PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 131
ADOBE
Thereis noargumentthat
Adobe’sflagshipeditingsuite,
whichincludesPhotoshopCC
and Lightroom,is an industry-
leadinggiant.Youwill find
yo urselfarmedwiththeexact
sa metoolsas thebestin the
business.Therearethebasics
yo u’ll befamiliarwithif you’re
st eppingup fromElements,
su ch astheBrushTool,Dodge
and BurnToolsandtheCrop
To ol. Youwill findthephoto
mergingabilityhasmore
powerfuloptions,andyou
ca n alsoMergeto HDR.
Elements’selectiontools
ar e heretoo,thoughwitha
smarterenginepoweringthem,
and farmoreoptions.Beyond
th e QuickSelectionor Magic
WandTool,youcanusethe
Pen Toolor selectbasedon
colouror theamountof the
im agewhichis in focus.
Li keElements,it haslayers
and LayerMasks,thoughit has
a fa r moreimpressiverangeof
AdjustmentLayers,including
Exposure,Curves,Colour
Balanceor theadvancedBlack
& White,andso muchmore.
Beyondanycomparisonto
El ements,you’llfindthereare
fe w in thislistthatcanrival
it s scopeandfunctionality,
es peciallywhenyoufactorin
Li ghtroom,whichis included
aspartof thePhotography
pl ansubscription.
Li ghtroomboastsa
class-leadinglibraryfunction,
se lectiveimageeditingwith
gr adientsandbrushes,and
3D-renderingsoftware.There’s
th e abilityto editvideowith
th e Timelinefeature,whichis
uniqueon thislist,andit has
th e mostwell-establisheduser
interfaceandhugeamountof
tu torialsavailable(suchas our
free Lightroomguide).
TheFilters,suchas Blur,
Renderandmorecreative
effects,areclass-leading,
wi thonlyAffinityoffering
an ythingon thesamescale.
Theymaybe beyondsome
us ers’day-to-dayneeds,but
th eyaresimpleto graspand
wi ll improveshots,suchas
whenaddingMotionBlurto
cr eatea panningeffect.
AdobeCC maybe themost
powerfulcompletepackage
ontest,butthemonthlyoutlay
fo r a subscriptioncouldprove
tobe a deal-breakerforyouif
yo u prefera one-offpayment.
PROS
Industry-standard
tools andfeatures
Twoworld-class
editingsuitesincluded
in theprice
CONS
Mustsubscribeto
bothsuites
Monthly subscription
may be off-putting
R ATING
AboveThepackageincludesLightroom,whichhasoneof thebestlibrarysystemsavailable,as well as
powerfulRAWeditingtools,such as GraduatedFiltersandexposuretools.
AbovePhotoshoplaysclaimto oneof themostinstantlyrecognised
editingsuiteinterfaceson the planet.
MINIMUMSPEC
OS:Windows7,
Mac OS 10.12 64-bit
RAW conversion: Yes
System requirements:
2GB RAM, 2GHz
dual-core processor
CC PHOTOGRAPHY PLAN £10 p /m
SELECTIONS
Photoshop leads the
way when it comes
to selection options,
including Focus
Range, which allows
you to make a selection
based on the amount
of your image in focus.
SHOOT RAW
Both Photoshop and
Lightroom contain
world-class RAW
conversion software,
allowing you to get the
most amount of detail
and quality from your
RAW files.
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E DI T I NG S OF T WA R E
HI G H LY
R ATED
