Photo application (or no) ?

Hello to everyone,

I'm a very beginner in Final Cut Pro X and I'm wondering this : I want to edit my photos before import them to FCPx.
Do I need an app like Photoshop Elements or I can do the same edit with FCPx or Motion ?

Thanks in advance.

What t ope of editing to you need to do? You may want to look at Apple Photos and/or Pixelmator. I use Preview for some basic color/cropping work often. Specifically what do you need to do with the photos before editing?

Most of the cases I'd like to replace elements with others or just erase them.

Hi GPap
Welcome to the forums.
I would also recommend you check out Pixelmator. Nice program and is often on sale but even at full price well worth it. Removing and altering parts of photos is well implemented in Pixelmator.
If you already have PE and like it, use that.
FCPX and Motion are not the best choices for photo editing, use a dedicated photo editing program. iPhoto and Photos are good for basic improvements to a photo but lack advanced features.
Once you have finished editing the photos, easy to bring into FCPX through the Media browser.
Hope this helps, Greg

Pixelmator is actually dying and its users are moving to Affinity Photo

support.pixelmator.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12271

manoucho wrote: Pixelmator is actually dying and its users are moving to Affinity Photo

support.pixelmator.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12271

That is a totally inaccurate, absurd and purely subjective assertion that is at best only partially true. I say that as someone who owns and uses not only Pixelmator (since it's introduction), Affinity Photo (since it's public beta offering) and Photoshop (since v2 circa 1993)

While it it is true that Affinity Photo is indeed a more full set of tools that can mostly compete head-to-head with the likes of Photoshop ... it is not true that Pixelmator is 'dying' or all of it's users have abandoned it in lieu of Affinity Photo. Not to mention, Pixelmator offers options for both iOS devices and desktop solutions ... but as extensions for the OS X Photos app as well. Development continues on and advancements are offered with each successive version. The latest update to Pixelmator were just released in mid-December.

It boils down to individual desires and goals for the end user. Does Affinity offer more options? Indeed it does. However, it also brings with it a steeper learning curve and training effort for users who are not already familiar with sophisticated imagery/graphic arts compositing and adjustments.

Pixelmator is a very useful, capable and quite affordable tool that is extremely user friendly and offers great results for the beginner/novice experience or for those who only need basic to medium level image manipulation ... which many FCP X users may find is all they require.

For those who wish to delve further into the digital imaging/compositing realm, Affinity Photo is indeed a very worthy and worthwhile investment and certainly much more affordable than a single app subscription to the full version of Photoshop ... or even a single license purchase of Ps Elements.

Either Pixelmator or Affinity Photo would be a great option for FCP X editors or Mac users in general. Even if a user would start out with Pixelmator at under $30 (Usually under $15 on sale), the purchase would not be prohibitive should they decide to move up to Affinity Photo at a later point in time.

The question is not which software solution is the best option ... but what are the intended user's requirements and aspirations for learning the tool and how they intend to implement that tool as well as how much further training/education they will need to employ to become proficient with the tool?

You link to a thread started 5 months ago by and end user, and a total of 5 people posted to it, in FIVE MONTHS! The latest being 2 months ago. Not to mention they exclusively talk about lack of development, but look how much has been done for Pixelmator in the last 5 months. No form of logic or common sense is apparent in the linked to thread in any manner, shape, or form.

I think that's an obvious flame thread based on an almost never heard of opinion, not on facts or figures that can be confirmed. I believe it is safe to sat that we can ignore that baseless flame thread...

I'm using Pixelmator for years, once paid=hundreds of updates
It's fast, reliable, easy to use, fullfill all my needs.
For me, PM is the 'paint.app' which every Mac should hae come pre-installed.

... but:
Affinity is indeed very … tempting. I'm no pro, don't need CMYK etc, still a noob in Raw development, but there are lots of 'automatisms' I'd like to use in my stills. And its actual introductionary price is no real hurdle ....

… or just erase them. …

Speaking of special price & automatism: for this task I prefered Snapheal, which was avail for under 10 (?15??)$ , <just checking … wot???> meanwhile 60$ :woohoo: ... But 'inpainting' is feature of Affinity - for actually 40$.


As usual: choose the tool which fits your needs. PM is awesome (aside its eensy-weeny preview stamps!), Affinity has lots of effects, PM doesn't offer (mentioned inpainting, also warp mesh, 3D lighting etc). If household budget allows it - buy both! :lol:

Didn't know Affinity Photo was out yet (and now on sale for €39)!
Had been curious about that. Also followed Pixelmator since it's release.

Only real reason I keep using Photoshop is because it's the industry standard (it has gone unchallanged for far too long!). I used to work in graphic design so trying to keep a basic knowledge of PS alive in case I would apply for a job that requires it.

