A long (long) time ago I used to use DxO’s PhotoLab when it was still called DxO Optics Pro. As well as the NIK collection - before Google acquired it and was subsequently bought by DxO. The U-Point technology always felt more intuitive/natural to me than Photoshop’s layer masks and Lightroom’s current mask implementation. Been seriously thinking of switching back.
Anybody else in the same boat as me? Or has already made the switch?
I’ve been using DxO alongside Lightroom Classic and Photoshop a long time now, and sometimes used the NIK collection. Much of that time I used only mid-level enthusiast lenses and cameras, and the optimization that DxO has always offered has been really important to me.
I’ve experimented a few years with software, trying Capture One, Luminar Neo, and a few panels in Photoshop in addition to Lightroom and DxO. The past few years I’ve migrated to the Fujifilm X system, even though I don’t care much for “film simulations”. I now prefer DxO as a raw converter, although I am flexible, depending on what I want from the images. The “preset” nature of “film simulations” and effects like the NIK collection and Luminar Neo don’t really suit the way I like to process individual images, but sometimes it’s fun to throw one of the adjustments into a Lightroom or Photoshop workflow to see what happens. It matters whether I am working on a unique image or a set of images from an event, for example.
Photoshop has always been a challenge for this old darkroom worker, but thanks to the generous videos of Sean Bagshaw and others, and the TK Panels they showed me how to use, I’ve gradually learned how to take advantage of some of Photoshop’s power. It helps to realize you’ll never learn everything in Photoshop, that you don’t need to learn everything, and that there are many ways to accomplish anything in Photoshop. There isn’t just one way to get what you want. I still stumble around and get lost regularly.
My impression of U-point selections is that they are similar in precision to Lightroom/Camera Raw’s masking, but not as precise as what is possible in Photoshop using its native tools and more complex techniques like luminosity masks and frequency separations made practical by panels like TK Actions. Sometimes high precision is not needed. And, AI is now speeding up and improving the results that used to take a lot of skill and time.
I too have a bunch of Sean Bagshaw’s training courses, as well as all the latest TK plugins. And like you, I’ve tried out all the PS/LR alternatives (Capture 1, ON1, Luminar Neo, etc.).
What bugs me more than anything else (other than everything having to do with Lightroom’s Catalog) is the Rube Goldberg kluge of apps, plugins, different interfaces, etc. that it takes to process a landscape image these days.
I keep finding that many of these tools have less to do with "craft’ and more to do with the what is currently the most fashionable “style”.
Perhaps my preferred “less is more” post-processing approach is out of sync with where the rest of the landscape/nature photography genre is going. [SIGH!!]
Anyway, thanks for your well-thought out response. It is sincerely appreciated.
I have tried Capture One and Nik, but in the end, I decided to obey the Prime Directive: “Keep it simple, stupid.” So, my feelings are similar to what @franz said above.
I use PSCC 2024
ACR
An old version of TK’s panel (V 4) Photo Supreme for asset management/image catalog
Neat Image plugin for Photo Shop (Noise Reduction).
I can see where other apps/plugins have their place for some folks, but using only a small number of apps gets the job done for me and also saves valuable computer resources (OS, RAM, VRAM) and storage.
-P