postprocessing

ACDSee Gemstone Photo Editor 12 Review: Who Is This For?

ACDSee has launched free beta access to its Gemstone Photo Editor 12 -- a layered editor that supports RAW level working with multiple documents and non-destructive tools. But, does it hold up with similar grade editors or still has a way to go yet?

Dell U4021QW Review: The Premiere Ultra-Wide Monitor for Photo Editing

The Dell U4021QW is, quite literally, one of a kind. It's the world's first 40-inch curved ultra-wide WUHD 5K2K monitor -- a 21:9 aspect ratio monster that boasts a color-accurate 10-bit panel. In our testing, it has performed beautifully. But while it's definitely the premiere ultra-wide monitor for photo editing, it's not the best photo editing monitor overall.

ON1 NoNoise AI Versus Topaz DeNoise AI: Noise Reduction Throwdown

ON1, an established photography software company located in Oregon, recently released its new noise reduction application called NoNoise AI. As a longtime user of Topaz Labs DeNoise AI, it only made sense to pit these two machine-learning-based noise reduction programs against each other and see which one comes out on top.

NEC PA311D Monitor Review: Extreme Color Accuracy for Professional Users

The Sharp/NEC MultiSync PA311D is NEC's flagship photo editing monitor, with more colors, more accurate colors, and more control over your colors than any other monitor we've tested to date. It's not a perfect display -- HDR editing is out of the question, and hardware calibration is impossible unless you pay extra for an NEC-branded colorimeter -- but everything about this monitor was designed with professionals in mind, and we absolutely love that.

Nik Collection 4 Review: There Are Diamonds in the Rough

DxO's new Nik Collection 4 comes with several new features and upgrades but still retains the familiar workflow and film simulations fans are looking for. The subtle changes make for an easy transition for long-time users and are bound to attract new interested photographers, too.

Turn Your iPad Into a Drawing Tablet: Sidecar vs Astropad vs Duet vs Luna

If you own an iPad and an Apple Pencil, there are several ways to pair them with your computer and transform them into a high-quality drawing tablet for photo editing. There's Apple's own Sidecar feature, the popular app Astropad, the hardware-assisted option Luna Display, and the "made by ex-Apple engineers" Duet Pro. I wanted to see which of these options offers the most features and the best experience for the photographer on the go.

The Best Photoshop Alternatives in 2024

Although Adobe Photoshop has become known as the industry's leading post-processing software with its powerful non-destructive editing tools, it is by far not the only option available out there.

Xencelabs Pen Tablet Review: Already Better than Wacom

What do you get when you take a bunch of former Wacom employees, start a new company, and give them carte blanche to develop a brand new pen tablet? What you get is Xencelabs, a new player in graphics that is bringing some much-needed innovation to a stale market. This is no cheap knock-off we're talking about, Xencelabs' new Pen Tablet Medium just put Wacom on notice.

5 Basic Mistakes to Avoid When Post-Processing Landscapes

While landscape photography is a lot about composition and on-location practices, one can never dismiss the importance of post-processing (or editing) the images. One question I am always asked is: "Why is editing necessary?"

MSI PS321QR Review: A Gaming Monitor for Photographers

As display technology has improved in leaps and bounds over the past few years, the market has forked into two distinct camps: gamers who prioritize speed, and creators who prioritize color. The 32-inch 2K MSI Creator PS321QR tries to strike the perfect balance between these two needs, offering a compelling combination of refresh rate, response time, and color accuracy for just $700.

Wacom One Review: An Entry-Level Pen Display Perfect for Photo Editing

With the release of the Wacom One in 2020, Wacom lowered the barrier to entry into the world of pen displays and inadvertently created an ideal product for photographers. Where other pen displays in the Wacom lineup are either too big or too expensive, the Wacom One makes a great case for trading in your Intuos Pro for a more intimate photo editing experience.

Real-World Test: Photoshop for Apple Silicon is Really, Really Fast

Earlier today, Adobe finally released the full-blown non-Beta version of Photoshop for Apple Silicon, and we got a chance to test it out. I won't beat around the bush: the benchmarks are really impressive, matching or outperforming Intel-based computers that cost two to three times as much.

Apple M1 Mac mini Review: The Best Mac for Most Photographers

When Apple debuted the M1 system on a chip (SOC), it released three computers equipped with the same CPU/GPU/RAM combo: the M1 MacBook Air, the M1 MacBook Pro, and the M1 Mac mini. It might seem like this makes for three redundant options, but after reviewing the MacBook Pro and spending a month with the new Mac mini, I can confidently say that the Mac mini is the best choice for the majority of photographers. To explain why, I need to turn to economics.

