I’m starting to use my DSLR a lot more now and I see a lot of talk on editing software and wondered what the photographers of STW like? I’ve been suggested Adobe Lightroom, is that a reasonable place to start?

I’ve been using Lightroom for many years and really like it. I now have an Adobe Creative Cloud account for photographers which is £10 per month and gives me Photoshop as well as Lightroom. It allows me to install copies on my home PC as well as my laptop.

I have stopped using Adobe s/w – I prefer CaptureOne to Lightroom and Affinity Photo is a good Photoshop replacement.

I love lightroom but have a feeling it’s subscription only. Although that might work for you. Lightroom is a posh RAW converter and photo library. I think you can still get 30 days free trial.

Photoshop Elements is cheaper. But probably less useful as the RAW converter is more limited. But if your editing jpg it will be fine

I also hear good things about Affinity photo

Depends what you want to do or spend.
Lightroom is basically a RAW converter, but if you only shoot JPEG then that is no use to you. It is also a cataloguing system. If you tag and label your photos to within an inch of their life then it is worth it. Otherwise just store them in a folder in Windows in date order with a descriptive suffix. Lightroom does have a limited photo editing ability but this wont allow you to do major manipulations.

If you are into serious image management then you really need CC, but that’s not what I’d call cheap unless you are using it regularly for intensive work.

Elements is a stand alone, cut down amalgamation of both LR and CC. It is exceptional value for money for the interested, but not obsessive photographer.

Beware of internet sellers offering Adobe products for chicken feed. They are ALL dodgy. Don’t touch them with your worst enemy’s bargepole.

There are other products on the market. Capture One et al. They are very good at what they do, but all have limitations. Unfortunately Adobe is the standard setter for photo editing and all the others are playing catch up.

I’ve been playing with photo editing software for years, and have tried them all. For a beginner who is unsure how far you will go with this, then I’d suggest Elements. It will probably do far more than you need.

I’ve been a long time lightroom user, currently still using v6, as that’s the last non-subscriber version, but, it’s now out of support, and I’m sure will soon stop working with the latest os…

I moved to affinity a long time ago as a photoshop replacement for the same reason.

So, the answer, who knows. I expect I’ll try Skylum Luminar on it’s free trial when LR stops working, and it looks on paper to suit me, mostly, and is well priced

Lightroom does have a limited photo editing ability

Pfft!!

I used to use Apple Aperture and NIK software, but as they moved on so did I. It was quite a lengthy process trying (and buying) different editors, as I tried to find what I was comfortable with. Luminar was ok, Affinity, brilliant, but not what I really wanted. Capture One awesome but very expensive. DXO (NIK) never worked, it is buggy with some Mac’s and I had to fight hard to get my money back as it is a bug they are aware of. Finally I settled on ON1. I think it is awesome. The ability to develop a picture and add any adjustment I want. I often convert to Black & White and it works just fine. I’ve just this week updated to the 2019.5 version and it works seamlessly with my RAW images.
With most of them you can try before you buy. Often 30 days isn’t enough unless you are a prolific photographer and determined software analyst!
Read reviews and experiment, but beware those that say that A is better then B which is better than C at RAW development, I really couldn’t determine that much difference, particularly when viewed on a laptop.

Dxo PhotoLab and Affinity Photo. Job done. Awesome combo and not expensive.

RawTherapee and Gimp, both free and rather good.

Say what you like about adobe’s subscription model but come on, lightroom is not just a ‘raw converter’. It does almost anything an amateur photographer would need. Pretty much the only reason I would use photoshop instead of lightroom nowadays is for content aware.

GIMP
(Plus G-Mic)

PhotoDemon
https://photodemon.org/

Lightroom works on jpeg. That’s not the best way but it works

lightroom is not just a ‘raw converter’. It does almost anything an amateur photographer would need.

Fixed that for you 😉

Lightroom is an extremely powerful processing tool, with some editing tools in there as a bonus. Photoshop is an incredibly powerful editing tool. So really, as others have said it depends what you want to do with your photos. If you want to process them then Lightroom is the tool for the job. If you want to edit them (montages, object removal. stuff like that) then you want Photoshop.

When I was pro (shooting weddings, headshots, products etc) I used Lightroom almost exclusively.

If you want the best processing of RAW files then Capture One blows anything Adobe make out the water. For photo editing then Photoshop is still King, but obviously you pay for that. I use both but it’s my job to do so, not a hobby, so cost isn’t so much of an issue.

Lightroom is great and very easy to learn how to use. The original version was not subscription so worth a look around for that.