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ON1 Photo RAW Review (2022)

Finding the photo editing software that’s right for you can a challenge these days – there are so many different options.

While Adobe Lightroom remains the industry standard, its competition has been fierce and offers some phenomenal alternatives.

ON1 Photo RAW is one of the strongest competitors.

Highly Recommended

ON1 Photo RAW 2022

Subscription-free image editor with powerful features and regular upgrades. Recommended for all skill levels.

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Now, with the recent release of Photo Raw 2022, ON1 once again shows itself to be a prime contender in the Lightroom-alternative game.

Want to know what’s new? Not sure if it’s the photo editor for you?

Read on to find out!

Table of Contents

What is ON1 Photo RAW?

 

Pros

  • Excellent photo organization and metadata tools
  • Full-fledged photo editing suite
  • Nice UI for intermediate and advanced users
  • Powerful Artificial Intelligence Portrait editing
  • Layer functionality allows for masking and compositing
  • ON1 Resize and NoNoise is included
  • Contains HDR, Focus Stacking, and Panorama stitching
  • Allows the use of some Photoshop Plugins
  • Includes mobile and photo syncing options
  • Social media sharing is easy
  • Excellent presets
  • No subscription necessary

Cons

  • Browser and Quick Mask can be slow
  • Primitive healing brush
  • Ties up a lot of bandwidth on my computer (everything works slower when using ON1)
  • Steep learning curve for beginners

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Billed as one of the top Lightroom alternatives, ON1 Photo RAW 2022 is designed to do everything a photographer could possibly need in a photo editor.

Similar to Lightroom Classic, it combines a powerful photo organizer with a strong Raw processor and a Develop module that lays all the standard photo adjustments at the photographer’s fingertips. The layout and user interface is also similar to Lightroom, making for an easy switch-over.

At the same time, ON1 Photo Raw also has the Photoshop-like functionality of layers, complete with advanced masking, blending options, and even the ability to add text.

Unlike Photoshop, all of Photo RAW’s edits are non-destructive – you can always come back and change things. There’s also a large number of effects and presets that everyone from beginners to the advanced photographers will appreciate.

The cherry on top? ON1 has a number of proprietary photo editing apps that they include in their Photo RAW editor, each of which is extraordinary on its own.

Used as a standalone program, On1 Photo RAW is intended to be the only software you’ll ever need – from its library function and advanced photo editing to its photo merging capabilities. Once you’re finished editing, Photo Raw provides industry-standard image enlargement, full printing capabilities, and social media sharing integration. There’s even a mobile version and cloud storage option.

Another bonus is that, while there are subscription options available, you can choose to purchase the program outright. There’s no need to be tied to the subscription model if that’s not your thing.

(That’s why so many people left Adobe in the first place – to get away from the Creative Cloud subscription model.)

No other program literally does it all, and certainly not at this price point.

And never fear, if you love Photoshop and Lightroom but still want some of the excellent features ON1 Photo RAW brings, you can use it as a plugin as well.

In order to use ON1 Photo RAW on your smartphone or tablet you’ll need ON1 Photo RAW Mobile, a free companion app for Android and iOS devices.

The app offers a number of editing tools and comes with a built-in camera.

While not as fully-fledged as the desktop version, ON1 Photo RAW Mobile has an impressive warehouse of tools and editing options. All the standard photo adjustments are there: exposure, white balance, contrast, noise reduction, sharpening, etc.

It also comes with many of ON1’s excellent effect filters and presets, as well as its masking features, new healing brush, and the ability to do local adjustments.

You can use ON1 Photo RAW Mobile on its own, but it really works best with ON1’s 360 cloud sync service (described above).

  • System Requirements

With the latest 2022 update, a number of cool new features have been released with ON1 Photo RAW – click the dropdown buttons below for all the details:

New Features in ON1 Photo RAW for Computers

  • New Sky Swap AI — We’ve all had times when everything was perfect about our photo but the sky. Now, with ON1’s new Sky Swap feature, switching skies out is just a click away.
  • Now fully integrated with ON1 NoNoise AI — Now ON1’s industry-standard NoNoise AI can be accessed directly through Photo RAW.
  • Can host some Photoshop Plugins (without buying Photoshop) — There are plenty of excellent plugins made for Lightroom and Photoshop and now many of them work inside ON1 Photo Raw as well. (Many, however, don’t. See below for more details.)
  • New Time-lapse video capabilities — Create quick time-lapse videos from a series of stills or use ON1s editing features to turn your time-lapse video into a work of art.
  • More customizability in Browse mode — Tailor the grid in Browse Mode to show up exactly the way you want it to.
  • New Favorites Pane — Great for giving you quick access to folders or photos you access most often.
  • Line Mask Tool — Great for selections that need to be exact, the Line Mask tool give you complete control over your selection edge.
  • Many more Export options — From presets to using multiple watermarks simultaneously, ON1’s new export capabilities are super-charged.
  • New Backup and Restore feature — It’s now easier than ever to back up ON1’s library and/or recover original files.
  • Batch renaming — Now you can use any metadata field in any order when batch renaming. You can also create and modify renaming presets for future use.

