Over the years I have tried lots of photo software, some with significant advantages, some
completely useless. On this page I describe what functionality I would like to have from
photo software. It bases on an article that I wrote in December 2024. I'll update it as I see fit.
I currently have test installations and offers for a number of photographic software
packets: ACDSee, for which I already have a license that I don't use, Affinity, for which I have had a 6
month trial since August, and which I also found too hard, Radiant, and DxO PhotoLab 8.
I've spent time reading about them, even tried a couple. And there are online videos that
I've tried watching and found completely irrelevant to my requirements. Somehow they don't
do it for me. So what do I really want?
Interoperability. I want them to be able to work with each other. No package is
perfect, nor is it likely that one will emerge. So software that imposes its own
storage structures on images is anathema to me.
Moiré reduction. I can't get better than this in yesterday's photo of my phone:
Good, easy to use noise reduction. The latest version of DxO PhotoLab claims to do this better, but
I have more things I want of it:
DxO: I've mentioned noise reduction, which may work well. But there are others. In
particular, I can't even properly test the current version because it doesn't find my
“palettes” and “presets”. Well, it doesn't display the “presets”, though it finds them
for existing photos (via the “sidecar” file, presumably). But just testing it requires
significant pain, and there's no evidence that it has fixed any of my complaints, like
inability to set default crop behaviour or reinstating the rectangle recognition code.
Recovering old photos. I have a whole lot of old photos that I would like to make less
“old”, like this one (Big Jim McGibbon, April 1970):
A related issue: correct second order colour casts. A surprising number of photos have
blacks that go into deep blue or purple. I can't just change the colour, since
otherwise the highlights would go into yellow or similar. The Big Jim photo is one
example, but it happens with modern photos too.
No subscription. That used to be a problem; I don't use the software frequently enough
to justify a subscription. Maybe by coincidence, all the packages I have been offered
come without a subscription. Can it be that this is generally unpopular?
Should run on FreeBSD. There is some,
but very little. Most of it doesn't fulfil my other requirements, so I have given up
and accepted that I will have to run most software on Microsoft. I haven't found
anything yet that requires Apple.
There's also an ongoing issue with the Exif data from the OM System OM-1 Mark II, but
I think there's little overlap there.
