Now that I've got my computing troubles settled, I've begun working on my backlog of photographs that I need to process. The trouble is: how do I process all of them? I've got enough photos in the can that I need some sort of workflow and a better solution than the few pack-in tools I received with my camera.
At the moment, I can't afford Photoshop. So, I've been searching for more reasonably priced alternatives. Two that I test-drove last night were LightZone and DxO Optics Pro.
Both of these applications have their strengths and weaknesses. DxO has excellent tools for correcting faults or distortions in camera and lens optics. LightZone has a powerful zone system for applying effects to isolated areas of the image. Both applications include batch processing and organizational tools.
The problem with LightZone is that it lacks the optical fixes and, at the moment, does not accept the RAW files properly that are generated by my camera. DxO lacks the zone editing functionality.
I experimented with using both applications in tandem. While it worked fairly well, it generated intermediate files for each image I'd ideally like to avoid (RAW via DxO to DNG via LightZone to JPG). DxO has built-in flickr support. LightZone does not. While the process works, it's not quite as neat and tidy as I'd like. Also, investing in both applications together raises the price a bit higher than I'd like.
In that vain, tonight I'll be giving Adobe's Lightroom 2 a go. It's more expensive than either one of the other applications separately but not if I have to buy both to get the functions I want. Apple's Aperture 2 is supposed to be awesome but, alas, it is Mac only and I am tethered to a PC. Back to the lab!
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