Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

I believe in KISS theory - keep it simple. You have lots of images in Photos which is a competent DAM. What it isnt is a very good PP beyond basics BUT it will allow you to use all sort of apps as plugins but then put those processed images back in Photos. Otherwise, you are going to have to figure out a way to migrate all those Photos images into a new app. Most likely you would have to export them as single layer images in Tiff, DNG or Jpeg. So look at using Luminar (which has great landscape and portrait features and a terrible DAM); On1 Raw 2020 which is a great app with lots of good features including resize, hdr,pano, etc; Topaz apps (Topaz Studio 2 which is a great plugin for doing artistic processing and a hidden gem in AI Clear, and other apps that do conversion of jpeg to Raw, Gigapixal AI which resizes images, Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, and Mask AI; or the Nik plugins. One thing to keep in mind for all Mac users - the new Apple Silicon computers. All software is going to have to be worked on to use these new machines which should be both faster and cheaper than the current Intel machines. So many PP are in mid-updates where they will probably put out their last intel software with this years releases - already confirmed by On1 Raw 2020 and Luminar to me.

So if this isnt important to you and you really want to move I would look at 3 possibiities - the PS and Lightroom SaaS licenses at $10/month; On1 Raw 2020 at $80 per release; and PSE at about $100. All will take a lot of learning with On1 Raw 2020 being the easiest in my opinion. I would not recommend Luminar as a DAM and they are proving themselves to be a bit duplicitous. Luminar 3 had a lot of problems which they promised to fix. Instead they brought out Luminar 4 (you had to buy it) which DID not fix most of the L3 issues and has its own (slow, bad dam, freezes, etc)issues but had new features like sky replacement. They promised to fix the L3 issues but didn’t. Now they are bringing out Luminar AI which has some new features and they promise they will fix the L4 issues.. See a trend here? Selling sizzle without steak is a common trend in software development. Topaz does it, Luminar does it. You want to have a product that under promises and over delivers. As a 40 yr expert in software only Adobe (other than the lie about always having a perpetual license of Lightroom ) and On1 Raw 2020 have continually done that. Even Apple Photos has had issues of late and with no development for their previous 'pro' app of aperature im not sure how much work they are putting in it. Anyway my 2 cents. And remember most of these apps will allow you a free trial. Try them. Without a doubt PS and Lightroom have the most features and are absolutely the hardest to learn and use. Great for pros using them everyday but...

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

I wanted to make the distinction between and editor and just a converter. Parametric editors can be used with both raw as well as RGB image files (TIFF or JPEG). A parametric converter is really designed just for the task of converting a raw data file into an RGB image file -- an editor can do more.

Raw data can't be processed until it's converted into RGB data. A converter does little more than that. Let's consider an example. Below are two versions of the same photo. I started with a raw file. The top version is white balanced and converted to and RGB image but otherwise not processed. I could do more with a converter but not too much more. What a converter can't do you see in the processing of the bottom image. I was able in the bottom image to isolate the sky from the foreground and treat the two separately. I lightened the foreground and darkened the sky. I changed the white balance in the sky apart from the foreground. You need an editor to do stuff like that.

Some history: Back a couple decades and most of us processed RGB images with raster editors like Photoshop. If we started with a raw file we would run that through a converter that got the image into RGB form and hopefully basically adjusted and then we'd continue in the raster editor.

In the past two decades and especially the last decade there's been a change taking place as we moved away from that older model to parametric editors that both handle the conversion from raw to RGB and also provide the tools to further process the image. Lightroom is the classic example and it's fair to say that lightroom is now the most popular photo editor.

Still a lot of folks working the two app system which is raw converter app A and then raster editor app B.

bleirer

Dpp is definitely also a full fledged editor, as capable as lightroom.

FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

very helpful info.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

It's more than just a converter but not as capable as Lightroom. There's a whole lot more capability in LR. DPP does have some limited masking ability but it's not well implemented and there's little it can do by comparison.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

I will concur with Linda and Steved3604, PSE is a one time purchase for under $100, less later in the year, and the current versions (I have 2019) are nearly the same as the full PS that requires the cloud at $10 per month ($120 a year). It has color sliders, haze removal, layers, spot or object removal, and much more.

