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Best photo editing software
The world of digital imaging and photo editing is changing. Photographers don't just need image-manipulation tools any more, they also need programs that can organise, search and share an ever-growing library of photos.
And as more and more of us shoot raw files, the quality of the raw conversion process grows ever more important. All raw converters are not the same, and Adobe has some serious rivals here.
That's not all. Even though Photoshop might still be the best image-editor, an image-editor in itself may not longer be enough for the things we want to do with our photos today. We don't necessarily want to sit in front of a single image for hours on end surrounded by manuals. More often than not, we develop a personal style we want to apply with a single click, to dozens of photos at a time – and there are much better programs for this than Photoshop.
So here are our top six Mac and PC photo editing applications – programs which are genuinely cross--platform and which run on either machine. They include regular image editors like Photoshop and Elements, image cataloguing specialists like Lightroom and all-out raw converters like DxO Optics Pro.
Our verdict might not be that much of a surprise, maybe, but it has a twist. We don't think there is a single winner, and we think that Photoshop itself does not do enough on its own. Instead, we've gone for an image-editing double-act that's both integrated and affordable, thanks to Adobe's latest software subscription plans.
Subscription software is still highly controversial, but the cost calculations are compelling. You can get both our winning software tools for less than £9/US$10 per month, based on an annual subscription.
Adobe Photoshop CC 2014
Adobe created a storm of controversy when it swapped Photoshop over from a regular 'perpetual' licence (you pay once then use the software forever) to a subscription scheme where you pay a monthly/annual fee to use it. If you stop paying the subscription, you lose the software.
In practice, the sky hasn't fallen in, it's proved a good deal financially, and although there are still questions over how you open/work with your Photoshop files when you stop your subscription, the transition has proved pretty painless.The upside is that you get automatic, free updates for as long as you subscribe – and the last one was when Adobe released Photoshop CC 2014.
Photoshop is both more sophisticated and more limited than some of the other programs in this list. For layers, masks, selections, retouching and complex, multi-step imaging processes, it's impossible to beat. It's enormously powerful, yet manages to present these tools in a remarkably clean, fast and efficient interface.
On the downside, it doesn't offer proper image cataloguing tools (Adobe Bridge is really just a glorified folder browser), so you need another tool for that. And it doesn't offer a library of single-click creative effects – for this you need extra plug-ins, such as the Google Nik Collection, OnOne Perfect Photo Suite or Topaz Effects. Photoshop is like a giant box of spanners – it has all the tools you could possibly want, but it's not going to show you how to fix your car.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5
Lightroom is a new kind of image-editing tool, combining an image cataloguing and management database with 'non-destructive' editing tools. It means that you can make non-permanent adjustments to an image which are visible within Lightroom but only made permanent when you export a new version of the picture with the adjustments applied – your original photos are never modified.
Lightroom's organising tools are very powerful. It uses a central image database, or 'library', so it's much faster and more flexible than a simple file browsing tool like Adobe Bridge. The larger your photo collection becomes, the more useful you'll find a database tool like this.
The image-editing tools are the same as those in Adobe Camera Raw, but presented in a different interface. They can't do everything – for selections, layers, masks and many more complex effects you'll still need a program like Photoshop – but for everyday image enhancements and picture 'styles', Lightroom is perfect.
Photoshop alternatives and why we rate them
Adobe Photoshop Elements 13
Photoshop Elements is like the 'amateur' version of Photoshop. It's a lot more novice-friendly and it's a lot cheaper too (though more on this shortly), although you do miss out on a lot of Photoshop's more advance features, not surprisingly.
Photoshop Elements 13 is actually two programs not one. As well as the editing application itself, you get an 'Organizer' app for managing your photo collection.
Elements' main strength is its ability to cater for all kinds of user. The editor works in three modes – Quick, Guided and Expert. Quick mode is for simple one-click semi-automatic adjustments for photographers still struggling with the basics, Guided offers a selection of special image effects but walks you through each process step by step so that you learn how the tools work, and Expert mode is for those who already know what they want to and how and just want to get on with it.
