Which software?

I’ve not really ventured into the world of photo-editing yet and I admit I’m baffled by it all. I see that Nikon has its own NX Studio software, but it seems like there are so many other packages out there: Affinity Photo, Photoshop, Lightroom, Skylum Lumimar… I’m sure they have their unique features, as well as many common ones, but I don’t know where to start! Any tips for a beginner?

Have you ever run a comparison piece on pros and cons, ease of use, what features are available on each, the way you do with lenses? I’d find this helpful! Darren Cheadle

There are a lot of software options out there, and if we were to run tutorials on them all, we’d quickly run out of space! While we focus on Adobe CC (Photoshop and Lightroom), as they have

become the defacto standard for many years, you should be able to follow many of our tutorials in other software (with a little adaptation). We also cover Affinity Photo (being the best low-cost option, in our view) and Nikon’s free NX Studio.

We do software roundups in our Big Test every now and then, and will do so again in an upcoming issue. Most software offers a trial version, typically allowing you to try it for a number of days for free to see how you get on with it – see our giveaway of the Skies bundle for Luminar AI on page 60.