I wonder if I might solicit your comments please on some pairs of photographs … well, actually on the software that edited them.

This week, after a sadly lengthy wait while the slow boat arrived from China, I finally took delivery of a spiffy new computer (Apple MacBook with the new super-powerful M1 chip if you are interested) and installed new software to enable me to post-edit my photographs. There was nothing wrong with the software – Capture One Pro – that I have been using for several years. In fact it has been and still is superb, but it’s beginning to show its age and the cost of upgrading was silly money while it has a number of very expensive tools that I will never have need of simply because I do not do studio photography. The creators have also not “tuned” the software yet to work natively with the new Apple processor.

And so, I now have Affinity Photo and Pixelmator Pro side by side and am on the steep learning curve that this involves. I processed a few RAW files in both using, as far as I could, approximatelythe same edits etc and looked at the results. I like both, but each has a quite different “look” to it. One leans towards the ‘Kodachrome’ image style with bright colours and relatively high contrast while the other goes for a softer, in some ways almost transparent, feel. Obviously one is better for certain types of image than the other so I will be keeping both in my toolbox.

I have put some examples below and I would really appreciate your comments (there’s a comment box at the bottom) if you could spare a moment please. It’s very subjective, but please tell me which of each pair do you like the most or the best – and, if so, why? As “consumers” of my images it helps me to know what works for you and what doesn’t. There is no right/wrong answer but “the customer is always right”.

Thanks

(Note: if you are viewing this on a regular computer then the pairs of photos appear side by side but if you are using a tablet or phone then it’s Affinity before Pixelmator as you scroll down)

Affinity Photo

Pixelmator Pro

The Bridge at Fritz

Cold Day by the Bay

English Summer Garden

Friends

(Note: The white level was adjusted a tad warmer here for the Pixelmator version so don’t let that affect your choice please)