Best Infrared Raw Editor

This video introduces my new summary of raw editors for infrared photography. This blog page lists the licensing, platforms, white balance, color swapping, and my recommendations for all popular raw editors.

Raw Editors for Infrared Photography

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Transcript for Best Infrared Raw Editor. Duration: 3:34.

• 0:00 Which raw editor is the best for infrared photography? I've tested more than a dozen raw editors to see how well they work with the unique challenges of infrared photography. Which has the best ecosystem? Which is the easiest to use? Which is the most affordable? Which is the best for Windows or Mac or Linux or mobile? Which
• 0:21 is the best one for you? Answering that question requires collecting and processing a lot of information. To help you with this, I wanted to share a summary of all of my reviews in a single location. I've created a new webpage on my blog where you can get the details. This contains a list of editors I've reviewed, including
• 0:42 how they're licensed, which platforms they support, how they white balance, which color swap methods they support, links to the video reviews, and my notes. Here is a quick recap. Lightroom has broad support, but needs profiles for white balance and all color swap options. It's a great ecosystem with leading masking tools.
• 1:06 Lightroom Classic supports Mac and Windows and also benefits from profiles. It has better catalog management, printing, importing and exporting than the newer Lightroom. Photoshop is the king of powerful image editors, supporting all color swapping methods and has powerful actions. The iPad app is not great. You can get all
• 1:29 versions of Lightroom and Photoshop under a single subscription. Affinity Photo 2 is the best non-subscription alternative to Photoshop with good white balance and support for all color swap methods. Canon Digital Photo Professional or DPP is not a great solution for infrared. Capture One is an okay raw editor for infrared, but there
• 1:54 are better choices unless you are already a Capture One user. darktable is an excellent free open source raw editor with Mac, Windows, and Linux support. It is a bit of a learning curve, but the price is right. DxO PhotoLab is easy to use, but you'll need the Elite Edition to get the most out
• 2:16 of it. ON1 Photo Raw is easy to use and supports most color swapping methods. Combined with my infrared presets, ON1 is an easy, fast and affordable way to process infrared images. PhotoMator and Pixelmator Pro are excellent choices for those in the Mac ecosystem. PhotoMator supports editing on the iPad
• 2:39 and the iPhone. Pixelmator Pro supports layers. RawTherapy is another excellent free open source raw editor. It is a solid choice for infrared and a great tool for monochrome processing. I also plan to update the reviews for Exposure X, Luminar Neo and Nikon NX Studio. And once I do, I'll update
• 3:02 this page. Does this help you decide which raw editor might be best for you to edit your infrared images? Please share your feedback in the comments. If you'd like to learn more about infrared photography, sign up for my newsletter, Infrared Insights. I'll keep you informed about the latest videos, software, guides, and
• 3:22 equipment for infrared photography. A link is in the description. If you find these videos helpful on your infrared photography journey, like, subscribe or comment. Hope you enjoyed, thanks.