Photo Editing App - What Do You Use?

[redhawker]

For years I've been using Apple's Aperture professional photo editing app. I really liked it because it was easy to use and worked well. There were also a couple of HDR plug-ins that worked really well with it. Back in 2015, Apple decided to "kill" it. Meaning they wouldn't support it anymore. They announced that if you upgraded operating systems above 10.14.6 Mojave, the app wouldn't work anymore. So, for years I haven't upgraded my operating system, mainly because the way photos are stored on Aperture is proprietary to Aperture (which is the one thing that I intensely hated about it). Photos stored in the Aperture are not accessible except when opened through Aperture. Well, it's now been long enough that I have other apps (such as MS Word) that are saying I need to upgrade, but I need a newer operating system than 10.14.6 Mojave to do it. So, I bought a 1 gig external solid-state drive, and for the past couple of weeks, I've been opening up my Aperture photo files and exporting them to files on the SS drive. That's the only way to get them as jpegs that any photo program should be able to use. There were thousands upon thousands of photos, so it's taken a while, but I'm almost done. So, my question is for those of you who like to use photo editing apps: which one do you use, and why do you like it? If you've ever used Aperture, is what you're using similar, or is it a completely different system I'll have to learn to use? I'd appreciate any input as I'll obviously need a new photo editing app when I upgrade my IOS, and Aperture quits working. Thanks in advance.

 

[thinckley]

I won't get into Mac vs Windows (20 years in IT and certain opinions), but... depending on the level of editing you need to do, there are a ton of options.

I have never used Aperture, and if my company didn't mandate it, I am not sure I would use an iPhone, other than all of my apps and crap are here now. I use Adobe when I need to really edit a photo for a website or some such. I use Windows embedded photo app when I need to crop or resize.

In the past, I and my children have used various editing tools with varying degrees of success. I will say that for my daughter's college photography class she needed adobe.

 

[Fire Chief]

This is the only app I have used for years.

https://www.irfanview.com/64bit.htm

 

[Kevin]

I won't get into Mac vs Windows (20 years in IT and certain opinions), but... depending on the level of editing you need to do, there are a ton of options.

I have never used Aperture, and if my company didn't mandate it, I am not sure I would use an iPhone, other than all of my apps and crap are here now. I use Adobe when I need to really edit a photo for a website or some such. I use Windows embedded photo app when I need to crop or resize.

In the past, I and my children have used various editing tools with varying degrees of success. I will say that for my daughter's college photography class she needed adobe.

I've used Adobe Photoshop for over 30 years. My dad bought one of the first versions available. These days you have to rent it. I buy just the basic version for $120 per year. But I use it almost daily.

My daughter is taking her second photography class in high school, and they are being taught how to use Photoshop as well.

@redhawker There are free versions of photoshop which you might find suites your needs. My main computer is a PC, and my wife just gave me an older Apple laptop she had from work. Adobe Photoshop is different from the Apple to PC. However, I haven't used it enough on the Apple yet.

edited to add: Adobe has the Generative AI features. I use it just as a hobby, but it's a whole lot of fun. Very easy to use and does a pretty decent job.

 

[redhawker]

This is the only app I have used for years.

https://www.irfanview.com/64bit.htm

Thanks, but looking at this one, it appears to be for Windows computers only. I'm running an iMac.

 

[redhawker]

I won't get into Mac vs Windows (20 years in IT and certain opinions), but... depending on the level of editing you need to do, there are a ton of options.

I have never used Aperture, and if my company didn't mandate it, I am not sure I would use an iPhone, other than all of my apps and crap are here now. I use Adobe when I need to really edit a photo for a website or some such. I use Windows embedded photo app when I need to crop or resize.

In the past, I and my children have used various editing tools with varying degrees of success. I will say that for my daughter's college photography class she needed adobe.

I've used Adobe Photoshop for over 30 years. My dad bought one of the first versions available. These days you have to rent it. I buy just the basic version for $120 per year. But I use it almost daily.

My daughter is taking her second photography class in high school, and they are being taught how to use Photoshop as well.

@redhawker There are free versions of photoshop which you might find suites your needs. My main computer is a PC, and my wife just gave me an older Apple laptop she had from work. Adobe Photoshop is different from the Apple to PC. However, I haven't used it enough on the Apple yet.

edited to add: Adobe has the Generative AI features. I use it just as a hobby, but it's a whole lot of fun. Very easy to use and does a pretty decent job.

Thanks guys. I'm considering this, however I don't really like the idea of having to pay for it every year. Used to be (and I know everybody knows this), you could buy a program (what they called them before they became "apps"), and unless you wanted to upgrade, you could use it forever. However, I'm guessing this is the way of the world (the computer world) nowadays, so I'm not even sure there are apps out there you can just buy, and it's yours to use as long as you want. Further checking will be done before I decide.

 

[Kevin]

I don’t like having to pay either. And with Photoshop not only do you have to pay, but the Generative AI costs more. You get so many “credits” each month, and if you want to generate more images than that, it costs extra.

Now that really bothers me.

 

[woodsy]

Corel Paintshop. But not recently.

 

[gnappi]

I use GIMP on Linux. I thought that the cars needed to go.

 

[Johnnu2]

I have no idea what you guys are talking about....

J.

 

[GasGuzzler]

My FIL bought a then outdated older version of Photoshop that I taught myself to use. Luckily I had some professionally done works to look at the layers on. Not sure I could learn it all over again. VERY complex unless you are a professional.

For everyday forum and eBay use, I like Irfanview but alas, it's for regular computers it seems.