What’s Your Preference?

if.so.girl · #1 (**permalink**) 02-06-2010, 03:13 PM

happy saturday all.
recently i downloaded a free trial of light room and i really wish i hadn't. i really like it...i just do not like it $300 worth.
can anyone tell me the name of a good free alternative.
photoshop has gimp, i cannot help but to think there is one for lightroom.
thanks!!!

pan · #2 (**permalink**) 02-06-2010, 05:14 PM

You can give RawTherepee a try. It offers Raw processing and most of the functionality of LightRoom, other than the photo library. I too like lightRoom but can't afford it's price tag. I have been watching and trying to use the RawThrepee for some time now. The only thing that stops me from using only it, is that the colors in the raw files are different than what I see when I compare what RawTherepee displays to what Nikon ViewNX displays.

RawTherapee 3.0 alpha 1 and license changes

essvee · #3 (**permalink**) 02-06-2010, 09:53 PM

I have to say, it really is worth every penny. It's $249 at that online place that has the same name as a big river in South America, if that helps.

And for the record, no I have nothing to do with them. I just think it's my favorite photo related tool.

Samanax · #4 (**permalink**) 02-06-2010, 10:57 PM

Not sure if it qualifies as a true alternative to Lightroom, but you might want to check out Photoscape.

You can read about it and a few other free photo editors here.

#5 (**permalink**) 02-07-2010, 03:35 AM

Lightroom is hard to beat.

Recently I started submitting photos to stock photography...every photo that was editted in Lightroom has been accepted. 90% of the photos I edited in Picasa have been rejected due to "artifacting".

Lightroom has really changed my photography, and I don't think I could live without it anymore.

If you're a student, you can snag it for $100 (that's how we got it). Also, it periodically goes on sale...around Thanksgiving it was going for about $120.