Advice

[Manda74]

Hi I am wondering what everyone is using for editing your photos what software. Also I have a iPad 12.9 pro with a Apple Pencil but I also have a laptop which is better to use for editing. I’m really sorry if these questions have been asked before I just can’t find them. Thank you

[ameerat42]

Where to start...
Oh, paid, or free?

But first, is the desktop a Mac as well?

...And while I'm waiting, do you shoot in raw, and with what camera?
If a raw shooter, you'll need something to convert the raw files, then for
more refinements many people also use a separate editing program.

[Manda74]

I’m a newbie I don’t shoot raw and I have a apple laptop. I have a Nikon d500.

[ameerat42]

OK, so you want a program suitable for editing jpegs and TIFFs mainly.

First, I use Photoshop for this - OK, it's an old version that costs nothing, but the latest version
is by subscription. There are also free, open-source programs. I'll list them in my perceived order
of popularity, which is not intended to imply a ranking as to relative benefits:

Photoshop CC - paid for by subscription and regularly updated - for Mac as well as Windows.
GIMP - free, open source and with free updates - ditto.
Darktable - ditto - ditto.

Other members may know of others...

These programs allow the manipulation of raster images mainly. Main functions include
colour and tone variation, image geometry changing, including re-sampling to increase
or decrease image size, a heap of filters, like sharpening and blurring, working with layers,
and heaps of other stuff...

What I use (after the raw conversion program to give me jpegs or tiffs): Photoshop.
I have tried GIMP and Darktable, but I am too used to the workings of P'shop to say
much about other programs.

Yes, I use an old version (and freely available, and for Mac as well), but it suits my needs.


POINT: The programs above are general-purpose systems. There are other suites for more
specialised applications, an example being the Topaz AI (Artificial Intell) suite for DeNoise,
Sharpening, and Re-sizing (for which they named it GigaPixel).

While P'shop and its ilk have these functions built in, they work a bit differently, and the
competition has it that they do not work nearly as well.

So it's a long road... - but one has to start sometime.

PS: I'm not a Mac user, but macOS has Photos, which is (I don't know to what extent) an
image manipulation program.

[Mary Anne]

Have you tried the Free Snapseed App for phones and iPads I have never used it.
Download it and give it a go, and look for others in the App Store.

[ricktas]

I use photoshop and edit on a desktop computer.

Editing photos and the environment (equipment) you setup to do so, is a whole new world. I would suggest you use the laptop over the iPad.

As you improve at photography and editing you will want more and better. Take your time, there is so much to learn (and even more to spend $ on). Eventually if you stick with this photography caper, you will likely end up at Photoshop.

The good thing about Photoshop is that there are some great video tutorials on YouTube, from beginner level to advanced.

In the meantime, Lightroom might be a good editing option for you. Again, good videos on YouTube.

Equipment wise, you will end up wanting a large monitor and a colorimeter to calibrate it (see the $ sign above)

[arthurking83]

Switch to NEF mode, and try Nikons' Studio NX.

It's no good if you want to blend multiple images together type software .. but for normal type image processing .. it's Nikon's best efforts yet.
It still has it quirks, but once used too, easy to use too.

[ameerat42]

^ That's what I would have liked to say - to go down the raw path

[rexboggs5]

I agree with those that suggest the Photography package from Adobe, which includes Photoshop and Lightroom. It is a subscription, at $15 per month. So not cheap, but the best.

I also recommend Photo AI from Topaz Labs. This comes with 4 programs - Photo AI itself, and also Denoise AI, Sharpen AI and Gigapixel AI. I use these programs on many of my photos, to do a bit of denoising and a bit of sharpening. Or occasionally, a substantial amount of denoising and sharpening. You can buy a one-year subscription, which gives you free upgrades for a year. After a year, if you don't renew, you can still use the programs but you won't get the upgrades.

[Tannin]

I replaced the slow, expensive, clumsy Adobe software (Photoshop and etc.) with the excellent buy once, own forever DxO PhotoLab. What a difference it has made! I actually like editing photos now, and get far better results.

(I also use a variety of other things, mostly on an infrequent, as-needed basis, but PhotoLab does the lion's share of the work.)