Recent Software Articles

Intel AI Tool Makes GTA V Look Incredibly Photorealistic

Just when you thought your brand new super-spec gaming machine was powerful enough to handle anything, something new comes along to dash your hopes and monster rig dreams. A recent video from Intel demonstrates an AI tool that "enhances" graphics to look photorealistic. The implications of this could be incredible for gaming and photography industries.

3 Things Lightroom is Still Missing 14 Years Later

I use Lightroom, in some capacity, for everything I shoot. Without it, my workflow would be entirely different, and probably not for the better. While some of the recent feature updates have been fine, I still can’t believe these three features haven’t made it into the software after all this time.

Are Our Photos and Video Backups Really Archival?

Over the history of mankind, the best way found to archive data was to carve it into stone, then bury it in the sand. Photographically, the most stable form of archiving is probably a black-and-white silver-based image on a glass plate. For digital data storage, there is no perfect permanent storage option. Most digital storage media can’t be confidently recommended to be dependable beyond 5-10 years.

How to Edit Stunning Portraits Using Luminar AI

Luminar AI offers a very different workflow when compared to Lightroom and Capture One, and one of the biggest differences is probably the speed at which changes can be made, thanks to some intelligent automation. This short video gives you insights into simple techniques that deliver great results.

AI Is Everywhere in Photography. Should We Just Learn To Love It?

The floodgates for artificial intelligence’s interference (or improvements, depending on your point of view) in digital photography have opened up since Apple and Google made it mainstream, with advancements such as Portrait Mode and Night Sight. Adobe took it another direction when it added an A.I.-powered “enhance” feature that enabled the enlarging of photos beyond what’s naturally possible. But is this making photography less real than it should be?

The Fastest Way to Cull Your Photos? Fstoppers Reviews Narrative Select

I don’t know about you, but I really hate culling images. I hate waiting for images to load. I hate zooming in to see if it’s in focus. I hate the time it takes to go through so many images. About six months ago, I started using Narrative Select for culling, and it might be the fastest way to cull images.

DxO PureRAW Just Might Be the Best Way to Start Your Editing

Every photographer has their own workflow, and most of us start by making edits in our raw files. Sometimes, I start in Lightroom Classic; other times, I open them with Photoshop, which takes me to Camera Raw. At times, I use Luminar AI. Now, with the debut today of DxO PureRAW, photographers have a better way to start their editing sessions, with some compelling advantages over what you are using now.

A Feature-Rich Platform for Print Sales: Fstoppers Reviews Art Storefronts

If you’ve decided to start selling prints of your work, you’ve found there are a lot of options, from print-on-demand websites where your work is part of a larger marketplace and orders are fulfilled by the website, to customizable platforms that you can make all your own. Art Storefronts attempts to offer the best of both worlds.

The Analog Look in Lightroom: A Review of RNI’s All Films Pack

There’s a lot of options in the preset and profiles space, but in my experience, one has stood above the rest. If you’re looking to bring a bit of analog spirit to your images, here’s why RNI's All Films 5 pack is the product you should get.

Did Photoshop’s New Feature Just Crush This AI Product?

One of the latest buzzwords in tech and editing has been AI. While the earliest implementations were a bit of a gimmick, powerful tools and developments from companies like Adobe, NVIDIA, and Luminar have brought AI to the end-user in a meaningful way. Photoshop’s March 2021 update introduces a new AI tool that promises massive resolution improvements for any camera. Does it live up to the hype?

PortraitPro 21 Is Here and Better Than Ever

Retouching portraits is a crucial process, but it is also highly time-consuming, particularly if you are working with a large batch of images. PortraitPro 21 is here, and it brings a wide variety of intelligent features that will streamline your workflow and save you a ton of time.

A Swiss Army Knife for Migrating Your Catalogs: Fstoppers Reviews Avalanche

Avalanche for Mac is an interesting product for Mac photographers, and it has one function: to get your images out of one application catalog into another. With all the changes in photo applications, it's easy to switch to something that seems more useful, but often, the catalogs don't come along with your move. As catalogs embed more and more editing metadata, it gets even harder.

How Good Is the New Colorize Neural Filter in Photoshop?

Photoshop has been embracing A.I and neural filters over the last year or so, and one that has grabbed a lot of attention is the automatic colorize filter. But how good is it for coloring black and white images?

Is Photo Mechanic Plus a Lightroom Killer? An In-Depth Fstoppers Review Part 1: Importing Photos

Lightroom totally dominates the realm of digital asset management (DAM) — a solution to everything, it fits the mold of most photographic workflows. However, the bitter pill to swallow can be the treacle-like performance and that monthly subscription (something I've touched upon before). Photo Mechanic, renowned for its blisteringly fast performance, offers a new solution. Is it a Lightroom killer?

