I’ll admit that I’m a “techie”. Much of my business life was spent in creating software and apps, teaching people about how to use other company’s apps, and writing critiques of those apps. So I use a wide variety of programs and apps while hiking and photographing.
Here are a few products that I use extensively while hiking, and to process my photos. I use every product listed on this page.
Note that for some of these listings I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. These commissions help cover a portion of my expenses for running this website.
Please also view my Wildflower Books page, where I list the books that I rely on, and my Photographic Equipment page, where I discuss the camera equipment that I’ve used over the years.
Hiking Software
It used to be that you heard about some great wildflower spot, and then you would grab a map to figure out how to get there. Once there, you would hope that there was a good trail. It was an adventure!
Nowadays I always plan ahead, working out the directions to get there, downloading a GPX track to guide me. Of course, this is all made possible by the Internet (and my blog!) and having a cell phone in my pocket.
Gaia GPS
There are many wonderful apps and websites that you can use to plot your path, and to track where you’ve been hiking. I’ve used quite a few of them. Gaia GPS is my favorite, for what I do. With this app I can:
- Upload a GPX track to the app if a website provides a trail track. Then I can follow that track on my phone as I hike.
- Build a GPX track of my own, on their website, based on tracks that they have built in. I then load that into their app on my phone.
- Add waypoints as targets. If there is an observation on something like iNaturalist of a plant I want to find, I can mark that in Gaia GPS as a target.
- Record a GPX track of the path that I’m taking. This has a LOT of uses. I can use that GPX track to “tag” all my camera photos (using Adobe Lightroom). I can use that track to find my way back to the trailhead, and my car, if I get turned around or lost. I can incorporate that GPX track in my blog article maps.
There is a free version of the app that you can try. Note, though, that there are some limitations in the free version that could be bothersome if you are hiking in an area where you don’t have cell phone coverage. I use the Premium version, which lets me download tracks to the phone app, which I can use even if I don’t have cell connectivity. The cost is very reasonable.
Note that there is an Apple CarPlay app for Gaia GPS, which is very helpful if your car supports that.
I want to mention another app, AllTrails, that I used extensively before I switched to Gaia GPS. It is a very good app, and it is very useful when trying to find a new trail in a particular area. You also can get current information on a trail by other users. This may be the best app for some people, but for my purposes Gaia GPS does the best job.
Photo Processing Software
Yes, I “process” my photos. I don’t “Photoshop” them (as in, altering them) to any significant degree. Digital cameras usually don’t take perfect pictures when you are out hiking in variable conditions. You may need to adjust the exposure, reduce “noise” introduced by the camera itself, crop the photo, and so forth. Sometimes I’ll play with “focus stacking” and use software to merge several photos into one, so that you can see all of the details of a wildflower that was shot in the field under less than optimal conditions.
I use a number of software tools to do my final processing, and I’m always exploring new products.
Adobe Lightroom Classic
I used to only purchase desktop software, where you could buy something and own it forever. However, Adobe has finally convinced me that a subscription for their software makes sense. I have the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan. They are continually providing worthwhile updates, and the subscription price is reasonable. You get both Lightroom and Photoshop, along with a large number of mobile apps that I use on my iPad. Lightroom is a key product for organizing photos, removing spots, as well as adjusting exposure, cropping and so forth. My main use for Photoshop is to create collages and posters (I don’t do major editing of photos).
Zerene Stacker
I’m beginning to explore the complexities of “focus stacking”, where you take multiple photos of your subject at different focus points, then mix those together to get a combined photo that has ALL of the elements in focus. Believe me, it isn’t easy, but the results are very interesting! You need software that can stitch these photos together, using only the parts that are in focus. Adobe Lightroom Classic has this capability, but it doesn’t always give you great results. My tool of choice is Zerene Stacker. I will be posting photos that I’ve created with this at some point, when I find the time.