Features in ON1 Photo RAW for Mobile

  • Syncing between multiple Computers and Mobile devices –– Sync non-destructive masks, local adjustments, effects, presets, and more between your mobile devices and computers, with ON1 Photo RAW 360.
  • Spot Healing Brush — A new modern approach to removing distractions like dust spots, power lines, and unwanted people from photos. The Spot Healing Brush is not only faster than current tools; it maintains full non-destructive adjustments for each area removed.
  • Lots of Presets – A curated collection of the best factory presets to speed up your workflow and get professional results with the hottest looks and styles. Categories for all types of photos from landscapes to portraits, HDR, matte, cinematic looks and much more.
  • Great Local Adjustments — Make targeted edits to your photos with powerful masking tools. Apply changes to a portion of your image, and adjust those areas with a full range of tone, color, and sharpening sliders. You can apply these adjustments using either the Adjustment Brush or Masking Bug shapes.
  • Effects Masking Perfect Brush — Selectively apply each filter to just the areas you like with the powerful masking tools. Quickly brush around objects of your photo with masking brushes or adjustable gradients in different shapes.
  • Perfect Brush — Quickly brush around objects of your photo with automatic edge detection.
  • Dynamic Contrast Filter — The gold-standard for adding clarity, also known as tonal contrast or structure, to your image, making it pop.
  • Curves Filter — A powerful, advanced tool for adjusting contrast and color in your image. Adjust the composite RGB channel, or adjust the individual Red, Green, or Blue channels.
  • HDR Look Filter — Recreate the HDR style of tone mapping, with accentuated edges and sharpening.
  • Glow Filter — Add a soft-focus glow to the image and adjust the blending mode to set the glow effect.
  • Vignette Center Tool — Select the center point of the vignette for total control.
  • Search and Filter — Designed to help you find photos in your photo library, based on a variety of criteria specific to photos and the metadata embedded in them. You can search based on any text associated with a photo, as well as likes and star ratings.
  • Multiple Ways to Sort and Arrange Your Library — Sort the thumbnails in a number of different ways. The sorting options include date captured or modified; file name, type, or size; and rating.

Key Features of ON1 Photo RAW 2022

Previous versions of ON1 Photo RAW already came with a number of excellent features, but the new 2022 version comes with a couple of additions definitely worth trying out.

Below are the top features, both new and old.

ON1 Photo Raw comes with a robust photo organizer.

No Lightroom alternative would be complete without a powerful photo organizer/DAM. ON1’s has one of the better library systems available and has long been far ahead of Luminar in terms of metadata, keywording, and searchability.

ON1 Photo RAW uses a browser-based system. There’s no need to import your photos – just direct Photo RAW to where they are on your drive and they’ll just appear. This makes it far less complicated to use than Lightroom’s catalog system.

You can organize photos into albums and/or create smart albums that store search criteria. There’s even a map view option that allows you to see in map form where your photos were taken and add location information to images that weren’t taken with GPS metadata.

Unfortunately, I find ON1’s browser to be surprisingly slow in loading photos – much slower than Lightroom or Capture 1 or even Luminar.

Still, it’s much more robust in terms of metadata and search functions than Luminar, and for most photographers, it’ll be easier to learn and use than Capture One.

All the essentials you need for professional-level photo editing are included.

ON1’s photo editor has all the editing options most photographers will ever need, neatly in the right-hand column and/or available in their Filters section. It starts with only the essential adjustments so as not to clutter the screen.

If you want more advanced options, simply click on the Show More button or reach into the Filters.

Like Luminar and many up-and-coming programs, ON1 also includes a number of Artificial Intelligence (AI) options. In the Develop module, these include AI Auto Tone and AI Match, which tells the Develop module to match the image to the one you saw on the back of your camera.

Personally, I find ON1’s auto-tone to be far inferior to that of Lightroom’s and Capture Ones’s auto-tone. Here, Luminar reigns supreme with its Accent AI.

As mentioned before, all of Photo RAW’s adjustments are non-destructive, meaning changes are not made to the original file but rather stored as a set of instructions that can always be changed or returned to the original settings.

Like Lightroom, ON1 Photo RAW supports the Raw photo formats of hundreds of different cameras. It also comes with a good supply of lens profiles, so that lens corrections are both easy and automatic.