I've found PSE very adequate for processing RAW and jpg photos. I shoot RAW only and open them in Camera RAW in PSE, make some basic changes and open it in the editor, make a copy or two and remove the imported jpg. Then I work on the copy, flatten the image and save it with a fitting title as a jpg. Then I can go back to the partially processed RAW file and open it and return it to the original, as shot, image.

It may seem like a little extra work but I can have my PPed jpgs for distribution, display or sharing but still have the original RAW file if I wish to play with it more.

bleirer

I have both and couldn't think of something lightroom could do that DPP couldn't. Certainly nothing that I couldn't fix in photoshop with the ACR filter, since I always fine tune there anyway. I miss little things in lightroom, like alt for the sharpening radius and mask. But lightroom doesn't have digital lens optimizer, or canon's picture styles (not yet for my camera), which is what keeps me coming back there even though it is slower. It's a weird round-trip, lightroom to DPP to Photoshop and back to lightroom. Lightroom for the organizer mostly, DPP for the Digital lens Optimizer mostly, Photoshop for everything else. Photoshop of course has layers, and it has brightness and levels which lightroom doesn't but it sort of does because curves can do the same jobs. Back to lightroom to keep it organized. Only two files though, the original raw and the tiff with layers from photoshop.

VABob

I was an Apple Aperture user for its entire life span, over 15 years, and support my wife using Photos on her MacBook. I have since moved to Luminar. Luminar 4.3 has by far the easiest learning curve, a plugin works off of Photos and when you save edits the images go back into Photos. Luminar is inexpensive, works with Raw, has been developing Artificial Intelligence filters, sliders and Looks, works with your Apple devices. easy to produce adjustment masks, texture masks and it will be the easiest transition at the same time keeping your Photos images intact. Lightroom is a great program, but the learning curve will be difficult.

RLSprouse Loc: Encinitas CA (near Sandy Eggo)

I wholeheartedly agree with the reverand. It's actually $9.99/mo for Lightroom and Photoshop, still a great bargain. :-)
And I also agree that Lightroom Classic is the way to go. You keep all your files on local hard drives, and only put stuff up in the cloud when you want to, for sharing, etc. And LrC, as it is known, plays well with Photoshop.

Onthecliff Loc: Four miles north of Boston, MA

You can get the full version of PhotoShop without a subscription from The Software Depo. I just purchased the 2019 version for download - I believe I paid around $40.00.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

I like photoshop elements and have used it for years.

Last year I got into Lightroom and love it. You can add, both free and purchased brushes to the program. As well as presets. I have acquired several of each and find them to be helpful

I alao just purchased luminar 4 and love what you can do with sky replacement with just a click.

Anyway. Goodluck and enjoy your journey. It is fun

Chuck

Sentinel4

If you use Fuji or Sony maybe try Capture One
Sentinel4

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Apply different sharpness levels to masked areas.
Apply different noise reduction levels to masked areas.
Alter Color temp and tint for masked areas.
Cloning healing tools that aren't a joke.
Apply a vignette on the cropped image.
Apply simulated film grain.
Make corrections for vertical and horizontal keystoning.
Apply a mask based on a color range.
Apply a mask based on a luminosity range.
Target adjustment of shadows to masked areas.
Target adjustment of highlights to masked areas.

And that's without thinking hard.

I understand DLO is something you don't want to give up. There's no alternative for it and it does make a difference. But the price you pay is working between multiple different apps.

tfitch

"Luminar is a destructive editor that won't allow me to re-edit or tweak the processing done to an image without trashing work I've already finished and don't want to do over."

I believe once a photo has been edited in Luminar in a Library, you can go back to it in Library and continue your editing with your prior edits being available. If you export the photo from Luminar the edits you made are locked into the exported photo. If you want to reedit the exported file, it is the same as starting with a new photo - your prior edits are not available. At least that is my experience.

Tom

bleirer

I see what you mean. Those are all Photoshop tasks for me so i never missed them or looked for them. I wouldn't attempt any of them in lightroom either because every keeper gets a run through Photoshop anyway. Maybe I'm just used to it but i find Photoshop much easier for anything involving selections or masks or cloning or healing or targeted color or....