Need software advice for Mrs. Claus

[Mike Tracy]

I really don't need or want anything for Christmas so I am looking for recommendations for a program she can get me for editing purposes. Lets keep the cost below $300 or so.

I like to keep my work flow simple and straight forward. Currently use CS3, Neat Image, and Photomatix when the desire occurs. Demo'd (sic) LR a couple times and I never warmed up to it.

Which program will best serve my needs to localize adjustments quickly such as shadow / highlights, have some basic enhancing effects within and maybe improved sharpening over USM ?

I would like it to be user friendly with out a huge learning curve as I would rather spend my precious free time shooting than sitting.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Viveza is great for local adjustments and they are just about to release a new version. It doesn't do any sharpening, though. If you purchase it now, you will get the new version for free (in case v.2 is not available yet). Nik Software also has a sharpening software but I'm not familiar with it.

[James Prudente]

Upgrade to CS4, $199.00 from Adobe. It will do what you need.

Jim

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Upgrade to CS4, $199.00 from Adobe. It will do what you need.

Jim

Rumor has it that Adobe will release CS5 in April or so.

[Jack Faller]

A second vote for Viveza. The ability to apply localized adjustments without doing your own masking is really good. Niksharpener is also good with ability to control where you apply it. If I had to choose, I'd go for Viveza.

[Jeff Donald]

Rumor has it that Adobe will release CS5 in April or so.

Lightroom 3 public beta expires in April 2010. But Adobe is very quiet about CS5 Photoshop. It is unlikely there will be a public beta at this time. The product cycle of Photoshop says it should be released between March and June 2010, but several factors may delay its release. Photoshop for Apple is still 32 bit and the 64 bit version (more or less promised for CS5) may cause the ship date to be delayed until summer. To the best of my knowledge there is not even a late Alpha version released yet. Generally, it's 6 to 8 months from when programs come out of Alpha, goes Beta and then are released. At this time I would expect a release of Photoshop between June and August, during the back to school market.

[Julie Kenward]

Here's another vote for Viveza. Although Adobe Camera Raw can do most of what Viveza can do it doesn't do it as well or as easily IMO. I now do very basic workflow in Camera Raw and then jump over to Viveza to really tweak the image.

[Roger Clark]

Which program will best serve my needs to localize adjustments quickly such as shadow / highlights, have some basic enhancing effects within and maybe improved sharpening over USM ?

I would like it to be user friendly with out a huge learning curve as I would rather spend my precious free time shooting than sitting.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

If you really want sharpening, you need to get into image deconvolution. Unsharp mask is not sharpening at all, it is edge contrast enhancement. ImagesPlus ($210) is astronomical software and does image deconvolution quite well. The user interface is a little strange but does not take long to do the basics. It is really for astrophoto processing but does many standard operations, like saturation enhancement, much better than photoshop because it uses "real math." Photoshop still uses integer math with approximations. ImagesPlus does not have color managed work flow. I read a tif in, do the work I need, go back to photoshop and reassign the color space. Works great, but you do have to remember to reassign the color space. Funky but gets the job done like no other software I've seen.

Roger

[Michael Pancier]

I also suggest viveza. it's the most powerful editing tool out there right now.

[Don Hamilton Jr.]

Mike, so if one already has LR 2.5, do you think the Viveza ia all that one needs, for the general guy!
Don

[Jim Poor]

I'm hoping you have this one wrong. They are demonstrating bits and pieces of CS5 around the web with the usual caveats of "no guarantee this will make it into the next release."

Here is one example: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=540977923979

Lightroom 3 public beta expires in April 2010. But Adobe is very quiet about CS5 Photoshop. It is unlikely there will be a public beta at this time. The product cycle of Photoshop says it should be released between March and June 2010, but several factors may delay its release. Photoshop for Apple is still 32 bit and the 64 bit version (more or less promised for CS5) may cause the ship date to be delayed until summer. To the best of my knowledge there is not even a late Alpha version released yet. Generally, it's 6 to 8 months from when programs come out of Alpha, goes Beta and then are released. At this time I would expect a release of Photoshop between June and August, during the back to school market.

[Jeff Donald]

That video has made the rounds. I believe it was created for the recent NAPP convention in Las Vegas. The disclaimer is very accurate. This technology may not make it for CS5, CS6 or may never make it to a release in that form. Lightroom 3 should be available in April or May. Photoshop probably won't get released at the same time, poor marketing for PS. They compete against each other in some respect, so why cannibalize your own market. Get people to buy LR first, then in a couple of months release CS5 and get them to upgrade that as well.