In my opinion, the quality of its Raw photo rendering is better than Luminar’s and maybe even Lightroom’s. (See also: ON1 vs Lightroom for a deeper comparison).

  • Layer Functionality

With ON1’s layers functionality, you can change out backgrounds, create photo composites, and switch skies.

One of the cool things ON1 has had for years is the ability to work with layers. This allows you to do everything from making composites and swapping skies to manually blending exposures.

Along with the layer functionality comes different brushes, all the standard blending options, and of course, layer masks. In fact, every filter you use is automatically added on as a layer, making it is easy to fine-tune any adjustments separate from the rest of your adjustments.

As a bonus, Photo RAW comes loaded with a number of backgrounds, replacement skies, and other elements to use in photo compositing. The AI Sky Replacement in Luminar is superior, but it’s still easy enough to do in ON1.

Photoshop users will find the selection tools a bit primitive, though, even with the AI. (This is also true of Luminar.) Having to manually paint everything that the AI misses can take a lot of time.

ON1 comes with a number of advanced masking options, including the proprietary AI Quick Mask feature. Here I used more green than was strictly necessary, but I  like to give the program as much information to work from as possible.

One thing unique about ON1 Photo RAW is how early on they brought in AI to aid in creating masks. Their AI Quick Mask option is designed to cut out your subjects with just a few strokes. Simply tell it what to lose (red) and what to keep (green) and the program will mask it for you.

A welcome addition in Photo RAW 2022 is a Refine Mask feature, that cleans up around hair, tree branches, and other fine details that’s hard to get to otherwise.

Practically speaking, I find AI Quick Mask to be slow and not particularly precise. Every time I’ve used it (prior version included), I’ve had to wait a while for the mask to render and then do a lot of touchups afterwards by hand.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 comes with a new line mask tool that allows you to cut out objects with precision.

The Perfect Brush, on the other hand, can be quite useful when there’s a clear edge to be found. It automatically detects edges and lets you brush around objects much more quickly than waiting for AI Quick Mask to do its thing. (At least on my 2017 iMac.)

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 has added a new Line Mask tool that really ups the game when it comes to creating precise selections. This definitely adds to the layer functionality, as does the Refine Edge brush.

  • Sky Swap AI

This is the first generation of ON1s Sky Swap AI tool. It’s a lot of fun, but as you can see by the haloing along the mountains in this hot, it’s far from perfect. (This was a clear sky.)

One of the more exciting new features in ON1 Photo RAW 2022 – at least for some folks – is the new one-click sky replacement filter.

Much like Luminar’s Sky Replacement AI tool, Sky Swap AI automatically detects areas of sky and replaces it with your sky of choice.

There are lots of different controls, from shifting the edge to changing the lighting of the foreground. You can also add atmospheric haze, change the brightness and warmth, etc. It even has the ability to add the sky’s reflection into a body of water in the foreground, and it does a pretty nice job of it.

Sky Swap AI works well much of the time – especially with mountains and trees in the background (though clearly not in the case of the photo above). It’s not so great at detecting buildings, though.

Even so, it’s generally pretty easy to fix some of the issues with a little more editing – in many cases, far less than it would have taken if you’d have done everything by hand.

Given that this is ON1’s first iteration of Sky Swap, we can look forward to it improving over the next few updates for sure.

ON1 has long been known for its filters and effects. Many – like Curves and Vignette – are just standard adjustments. Others – like Sunshine and Grunge – will broaden out your creative editing opportunities.

Because of ON1’s layers functionality, you can stack multiple filters on top of each other and blend them together to create your own unique look. The masking and blending options are built-in with each filter, so you can easily pinpoint the area of the photo you want to affect.

One game changing filter for photographers is the Replace Color filter in Photo RAW 2022. It’s much easier to use than Photoshop’s and does a surprisingly good job with just a single click – very impressive.

It’s exciting to see what else ON1 brings to the software in its updates which usually appear throughout the year.

  • Portrait AI

Portrait AI is included in ON1 Photo Raw 2022

ON1 has always had an impressive Portrait filter, but now they’ve gone one step further with their release of Portrait AI, which is included in Photo RAW 2021.

Portrait AI can find multiple faces in an image, automatically locate their eyes and mouths, and then add just the right amount of retouching. The frequency-separation skin adjustments are especially impressive.

Each face in the photo has its own independent controls and adjustments, so you can manually adjust the skin, eyes, mouth, and lighting or leave it all up to AI. There are even options for face resculpting.

If you like the results from the AI you can batch process an entire shoot, letting it do the lion’s share of the work. Want to go back and make some changes? No worries. All the changes are non-destructive, so you can go back at any time and fine-tune things.

