I can speak to the other products. Let's take another example of something those other products can all do: a simple gradient mask. You have an image with a too bright foreground and you decide the best solution is to apply a gradient mask to darken that foreground. LR, C1, On1, SilkyPix, DXO, ACDSee, DarkTable and Luminar can all do that. In Luminar create an Adjustment Layer. Click Edit Mask and draw the gradient. When you have the gradient the way you want it click Done. Next make the Exposure adjustment to darken the area under the gradient.

Continue to edit your photo in Luminar. After a few other adjustments you decide the gradient needs a position tweak -- go back and rotate it about 3 degrees. If you're using LR, C1, On1, SilkyPix, DXO, ACDSee, DarkTable, etc. you can do that. Using Luminar and you're screwed. You were able to rotate that gradient when you created it but you had to make sure you had it right because you can't go back and adjust it. And that's another destructive element in Luminar that just shouldn't be there. Of course you can delete the original gradient mask and start over and that sucks.

Joe

No I'm not wrong. Luminar like all editors that work with raw files does not alter the original raw data. That's not what I meant. I used the term non-destructive in reference to the raw workflow. Luminar is destructive of your editing work. What we want to be able to do is avoid starting fresh -- doing our work over. The goal is to be able to return to an edit or even while in the midst of an edit be free to tweak and/or make a change to any of the editing parameters without being forced to delete and re-do parts of the edit because the software won't accommodate.

Specifically: Start to edit a raw file in Luminar. Start with Essentials and Light. Click on Advanced Settings and set the input profile. Adjust WB, exposure, contrast, highlights etc. Now let's assume you notice there's something in the photo you'd like to erase. Select Canvas and Erase. Do that erasure and while you're at it you notice there's 3 or 4 more items you'd like to erase/clone. Do them all.

Now go back to Essentials and select Light again. Change your mind about the input profile you originally selected (LR, C1, On1, ACDSee, SilkyPix, DXO, etc. will all let you do this). Try and change it. You can't. The option has disappeared entirely. What the bleep! You figure out that first you have to Select Layers and switch from the Erased Image Layer back to the original raw file. Now you can make that profile change. Only one problem -- the change won't update the Erased Image Layer. And that's a destructive element in your workflow. To have the profile change you must delete the Erased Image Layer, delete all your previous work and do it over. That sucks and that's poor software design by Skylum that you won't find in the alternative products.

Joe

In the 1980's our we were stationed at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, AK for 3 years. WE LOVED ALASKA!!! 2 years ago (after retiring for the 2nd time) my wife and I drove from our home in Fort Worth, TX to Seward, AK. and back. This was my wife's idea. She wanted to drive the ALCAN highway. 9500 miles, 28 days, trip of a lifetime. Just a thought since you said that time was not an issue. The options are endless but here are some recommended highlights.

1. Bannff and Lake Louise and Jasper National Park in British Columbia
2. Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. (35 mile drive to these 2 tiny towns right next to each other. Glaciers, and water falls and amazing flowers (middle of July)
3. Obviously Denali National Park and Anchorage.
4. On your way from Anchorage to Seward make a side trip to Homer, AK.
5. Seward is probably our favorite town in Alaska
6. Kenai Fjords boat tour is amazing (the birds, sea otters and whales will amaze you as well as the glaciers)
7. The drive to Valdez is out of this world.

You are going to have the time of your lives.

I do have one sightseeing recommendation no one has yet mentioned: a small detour to Talkeetna on the road north to Denali. Talkeetna is a colorful small town about 90 miles in a straight line (achievable only by flying, and Talkeetna has an airport with flights to McKinley) from Mount McKinley. That's about as close to McKinley as is the entrance to Denali many miles to the north. Because McKinley is often wreathed in clouds, some visitors get their only views of McKinley from Talkeetna. I once watched (and photographed) McKinley and its neighboring mountains at sunrise from the lodge just outside Talkeetna. It was spectacular.

I have been to Alaska twice with John Hall's Alaska (2007 and 2014) and am scheduled to do so again this coming August (7 - 17). I heartily recommend them. They engage excellent lodgings and cover the area well. I've not been to Kenai or the area around Valdez before, and some of that is included in the tour I am (hopefully) about to take. My photos of my prior trips to Alaska are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8712554@N02/collections/72157702714958041/. In 2007 the tour included a day at the Fair in Palmer--it was fun.

We did a very similar trip a few years ago, traveling for about six weeks in an RV we rented from Cruise America’s Anchorage branch. While you’re on the Kenai Peninsula, I urge you to visit Ninilchik and Homer. Ninilchik was a Russian settlement, and the bald eagles in Homer are as ubiquitous as pigeons in NYC.

We loved Denali, stayed at a friend’s in Nenana, visited Fairbanks twice, and drove to the Arctic Circle (My wife was disappointed by the absence of the dotted line that you see on every map.) Photographically, I refer to it as “our mountains and clouds tour.” If you’re not sure what that means, check UHH for photos from Alaska. After a couple of postings, you’ll understand what I mean.

It’s a memorable trip. I also urge you to go the RV route. If you go to a local Cruise America franchise, they can show you the available models and help you make reservations. Enjoy yourself.

If you’d like to talk, PM me and I’ll send my phone number.