11 October and 25 October 2025

Location: Meeting Room 1, State Library of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide.

Time: 12 pm to 4 pm

Click here to download a PDF version of this information.

With Adobe having transitioned to a subscription model and its prices steadily increasing, more photographers are exploring alternatives. Many have been pleasantly surprised to find options that are in some ways superior products and yet can be purchased without a subscription.

One such alternative is DxO’s Photolab, a high-quality RAW processing application that can be a complete replacement for Lightroom. The first session will be a deep dive into Photolab, but a brief overview of DxO Pure Raw will also be provided. This can be used as a plugin for those who are not yet ready to abandon Lightroom but still want to leverage DxO’s superior lens corrections and noise reduction.

The second session will explore DxO’s 8 Nik applications, which can be used as stand-alone applications or as plugins for other photo editing software. A brief introduction will be given to all of the Nik collection, but special focus will be given to:

• Viveza - selectively adjust colour, tone, brightness, contrast, and structure in specific areas of an image without masking.

• Color Efex Pro - a large collection of creative filters and effects for colour correction, retouching, and stylising images

• Silver Efex Pro - a specialised tool for creating high-quality black and white images, with deep control over tones, contrast, and film emulations.

The Tutor – Alan Bevan AAPS

Alan Bevan is currently president of the Eastern Suburbs Camera Club, an SAPF judge and chair of the recently formed SAPF judges subcommittee. He is a keen amateur photographer with a particular interest in landscape, seascape, bird and wildlife photography.

Before retirement, Alan managed major national educational technology projects for the Commonwealth government. Previously, he spent 20 years as a secondary school teacher in country South Australia.

Requirements

An understanding of the basic principles of RAW processing will be assumed.

A laptop with Photolab and the Nik software installed. Note that 30-day free trial versions of Photolab and the Nik software are available. In addition, a 14-day free trial of Pure Raw is available. Finally, it is recommended that trial versions of both DxO ViewPoint and DxO FilmPack be installed. These programs are automatically integrated within Photolab. By having them installed, students will have the same features within Photolab as the instructor.

Note that this course receives direct support from DxO, offering a 20% discount on the price of all DxO products (excluding upgrades) to those who enrol. A link will be provided to course members, allowing them to claim the discount.

Course Outline

The sessions will cover the following topics:

11 October - Photolab

• About DxO

• An overview of DxO software

• Photolab Interface & Workflow Layout

• Essential Corrections

• DxO-Specific Tools

• Watermarks and effects

• Local Adjustments

• Exporting & Output

• DxO Pure Raw

25 October - Nik Software

• The history of the Nik suite

• An overview of the apps

• Viveza

• Color Efex

• Silver Efex.

• Sharpener Output

Cost

$100 per person. Coffee breaks and lunch are at the participant’s own expense. A café is located on the ground floor of the State Library.

Payment

Payment can be made using your credit or debit card, or via PayPal. If you are reading this on a PDF document, please visit the SAPF website https://www.sapf.org.au/courses for more information.

Agreement

Please read the SAPF Workshops and Courses – Terms and Conditions attached to this document (also available on the SAPF website under ‘Workshops’). Registering for and paying for the course implies that you accept these terms.

Enquiries

Contact the SAPF Course Coordinator (Margaret Phillips) coursecoordinator@sapf.org.au