Artificial intelligence is slowly rolling out to other popular photo editing apps (see our Cyberlink PhotoDirector review for one example), and it’s nice to see it well implemented in Photo RAW.

  • NoNoise AI

Another exciting new feature in ON1 Photo RAW 2022 is the integration of its well-loved NoNoise AI program into the program as a whole. There’s now no need to export a photo to a separate program and then back into Photo RAW again.

It’s super easy to use, and if you prefer the non-AI noise reduction software of previous versions of ON1 Photo RAW, no worries – “Classic” noise reduction is still available.

High quality presets are another thing ON1 has long been known for. It’s one of the features that made it so popular back when it was still just a Photoshop plug-in.

ON1 Photoshop RAW comes with many more presets than Lightroom, all of which are high quality. It also lets you preview your presets next to each other.

This image was made using one of ON1’s excellent B/W presets after using Sky Swap AI. Fun!

Here, I think ON1 wins out over both Luminar and Lightroom, though Lightroom has far more third-party options available.

  • Spot Healing Brush

The Spot Healing Brush made its debut in ON1 Photo RAW 2021 and is an important addition to the software as a whole.

It’d be hard to have a standalone photo editing program without a Spot Healing Brush. From lens dust to pimples to power lines, it’s a frequently used tool that many photographers rely on.

The Spot Healing brush works by allowing you to select the area it takes information from – much like a Clone and Stamp tool. If you don’t like the result you can always move the selection point around, even after you’ve selected it.

Unlike Photoshop’s healing brushes, everything you do with ON1’s remains non-destructive – you can always change things or fine-tune them later.

ON1’s version of the Spot Healing brush made its debut in ON1 Photo Raw 2021. It doesn’t work nearly as well as, say, Lightroom’s, but there’s plenty of time for ON1 to improve on it. (If you’re a Photoshop user, you’ll probably find ON1’s version of the spot healing brush to be rather primitive.)

As it is, it’s a great and necessary addition to the software as a whole.

In their bid to be a “one-stop-shop,” ON1 made sure to include advanced photo-merging abilities in its core program. That means you don’t need to invest in other software to shoot in HDR, use focus stacking, or create panoramas.

While Lightroom has HDR and panorama capabilities, it doesn’t have focus stacking. Luminar doesn’t have any photo merging capabilities, but rather encourages you to buy their Aurora HDR software.

Being someone who often shoots in HDR, I prefer Aurora to either Lightroom or ON1. But if you’re looking for an all-in-one editing app and you shoot in HDR, the results here are certainly high quality enough to go on about.

I also found ON1 to be a lot faster than Aurora in its HDR rendering…literally almost half the wait time!

  • Resize

ON1’s proprietary Photo Resize app is included. It’s one of the best photo enlargement apps on the market.

A professional-class photo enlargement program, ON1’s Resize is worth purchasing on its own. The fact that it’s included in the main photo editor is just awesome.

With ON1 Resize it you can quickly resize any image, enlarging up to 1000% without losing detail! The prints you can make are impressive – Posters, placards, signs…even billboards!

Resize is an industry class photo-enlargement app, and really is a fantastic addition to Photo RAW.

  • The Text Tool

This was just playing around, but in all honestly, ON1’s text tool does everything you need – it has all the fonts, size options, and color options you’d expect and the layer transform option allows you to place your text exactly how you need it.

If you’re someone who likes to make banners, cards, memes, or other images that contain text, you’ll find ON1’s text tool to be very handy.

It has all the fonts, size options, and color options you’d expect and the layer transform option allows you to place your text exactly how you need it.

A text tool is not something every photographer needs, but when you do it’s nice to not have to go into another program for it.

With the advent of both Photo RAW Mobile and ON1’s cloud storage options (available in the subscription version), a whole world of possibilities has now been opened up – especially for photographers who rely strongly on their smartphones and/or tablets.

Second only to Lightroom CC and its corresponding mobile app, the ON1’s mobile ecosystem puts online backup, photo syncing, and editing on the go right at your fingertips.

It is, however, only available by subscription and not much cheaper than Lightroom CC’s subscription price. It’s also not yet as well developed as Lightroom CC/mobile.

Still, if you use ON1 Photo RAW as your main photo editor and use your devices in your photography work, the mobile plan can be a real game-changer.

Is ON1 Better than Lightroom?

Whether ON1 is “better” than Adobe Lightroom really depends on what you’re looking for and how you intend to use it.

If you want an all-in-one program that you can buy straight out, ON1 Photo RAW is an excellent choice. It does just about everything you need from start to finish and even includes a decent print suite.