The Strange Differences Between Luminar 4 and Luminar AI

Many presumed Luminar AI to be the big update for Luminar 4. But Skylum surprised everyone when Luminar AI turned out to be a completely different program. Or perhaps it isn’t that different at all?

Why Would You Switch to Final Cut?

There are reasons to stay with the editor we know, the one that comes with our monthly subscriptions. But, could you be convinced to reconsider your decision? Here are 5 reasons I believe are strong enough to make you do just that.

Can AI Turn a Cheap Lens Into a More Expensive One?

Computational photography and AI is one of the most exciting new frontiers in photography, with features ranging from automatic sky replacement to entirely automated portrait processing. This great video takes a look at Topaz Sharpen AI and if it can work enough magic to make a cheap lens look like a more expensive one.

ACDSee Photo Studio's Color Wheels Are Great for Refining Color in Travel Photos

In my look at the new features of ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2021, I was excited to see the inclusion of color wheels and tone wheels. I first started using this style of editor in video production; it’s a big part of what gives stylized video like Mad Max its distinctive look. When editing photos, however, it’s a great, intuitive way of working with the luminosity and color ranges in your image.

Cullai for Mac Is a Good Idea but Has a Way To Go

CullAI is a new Mac app recently on the scene. It's designed to let you point to a folder of images and let the software create a catalog that lets a photographer quickly decide which photos are worthy of further use.

Memory Card Tips and Best Practices

Memory cards are one thing that all digital cameras have in common. If you think about it, nothing happens if your photos don't get onto the card, and nothing happens if you can't copy them from the card to your computer.

LuminarAI​ Is Out: Fstoppers Takes a Look at This New Software

Have you noticed it's been almost impossible to miss all the discussions, arguments, praise, and ads about Skylum's new AI-based software editor, LuminarAI​? It's available for purchase now, and people will get a chance to see how it measures up to their expectations.

Is the End Nigh? Technology Doesn't Mean the End of Photography

In his trademark understated introduction, Ted Forbes acknowledges that technology is a charged conversation for photographers. Photographers are something of a Luddite-like bunch. On the whole, we seem to have a preference for the technology we learned the craft on. Be that a medium format film camera, a digital DSLR and an early version of Photoshop Elements or a more modern mirrorless, we seem to stand up against the tide of change like it's in our DNA. What are we going to do about the rise of machine learning?

Why Isn't JPEG Dead and Is HEIF the Solution?

It feels like a bad dream, that just got worse. Just when you thought the nightmares were over, you awake in a cold sweat plagued by the same recurring terrors. Yes, the JPEG really is that bad so why do we keep clinging to it? Isn't it time we killed it off and moved on to something better?

The Tone Wheels in Photo Studio Ultimate 2021 Are Powerful Editing Tools

Color is one of the most important aspects in photography. If you've read any of my previous articles, color is the thing that I'm frequently yapping on about, because it really is crucial. It's what gives many images that emotional connection that we feel and that connection can make or break an image.

2020 Black Friday Deals for Photographers

Black Friday sales are here and we at Fstoppers want to keep the photography community informed of noteworthy deals. Some of these savings are only available for a very limited timeframe, so if there's something that piques your interest, make sure to act on it now!

5 Time-Lapse Photography Tips for Beginners

If you're looking at getting into creating time-lapse videos, you can try to learn it by trial and error, but that can take a lot of time. You can save yourself a great deal of time by spending just a few minutes learning a few of these tips.

Are AI Features Taking Over Photo Editing? Is It Time to Panic or Celebrate?

Serious and pro photographers can't help but notice that AI is creeping into our craft. Maybe "creeping in" is not the correct metaphor. It's actually rushing toward just about every software application we use. Luminar was an early adopter, and their upcoming Luminar AI, well, it has AI in its name.

Is Software Driving or Destroying the Future of Photography?

Photoshop's latest release included such things as sky replacement tools and the ability to change the expression of faces. This is in line with what other software platforms offer. Are these features helping or hindering creativity and the future of photography?

Adobe Lightroom Classic 10 Received New Updates

Following the 2021 version of Photoshop, Adobe also released new updates for the Lightroom Classic version 10, bringing some new features and UI improvements.

Does Adobe Need to Start Again and Build Lightroom from Scratch?

Lightroom totally dominates the realm of digital asset management (DAM) — a solution for everything, it fits the mold of most photographic workflows, however the bitter pill to swallow can be the treacle-like performance and that monthly subscription. Is it time for Adobe to start again?