PixelmatorPro

[OldMacs4Me]

Finally found a place to download a free 7-day trial of PixelmatorPro.
Find it here:

Pixelmator Pro

Pixelmator Pro lets you edit your photos in any way you want. And with full support for RAW photos.

www.techspot.com

There are only a couple of things that keep pushing me back to PSElements. First is the Select Similar command that everything else I try lacks. Second is that even my old version of Elements running in Snow Leopard does wonderful things with text that are just not included in other apps. Can't say Pixelmator addresses either of these, but it seems powerful enough and probably worth a peak for those looking for an affordable Photo Editor.

Seven days is not an adequate trial period, but can probably be extended with a bit of finesse. I don't see me moving away from the Elements/AffinityPhoto-I combo but will have to see if PM shows me anything to change my mind.

 

[Herbert123]

Second is that even my old version of Elements running in Snow Leopard does wonderful things with text that are just not included in other apps.

Could you explain in more detail how Elements works with text that you find useful?

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Hard to describe, but you can do all sorts of things with curves, waves, perspective and styles. All easily controlled and it remains as text, not bit mapped.

 

[Herbert123]

Ah yes, I agree. I feel the same about PhotoLine's text handling: deformations, following a curve, layer styles, adjustment layers, excellent gradient, texture, and pattern tools, adjustment layers, and more - all can be non-destructively added to text, and it remains editable.

Affinity doesn't come close. Not sure about Pixelmator, though, since I do not use that app.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

So round 1 with Pixelmator. Pretty easy subject but I was able to quickly and exactly select the sky, then invert the selection to improve saturation and colorbalance without messing up the sky. Have not as yet looked at the text tools. Did a bit of work using curves and found them easier than in Affinity, but too early to make solid comparisons. As always I did the final tweaks in Preview. And as always this website makes it look a shade darker than the image I thought I was posting.

St Mary's Lake from September 1987. Originally shot on Fujicolor 100 35mm film.

 

[USAntigoon]

So round 1 with Pixelmator. Pretty easy subject but I was able to quickly and exactly select the sky, then invert the selection to improve saturation and colorbalance without messing up the sky. Have not as yet looked at the text tools. Did a bit of work using curves and found them easier than in Affinity, but too early to make solid comparisons. As always I did the final tweaks in Preview. And as always this website makes it look a shade darker than the image I thought I was posting.

St Mary's Lake from September 1987. Originally shot on Fujicolor 100 35mm film.
View attachment 2502878

Did you tried the edit with Photomator.. There you have all the tools you need..I am attaching an edit I did with two masks, one for the sky and one for the mountain range on the left..This is just as a demo..

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Have not tried Photomator as my impression was that is more of a DAM than Photoeditor. May give it a try.

That said I like the way Pixelmator deals with levels. Typically there are left, center and right sliders, or Black point, whitepoint and gamma sliders. Pixelmator uses L,C,R but adds a pair of intermediate sliders. The image below was a typical spring image around here some shadow detail, but the whites almost blown. Using those intermediates I was able to show much better detail in the whites and improve the shadows as well.

I then used an excellent selection tool to select the deepest shadows and got exactly what I wanted again just using the main levels control.

 

[USAntigoon]

Have not tried Photomator as my impression was that is more of a DAM than Photoeditor. May give it a try.

That said I like the way Pixelmator deals with levels. Typically there are left, center and right sliders, or Black point, whitepoint and gamma sliders. Pixelmator uses L,C,R but adds a pair of intermediate sliders. The image below was a typical spring image around here some shadow detail, but the whites almost blown. Using those intermediates I was able to show much better detail in the whites and improve the shadows as well.

I then used an excellent selection tool to select the deepest shadows and got exactly what I wanted again just using the main levels control.

View attachment 2503496

All that and more in Photomator..Pixelmator Pro is more for post production..

