Photography is much more than just owning an expensive camera and clicking a few snaps here and there. Photography is one of the most creative professions, requires a lot of determination and technical knowledge. From setting up the camera to clicking pictures with the right angles and from editing photos to taking care of legal copyright matters, a photographer has to take care of it all.
Today, let’s look into five amazing tools that can be super handy for any photographer and can make their work lives way easier.
- PictureEcho
As a photographer, it is likely that you transfer images from one location to another pretty often. It could be simply while moving files from your camera or during the editing process. Usually, this leads to a lot of unnecessary duplicate files being generated. This in turn can occupy a huge chunk of your computer’s storage space and can make your computer lag. As a photographer, that might be the last thing you want.
PictureEcho is a Windows-based tool that can be used to scan through your computer and search for all duplicate image files. Once you scan your computer, PictureEcho’s algorithm accurately spots duplicates and shows you thumbnails of all detected duplicates before you can get rid of them. Using PictureEcho, you can:
- Detect not just exact duplicates but also visually similar images based on different similarity levels or time intervals
- Scan multiple files/folders together
- Scan your Adobe Lightroom Catalog and reduce its size
- Automatically select multiple photos based on defined rules (for example high/low resolution, small/large size, date of creation, etc)
- Delete detected duplicates with a single click
- View a history of your past actions within the app
- Exposure X6
Next up we have a Windows and macOS-based light-weight photo editing tool. Be it adjusting colors, changing lens focus, or adding artistic effects to photos, Exposure X6 makes it all possible. For adding overlays to borders from texture to other varied effects, this tool is a one-stop solution to all editing hassles. What’s unique about this tool is that it also allows users to perform A/B testing on images, without making any damages to the original layers. This particular tool is also quite renowned for its realistic film grains.
- Corel PaintShop Pro
Although Corel PaintShop does not provide a lot of complex or fancy editing features, it is good enough for basic photo editing, especially for beginners. If you are looking for an easy-to-use tool with a simple interface that lets you work with layers, masks, textures, brushes, and other 360-degree photo editing features, this can be your go-to tool. It also supports RAW file formats so that is another plus point. Some of its other amazing features include:
- Face Liquefy
- 3D modeling
- Typography
- Lower Camera Shake
- Noise Removal
- Vector Drawing
- Help Tutorials
Corel PaintShop only has a one-time fee of 60$, which is pretty reasonable for all the features that the tool offers. Currently, it is only available for Windows. They also offer a 30 days money-back guarantee.
- Skylum Luminar
Skylum is compatible with both macOS and Windows. Similar to Adobe Lightroom, Skylum is both a photo editing as well as an organizing tool. If you want to organize a humongous photo library in one place, Skylum is a good tool to look into. Be it sorting your photos, tagging them, or simply dividing them into various categories, Skylum facilities it all.
What is most appreciated about Skylum is that similar to Adobe Lightroom, it offers various keyboard shortcuts that make it easier for users to work with the tool. If you have used Lightroom before, the transition to Skylum wouldn’t be hard for you at all. Unlike the Adobe family that requires monthly subscriptions, Skylum Luminar only asks for a one-time fee.
- Presets & Plugins
As a creative individual, custom presets or plugins can be highly useful for you, especially if you want to automate repetitive tasks for instance changing of color tones, additions of HDR effects, or even color balancing. Depending on how you want to edit your photo(s), you can find third-party presets or plugins online. Some popular options are ON1 Photo Raw, Aurora HDR, Imagga’s Wardroom, DxO PhotoLab, Blow Up 3, and Nik Collection. While some of them are free, others are paid (but definitely worth the investment).
https://www.sorcim.com/blog/top-5-handy-tools-for-photographers