Lightroom, however, has been around a lot longer: its functionality and features reflect that. The catalog system is more powerful, the tools work much more effectively and quickly (at least on my 2019 iMac), and its pairing with Photoshop in Adobe’s Photography Plan makes it an excellent investment for anyone needing advanced editing abilities.

Still, Lightroom doesn’t come with Portrait AI or Resize. You’d have to buy these or similar programs separately as plugins.

Basically, it all comes down to what you need, whether you’re willing to buy into a subscription model, and whether or not you want the extra features ON1 includes.

Of course, if you want both, ON1 Photo RAW works great as a plugin.

How much is ON1 Photo RAW? (+ Discount Code)

There are a few ways to buy ON1 Photo RAW 2022, depending on your needs:

  1. You can subscribe to ON1 Photo RAW, with plans starting at $7.99 USD a month. Subscriptions include all future upgrades.
  2. If you prefer not to subscribe and already have a previous version of ON1 Photo Raw, you’ll get the 2022 version for $79. 99 USD.
  3. If you don’t already have a previous version, you’ll have to pay $99.99 USD.
  4. The “Ultimate Upgrade” (which includes ON1 Photo RAW 2022 as a plugin for Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and three other programs), is regularly $179.99 as an upgrade and $199.99 for new customers. (On sale now for $149.99 and $169.00 USD respectively.)
  5. ON1 Photo RAW can also be ordered with a 1-year membership to ON1 Plus for $129.99 (Usually $149.99 USD).(ON1 Plus is the #1 training resource for ON1 and photography and includes over 25 courses, ebooks, 100’s of presets and bonuses, and much more.)

A single purchase of any ON1 product includes Windows and macOS versions, for use on two computers, and support for 11 languages.

ON1 Photo RAW Coupon Code

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ON1 Photo RAW Review | Final Words

Is ON1 a Lightroom killer? Well, that’s up to you.

It gets high marks for its photo organization tools. (Since I do stock photography, the lack of advanced keywording has stopped me from seriously considering Luminar as a standalone.)

The Develop module has everything most photographers will ever need and the inclusion of NoNoise AI definitely makes the pot sweeter.

I still prefer Luminar’s effects to ON1’s, though I find ON1’s presets to be far more useful. Also, the lack of advanced selection tools makes working with layers in ON1 maddening. (Hopefully, this will one of the places that ON1 improves.)

There are a few things to be aware of in Photo RAW 2022. The first is that it requires an OS of Catalina or newer on a Mac. I’m running Catalina on my early 2019 iMac and had a number of problems getting ON1 Photo RAW 2022 to work. I had to ask for customer support and even now that I have it running (mostly), it still fails on me occasionally, making me have to go back and erase all settings.

Formerly, the 2021 version also didn’t run well on my computer. The library took forever to load. (So does Luminar, but it’s not quite as slow as ON1.) Any masking activities took forever – especially quick mask. The HDR is quicker, but since I already have (and love!) Aurora HDR, I wouldn’t switch just for that.

The takeaway: if you’re running an older Mac OS you may have to upgrade beyond Catalina to get Photo RAW 2022 working well for you.

Another thing to be aware of in the 2022 version is the fact that, despite the advertising, many Photoshop/Lightroom plugins don’t work with it. For example, while Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Define 2 work fine for me, Viveza 3 and Silver Efex Pro 3 didn’t work. Luminar 4 didn’t work for me either. 

Lastly, if you use (or intend to use) ON1 Photo RAW as a plugin be aware, only the far more expensive version called the Ultimate package includes Photo RAW as a plugin. To make matters worse, the Ultimate package isn’t offered on their main sales page, so unless you know where to find it you’re likely to buy a version that doesn’t contain plugin functionality.

In the end, it really comes down to your workflow and what you’re willing to spend. If getting out of the subscription model is important to you and/or you use ON1’s proprietary features often and/or you need an all-in-one photo editor, ON1 Photo Raw 2022 is a great option.

Still not sure? The best thing to do is give the free trial a spin. See how ON1 Photo Raw works with your workflow, and go from there.

And don’t forget to use Shotkit’s 20% off coupon if you decide to buy!

Highly Recommended

ON1 Photo RAW 2022

Subscription-free image editor with powerful features and regular upgrades. Recommended for all skill levels.

Use coupon code SHOTKIT20 to save 20%

Check Current Price

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 review

Digital Camera World Verdict

ON1 Photo Raw 2022 is a pleasure to use overall and the quality of results are on par with direct competitors, so it’s software that could easily stand up within a professional workflow. Some controls are in places where you wouldn’t normally expect, but the level of control available, alongside support for many other file types, is impressive. And with subscription, perpetual license and bundle options available, there’s an option for everyone at a range of price points.