I'vepretty much moved to Apple's Pages for layout design stuff and pretty much only bring stuff into InDesign when it's time to send stuff to a printer (which is becoming less and less common). InDesign CS6 don't support retina displays which is annoying.

Maybe it's time to have a closer look at Affinity Photo + Design?
EDIT: Affinity Designer is their Illustrator-like app. Weren't they making a page layout / DTP app as well? Or am I hallucinating again?
EDIT 2: It's Affinity Publisher and is aimed to be released in (early) 2016 by the last estimates I found...

I've used Pixelmator for a bit and then bought Affinity Photo (and Design) when Photo was released. For me, Photo is a bit more like Photoshop made even more intuitive. Both Pixelmator and Photo are good but given the similar price range, I think the latter will overtake it in the Mac market. I have no reason to subscribe to Photoshop at this point although I am always concerned a client will send me a PSD that Photo or Pixelmator might mishandle.

Yes they will be coming out with an InDesign competitor and, based on their past models, they'll have a good long public beta and I suspect it won't be more than $50 and on sale for less when released.

ln all the years I've not touched Photoshop, I've never gotten a PSD that Pixelmator couldn't handle (or any other graphic app that handles PSDs).

I don't see the competition between Affinity Photo and Pixelmator. Adobe has been selling both PS and PE side by side, for years, both successfully.

My feeling is that the current Sales-Model-De Jour of subscriptions will fade away in 3-4 more years, as folks realize how much extra money they're spending as opposed to purchasing a permanent license and buying cheap upgrades.

GPap wrote: ...I want to edit my photos before import them to FCPx.
Do I need an app like Photoshop Elements or I can do the same edit with FCPx or Motion?...

That is a good idea. It is very important to edit and optimize stills before importing to a video. You typically put a lot of work into a video, yet usually don't use that many stills in it. Not optimizing those few stills is leaving quality on the table -- quality that is relatively easy and quick to obtain.

Whatever photo editing program you use, become familiar with it and go beyond simple one-button fixes. At a minimum learn how to read a histogram (if you don't already know) and properly adjust the exposure and white balance of each photo.

Also observe how other quality videos use stills. Resist the temptation to overuse "Ken Burns" zoom/pan effects. A little motion goes a long way.

Hello

My apologies if my post was inaccurate. I didn't want to start a debate Pixelmator VS Affinity, I was just under the subjective impression that Affinity was speeding up and Pixelmatr was slowing down, so I thought that for a new person it was best to start with Affinity.

Indeed I did not have more information than what I saw on a few forums. Therefore by essence limited and subjective.

BenB wrote: ln all the years I've not touched Photoshop, I've never gotten a PSD that Pixelmator couldn't handle (or any other graphic app that handles PSDs).

I've heard both can have issues with certain Photoshop features depending on the effect used if the layer wasn't flattened. I think both are very aggressively in retaining as much as possible though.

BenB wrote: I don't see the competition between Affinity Photo and Pixelmator. Adobe has been selling both PS and PE side by side, for years, both successfully.

Photo and Pixelmator are very similarly priced though.

BenB wrote: My feeling is that the current Sales-Model-De Jour of subscriptions will fade away in 3-4 more years, as folks realize how much extra money they're spending as opposed to purchasing a permanent license and buying cheap upgrades.

Given the price of Photo and Pixelmator that purchase makes sense of the Photoshop rental for the vast majority on Mac. PC users may not (yet) have a clear alternative.

When Adobe had that market all to itself the argument that rental allowed for a lower cost of entry.... but that's not the case when one costs $120/year forever vs $50 for however long until a company charges for a new version (which combined may still be below that $120/hear cost.

Once Serif adds their InDesign competitor I suspect there's going to be a strong value proposition. It may take a bit of time to disrupt the "market leader."

Yes, both Pixelmator, Affinity Photo ... and even different versions of Photoshop itself can experience some difficulties with .psd files ... or even layered .tiff files for that matter.

It is definitely a 'relative' issue ... if the image is a simple straight forward photo file or a simplistic basic composite with a few simple components, sure, other apps can handle those with aplomb. Indeed some users never experience any real detrimental issues for most straightforward photos ... but ...

Mix up the works with a few dozen layers that include multiple masks, blending modes, hand brushed overlays, text effects, drop shadows adjustment layers, channel mixing, color generating layers, texture layers, etc. etc. and most any app can have some difficulty in exactly duplicating what was created in Ps ... even in different versions of Ps if the originating user did not save the file using the optional maximum compatibility setting ... there can be rendering issues for Adobe created solutions to behave properly.