Why I Use More Than One Photo Editor
I had a comment on one of my YouTube videos a while back, that was a reference to me making tutorials about multiple photo editors, and being complementary towards each of them. I can’t remember the exact quote, but the bottom line is that their comment implied that I wasn’t credible if I make videos about several products and say good things about them all. It’s as if they thought I was lying, because I should only like one product or something.
I think of this subject like I think about food. Mexican food is my favorite by far, but I don’t eat it every day. I also love pizza, steak, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, lasagna and many other foods. I like more than one thing. That’s normal. It's fun to have some variety. It keeps things fresh. It gives me a greater appreciation for every type of food. I’m happier when I get some variety. I doubt anyone eats the same thing at every meal. That’s no fun. Sure, I have a favorite, but it’s not the only thing I eat.
Their comment seems really strange to me, because there are a lot of good products out there. And I’m not going to make videos about something I don’t like. Why would I? If I don’t like it or don’t click with it, then I don’t use it and don’t want to give it any of my time and attention. It doesn’t make it a bad product. It’s just not a fit for me. And trust me, I have used a LOT of products over the years, so I have some pretty broad experience with a lot of apps.
You see, I’ve been editing photos for 15 years or so, and in that time I have used a LOT of different products. Some I used for quite a while, and others I just tested out and never really got that deep into for various reasons. Here is a list of everything that I can think of that I have used, with an approximate estimate of when I started using it and in some cases, when I quit using it (either by choice or it was discontinued):
Apple iPhoto (2008-2009)
Apple Aperture (2010-2015)
Photomatix for HDR (2009+)
Topaz Adjust (2010+)
Photoshop Elements (2010)
Topaz Impression, Simplify, etc (2012+)
Nik Collection - mostly Color Efex Pro (2011+)
HDR Efex Pro (also part of the Nik Collection) (2011+)
Lightroom/Photoshop (2014+)
On1 Suite (2014+)
Apple Photos (2015+)
Aurora HDR (2015+)
DXO PhotoLab (2017+)
Luminar in all its incarnations since launch (2016+)
Topaz Denoise/Sharpen/Gigapixel/Mask AI/Studio (2019+)
ACDSee Photo Studio (2020)
Exposure X6 (2020)
Affinity Photo (2020)
BorisFX Optics (2022)
DXO PureRAW/FilmPack (2022)
Pixelmator Pro (2022)
Radiant Photo (2023)
Topaz Photo AI (2023)
Excire Foto (2023)
Mylio Photos (2023)
Aperty (2024)
That’s a LOT of software, and I still have nearly all of it, though I don’t use it all. I’m pretty sure that's everything, but honestly I am not 100% sure. There may have been another app or two that I have long forgotten. Bottom line - I have been through so many apps over the years, and for good reason: I want to get the best possible editing results in my images. I also want to learn new things, develop my skills in editing, see how different apps compare to each other, and see how they approach tasks like masking, color grading, etc. So I try new apps to see what I might be missing.
However, to be super clear, I am nowhere near an expert in most of those apps. At one time or another, I would consider myself an advanced user of many of them, and potentially expert level in a few, but a total beginner in many others. That’s ok because I don’t need to master every app to decide what works for me, what I like, what suits my style, and what I can use to get the results that I want to get.
And that’s what this has been about - finding what works best for me and getting results that I like. Sure, you can get great results with any of these apps. But I don’t have time to master them all. And honestly, I don’t want to.
So what do I want? I want to have a really solid understanding of photo editing, and learn it so well that I can teach it at an advanced level - but only in a few apps. I want to be really good at this stuff. The apps that I use most, and like the most, are Luminar Neo, Lightroom Classic, and On1 Photo RAW. These are the apps that I prefer, for various reasons, and the ones that I plan to create tutorials about. In other words, that’s where my focus is going to be for the time being. Yes, it may change over time, but having used all 3 of these apps extensively over many years, I feel like I have just about everything that I need to get the results I want.
So why three apps, instead of just one?
Well, I like the variety, sorta like food. It’s fun to mix things up, and it keeps me thinking instead of just going into autopilot when editing. It keeps me from doing the same 5 things (or however many) when I edit a photo. It forces me to learn, adapt, and experiment. It forces me to grow. It prevents stagnation. I like the challenge of learning different ways to do things. I like that each app forces me to stay flexible with my thinking, because they are different in terms of how they work. I like that I get slightly different results in each app. I like that each app has some tools that the other apps do not have.
And I personally feel that having a few apps that I go deep with and really understand makes me better in every app, and it definitely makes me a better instructor. Maybe I find something in one app that works really well for a given photo type, and I try to find ways to recreate it in another app. It gives me a broader understanding of editing in general, and I can more intelligently and effectively help someone in various ways if needed. I get less bored, and my editing is less monotonous, and I think that it continues to improve over time. It’s more fun, more challenging, and more interesting. It’s a way to ensure that I continue to grow my skills.
One other reason is that I depended heavily on Aperture in the early days, until Apple decided to discontinue it. At that time, I was worried about what to do next. I knew Aperture really well and had my editing preferences really dialed in. When it was gone, I had to start over by learning something entirely new and different (which was Lightroom 5 at the time, if I recall correctly). It took me a while to get up to speed with editing in Lightroom. So I like the stability I feel knowing that I can comfortably and capably edit in multiple programs, just in case something happens to one of them some day. It’s a form of redundancy for me.
So that’s why I use different apps. How about you?