Pros
  • +

    Great image quality

  • +

    Professional level of control

  • +

    Integrated layers support

  • +

    Impressive new features

Cons
  • -

    Sky Swap AI is good but not always effective

  • -

    The catalog suffers occasional slowdowns

  • -

    Some adjustment locations take getting used to

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 is competing in a fiercely competitive market, with the big names holding the lion’s share of users. But while the likes of Adobe Lightroom and Capture One have large and loyal customer bases, ON1 Photo Raw 2022 is a direct competitor that comes in at an attractive price point with various licensing options alongside impressive features that make the software a compelling alternative for photographers of all levels.

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The more you explore the software, the more you discover how ON1 Photo Raw 2022 packs in some incredible features not available in the aforementioned software; features such as the ability to create time-lapses, for instance, that you normally require plugins or additional software to achieve, and the way it can incorporate layered, composite images in its non-destructive workflow. 

But getting back to basics, ON1 Photo Raw 2022 provides all the controls photographers need to make their raw, and many other file types. Its biggest problem might actually be its name. It sounds as if it's designed specifically for raw processing but, in fact, this is an all-in-one tool that includes image cataloguing and browsing, raw processing (just one aspect of its use), detailed image adjustments and masking and a larger library of effects filters and effects presets.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 is available for both Mac and Windows PCs and requires a minimum of 8GB of RAM while 16GB is recommended alongside a mid-range processor, so you’ll need a reasonably powerful computer to run the software. In terms of licenses, you can opt for a subscription at prices a little below those of corresponding Adobe Photography Plans, or a one-off license fee for less than the cost of an annual Adobe subscription. 

Key features

The Develop panel is where basic image adjustments and raw processing are carried out, but there's also an Effects panel which offers some overlap in tools and functions. (Image credit: James Abbott)

The Effects panel offers an array of Filters which can be chosen and combined manually, or you can choose preset combinations from the presets panel on the left. (Image credit: James Abbott)

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 aims to cover the whole photographic workflow, from image cataloguing and raw processing to image enhancement and effects. The level of functionality is impressive and overlaps with both cataloguing software like Lightroom and photo-editors like Photoshop, although it couldn’t completely replace the more detailed and technical adjustments in Photoshop and Affinity Photo etc.  

Everything you need to process your images with excellent results is available including standard adjustments, local adjustments, distortion correction and much more. Not to mention, this latest version of Photo Raw is packed with a host of new features that make it a great upgrade option for existing users, as well as an extremely attractive proposition to new users. 

New features include NoNoise built in (previously sold separately), which handles noise reduction well and applies fantastic sharpening results, Sky Swap AI, which makes light work of swapping skies, and a new ability to run Photoshop Actions within the software with ease. It's interesting to see how AI-driven sky swapping has taken off – it's not just Skylum Luminar AI that can do this any more.

You can create time-lapse video from stills with the ability to remove flickering; and the Line Mask Tool is like the Polygonal Lasso in Photoshop and provides the same level of control as the Pen Tool but is much easier to use, making it ideal for creating both simple and complex selections. These are just a few of the new features and improvements – there are simply too many to list.

Interface and usability

There's a lot going on in the ON1 Photo RAW 2022 interface, but it follows the usual conventions of having a browsing panel in the left sidebar and adjustment tools on the right. (Image credit: James Abbott)

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 is presented familiarly with two main tabs for accessing the catalog and editing controls, which keeps things nice and simple in terms of layout and workflow. It is slightly different to the competition in the way that you access some controls and adjustments, although it does follow the standard of having the main controls situated on the righthand side of the interface so it’s exactly what you’d expect in this respect.

There is a split between the basic 'develop' adjustment and enhancement tools, and the program's large selection of Effects. These are presented in different tabs but have some overlapping functions, which takes a little getting used to.

These Effects/Filters provide a high degree of control and also include many useful effects such as colour control and black & white conversions with other useful and popular effects including film grain, noise reduction, borders and even effects like bleach bypass. They are the basis for ON1 Photo RAW's large collection of preset effects.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 even incorporates HDR merging, shown here, and panorama stitching. (Image credit: James Abbott)

The software is a pleasure to use overall with the layout and general workflow being logical despite being slightly different to direct competitors. And although there are controls that are more suited to enthusiast-level photographers, professionals have the controls and tools that they typically require from software of this type which broadens its appeal hugely. The Catalog does, however, sometimes suffer from slowdowns, which can be frustrating when navigating folders containing large numbers of images.

