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Thread: Retouching Software advice needed.

  1. #1

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    Retouching Software advice needed.

    Hello everyone !
    Since I got a new imac with Big Sur my PS6 has gone north ... Strangely my LR5 still works, with some weird bugs but works, so I can edit and print, which is nice... And here my problem goes - I was using PS6 almost exclusively to remove dust and other spots from my scans before sending them to Lightroom. Now I have no PS6. LR5 own removing tool is just OK for single spots, but does not come close to PS healing brush. Lately, from time to time, I started to get very thin lines on some of my scans ( dust inside the scanner ). Removing them with PS was a 5 min deal, now it is real problem...
    I'm trying Afinnity now, but it seems that it compress your TIFF files when you save them. I tried Gimp shortly today, but it is definitively not for me... So what are my options except Adobe subscription ? Anybody out there use PS Elements ? Anything else ?
    PS. I scan black and white negatives only. 16 bit gray uncompressed TIFFs

    TIA,
    Igor.

  2. #2
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Dec 2011
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    22,386

    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    I surrendered to Adobe PS $10 subscription long ago

    Resistance is futile and a waste of brain power

    At our age, time is worth way more
    Tin Can

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Apr 2020
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    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    Affinity Photo (still on sale!). The healing brush tools are very good.

  4. #4

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    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    Quote Originally Posted by grat View Post
    Affinity Photo (still on sale!). The healing brush tools are very good.
    Thanks !
    But did you try to open tiff file, edit and then save it ? My original 76,2 MB tiff went down to 70,5 MB after save with Affinity. Looks like it uses some kind of compression, but I can't find where to check it ..

  5. #5

    Join Date
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    46

    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    LZW compression (your 70) is the standard for many software's.
    Changing compression (while saving) to NONE likely the your original size (76).

  6. #6

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    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    Click "More" when you're saving as a TIFF to select compression options.

    Options are None, LZW and ZIP-- but both LZW and ZIP are lossless compression, so you won't lose any information.

    It's also available in the Slice export panel, but you have to scroll down a bit. Export persona is kind of nice-- lets you create slices of different scales and formats for quick export.

    I also highly recommend watching some of Robin Whalley's youtube videos on Affinity Photo-- the biggest difference between it and Photoshop is the "Personas", or modes-- rather than trying to put all the functionality into one UI, it splits the UI into multiple personas, such as Develop (RAW processing), Photo, Export.

    I've been very pleased with the software-- not so long ago, a tutorial came out on using the "Divide" blend mode to remove color cast in Photoshop-- Some users requested the blend mode be added to Affinity, and it came out in the next release (1.9), so they're fairly responsive to user feedback.

  7. #7

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    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    Thanks a lot folks ! Will try it tonight.

  8. #8

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    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    Hi ! I can't see options for tiff files in File - Save or File - Save As... But yes, I see it in File - Export. Does it mean I must to Export my tiffs and not to Save or Save As before I shut down Affinity ?

  9. #9

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    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    Quote Originally Posted by grat View Post
    ...It's also available in the Slice export panel, but you have to scroll down a bit. Export persona is kind of nice-- lets you create slices of different scales and formats for quick export...
    I've been using Affinity for a year or so now and it's definitely a PS contender IMO.

    But in all that time I've NEVER looked at the personas Go figure. I just have and there's some interesting stuff there, but I don't get the "Export" one, apart from giving you a few more options it doesn't really seem to do anything. I suppose I should look at those videos to learn more eh?
    Rob Gray — Nature Photographer Extraordinaire
    www.robgray.com

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Apr 2020
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    Re: Retouching Software advice needed.

    One quirk of Affinity-- anything multi-layer, "save" or "save as", wants to save as an .aphoto file. Which is fine, as it includes all the adjustment layers, masks, your entire editing history (if you want), snapshots, slices, etc.. I tend to have a source TIFF/DNG/RAW file, an .aphoto with all my edits (and possibly my edit history), and then I export as needed.

    So yeah, export to save a tiff.

    The export persona is both cool, and useless.

    So for example, I have an .aphoto file, which contains my most recent photographic masterpiece with adjustment layers, cropping, retouching, sharpening, etc. I want to export a thumbnail, a medium size version for posting, and a large size for pixel-peeping. I go to the export persona, create a slice called "thumbnail", select a portion of the image I want for the thumbnail, set the width and/or height (say, 320w for 320 pixels wide), file type of JPG, 60% quality. Then I create another slice called "medium", and this one's designed for desktops, so the width is "1920w" (or 1280h), it's JPG, and 90% quality. Then I create one more slice called "Full", and it's saved as 16 bit TIFF, no resizing, lossless compression.

    A few days later, I decide there's something about the photo I don't like, I load up the .aphoto file, make the changes, switch to the export persona, click "export all slices", and all three images, in each location, is updated.

    Is it necessary? Not really. Is it useful? Can be. It's better than producing one crop for one purpose, and a different crop for another reason, and then having to merge all your changes back into the various cropped versions.

    I only say "useless", because these days everyone uploads to Instaflickspace, which does most of the work of producing different sized versions on the fly.

    Personally, I have yet to use the Liquify persona. I also have yet to start making smoothies in my kitchen. There may or may not be a correlation there.

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