Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

It doesn't do those things -- you're talking about composite work and that requires a raster editor like PS or Affinity.

PS - Affinity are raster or pixel editors. They push pixels around. LR is a parametric editor. A parametric editor saves an instruction list of what to do. It can be literally a text file and no pixels are mangled or moved. When you export a finished edit the parametric editor basically plays the instruction list to create a new file with your editing included.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. In your case you need the raster editor. As you work you'll need to create and save large RGB image files that can take up a lot of disk space. A parametric editor needs to only save the instruction list which is nearly no disk space. Parametric editors have a hard time with any kind of editing that requires cloning/replacing pixels. Parametric editors can be engineered to be 100% non-destructive but raster editor are typically close but not quite.

So if I'm not doing any kind of object addition/removal or cloning repair of consequence I'm going to prefer the parametric editor with the non-destructive workflow and less required disk storage. You want to do composites you want PS or Affinity.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

If you used Photoshop in the past, get Photoshop Elements. It's a single purchase item and does most of the major things Photoshop does without your having to pay and pay and pay.

repleo Loc: Boston

I just downloaded Skylum Luminar AI last week. I am amazed at how quick and easy it is to enhance or even transform landscapes and portraits with it. It is not as powerful as PS but much easier to use. There was a lot of comments here about Support after the launch in mid December, but I think they are catching up with the backlog.

Bethanne Loc: Newaygo County, Michigan

Thanks

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

Welcome to UHH Beth, and to getting back into photography. If you really do not want to subscribe to Adobe PS and LR, consider using ON1 Photo Raw or DXO PhotoLab. I use both ON1 and DXO and like them, as well as Lightroom, but PS I don't use very much.

Joe (Ysarex) gave you good advice on Affinity. He is quite knowledgeable on it, so he is a good source of info for it.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I'm happy with Corel PSP2020, but can only compare it against Elements 2010. Narrow down a few from recommendations here and try the free trials that most of them offer.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Photoshop only uses the cloud as a delivery vehicle for acquiring the software. It resides 100% on your computer. It is probably the most stable and most complete solution to photo editing, with both a great raw editing engine and the best raster editing tool on the planet. There are many wannabees that profess to have a lot of the capability that Photoshop has, but my experience has been that every other program I have tried is lacking in one way or another.

I use Photoshop/Lightroom, ON1Raw, DXO PhotoLab 4, and Capture One Pro - pretty much the most popular and most capable editors. All are raw converters, and other than Capture One, all have raster editors. Capture One is unique in that it comes very close to the capability of a raw+raster solution, but as good as it is, it cannot replace the capability of a good raster editor. Application stability and support on less popular applications remains an issue.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Lightroom is NOT a complete image finishing application. In fact, there is no raw converter that can offer the capability of a raster editor. However, Lightroom comes with Photoshop, which is an excellent raster editor. With the two, you can do anything you need to do to an image. For a fair comparision, Lightroom is roughly equivalent to the Camera Raw editor function in PS 7, or any version of PS that has Camera Raw.

My workflow is simple. I import my images into the Lightroom Catalog, do as much "broad-stroke" editing as possible to prepare the image for raster-style fine tuning, then use Photoshop as an external processing application (the default, unless you select something different), to perform all the accurate layer and selection/mask-basted editing, content aware replacement, smart objects, custom brushes, compositing, etc. I do some image restoration which is impossible to do without the tools available in raster editors. So to be fair, Lightroom is an "incomplete" solution as you have already discovered, but LR+PS is complete. On1 Raw with its companion modules offer good raw and raster editing, as does DXO PhotoLab with its integration with Nik software.

Xpatch Loc: New York, Antigua, GT.

Hi,
What platform? I use affinity as I can go from iPad to iMac seamlessly.
Try your cameras native software.
Your question is broad,
Topaz is ok on AI, but you loose control
Are you are oh Adobe Photpshop CC is which very good at multi platforms.

Just a tiny purview. You will get much hood advice.

tcthome Loc: NJ

If you used PS before AP should be good for you. Not as smooth as PS but, It is a great value for the money. A lot of tutorials for AP also. Capture One is supposed to very good & they have a cheaper version for some of the camera brands . I would probably get the full version if purchasing it.. If you have to buy a new camera a year after you buy C1, there is a chance you would have to upgrade C1 for it to process the files.
Good luck & have fun.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Have you thought about Photoshop Elements?

GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

ACDSee has Ultimate 2021 a program very close to LightRoom without the continuous monthly cost & a quick learning curve. I believe the trial period is 30 days & has a number of online videos to assist in getting started

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

You might also consider Paint Shop Pro, my go to. BTW Free trial, frequent discounts, not necessary to upgrade every year if your happy.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Lightroom and Photoshop are downloaded by the internet like most or maybe all photo processing programs. They are Not used via the cloud, they reside and work is performed on your computer with no connection to the cloud whatsoever. This costs a measly $10 month and you get the very best in photo processing...in my humble opinion.

twosummers Loc: Melbourne Australia or Lincolnshire England

Give Luminar AI and/or DXO Photolab a try