PSP and/or Aftershot for raw?

[Jimb610]

New to all this so your help is greatly appreciated.

I understand the benefits of shooting Raw. What I don't understand is working on Raw files in post processing.

Specifically can I shoot raw and do all post processing work in Paintshop Pro Ultimate? Or do I have to do some of the PP in Aftershot then import that work into PSP to finish? I'm not shooting a lot of images. I think that's a habit I picked up from shooting film for over 40 years. 24 or 36.

Getting ready to start learning digital PP and want to know should I use PSP or Aftershot? Or maybe even Aftershot Pro? If using both isn't required is there an added benefit(s) to using both?

Also after processing is the processed file still Raw or is it automatically converted to a JPEG? I realize the original file is kept as a raw file.

Sorry if these questions seem so basic but like I mentioned I'm new to this.

If you want to answer any beginner questions I forgot to ask that would also be helpful.

Thank you.
Jim

[LeviFiction]

I'm sure you'll get a better answer soon as I'm a novice myself. xD

Quickest answer: Aftershot for initial edits to get it to a place you like, then if you need further more advanced editing bring it into PSP.

First off I'm also new to RAW editing myself, only been doing it about a year off and on. I don't use either Aftershot or PSP for RAW photo editing. I use PSP for advanced photo editing after I've done my RAW editing in another RAW editor like Darktable or RawTherapee. And only if the photo still needs it. I do own Aftershot Pro, but I don't use it enough to really comment on its use specifically. But I'll try to answer from the perspective that most RAW editors and regular photo editors work like this and it can apply to any mixture. Lightroom and Photoshop, Darktable and GIMP, AFtershot and PSP, and any mixture therein.

Some quick differences between PSP and Aftershot. First is their workflows. Both have a management mode for creating a catalog of images you like, rating images, tagging them, organizing them, etc. The main difference is in editing.

Most RAW editors are non-destructive which means they don't lose any of the RAW data and don't actually edit the photo itself. They create a sidecar file called an XMP file that lists all of your adjustments and adds them on the fly. This lets you create multiple versions of the file without increasing disk usage, as RAW files tend to be larger than regular images this is awesome. You can play with effects, to get different looks and see what you like and don't like about different edits. You also get a complete edit history that lets undo specific edits, turn off certain filters, go back to the beginning, etc. You don't create a separate file until you export the result at the end of the process, or you send it to a full photo editor like PSP.

PSP like Photoshop and GIMP imports the RAW information and creates a separate file once you save it. You can save to a PSPImage file to prevent the majority loss of information, And once you're happy with the image, you can save it to JPG (a lossy format) for sharing and displaying. This means you'll end up with a RAW image, a PSPImage intermediary file which is quite large, and final edit. Increasing total disk space. However, it has way more tools, both practical and effects-based. You can do a whole lot more with it, including advanced manipulations. And its' basic adjustment tools are quite well most of the time. You can get a decent result from the image by learning good advanced editing techniques.

Aftershot has fewer overall features compared to PSP as PSP is a full photo editor with layers erasers, etc, but compared to PSP's RAW Lab importer AFtershot has a lot more RAW editing features. PSP's initial RAW importing will do just the bare minimum to render it and then you do the rest using PSP's tools.

Because of this, the preferred method is to use a RAW editor to do the initial stuff, highlight recovery (especially if the app has good highlight recovery options PSP only has a basic drop-down of three options), exposure compensation, white balance, etc. Once the image is looking the way you want as far as color, noise reduction, contrast, etc. And that's usually good enough for most photos, especially if you're good at taking good photos (which I am not ) If you feel you need more advanced editing to get rid of annoying elements or do something Aftershot doesn't natively support (Graduated filters plugin requiring an additional purchase is a sore spot for me) you send it over to PSP. Aftershot will create a TIFF file and open that in PSP maintaining the majority of the data so it's as high quality as possible coming into PSP. And you do the additional edits there, saving the final result.

[Jimb610]

Levi

Thanks for the great response.

Jim