Sagelight Image Editor - Help

[damienh]

I am actually digging into it because I think this editor is a gem.
For raw development it is not the king, but for color and tone adjustment, in my opinion it is unmatched.

I am comfortable with other editors but I am really happy to discover new ways of seing image adjustments.

There are a lot of strange things in this editor:

- its interface is a kind of messy, but you can perform adjustments very efficiently

- it seems you have too much parameters, but you quickly realise that some of them are the ones you have been looking for for a long time: the "light blender" is doing things I am not able to replicate easily in other editors... the vignette function is the most complete I have ever seen... you can perform curve adjustment that even curvemeister does not propose... the info palette shows you lab values (very useful for skintone colors)... and the list goes on!

- having read the only blog that stays available (https://sagelighteditor.wordpress.com), I have no doubt that Rob Nelson knows perfectly what he is talking about. Nevertheless, some of his positions are strange, like the one to push jpeg (how can it be the default format proposed by Sagelight when you save?), the one on destructive/non destructive editing (I am not saying it is easy to develop a Sagelight that would be fully non-destructive, but it would have been so great to have this kind of editor), and the one of ICC profile (you perform such great color transformation in Sagelight but you save a file without specifying the ICC that corresponds to the colors you have defined -- how can it be?)

This editor is full of contradictions and challenges but it is rewarding.
Most of other editors copy each other. Sagelight is kind of fresh and puzzling.

Even dead, I love it!

 

[Outbacker]

Even dead, I love it!

Fair enough - enjoy!

 

[true2himself]

Hello Damien,

I don't have enough info to be able to comment on the color profile issue raised, but for what it's worth I would like to share my experience with Sagelight in case it can provide a helpful perspective to someone.

Sagelight was my first photo editor and my introduction to the endlessly vast world of photo editing.

Over time I added other editors to my arsenal but I ultimately discovered that the newer editors provided more modern tools which helped me to get where I wanted a lot FASTER. Some of the tools allowed me to attain a final result which was not only faster but superior to what I was getting with Sagelight.

I would say as long as you are happy with the results you get from Sagelight, by all means keep using it and look no further.

For me personally, after being exposed to other editors, I soon realized the user interface at Sagelight was outdated and and not the easiest to work with unless your work focuses mostly on adjusting saturation, contrast , highlights and shadows etc. For these things, Sagelight is SUPERB.

However, if you need to effortlessly erase undesirable elements from your photos, want more control over the contrast and colors and the overall mood of the photo, there are other ways.

However, if your expertise in Sagelight is such that you are able to get the results that you want, please ignore all my other comments. I know Sagelight is very capable.

Personally, I felt the need for a simpler & more intuitive user interface, with a different set of tools.

Two of the programs that I use are Topaz Studio (a free editor with optional additional features available for purchase). Another superb program is Luminar 2018 which provides simpler yet superior tools for photo editing (in my opinion) and the layout is simply heavenly. There are plenty of tutorials for these programs on Youtube.

Another amazing program which is free is Polarr. It has dozens of tools not available in Sagelight and is far easier to operate. I have the Pro version, which costs $19.95 & gives you even more tools at your disposal).

Al of the 3 programs I listed give you presets which can speed up the editing process significantly.

Yet, there is one tool in Sagelight that in my opinion is one of the best in the business which is the soft glow/soft focus under the More Functions tab. I still use it often and honestly think that many times one can get great results with the basic Sagelight sliders combined with the softglow or any of the other advanced features (including the single photo HDR presets). Sorry I could not be more help with your questions, but if only one of the things that I said here helps in any way, that would make it all worth it. Eric

 

[Kandrax]

I'm not sure why my post was not approved before. Maybe the powers that be it will allow this one to be posted on the forum. (Created this account because of this forum thread and my love for Sagelight.)

Here's what you need to do in order to use Sagelight FOREVER straight from the trial version.

