When choosing Photo Editing Software (PES)there are plenty of options to choose from. However, for me, and for anyone shooting RAW, your first and primary consideration when choosing PES, is its ability to handle your RAW files.
Some camera manufacturers provide a bundled RAW file convertor when you purchase their cameras. These convertors have the advantage of being specifically designed to make the most of your camera’s settings when converting RAW files and may include features that can show things like, what focus points were used when shooting. Their primary purpose is to adjust, correct and convert your RAW files into TIFF or JPEG files.
These RAW file convertors allow you to make adjustments to certain settings that ordinarily would be applied at the time of shooting and are baked in, meaning that they cannot be changed, if you were shooting JPEG that is, like exposure, white balance and sharpness.
RAW file convertors allow you to adjust or make corrections for;
- Exposure
- Tone
- Colour
- White Balance
- Sharpness
- Noise
- Moire
- colour fringing
When shooting JPEGs, all of the above are processed by your camera at the time of shooting, taking into account your camera settings and cannot be adjusted afterwards.
Before investing in 3rd party software, you might want to try your camera manufacturer’s RAW file convertor, it might be all that you need to process or correct your images.
Many, if not all of the 3rd party photo applications come with the ability to read your camera manufacturers RAW file format and allow you to make corrections and tweaks to your RAW file (post process). Once you have adjusted your RAW file you can make further creative edits or convert your files into a JPEG or TIFF files depending on your needs.
When it comes to converting RAW files, one piece of Photo Editing Software that stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of processing RAW files is, DxO Photolab!
DxO Photlab was, and still is primarily, a RAW file convertor, DxO have been making the world’s highest-quality raw converter for more than 18 years, with a focus on correcting camera and lens flaws to ensure that your images look their best.
When processing images you need to consider two things, the technical corrections and camera or lens flaws that need compensating for, and then, the subjective or creative adjustments you are going to make to your images!
Most other photo editing packages focus on providing tools that can help you with the second of those considerations; ororganising, adjusting, editing and apply creative effects to your images. Only DxO Photlab takes care of the first one.
When it comes to correcting RAW files, do not overlook your camera manufacture’s dedicated RAW convertor, which might be better than some of the RAW file convertors built into Photo Editing Software.
And if you really want to get the best out of your camera, lenses and RAW files then I recommend that you use DxO’s Photolab 4.
After that you can work with which ever PhotoEditing Software Package meets your needs.
DxO have just released Photolab 4 with many improvements but the big one is DxO’s new amazing AI denoising technology, DeepPRIME! I do not think there is anything else like it on the market.
DeepPRIME uses artificial intelligence technology capable of simultaneously denoising and demosaicing images at the same time and promises to allow you to push your camera’s ISO or sensor limits even further, providing you with more photo opportunities.
The new and improved DxO Photlab 4 also has a new dynamic workspace that can be personalised, batch renaming, a watermarking tool, and more, DxO PhotoLab 4 will transform the way you correct and process your RAW files and can also be used as a creative photo editor, which includes DxO’s NIK Collection.
To launch DxO photolab 4 DxO are offering a 30% reduction until the November 19th. To get a 30 day trial copy, click on the banner below or use this link: DxO photlab 4 – 30 day Trial
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