What Photo Editing Software Is Best For Beginners Who Want To Get Serious?
The best software for beginners who want to get serious with their photography is Lightroom. Lightroom has been designed by Adobe for photographers. In Lightroom, you can store, organise, edit and publish photos in a logical way. You can get desktop or cloud versions which integrate with mobile devices.
Right – that is my answer. Not everyone will agree. And if this sounds like an advert for Adobe all I can say is that Lightroom is what I use, and I have been paying for it with my own money since 2007. This is what I use. This is what I do.
Hi and welcome to Episode 126 of the Photography Explained podcast.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. Definitely no Google in this episode.
You can listen to the episode here
Or you can read on - it’s entirely up you!
Want me to answer your photography question? Get your thinking caps on, more on this at the end.
OK – I need to justify my answer. Sure there are other great photo editing software packages out there, and I use a couple of other things. But Lightroom is what I use all the time. If I can edit all the photos from a shoot in Lightroom only then I am happy.
Modules
Lightroom is split into modules. These allow you to split the organising and editing of your photos. This just makes sense.
I import photos into Lightroom using the Library Module and edit my photos in the Develop Module, which is split into panels.
As I say, this makes sense.
And you can hide the panels that you do not use, and organise the ones that you do use to suit how you edit your photos.
Library
A single Lightroom Catalogue
The catalogue is where the photos are stored. Well, the catalogue actually refers to where the photos are stored, and in my case, the file structure is a conventional windows file structure. My photos are organised like any other digital files – well why wouldn’t they be?
I have 84,055 photos in my Lightroom catalogue and can find anything quickly and easily.
Develop
Developing photos is a visual breeze. I love editing photos in Lightroom – I just love playng with the sliders. And anything can be undone. But whilst this sounds simple it is actually super clever and incredibly powerful.
Metadata
I was going to talk about metadata but stopped myself – too boring for this episode.
Customisation
You can customise the appearance of Lightroom – I have done this so all that I see on my screen is the stuff that I use.
Automation
There are automations built into my workflow that save me loads of time. But not at the expense of editing each photo individually.
Keyboard shortcuts
These save me so much time. I have been using Lightroom so much, and for such a long time that they are now instinctive, and get me about Lightroom so quickly.
Export
All my photos live in a single Lightroom Catalogue. They only leave there when I am going to publish photos or issue them to a client. And exporting out of Lightroom is dead easy too.
Backup
I create a backup when I import photos into Lightroom. This is built into Lightroom. And I backup up the hard drive with the single Lightroom catalogue. That is the key here – all the photos are together in one place.
Speed and reliability
Lightroom is quick and reliable these days. Sure there was a time when it wasn’t, when there were problems, but those days are long behind us no. No that was back in 2017/ 2018. And since Adobe fixed things it has been pretty much faultless ever since.
Plug-ins
There are loads of plug-ins. I use to have loads but not anymore, I am in the stripped-back uber efficient phase of my photography career. There are lots of things out there, but get to know the real Lightroom first.
Training
Lots of online support for Lightroom. Lots of it. And Adobe Help is pretty good and normally my first port of call.
Logical
Lightroom has been created in a logical way which I get.
Cost
Yes, you have to pay for it. I pay £9.98 per month for Lightroom and get full Photoshop thrown in, cloud storage and other good stuff.
No layers
Lightroom does not have layers. And I do not miss them. If you do not know what I am talking about then good – we photographers can manage without them!
The talky bit
I was wondering what my answer was going to be. I can’t just say Lightroom can I? Is my answer a lazy answer? Am I selling out to Adobe? No. Not at all.
And what about all the other photo editing software out there? Well, I don’t use that, and in my podcast, I teach you what I know, what I do.
I could have done some research and come up with a paragraph on every other piece of photo editing software, but that is not the point. I use Lightroom.
I use Photoshop to remove stuff and Luminar when I need to change the sky in a photo. But that is it. So this was an easy one for me, it just took me a while to realise it!
See I started using Lightroom with version 1, and I still have the original CD! I started editing photos on a PC at the same time that Lightroom was first released, back in 2007. And I have been using it ever since.
What about the elephant in the room – the cost? I pay £9.98 a month for Lightroom. And I get Photoshop thrown in. I think that this is a bargain, and I am more than happy to pay this every month.
When I first bought Lightroom it was about £150, back in 2007, and there was an update every 12-18 months meaning you had to buy a new version. And now I pay £9.98 per month for Lightroom, and I get Photoshop as well, as well as Lightroom Mobile and lots of other good stuff. Photoshop cost around £500 (or more) I seem to remember back then.
Defence over. And back to the point. Lightroom is broken down into modules, and you import, organise and edit photos in a logical, understandable way.
That is why Lightroom is the best photo editing software for beginners in my opinion.
And there are no layers!
I could go on forever on this subject. But I won’t it’s ok.
What do I do?
All my photos are organised in a single Lightroom catalogue. I edit my commercial photos in Lightroom and use Photoshop to remove stuff when I need to, and Luminar to change the sky when I need to.
And that is it. That is all that I do.
I don’t spend forever editing photos, I do what I need to do and move on.
The last word
If you don’t want to use Lightroom that is fine, just fine, for whatever reason. But whatever your photo editing software of choice is, learn it inside out.
Next episode
A quick plug for me and what I do.
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This episode was powered by erm, no cheese sandwich, no. Just a bag of cheese and onion crisps. Home crisps. All washed down with an ice-cold Diet Pepsi sat in my newly improved, homemade acoustically enhanced recording emporium.
OK - I’m done
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here), and for giving me 10 (ish) minutes of your valuable time. I look forward to hearing from you and answering your questions in future episodes.
Take care, stay safe
Cheers from me Rick