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[Lino Gatt Profile]

Edited with landscape Pro

[eadams Profile]

I love the lighting on this image. LandscapePro can do a great job. Unfortunately, I pre-purchased the first version and don't feel like paying another $60 to upgrade to version 2 which I think is much better.

[pt_crusier_2002 Profile]

I think if you buy an upgrade for Landscape Pro you can get it for about $40. I find I can edit my photos better in smart Photo editor.

[eadams Profile]

I think if you buy an upgrade for Landscape Pro you can get it for about $40. I find I can edit my photos better in smart Photo editor.

I just checked - it is $52.45 for me to upgrade to the Studio version 2. Since I would use it as a plug-in and have RAW files, I would need that version. In my experience, VAT is added to the price at check-out, raising it to around $60. This is too much for me to upgrade a program that I tried, found wanting and never used.

Like you, I found it easier to edit photos in SPE. The reason was the selection tool. I was never comfortable with the "extend range" arrows for making selections of different regions of the image, and even though I managed to make accurate selections, it took much longer than with SPE. The tool I really liked was the "tree and sky" tool which enabled me to scribble over areas where trees met skies. The algorithm they use is really good and I was usually very happy with the results. I also like the way the program changes the lighting of the entire scene when you change the sky. In SPE (or even in Photoshop) if you merely replace a sky, it often looks terribly unrealistic because the sky has a different lighting factor and coloration than the rest of the image. In LandscapePro the replacements I made usually looked great, needing little tweaking, because the entire image ended up matching the sky in mood.

I did experiment with version 1 and submit feedback to the developers, but that was the only thing I did with the program. In retrospect, I wouldn't have purchased it all, since I never used it to do any real work on my images. In light of that, spending more money on version 2 is out of the question.

[Richard Briggs Profile]

I had a trial version of Landscape Pro but the problem I had was with me, not the program....

I have this view that it is perfectly acceptable to post process an image to get the best out of what you captured. I'm thinking brightness, contrast, lighting, saturation etc. I do this is Photoshop Elements.

I also think it is great to take a photo and convert it to (hopefully!) a piece or art. If (and it's a big IF) I decide to do that then SPE is my choice. And I have found nothing that comes close to what can be done with SPE.

In my view Landscape Pro lies between these. It goes beyond simple post processing to actually changing the image whilst keeping it realistic. In other words it becomes a 'lie'. And that's the problem I have. Maybe it's just me (probably!).

Richard