Sharon’s collection is probably the best group of color-themed shots. She’s got a great eye and there’s always a little mystery or wit to the photos she shares. Guess what subject is the the green/yellow/orange/red photo is of.
Month: July 2024
17 July 2024 Theme Food/Color: Heather
Our newest member has some great feedback to offer the group during photo share. Plus she’s presented some wonderful images. One thing I’ve discovered with attending these meetings each month. Everyone has a unique vision on what catches their eye or how they compose. Heather’s photos are a great example of that. After seeing her photos a few times, I can start to see her photographic style.
17 July 2024 Theme Food/Color: John
John missed the meeting but shared a great photo of an owl – something I’m always looking to photograph.
17 July 2024 Theme Food/Color: Barbara
Like other participants in this month’s meeting, Barbara shared both recently shot photos and ones from her photo archives. She always seems to find great images when visiting local spots. She is a great example of why having your camera with you, when going out for the day, can have great results.
Finding a large group of great food shots, unless you are visiting the San Diego Fair, is difficult. So like others, she pulled some delicious looking images worthy of a desserts magazine, from her collection.
17 July 2024 Theme Food/Color: Gary
Gary shared three color-themed photos this month. His backyard, the last few months, has been a great location to photograph. Just goes to show you don’t have to travel far to find great photos.
17 July 2024 Theme Food/Color: Cathy
Like all of us, Cathy had a wide variety of photos to share this month. Some photos were from a recent trip to Colorado, the San Diego Fair and some were from her photo archive. As we become more proficient at post-processing and as the software improves. Re-processing or recovering older images is becoming a common practice. Cathy shared some older travel images that had promise but may have had technical issues. Using post-processing techniques she’s learned and some of the newest tools. She shared these images, explaining the processing used.
17 July 2024 Theme Food/Color: Jim
Many of us rely on finding theme-related images in our photo archives is we are unable to take new ones. The recent warm weather makes taking your camera out less appealing. But motivation is one thing about being a member of the photography interest group. You often push yourself to get out an take new photos.
I did both this month, relying on some recent photos from my 2023 trip to Japan, and a local photo ‘walk-about’. I’ve been wanting to do some macro photography using the focus shift feature of my camera. So I setup on some flora I spied when walking the dog. Like astrophotography, macro photography takes some practice especially when using focus-shift on windy afternoons. So like astrophotography, macro photography will be something I’ll do more to get better. The local walk-about was to an area of Oceanside where I thought I might find some color – wall murals are common near the beach. I loved that a few of the photos I shared were a little bit better because of happy accidents. A bright orange car and bicyclist riding by the Cafe 101 mural; the train reflecting between the algae mats at Buccaneer Beach Bridge.
17 July 2024 Theme: Food & Color
July’s themes were Food and Color (or colorful food). Participants shared a wide variety of subjects because a color theme can be virtually any color subject. We chose a broad theme this month because the last few months have been pretty specific, appealing to members who enjoy post-processing.
Barbara
Cathy
Gary
Heather
Jim
John
Sharon
Lightroom Consultant
John had problems with his Lightroom photo library and recommends this contact if you need similar help.
Formerly, the president and board member of the local Serra Club Photo Group AND just gave a presentation on Lightroom at the San Diego Fair. He’s a great reference for Lightroom help – technical and conceptual.
| Alexander S. Kunz |
| 17474 Montero Rd |
| San Diego, CA 92128 United States |
| mail@alex-kunz.com |
| 858-722-1321 |
Photography Processing Software
Many photographers use Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop to process their photos. But since they changed to a subscription model, many of us would prefer software you buy once & own. Adobe’s $9.99/month Photography subscription is what I currently use. But with their recent change in ‘terms of service‘, I’m considering alternatives. I already own some other programs that I often use for specific tasks, like film simulations or black & white processing. But Lightroom & Photoshop are what I am most familiar with.
A list of all Adobe alternatives was compiled & posted on X (Twitter) here by xdaniel. I’ve outlined links below for some Photoshop & Lightroom alternatives I am familiar with.
Some can do most, if not all, of what the Adobe programs do. Some of the free versions look and act a lot like the Adobe programs with similar tools. Others may have a bit of a learning curve because they use different terminology and controls. Fortunately, there are plenty of YouTube tutorials to teach you how to edit photos using these alternatives. Plus if you haven’t used Photoshop or Lightroom, than learning the different tools aren’t an issue.
The listed Adobe alternatives are not limited to Windows PCs. There are universal versions that will work on Windows, Mac, iPad. Most buy-once MacOS apps are available through the App store. Here are the lists of Adobe alternatives, some free, some buy-once:
Photoshop alternatives
- Free
- Photopea – free online Photoshop alternative which can connect to Google Drive, OneDrive, & others
- Gimp – GNU Image Manipulation Program is a free, open-source cross-platform image editor available for Linux, macOS, Windows. It’s a long-running Photoshop alternative with similar capabilities but ‘clunky’ interface.
