At the moment, all photo software (C1, Adobe, Affinity, DXO etc.) is lumped under 'retouching' within Operating Systems. Would you like it split out into separate categories (forums)? If so, how much granularity would you like? E.G. Put all Adobe s/w in one forum? Have separate ones for Lightroom, Photoshop, Elements?
Your thoughts are appreciated - we want this to be a collaborative effort.
cheers
Alan
ONLY because you are organized with sub-forums & can easily aggregate by moving up 1 level with a single click … I think I might like a change to software specific forums. Then we can sort of have our cake & eat it too. Still need a place to discuss comparisons though.
The question is what improves the participation to the forums.
Based on a naïve view, I suspect users of LR, for sake of arguments, will want a forum focused on LR.
In the defunct DPR, retouching was a hodgepodge.
Even the name felt stale.
Post processing and DAM with sub categories of vendors would look great.
I missed an extra comment : no one buys software. We buy solutions. And this why I was lumping software into the PO's processing solution forum.
Agreed
I would say that raw converters, post-processing, and colour management all deserve to be listed, even if as additions to existing names.
I would love to see a forum "post processing software", retouching is very different thing, or at least it has it's own meaning too.
Comparisons between post processing softwares/techiques might be lost if one looks only certain software-forum. I would start with one post processing software forum and allow it to be split in case the first page gets too heated.
If "retouching" forum is needed, then it might be a separate forum.
Post processing might also be important part of certain photo genres, like landscapes. So I might think that post processing as a technique could be under those genres and talk about post processing software could be it's own? What do you think?
(I admit I almost never looked into genre specific forums in dpreview as I am an equipment nerd, so I have no idea what was discussed in genre specific forums there)
And if there comes separate forums for different post processing softwares, Capture One should have it's own :-).
Ok - so how about this:
Rename 'retouching' to 'post processing comparisons'.
Have individual forums for each manufacturer. if a manufacturer has more than one (e.g. Adobe), then have a forum for each one.
For now, we can start with:
Adobe LightRoom
Adobe Photoshop (& Express)
Capture One
DXO
Affinity
Gimp
Luminar
PaintShop Pro
What else?
Alan
A generic one for people like me that have no idea about editing, postprocessing, and Stacking.
I need to get a hand choosing my future path.
I know there are not many Dyno directly from the film's era....
... but here I get the pain....
there is not enough information on these basic techs to put me in the know
and in the right way to introduce me to basic concepts!!
Thanks !!
Alain
( variable ISO was a shock - took me 5 days to get up to the task)
So, a "general post processing tutorial" forum would be useful.
On1 Photo RAW?
Perhaps Pixelmator Pro?
From what I saw over at the old DPR, imo there were a significant enough number of Photoshop Elements users there to warrant it being bundled in with Photoshop in its forum title.
Maybe "Adobe Photoshop (& Express, Photoshop Elements)"
I am a Photoshop Elements + Elements XXL plug-in user.
Oops - I meant Elements. Sorry.
I'm out a lot of tomorrow, but I should have time to set the above suggestions up.
Alan
I use software that most won't even know. So doesn't worry me too much. 😉
Danny.
Generic postprocessing forum is a must.
Other forums by vendor - I don't know, how to compare different software then?
What to do with less known, less used or older software?
I don't see Silkypix and its variants mentioned here, then there was the Arcsoft family, then Picture Window (all in use by me, in addition to Corel Paintshop Pro - no Adobe in my PC) - then there are manufacturer specific programs, like SPP for Sigma.
Who decides, which products deserve seprate forum, which are too small, old or specific?
I love the idea of an Affinity Photo forum, for example. My only concern is will it have the same amount of eyes/views if someone just posted a question in the general "Retouching" forum (or whatever you end up calling it) regarding Affinity Photo. Will people well versed in Affinity Photo be checking that forum regularly, or will they tend to steer towards the General retouching forum? No idea. At some point the granularity will become too much, not saying this example is though.
Alan,
Something like you've proposed sounds good to me IF those are the leaves in the sub-forum tree. Then, use things like "raw processing" (with sub-forum leaves C1, LR, etc.), "post processing" (with sub-forum leaves PS, Elements, GIMP, etc.), "color management", etc. above that as categories. That is, I'd like to see generic categories, with specific software as the sub-forum leaves. Said differently, NOT things like "Adobe" as categories... but, rather, functional categories like "raw processing". Then one can hit, say, the "raw processing" category and see aggregated discussion of all raw processing, but proceed to the specific leaf to see, for example, just discussions of C1. My 2 cents.
