^{photo by Maksym Azovtsev via iStock}

Lightroom Alternative

For quite some time, Adobe has pretty much had the market cornered when it comes to post-processing software. Heck, I learned how to edit photos in Photoshop in the late 1990s, so that should give you a little perspective on their track record of success.

But in recent years, many different post-processing options have emerged. What’s more, since Adobe moved to its subscription-based model a few years back, the popularity of Lightroom and Photoshop alternatives has only increased.

And while some Lightroom alternatives are little more than ripoffs or just plain terrible free software with little functionality, there have been some excellent programs developed to help you edit your photos.

One of those programs is Exposure.

Exposure in a Nutshell

Exposure X4 is an award-winning, non-destructive RAW editor with advanced tools and features that help photographers like you and me streamline our post-processing workflow to efficiently create drop-dead gorgeous images.

Not only is it chock-full of tools for helping you edit your images, but it’s also loaded for bear with features that help you keep all your images neatly organized.

We’re talking fast retouching tools, easy-to-use layering tools, and even special effects (including classic black and white presets, as shown above) that make the process of editing your photos both fruitful and fast.

Heck, there’s even hundreds of presets you can apply to your images with a single click. You can even customize the presets or make your own to further the speed with which you can edit your photos.

But if you ask me, what’s most impressive about Exposure are the organizational tools under the hood.

In addition to having instant access to images for editing purposes (there’s no waiting for slow imports to finish), you can also copy images from your memory card and organize the images therein using keywords or collections in a single step. Nice!

With keywords, collections, smart collections, ratings, and tags at your fingertips, you’ll never have to hunt and peck for that one photo you want to edit. With so much metadata available to you, you can categorize your images at any level you like.

And since Exposure uses the same folder structure as your computer (no complicated catalogs...yes!!) there’s no learning curve for file organization. Instead, you’ll be immediately familiar with Exposure’s structure, and that means less time messing around with file organization and more time actually editing your photos. 

It’s seriously a breath of fresh air to use this software!

Is Exposure a Worthy Lightroom Alternative?

I think it’s obvious at this point that I think Exposure is a more than worthy Lightroom alternative.

But if you’ve never seen Exposure in action, you might still be on the fence about it.

In the video above, Alien Skin gives us a quick introductory tour of Exposure X4, the latest version of this incredible software.

As the video explains, Exposure is the only photo editor that combines the two worlds of creative editing tools and a powerful organizational structure within the context of a fast, intuitive workspace. 

That means that it’s feature-rich and you can learn how to use it in a snap - that’s not something that other software can claim.

One look at the before and after image above, and you can see just how powerful Exposure is. With image processing quality that is unparalleled, you can extract every last detail out of your RAW files to create a final product that absolutely wows all who view it.

With features like skin softening, dodging and burning, vignetting, spot healing, moveable light effects, and dozens more, there is no end to the creative possibilities before you.

Whether you’re a landscape photographer, a portrait photographer, a wildlife photographer, or something in between, Exposure has everything you need to create the best versions of your images. And I literally mean everything - just check out this list of Exposure’s features.

Still not convinced? No problem! You can try Exposure X4 free for a whole month and give it a thorough test drive.

Trust me, once you experience the Exposure difference, you’ll be firmly in the camp that it is indeed a worthy Lightroom Alternative!