- Krita or Inkscape – open-source painting programs that can work on photos and create Photoshop PSD files with layers.
- Paint.net – (Windows only) once mainly a free Windows Paint alternative, it now has some good photo editing tools.
- PhotoscapeX – free or $40 Pro Version with extra features. Free version does most basic edits.
- Apple Photos or Windows Photos – both these free OS programs have some great tools to improve photos.
- Buy once
- Affinity Photo – currently $35 for Mac or Windows, $9.29 for iPad or $82 for all three platforms. Really popular Mac/iPad photo processing app and there’s a Windows version.
- Topaz PhotoAI – Topazlabs merged their separate programs: Topaz DenoiseAI, Topaz SharpenAI, & Topaz GigapixelAI into one program – Topaz PhotoAI. PhotoAI is simpler to use but I miss the flexibility of the individual apps. Edit your photos with single-click simplicity or user-controlled slider bars.
- Pixelmator Pro – for MacOS only, $50, 7-day free trial
Refer to this icon key to identify the cost of the alternatives >>>
Like Adobe, many have started offering subscriptions for their premium features. But some offer Lifetime subscriptions for a higher one-time price, something Adobe doesn’t.
In my opinion, Affinity Photo is probably the best low cost Photoshop alternative for Windows, MacOS, or iPad, currently 50% off $35 (June 30 2024) for Windows, MacOS; $9.29 for iPad.
But the free & trial options are always worth checking out.
Lightroom Alternatives
- Free
- Darktable – powerful, full-feature free alternative to Lightroom but with a learning curve
- RawTherapee – another cross-platform (Windows, Mac) powerful, full-feature free alternative but with a learning curve
- DigiKam – strong photo organizer features, similar to Adobe Bridge, with photo editing features & social media tools
- Lightzone – free Lightroom alternative, now hosted on GitHub after lightzoneproject.org website was retired.
- Buy once
- Capture One – a fully capable Lightroom alternative favored by many photographers. A bit expensive ($300 lifetime) unless on Black Friday sale. They also have various subscriptions.
- ON1 – another popular Lightroom alternative with buy-once and subscription options. On sale today for $50 (June 30 2024 buy-once or wait till Black Friday).
- DXO Photolab – my favorite Lightroom alternative with excellent Lens correction database, currently on sale 20% off (I bought mine last Black Friday).
- Luminar Neo – easy to use with single click improvements, but also with user controls if you want to make your own adjustments. It has both subscription or buy-once options.
YouTube video describing all Adobe alternatives based on xdaniels X post
There are a tons of iPhone/Android phone and tablet apps that both take & edit photos.
Some favorites are:
- Snapseed – a long-time iPhone/iPad/Android app that’s free and edits photos with east to use tools.
- Adobe Photoshop Express – Adobe offers this for free but you do need a free Adobe account. This is a universal app available for all platforms. Some premium features are behind a pay-wall.
- Google Photos (Google Drive) – free Google universal app that has the ‘magic eraser’ & other photo editing tools. Download/upload, organize, share, edit your photos. Of course, it requires a Google (ie gmail) account.
- Too many others to list – many social media apps also will edit images before posting. Also cell phone video apps.
- VLC Media Player to grab still frames from videos.
Don’t ignore free software from your camera manufacturer. They are optimized specifically for your camera’s raw photographs and features. Some are very useable offering photo importing, organizing & basic editing. Some are primarily designed just to transfer images from your camera to computer. All except Nikon, require your camera’s serial number to download their software or firmware.
- Nikon offers NX Studio free for Windows or MacOS, which imports images from Nikon cameras to your computer and has basic photo editing features.
- Canon offers Digital Photo Professional 4.18.10 for Windows, a free image importing and processing program. They also offer a MacOS version
- Sony offers Imaging Edge Desktop and PlayMemories Home for Sony cameras. Imaging Edge Desktop can be used for editing raw images; PhotoMemories is mainly for importing and organizing your Sony camera photos. Sadly, Sony used to offer Capture One Express. Their free version of Capture One for only Sony cameras. Capture One is a full featured Lightroom replacement.
- Fujifilm offers their free FUJIFILM X RAW STUDIO which imports their raw image from Fujifilm cameras. It has very basic editing and export capabilities.
- Olympus/OM Systems offers OM Workspace for Windows or MacOS
- Panasonic offers a basic photo import & editing program PHOTOfunSTUDIO for Windows or MacOS