 

[cSalmon]

All that and more in Photomator..Pixelmator Pro is more for post production..

any thoughts on what Apple's plan may be.. or what happens once their plans take shape?

edit: oops just saw you replied to my old thread.


kinda sucks we gotta wait and see, knowing work lost using Aperture - my only hope is that they come to grips with user's own external backup system and embrace that with whatever update they release

 

[OldMacs4Me]

any thoughts on what Apple's plan may be.. or what happens once their plans take shape?

edit: oops just saw you replied to my old thread.


kinda sucks we gotta wait and see, knowing work lost using Aperture - my only hope is that they come to grips with user's own external backup system and embrace that with whatever update they release

Apple being Apple, I am sure they will come up with newer versions that won't run on older OSs and the current version may or may not continue to run properly on future OSs.

Honestly I will be remaining at Sequoia on the new M4 for as long as that computer continues to run. The current emphasis is on bloat, AKA AI, and I don't see future systems offering anything that really grabs me.

I know every one loves using sidecars to create a non destructive edit of the original file. I much prefer to simply keep the original intact and save my 'improvements to a smaller 3 to 4MP high quality JPEG. The only time I save something in an apps native format is if my changes are not easily duplicated. For example on the 200+ negs I digitized this winter, five were complex enough to require that I saved an intermediate file. Those would only be used were I to chose to print one of those images or because I am still trying to improve an image.

 

[cSalmon]

I know every one loves non-destructive sidecars to an original file. I much prefer to simply keep the original intact and save my 'improvements to a ...

not sure I follow, isn't the concept of the sidecar file so the original never get's "touched" ?

I hear you about wanting to not upgrade and keeping a stable simplified system. One of the reasons I refuse to keyword or use my metadata file is because over the years I've lost so much cataloging work when things (improve )

 

[OldMacs4Me]

not sure I follow, isn't the concept of the sidecar file so the original never get's "touched" ?

I hear you about wanting to not upgrade and keeping a stable simplified system. One of the reasons I refuse to keyword or use my metadata file is because over the years I've lost so much cataloging work when things (improve )

Earlier post edited to make hopefully make it clearer.
I'm with you on Keywords and for that matter I have even gone as far as to disable Stoplight.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

To clarify something. Photomator is a photoediting app that is quite similar to Pixelmator Pro, perhaps slightly simplified. However it is a $40CDN/Year subscription as opposed to Pixelmators $70CDN purchase. While it comes with a 7 day trial you have to agree to the subscription even to do a simple export of an image. Thankfully I've finally got an external clone running and did what proved to be a fairly quick test from there.

 

[Richard_B]

Oof, that subscription requirement just to export an image feels a bit like a trap for users who just want to try it out.
Functionality-wise, did anything stand out to you during your test?

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Oof, that subscription requirement just to export an image feels a bit like a trap for users who just want to try it out.
Functionality-wise, did anything stand out to you during your test?

Photomator seems like a slightly modified version of Pixelmator. A trial that won't even let you save or export an image is not a trial, and once I discovered it was subscription based I did not go any further.

NOTE: There is a lifetime option that is more than double the cost of Pixelmator. Of course there was no obvious way to find the prices until you downloaded the app! You could also pay $10 and get a one month auto renewing subscription. That would be in effect a $10, 30 day usable trial, but then you still have to remember to cancel that subscription or change it to something affordable.

As to Pixelmator Pro I would be very surprised if Apple is not planning to go the same semi subscription route as they have with the sister app. For the moment you can still do an outright purchase at a reasonable price.

Pixelmator does let you do a real trial, although 7 days is totally inadequate for an app with this much oomf. I do like what I have seen and have used a rather simple back door to extend the trial for another week as I get very little low ambient light time on that computer.

 

[cSalmon]

for so long adobe had total control, then a chink in their armor. Now that everything is trying to be subscription I wonder how many are shooting themselves in the foot? Like you say 7 days is laughable for testing out a secondary software - add the annoying subscriptions not even going to test the waters with many of the up and coming softwares

buy three get the fourth free - don't buy any and save a lot more