I think you missed my point - I don’t base when I go out on my balcony by the time of day, I walk out the door to the balcony when something interesting is happening. Of course, I try to go shopping, or to the doctors, or dentist, or whatever, in the morning when traffic is most reasonable, and I’m more likely to be home in the afternoon when traffic here is starting to build up.
For editors, I’ve had more than I can count. I’ve had Photoshop for the longest of any of them, and still have Adobe’s plan for Photoshop and Lightroom. I used Lightroom “forever”, and thought I was happy with it. Then I read about PhotoLab 3, and decided to try it.
Results were mixed - at first, I was lost, so I joined this Forum before dumping it, and going back to Lightroom. Then, I met many people here, who showed me that the problems in my photos were MY fault, not the software. User @Joanna here basically I should pack up and go home, or get my monitor calibrated, which I didn’t understand back then. There are a lot of people in this forum, who seem to agree I need to get what I am doing corrected, before even thinking about the software - and regarding the software, to say I was lost would be an understatement. I “grudgingly” went along, thinking they didn’t understand… …until it came to me that >>>I<<< was the one who did not understand.
I’m not perfect, but thanks to the advice in this forum, I am a heck of a lot better about any of this than I used to be.
I still had my Lightroom, but there were two things that killed my interest in Lightroom. The first, is that all of my work, everything I’ve done, for decades, is in one file - the catalog. Lose the catalog and everything is gone. So I tried making copies, and backups. Anyway, if you edit something in PhotoLab, in a raw file, and your image is “photoxx.raw”, you end up with your original image “photoxx.raw” AND another file “photoxx.dop”. which is a summary of everything you did to the image. Backup those files, and even if an alligator swallows your computer, all your work is safe in a backup drive.
Another thing that I like and hate, is that PhotoLab knows anything and everything about my hardware, along with my images. As I recall, Lightroom just edited my image, and didn’t care if it knew what camera I took it from. Maybe they’ve learned - but PhotoLab knows and understands my equipment, such that if I use my 24-120 Nikon lens, which is loaded with distortions, PhotoLab fixes all those when it opens the image.
I loved that, and hated that - as while most of the time it is wonderful, if I take photos with my Leica M8.2, DxO doesn’t know what a Leica M8.2 is, so it won’t even open the image file. (I cheat, and edit the EXIF data for the image, and change the camera to a Leica M9 or M10 which DxO is happy with. Probably not technically perfect, but good enough for me.
I love and hate PhotoShop. It can do a trillion things the PhotoLab can’t, but when it comes to processing a dozen or so images, I used to use LightRoom, not Photoshop - and from what I’ve seen, PhotoLab now is the better choice.
I could go on, but no reason to, or not to. I’m sold on PhotoLab, and prefer it. What others use is up to them. What really counts the most is the finished images. But PhotoLab includes tools that are not yet available in Lightroom. You probably know of the Internet “teacher” PhotoJoseph. He has videos on how to do things in all the popular editors. His was the final “seal on the door” for me sticking with PhotoLab. (But I have the Adobe Photography Plan, so all the Adobe stuff keeps updating for when/if I want to use it.)
I still have the free version of Capture One that came with my Fuji camera. I used to use it overseas. I’ve got the latest PhotoShop, and it can do things the PhotoLab can not. If you want to remove a person, or a car, or a tree, from a photo, it does that automatically. But that’s not what PhotoLab was made for. Seems to me that you really need Adobe Lightroom, not PhotoShop?
Oh well, thanks for writing. Everyone is different, and has different desires and ideas. The group of people in this specific topic seem brilliant to me, and are way ahead of me. It’s a great place to learn. I hope you stick around, regardless of what editor you use. ![:slight_smile: :slight_smile:](https://forum.dxo.com/images/emoji/apple/slight_smile.png?v=12)