The topic of how best to process Fuji raw files has been a long-running topic on this website. I’ve covered it extensively in the past, including a previous version of this article. However, over the past two years since the last time I updated this, there have been a few changes to the landscape, and so it’s time to write an updated version. So, what are the best options for Fujifilm raw processing in 2022? (In my opinion)

I’m not sure how I missed this, but there was an issue with Lightroom and Camera Raw for Canon shooters that I had been reporting on for some time, that has finally been resolved. For some reason, Adobe hadn’t been adding camera matching profiles for newer Canon cameras. Specifically they hadn’t been adding profiles for cameras that used the .CR3 file format. Thankfully, Adobe has started addressing this.

Adobe really made some great improvements to Lightroom in 2021. The new masking architecture is a great upgrade and it’s changed the way I use the software. In the past Adobe has been criticised for not doing enough with Lightroom, but over the past few years they’ve really taken the breaks off and made some good improvements. There can always be more though, and so, here is my modest wish list of things I’d love to see changed in the application.

Now that Capture One 22 has been out for a little while, and I’ve had time to play around with the upgrade, I’ve collected a few random observations, and tips when it comes to the panorama merging function.

Every year we like to get up early on New Year’s day and head to the beach to watch the first sunrise of the new year. It’s a little ritual to start the year, but unfortunately, it hasn’t always gone exactly according to plan. Last year, we couldn’t actually get to the beach, because of a strict covid lockdown, as it was outside the permissible distance. This year we did get there, but instead of a glorious sunrise, we were treated to stormy seas and winds. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but it led to some cool photos anyway.

What a weird year it’s been. This time last year we were all delighted to see the back of a crappy 2020 and optimistic that the following year would be better. In some ways it was, but in others, not so much. I had hoped to see a return to some kind of normality in 2021 but instead we started the year in another strict lockdown, and from then on it was a rollercoaster of ups and downs.

This will probably be my last day blogging before Christmas, so I wanted to finish off by giving something back. As I had been working on various projects throughout the year, I have been creating and experimenting with various Lightroom presets, and I ended up with quite a collection. I had originally offered these to Patreon members, but as I’ve shut down my Patreon channel for now, I didn’t want them to go to waste, and so you can download them here.

One of my most popular Capture One posts on this website is the post entitled “Capture One vs Lightroom from someone who uses both”. I last updated this earlier this year, but since then, a lot has changed. With the release of Lightroom 11 which brings the new masking architecture, and Capture One 22 which adds Panorama stitching and HDR merging. This changes the dynamics of my previous arguments for each, and so I wanted to offer an addendum.

I think it’s safe to say that Capture One 22 is one of the companies most hyped releases of recent times. They have publicly touted the main features in advance and two of those features – “Panorama Stitching” and “HDR Merging” have probably been the two most requested features for Capture One for a long time. They are the two big features that Capture One lacks compared to Lightroom. So now that the software is released, are these features any good, and what else is new in Capture One 22?

DxO labs has just released the latest update to the Nik software collection. The latest release, version 4.3 features new presets to “enhances the character of landscape and travel photographs” according to the press release.

I recently wrote a blog post about the new “Recommended Presets” feature of Lightroom (Cloud version) and I mentioned that it was driven by the community. The community feature of Lightroom is probably one of the most underrated features of the software. If you are an experienced photographer, you probably haven’t even looked at it, as you may think — that's just for beginners. However, I think its worth a look for anyone, and in this post I’ll explain why.

Capture One has just announced that the next version of its photo processing software of the same name, will be released next week on December the 9th.

In Capture One, Variants are the equivalent of what Lightroom refers to as “virtual copies”. However, if you’ve come from Lightroom, you may notice that there are some key differences. In this post, we’ll look at some of the basics of using variants in Capture One.

It’s been quite a while since we got an update to Iridient X-Transformer, and I was beginning to get a bit worried about the future of the software. Some users had also written to me expressing their concern. Luckily my fears were unnecessary, and there is now a new version (Version 2.01) which brings support for all of the recent Fujifilm cameras as well as native Apple silicon compatibility.

One of the things that I love about Capture One is the fact that there are often many ways to complete the same task. Sometimes multiple tools can achieve similar results, but they go about it in slightly different ways. If you’re coming from Lightroom, at first, my may stick with the typical Lightroom tools. However, there are two adjustments that are frequently overlooked by Lightroom switchers because they’re not in Lightroom. These tools can be really useful occasionally, and they are the Levels tool and the Brightness slider.