveraging Layers: Photoshop's Most Powerful Tool
* Richard's new book
The Adobe Photoshop Layers Book will be out at the end of July!
* Listen to Richard talk about image editing in a recent two-part interview with Jim Miotke on BetterPhoto Radio:
Part 1,
Part 2Labels: Elements, image editing, Photoshop, plugins, software
