What to consider when switching photo editing software

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

You have been using the same photo editing software for years. Then you decide to switch to different software. That never goes completely smoothly. There are things you need to consider. Think carefully before taking the step. There can be various reasons for switching to a different photo editing programme. Whatever the reason, you would rather not start again with all the edits you have made to years' worth of images. The tools available to you for photo editing are virtually the same in all photo editing software. The differences are often in the details and the appearance of the programme. Using different software can require perseverance. You not only have to find the tools you need, you also have to develop a new workflow. Give yourself time to learn how to work with the new software. Especially when you see that the results are to your liking, that can be very motivating. There is only one sticking point: what do you do with all the photos you edited in the past?

The problem is actually very simple to describe. You lose all your past edits. The edits you made to your raw files cannot be read by the new software. There are, of course, the sidecar files. The XMP files, DOP files or other small files that contain editing information. Unfortunately, often only keywords and star ratings can be read by other software.

The only way to preserve your old edits is to export them to a jpeg or tiff file. Unfortunately, nothing can ever be adjusted again after that. The edit is final. Of course, you can edit the original raw file again in the new software. That works perfectly for a hundred or so photos, but not for many thousands of photos. There is, however, another workaround.

Make a fresh start when switching to new photo editing software. From that moment on, edit all new photos in the new software. Ignore all the 'old' photos and leave them to the old software. This means that the old photos can still be viewed in the old software and exported from there. So do not throw away the old software, but continue using it to manage the old photos. I have previously written about using Lightroom Classic without a subscription. Read about it in this article. Software you have purchased can be used indefinitely anyway.

If you wish, you can always bring a select number of 'old photos' to the new software. You can then edit them again. If you do not want to do that, leave them in the old software. Switching to new software is relatively simple. Do make sure you understand the consequences for your 'old photos' and edits. Then ask yourself whether switching is worth it. Only you can make that choice. Also consider the cost of the software you use or want to use. You can find a price comparison of the professionally oriented software packages that also include photo management in this article. Have you switched software? Or are you thinking about switching? I am very curious to hear how you are going to do this, or how you solved it. Share your experiences or ideas in a comment below. Perhaps you will bring new insights that we can all learn from.

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