1. Go to your file explorer and go to your computers hard drive (C

2. Locate your Users folder "Users" on my computer

3. Locate your profile "Alex" in my case. Do not navigate to Default or Public

4. (Make sure you have hidden files viewable)
In windows 10, locate the view tab at the top of your file explorer and click it. Then make sure "Hidden Items" is checked.

5. Locate the folder inside called "AppData"

6. Locate the folder inside called "Local"

7. Locate the folder inside called "19th Parallel"

8. Delete the file named {556D9-003445-F3CD1B} Now launch Sagelight and the trial counter will have reset to 30-days. If it doesn't work there is a second file inside this folder called {87782-377222-1F8634}. This second file doesn't reset the counter for me but it might work for you or these two files may be named differently. When opening Sagelight the program will create a new file in this location which serves as the new counter.

9. Save this folder as a shortcut somewhere. Repeat step #8 every 30-days and use Sagelight forever.

 

[Kandrax]

I agree, this program is an under appreciated gem if you have the right expectation with it. There are four or five ways to seamlessly change exactly what you're trying to do and each option yields a different take on it. I can't tell you how many pictures I have saved from editing in this program that other programs would not have been able to help.

I can agree with you that some of the interface could have been made better and the coding is likely a mess only Rob would understand fully.

The really sad thing with this program is the level of application it carries is a lot better than many software straight out of the box. If Rob continued developing this program for a couple more years with adding only a few things

1. (Additional default and manual HDR protocols)
2. Saving to PNG for compressed lossless quality)
3. Minor touch-ups by brushes. You can get around this a little bit by using the undo brush and working backwards with your picture by editing the entire picture and then undoing areas you did not want to change.

The HDR features Sagelight has are typically very good. I find myself using only three or four different options (Artistic Heavy, Stark #2 and CLAHE #1) which yield the best results for me. More of the HDR that works and better controls could make endless possibilities.

With viewing and saving files I am completely puzzled with this one. The viewer makes pictures currently being edited look like they have an abundance of noise even when zoomed in but when saved the file looks good on a photo viewer. Saving JPEG has been painful because of the compression but TIFF files at 18MP are over 100 Megabytes a pop. At the same time I am reluctant to change the source file of a picture away because my choice would be PNG format. I do not trust other photo editors when opening a tiff file and saving as a PNG that I would get the same quality as the original TIFF. Simply because I do not know what the programs protocols are for saving files.

What really surprises me from an artistic standpoint and with limited programming knowledge is how much automatic correction takes place that actually works. Take photo saturation or lighting for example. Many programs when you increase or decrease these values will cheaply blow their values out of proportion. Sagelight adjusts it very smoothly so you can push a photo more without efforts being a waste. This is something I can say about nearly every part of this program. I know a great deal of time went to making sure the editing experience was very satisfying.

I am actually digging into it because I think this editor is a gem.
For raw development it is not the king, but for color and tone adjustment, in my opinion it is unmatched.

I am comfortable with other editors but I am really happy to discover new ways of seing image adjustments.

There are a lot of strange things in this editor:

- its interface is a kind of messy, but you can perform adjustments very efficiently

- it seems you have too much parameters, but you quickly realise that some of them are the ones you have been looking for for a long time: the "light blender" is doing things I am not able to replicate easily in other editors... the vignette function is the most complete I have ever seen... you can perform curve adjustment that even curvemeister does not propose... the info palette shows you lab values (very useful for skintone colors)... and the list goes on!

- having read the only blog that stays available (https://sagelighteditor.wordpress.com), I have no doubt that Rob Nelson knows perfectly what he is talking about. Nevertheless, some of his positions are strange, like the one to push jpeg (how can it be the default format proposed by Sagelight when you save?), the one on destructive/non destructive editing (I am not saying it is easy to develop a Sagelight that would be fully non-destructive, but it would have been so great to have this kind of editor), and the one of ICC profile (you perform such great color transformation in Sagelight but you save a file without specifying the ICC that corresponds to the colors you have defined -- how can it be?)

This editor is full of contradictions and challenges but it is rewarding.
Most of other editors copy each other. Sagelight is kind of fresh and puzzling.

Even dead, I love it!