Quality of results

The Sky Swap AI feature does not always offer perfect results, but it's still early days for this kind of technology. (Image credit: James Abbott)

Here's a more successful result – though you may need to make some manual adjustments to make reflections look more realistic, for example. (Image credit: James Abbott)

Overall, results are on par with direct competitors such as Adobe Lightroom and Capture One, although all three naturally handle things like colour, noise and sharpening slightly differently. But it’s safe to say that results are exactly what you’d expect from high-end software catering to the needs of all levels of photographers, from enthusiast to professional. 

Sky Swap AI is generally a great performer with the mixture of AI application and manual control, with the ability to refine the effect using the Refine Tools. Where the feature does fall though, is that the Refine Tool can cause blocking around the focal point when the sky replacement bleeds onto the subject is removed. Also, if there are white buildings close to or protruding into the sky, the AI and the Refine Tools simply cannot differentiate between the sky and building so the bleed can’t be removed.

NoNoise AI is extremely good at removing or reducing noise in high ISO images while preserving high levels of detail. (Image credit: James Abbott)

NoNoise AI works exceptionally well to reduce noise with manual control for fine-tuning the result for a more natural-looking finish. The sharpening that’s applied alongside is also excellent and even images with no noise look wonderfully sharper when run through NoNoise. It appears that Photo Raw applies chroma noise reduction automatically to a degree because high ISO images display a much-reduced amount, even before noise reduction has been started. This isn’t a problem, and Luminance noise is left untouched which is most important.

Verdict

(Image credit: James Abbott)

ON1 Photo Raw 2022 is a pleasure to use overall and the quality of results are on par with direct competitors, so it’s software that could easily stand up within a professional workflow. Some controls are in places where you wouldn’t normally expect, but the level of control available is impressive. And with subscription, perpetual license and bundle options available, there’s an option for everyone. The subscription options even include Adobe style cloud storage, and there's an ON1 mobile app to go with it.

This is easily the best version of ON1 Photo Raw to date, and the new features including NoNoise built into Raw, Sky Swap AI, the Line Mask Tool, time-lapse creation and the ability to run Photoshop plugins, among many others, make this a compelling version to jump into. And with a free 14-day fully-functional trial available, you can give ON1 Photo RAW 2022 a try before you buy.

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James Abbott is a landscape and portrait photographer based in Cambridge. He’s also an experienced photography journalist specializing in camera skills and Photoshop techniques. He is also a CAA-approved drone pilot and professional aerial photographer.

Photo ethics in the media and the Internet: 9 opinions of media experts

Translated
Anna Zinovieva

In the age of multimedia, images have become the main semantic unit, displacing the text from this place: they set the theme, tone of the text and serve as proof of what is stated. Essayists, photographers and journalists share their experiences and observations on where the line lies on the ethics of using photographs in controversial cases.

1. Documentary photo editing and staging

Although the very name "documentary" photography suggests an accurate reflection of reality, photographers do not neglect editing and staging for the sake of a "beautiful" picture. According to a survey conducted by the University of Oxford and the organizers of the 2015 World Press international photography competition among the contestants, more than half of news photographers sometimes stage their shots, and 12% of those surveyed answered that they do it half the time.

Michelle McNally,
Head of Photography
and Assistant Editor-in-Chief
The New York Times,
World Press Photo Jury Member

Time magazine's infamous photo story about child prostitution in Russia, June 21, 1993. Source: time.com

Nasim Mansurov,
professional photographer, founder of Photography Life

Above: two original photographs by Brian Valsky.
Bottom: Edited photo.
Source: photographylife.com

2. Shooting socially significant or military events

In news journalism, you often have to write about the terrible side of life - disasters, crimes and military conflicts. Hardly any of the participants in such events would like to be on the front page. Experts advise putting on the second scale the answer to the question of what changes these pictures will bring, how much they will increase the awareness of the audience.

Caitlin McEvoy,
American essayist,
researcher at Uppsala University, Sweden,
specializes in cultural anthropology and genocide issues

3. Use of photos from social networks

According to article 152.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, posting a photo on social networks does not constitute permission to use the photo. As a general rule, the publication of an image of a person requires his personal permission. Exceptions, for example, are the state or public interest - a fine line in Russian legislation. Where does this line go in international journalism, media experts comment.

Caitlin McEvoy

Photograph of a London Underground passenger being evacuated after the 2005 bombing. Source: theguardian.com

Martin Belam,
senior public affairs reporter for The Guardian

violates the right to privacy. So far, in Russia, you can take pictures of people in public places if permission is received (not only verbal, but, for example, a smile into the lens can also be perceived as approval), or at events. However, in Switzerland it is forbidden to photograph and publish photos of people who can be identified in the photo, unless consent has been obtained.