5 Things You Should Know Before Buying the Apple Pro Display XDR

When Apple unveiled the Pro Display XDR in June of 2019, I'll admit that I drank the cool-aid in big refreshing gulps. From design to execution, I had every reason to believe that this monitor would change the creative landscape, bringing reference displays in a price range attainable by mere mortals. But one year and 7 months later, as I sit staring at my very own review unit, I've had to temper my enthusiasm with a small dose of reality.

Making Relative Adjustments to Sets of Photos in Lightroom

Sometimes it may be necessary to make a set of images darker or lighter, more or less contrasty, or otherwise change their appearance but retain their relative appearance. Lightroom has the ability to make relative adjustments on a selected set of images to facilitate that.

How to Optimize Lightroom Classic for the Best Performance

One of the consequences of reviewing computers for PetaPixel and running benchmark after benchmark is that you learn a thing or two about working in Lightroom. From weird quirks to the optimal performance settings for import, export, and editing, there are a few key changes you can make to coax a little more speed out of Adobe's Raw editor.

How to Get Professional Results with Photoshop’s AI Sky Replacement Tool

One of the major updates to the latest version of Photoshop is the addition of Sky Replacement: a tool that has the potential to save you a ton of time when editing your landscape images. But as Aaron Nace explains in this video, this AI-powered tool requires a bit of thought if you want to get professional results.

Loupedeck and Adobe Team Up on Bespoke Photoshop Plugin

Part of Adobe's big Photoshop update today was the announcement of a new "plugin experience," including a bespoke Plugin Marketplace and special Plugin Launchpad. And one of the first photography companies to take advantage of the new experience is editing console maker Loupedeck.

Sneak Peek: Skylum Shows Off Water Reflections in AI Sky Replacement Tool

Skylum, the makers of Luminar 4 and the soon-to-be released Luminar AI, are taking a page out of the Adobe playbook. In a sneak peek video released earlier today, the company showed off the next iteration of its AI-powered Sky Replacement tool, which will be able to generate fake reflections from you "new" sky automagically.

Creating a ‘Time-Blend’ to Enhance the Drama in Your Landscape Photography

In my last article, I wrote in depth about my emotional connection to the subjects that I photograph and my artistic process in creating imagery. As I said before, to me photography is much more than capturing a single moment in time. I want to portray the sensory experiences that I have when I am immersed in nature or wilderness and pour that into an image that tells a story related to those experiences.

Stop Upscaling and Colorizing Photos and Videos, Historians Say

Colorizing and updating photos and footage from the past is becoming more common and much easier thanks to the advancements of AI. We've shared stories and images of colorized images and videos many times over the past decade, and colorists say it is designed to bring the past forward for a modern audience. However, there are some historians who believe the process is doing more harm than good.

Luna Display for Windows Turns Your iPad Into a Graphics Display for PC

Astro HQ, the creators of Astropad and Luna Display, have just revealed plans to create Luna Display for Windows. This little hardware dongle, when paired with the Luna App on iPad, will be able to turn your iPad into a wireless, high-quality secondary display and graphics tablet for any PC.

Google Photos Gets AI ‘Portrait Light’ Tool and One-Tap Edits

Google has unveiled a major update for the Google Photos app. The update adds two new AI-powered photo editing tools: a one-tap editing feature that tailors suggestions to your specific photo, and an intelligent 'Portrait Light' feature that lets you alter lighting post-capture.

Skylum Unveils ‘Adaptive Templates’ Coming to Luminar AI

As Skylum continues to prep for the full launch of its AI-based photo editor, Luminar AI, the company has reveled more details about how it will work. Namely: Skylum is showing off something called 'Adaptive Templates,' which are essentially next-level presets with some machine learning smarts.

30 Lightroom Tips and Tricks for Faster Photo Editing

Landscape photographer Christian Möhrle of The Phlog Photography recently put together a handy compilation of his favorite tips and tricks for Adobe Lightroom Classic. Chances are good you'll find at least one or two (and probably several more) little workflow tips that you didn't know about.

ON1 Unveils ON1 Photo RAW 2021 and Launches All-New ON1 Portrait AI

Portland-based software company ON1 made three announcements yesterday. It launched a new application called ON1 Portrait AI, pushed a major update to ON1 Photo RAW Mobile for iOS and Android, and unveiled the latest version of the ON1 Photo RAW desktop editor, which will officially launch in October.

How to Swap Faces in Photoshop in Four Easy Steps

Our friend Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge recently teamed up with the folks from Adorama to put together a very handy Photoshop tutorial you may want to bookmark for later. In this video, he shows you how to swap faces and expressions in four easy steps.

Skylum Unveils Luminar AI: A Fully Automated, AI-First Photo Editor

Skylum has announced a new, AI-first version of its Lumiar photo editor. Dubbed Luminar AI, the program takes all of the machine-learning tools from Luminar 4, adds some more, and puts them all into a new app and plugin that's all about "reinventing" traditional photo editing.