 

[Nask0]

Hi Nand,

Can you please send me the steps to register Sagelight once again after a computer crash (I have bought the license).

Many thanks in advance,

Nasko

 

[SnowshoeLane]

Did you get and answer? If not, I will dig up the information I saved and PM you.

 

[Nask0]

Hi SnowshoeLane,

No reply yet unfortunately...

 

[nand]

Hi SnowshoeLane,

No reply yet unfortunately...

Did you check your PM. Top right corner on your screen.

Nand.

 

[Leslie G]

Dear Forum,

I have admittedly joined this forum for receiving help in purchasing Sagelight Image Editor. I started to use this lovely software to touch up some of my photos. After having it expired I was sure that I'll need to purchase that, so much I love using it. With no other program could I achieve such great results with so less effort.

But it seems to me the software is no longer maintained, the author disappeared and there's no response to my mails. The 'sagelighteditor.com/' domain seems to be a non-functioning site.

Does this mean the software can no longer be obtained officially?

Please help!

Leslie

 

[Leslie G]

Hi Danna (lacogada),

Thank you for your answer. As a new member to this Forum, I still have no right to reply to a private message:

Conversation with lacogada

You cannot send private messages until your account has been approved by a moderator or administrator. This is most likely because your account was recently created.

>>

Hi Leslie G

Beings Sagelite is a discontinued software and is not supported anymore ... could you please upload a copy of the setup program to web (dropbox, hightail, etc) and send me a link to download.

Danna

Jul 7, 2018 at 00:11 UTC

<<

As soon as I can send you a message I'll upload my setup program and direct you to the link. BTW, I've checked that: its Version 4.4h.

Thank you so far!

Regards,

Leslie

 

[otter point]

Did you get and answer? If not, I will dig up the information I saved and PM you.

I also requested and didn't hear back. Could I please trouble you for the instructions too? I purchased my "lifetime" license and am getting fed up having to keep reinstall every 30 days.

Thanks.

 

[qsso]

Hi,

I want to move a registered version of Sagelight to a new PC. Do you know how to do it please?

Thanks,

Tony

 

[pop2eye]

After multiple years of being unsupported, I recently discovered that development of the Sagelight Image Editor began again in November 2019. See the websites below for current information. A completely free version can now be downloaded that no longer involves a paid registration code after a 30-day trial. The current free version 4.4h has been re-released with only a few minor changes and bug fixes from the previous paid version.

Home page - http://www.sagelighteditor.com/

Blog - http://sagelighteditor.com/blog/

Discussion Board - http://www.sagelighteditor.com/discussion/

 

[SnowshoeLane]

After multiple years of being unsupported, I recently discovered that development of the Sagelight Image Editor began again in November 2019. See the websites below for current information. A completely free version can now be downloaded that no longer involves a paid registration code after a 30-day trial. The current free version 4.4h has been re-released with only a few minor changes and bug fixes from the previous paid version.

Home page - http://www.sagelighteditor.com/

Blog - http://sagelighteditor.com/blog/

Discussion Board - http://www.sagelighteditor.com/discussion/

That is amazing and good news! I had not checked for some time so I am amazed that you discovered this. I hope that means Rob (the developer) is back, too.

I loved the software though I never got very good with it. Definitely worth a second look since I already paid for it.

I changed your subject line....

 

[Stephenhampshire]

I too have just discovered that Sagelight is back on line...need to find my registration code now or just use the free version....I have kept my computer going beyond its natural end date because of this software!

 

[SnowshoeLane]

And Rob fixed the problem with the discussion board yesterday.

 

[Jonrow]

I'm really pleased to see it back too . I paid for a licence back in, from memory, 2013. I thought "oh well, there goes my licence" but it's back. The thing is since it disappeared (I thought for good) I've been developing Lightroom and Photoshop skills - well some may say "not skills". But now perhaps I can continue with Sagelight where I left off a few years ago. I did enjoy using it.

 

[Hanginon]

Thanks ALL for posting this! FYI - it looks like it works with the NIK plugins.