Cyberlink PhotoDirector 6 Ultra
Lightroom has clearly had quite an influence on software developers, because PhotoDirector 6 mirrors almost everything it does. It has a workflow split into Library, Adjustment, Edit, Slideshow and Print panels.
The Adjustment module is equivalent to Lightroom's Develop module, and even offers more or less the same tools, right down to its graduated and radial filter effects.
PhotoDirector takes a step further, though, in its Edit panel, offering a whole host of effects not available in Lightroom – though these are mainly aimed at amateur users, including a whole section on 'Beautifier' and 'Reshaping' tools.
These are not non-destructive, however. At this point, PhotoDirector swaps over to regular image-editing tools, meaning that it creates new copies of your files.
DxO Optics Pro 10
We mentioned at the start that all raw conversion tools are not the same, and DxO Optics Pro is the perfect example. This is a highly specialised program whose principal purpose is to extract the best possible quality from your camera and lens combination.
Optic Pro started out as a tool for correcting the distortion, chromatic aberration, edge softness and vignetting that almost all lenses exhibit, using lab-developed correction profiles. It's been extended to include sophisticated raw conversion tools for getting the maximum definition, dynamic range and colour information from your pictures.
It does offer a range of tone and colour adjustments, and links directly with DxO's ViewPoint (perspective correction) and FilmPack (film effects) tools, available separately, but it's essentially an image optimiser rather than an image editor.
Nikon Capture NX-D
Capture NX-D is Nikon's 'official' raw converter. It's a free download from the Nikon website and it can open, enhance and process both JPEGs (from any camera) and Nikon NEF files – though certain tools are only available if you're working on raw images.
Other makers offer their own free raw conversion tools. Canon has Digital Photo Professional, for example. The advantage of using the maker's own software is that you get an exact reproduction of the white balance and picture control settings of the camera. Third-party raw converters like Adobe Camera Raw use their own colour rendering profiles which will often give you a very different results.
Capture NX-D is good at what it does – enhancing raw files and exporting converted JPEG or TIFF images, but it lacks selections, layers, localised adjustments and image effects. It's a tool you might use at the start of your workflow rather than a complete photo editor in its own right.
PhaseOne Capture One Pro 8
Capture One started out as a dedicated software tool for Phase One's professional medium-format cameras, but it's been developed into a very powerful raw conversion and image-editing tool for any camera owner.
It's now a strong rival to Adobe Lightroom. Like Lightroom, it can import your images into a centralised, searchable database and then apply non-destructive adjustments and preset effects. Your original images are never directly modified, and the changes are only made permanent when you export processed JPEG or TIFF versions.
Capture One Pro 8 produces extremely sharp, rich-toned raw conversions, and it uses internal 'adjustment layers' for graduated filter effects (just like Lightroom) or freeform masking and localised enhancements.
Our verdict: Which photo editing software is best?
It's actually impossible to pick one single winner in today's photo editor market. There are programs here that are near-unbeatable at what they do (Photoshop CC 2014 is one example), but there are none which do everything you could possibly need.
Our first conclusion is that more and more of us are likely to use two programs not one. If you want the best image cataloguing tool, the best raw converter and the best image-editor, you're not going to find them in one package.
Our second conclusion is that the Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5 combination comes closest – and because they're part of the same subscription plan, they could even be counted as a single package. Now that Apple's Aperture is being discontinued, Lightroom has little professional competition so it's become the go-to image cataloguing tool for serious enthusiasts and professionals.
It's not the best raw converter. DxO Optics Pro 10 and Capture One Pro 8 are better. If outright quality is top on your list of priorities you might choose one of these instead of – or as well as – our winning programs (you can now send raw files from Lightroom to Optics Pro 10 for conversion).
Nikon Capture NX-D (and the free raw converters from other camera makers) are definitely worth a look because they exactly replicate the camera's tonal response, white balance, colours and picture styles, whereas third-party raw converters apply generic profiles that may or may not match the camera's native rendition.
And beware of false bargains. There are cheaper alternatives to the top programs, but what you save in cash you can end up paying for in missing features and clunkier execution.
What really settles this once and for all, though, is Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan. For less than £9/US$10 per month, based on an annual subscription, you get both programs, and whatever you think of the idea of software subscriptions, that's a heck of a deal.
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