Amateur Photographer – 09 August 2019

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 3 August 2019 49

A

lmosteveryeditingsoftwarereview

beginswithsomereferenceto

Adobe,andit’seasyto seewhy

whenPhotoshopandLightroom

havedominatedthemarketfor,well,decades

in thecaseof Photoshop.Butwhilethe

chancesof Adobelosingitsstatusasthe

‘industrystandard’in theforeseeablefuture

areslim,it’ssafeto saythattherearemore

thana handfulof alternativesthataresteadily

eatingawayat itsmarketshare.

Sufficetosay,thenext 10 yearscouldsee

majorshiftsin thesoftwarephotographersuse

tocatalogueandedittheirphotos.But,withso

manyoptionsforprocessingimages,is therea

placeforsoftwarethat’sdesignedtoeditonly

landscapeorlocation-basedphotography?It’s

a difficultquestiontoanswer,butAnthropics

clearlybelievesthereis withthereleaseof the

thirdinstalmentof itsLandscapeProsoftware.

LandscapeProwasfirstreleasedin 2016

with the promise of simplifying and speeding

upoutdoorandnaturephotographyediting.

Andoneof itsUSPswasthatcomplexedits

couldbemadesimplybyusingslidersand

easy-to-applymaskstodifferentiatebetween

differentelementswithinimages.Theability

toreplacea skyin justa fewminutesremains

oneof LandscapePro’smostcompelling

features,andthelatestversionbringswithit

additionalfeaturesthatmakecomplexedits

quickerandeasierthanever.

So,in justthreeyearsweseethethird

versionofthissoftware,andlikemost

updatesthereareplentyofnewfeatures

andfunctionstoimproveitscapabilities.

Theeditingprocessitselfremainslargely

thesameasit hasalwaysbeen,socurrent

userswillbefamiliarwiththeeditingprocess,

butit’stheinclusionofmoreadvancedand

popularcontrolsthatwereabsentin previous

versionsthatmakesLandscapePro3 an

increasinglymoreroundedoption for

landscape photographers.

Inabusyeditingsoftwaremarket,JamesAbbott

asks if there’s still room for subject-specific options

Thecoloursofsunriseand

sunsetshotscanbeeasily

enhancedwhilepreserving

a natural-looking result

SOFTWARE TEST Testbench

LandscapePro

3 Studio Max

Softwareoptions

Atthisstageit’simportanttopointoutthat

therearethreeversionsof LandscapePro3,

eachofferinga slidingscaleof features:these

areStandard,StudioandStudioMax.The

versionyouchoosewillinevitablycomedown

tothefeaturesyourequireforyourediting

workflow,althoughbudgetcouldalsoplay

a partin yourdecision.

So,in a nutshell,theStandardversioncosts

£29.95andallowsyoutoeditJPEGsand

TIFFswhiletakingadvantageof intelligent

landscapeediting.LandscapeProStudiocosts

£49.95,andin additiontothefeaturesoffered

bytheStandardversionallowsyoutoeditraw

filesandwillrunasa smartfilterin Photoshop.

StudioMaxcosts£99.95andoffersallthe

aforementionedfeaturesalongsidebatch

editinganda livehistogramwhereyoucan

seehowtheeditsyoumakeareaffectingyour

images.Batchprocessingmaybeusefulto

somephotographers,butsinceeachlandscape

is essentiallyuniquemanymaynotfindthisa

must-havefeature.

Thesoftwareis availableasa freetrial,so

youcantrybeforeyoubuy,butin termsof

generalfeaturesandfunctionalitytheStudio

Maxversionis thebestoptionbecausethe

histogramis anextremelyusefultoolwhen

editingsinceyoucanensureyou’renot

clipping shadows or blowing highlights.

AFTER

BEFORE

The original sunset colours were quite subdued

ALL PICTURES © JAMES ABBOTT