Sebastian Jacobitz,
street photographer

Ahead - Ku'Damm Berlin

Discover more - > https://t.co/FDj0eqMnj2 #Photography #Berlin pic.twitter.com/aiNnPIks9x

— Sebastian Jacobitz (@SJacPhoto) May 7, 2017

Photo by Sebastian Jacobitz

Nikki Williams,
bestselling author One Size Does Not Fit All: Stress Management,
"Salt in the Blood"

Image from the People of Walmart website, which contains unprofessional photos of visitors to the well-known American retail chain. Source: peopleofwalmart.com

Miles Cummings,
Professional Photographer

5. Posting Childhood Photos

Parental permission is required to photograph or use a picture of a child. However, the parents themselves are not averse to posting photos and videos with their children. According to Caitlin McAvoy, they deprive children of the right to privacy.

#StreetPhotography #BlackandWhite pic.twitter.com/FuitE02KpZ

— Sebastian Jacobitz (@SJacPhoto) Sep 23, 2015

Sebastian Jacobitz photographed a child on the street

) #どうしてこうなった pic.twitter.com/WuLxiqaKBj

— 働きママ時々女子 (@muchulo3ol) February 18, 2016

Japanese parents tweeted a picture of their child

Caitlin McAvoy

Order

a story about the disadvantages of work and clients that irritate | e1.ru

The work of a photographer sometimes infuriates even those who love their work with all their hearts

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work. Today, a photographer shared her revelations with us. She told how even the cutest clients are able to piss her off, why everyone is trying to promote her for free pictures and what makes her shake during photo shoots.

Further - in the first person.

Tired of dancing with tambourines

I love my job. I love it when there are a lot of orders and beautiful clients, for the sake of this job I gave up 15 years of a career in a bank. But there are moments that infuriate. Even more.

It's annoying when customers want everything at once. You didn’t have time to get home after the shooting, and the client is already writing: “Can I have a couple of photos? Raw, just right now.” You go forward, urgently pull out the photos on the computer, throw them off - and immediately get: “Oh, I have acne on my face here. Will you process the photo? Lord, well, it just sounded that these photos are raw sources. And we have already discussed all the conditions three times.

Sometimes family photo shoots are annoying. They may look like this: the mother of the family, with long conversations, and even blackmail, persuaded the children and her husband to take a photo shoot. It seems to her that since she dragged them under the camera almost on a leash, it means that everything, well done, is done. And for the photographer, dancing with tambourines begins. He needs to make everyone look happy in at least one photo. At the same time, only one person smiles broadly - a satisfied mother. As a result, I got so tired of dancing around my husbands that I almost gave up on family filming. I take clients only when my mother solemnly swears that everyone goes to the photo session of their own free will.

Children, fortunately, are almost all well-mannered. Technique is not broken, shooting is not disrupted. Although there was a case when I put the camera down to put my mom and dad in a pose - and the child came up and clicked "Delete photo". Thank God I didn't click OK.

Photo shoots that almost no one wanted rarely turn out successful

A separate song is "I'm fat, but you can take a picture to be thin." Of course, I can somehow put the light, poses, angles in a special way. But it works within reasonable limits. If a girl weighs one hundred kilograms, then she needs not a photographer, but a photo artist. Too bad not everyone understands this.

"Lack of taste infuriating"

Very annoying lack of taste in customers. No, of course, clothes, jewelry, makeup - this is all a personal matter of people. But here I sit, a lot of time processing photos. I make clients a beautiful skin color, toning, color correction, as a result, you sit and admire yourself. You send it off to the client - and he puts some filters on the photo in social networks. And a photo appears on the Internet where the model’s skin color is purple, or even green, all the processing went to hell.

“Will you take your camera?”

But the best thing is when friends, relatives and even just acquaintances invite you to a party. And they ask as if by chance: “Will you take a camera?” This is where it really starts to shake. I would like to answer: "Well, if you are a door installer, then you will not come to your friends' wedding with a door to work. " So why should I?

In general, it's annoying when a photographer's work is considered something very simple, like a hobby. Like, people take photos on the phone, what's wrong with that? But the difference between amateur photos and professional photo shoots is huge. The phone has automatic settings, and the photographer each time adjusts the technique to certain conditions. The technology itself is much more expensive, only the glass on the camera is much better than in the phone. Not to mention the capabilities of professional cameras: they blur the background better, make beautiful bokeh, get more pixels in the photo, better color reproduction, detail and color depth. This will never happen on a phone. And the work of a photographer will never be equal to what amateurs do.

Earlier, a waiter shared his revelations with us. The guy spoke honestly about guests who throw flies into food, take forks and even fresheners from toilets. Read also the seller's thoughts about people who threaten to beat you because of the price tag and eat fruit right in the store.

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