Need help in choosing editing software

jziegler

I'm getting more serious about digital photography, and am really starting to leave film behind more and more. I'm at the point where I want to do more post processing, but I'm not sure what software I should be working with.

I currently am doing basic work in Picasa, and then have a few other choices when I need to do more than Picasa can handle. Here's the software that I currently have:

1) MS Picture It. Haven't used it in month, really since I started using Picasa. The only reason I have it is that Dell bundles it with many computers. Not really a consideration anymore.
2) PS Elements 1.0. It came with my film scanner. It's so old that I figure I'm missing a lot of features, and I don't know how to use it very well.
3) The Gimp 2.4. The most capable of the programs. I've had some success with certain functions (have done a couple B/W converstions, some work with levels and curves) but haven't invested much time in learning it.

So, long term, what wouls be my best choice? Should I try to really learn The Gimp, or would a new version of PS Elements serve me better? PS CSx is more money than I can really afford right now. But Elements has the advantage of getting me on the learning curve for CS in the future, right? And, what about the other programs like Paint Shop Pro? It seems that recent versions don't seem to be as well liked as the pre-Corel ones.

For a little more information, I currently don't have a DSLR, but one of my cameras does have a RAW option that I have occasionally used, but most of the time I shoot JPEG on camera.

Also, resources that would help me do more effective post processing would be appreciated.

Regards,
James

wxwax

Read Shay Stevens' post on gimp and bibble pro.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=63622&highlight=gimp

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=53513&highlight=gimp

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=57169&highlight=gimp

jziegler

wxwax,

Thanks for the links. Some decent reading in there. Good to know that there are pros out there that use The Gimp for part of their workflow.

Sorry to everyone to ask a question that seems to be asked every couple of months. It's just hard to decide on all of these software packages out there. Infomation overload looking into all of this. It's almost as bad as picking out a new camera.

Regards,
James

Giphsub

James, I have just been going through the same process. I think the best thing to do in the end is just try one of the 30 day demos and see if you like the feel of them. I have almost settled on LR. Very easy to use, and serves most of my purposes.

Pupator

Don't overlook Paint Shop Pro. Version X2 is out and I love it. I've been a PSP user for a long time and I really believe it's very close to Photoshop (which I've also used a bunch) in functionality at 1/5 the price (at least). You can often find PSP on sale for $50 or so!

jziegler

Mike and Pupator,

I'm taking a look at both Lightroom and PSP X2. I like the price on PSP, and they're offering a $50 visa prepaid card rebate to sweeten the deal right now (only direct from Corel). I'm downloading the trial right now.

Lightroom is a bit more money than Id like to spend right now. Sound like a good tool, but a fair bit of cash.

I also looked at Bibble and it looks nice, but currently has no RAW support for my camera (Fuji Finepix S6000fd). So The Gimp is still an option, but no Bibble to go with it.

Regards,
James

Pupator

Does PSP have RAW support for Fuji? The only knock I have on PSP is that they don't offer RAW support for Panasonic. :cry

jziegler

Pupator wrote:

Does PSP have RAW support for Fuji? The only knock I have on PSP is that they don't offer RAW support for Panasonic. :cry

I'm still not sure. I haven't had a chance to do much, or to check.

I'm also noticing that it runs a bit slow on my computer, which admitedly is a little old and slow. I'll try some more tonight and see what I think then.

ziggy53

wxwax wrote:

Read Shay Stevens' post on gimp and bibble pro.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=63622&highlight=gimp

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=53513&highlight=gimp

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=57169&highlight=gimp

on the GIMP! At my lady friend's house, 3 hours away, I have GIMP 2.4 installed and for basic work I can do most of what I can do with PhotoShop. It lacks a 16 bit mode, multiple color space (sRGB is all that works as it should) and no real RAW support.

I use RSE 2005 for initial workup from RAW, IrfanView for sorting and "culling" and then GIMP and/or Picassa, depending on how much work the images need.

As a system it works pretty well, and it was all free.

claudermilk

A bit of clarification as there are a couple of types of software being mentioend here.

Bibble & LR are RAW converters, not pixel editors. If you are shooting RAW a lot, both are good packages to look at. I personally strongly prefer the former. There's a lot of options available in this class, all of which AFAIK have demo periods.

For pixel editors, you want to look at the GIMP, PSP, Elements, and possibly Picture Window Pro.

Pupator

jziegler wrote:

I'm still not sure. I haven't had a chance to do much, or to check.

I'm also noticing that it runs a bit slow on my computer, which admitedly is a little old and slow. I'll try some more tonight and see what I think then.

Weird. Looks like it supports RAW for the s5000 and s7000 but not s6000?

http://support.corel.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=BNN*q3Qi&p_lva=&p_faqid=762091&p_created=1188917397&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTMmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1SQVcmcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT0zJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPTE1NSZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0yNSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9ZGZsdCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=

That's hard to believe. You should test and report back.

jziegler

Pupator wrote:

Weird. Looks like it supports RAW for the s5000 and s7000 but not s6000?

http://support.corel.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=BNN*q3Qi&p_lva=&p_faqid=762091&p_created=1188917397&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTMmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1SQVcmcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT0zJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPTE1NSZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0yNSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9ZGZsdCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=

That's hard to believe. You should test and report back.

No, it's not that hard to beleive. Fuji's numbering scheme is really weird. The s6000 is a much newer camera than either of the others. The 5000 and 7000 are both from 2003, while the 6000 has been around for about a year.

Fuji really hasn't marketed any of these camera very well, so I'm not surprised that support for them isn't all that great. I bet a lot of people don't even know anything about them.

jziegler

claudermilk wrote:

A bit of clarification as there are a couple of types of software being mentioend here.

Bibble & LR are RAW converters, not pixel editors. If you are shooting RAW a lot, both are good packages to look at. I personally strongly prefer the former. There's a lot of options available in this class, all of which AFAIK have demo periods.

For pixel editors, you want to look at the GIMP, PSP, Elements, and possibly Picture Window Pro.

Chris,

Thanks for the clarification. I was aware of the different types of software, but it seems that many common tasks can be done by either of them. Things like adjusting contrast, fixing overall color, B&W conversions, cropping. Is this correct?

Right now, I don't shoot RAW much, but might start doing more. The downside is that my camera takes a couple seconds per shot to save raw files. JPEG shooting is much faster. Also, Bibble has no support for this camera.

I'll probably work a little in both the Gimp and PSP, as well as downloading IrfanView as a viewer and see what I like.

claudermilk

Yes, those functions are available in both. There is a difference in how it is accomplished though. The RAW converters will save a list of instructions somewhere (text sidecar files or internal db) and apply those changes when saving a copy of the file. The pixel editors will perform the changes directly to the file, which can be resaved over your original (that's a bad thing in most cases). So destructive vs non-destructive editing.

Then, of course the pixel editors have a number of capabilities for making very specific edits that the RAW converters generally don't.

jziegler

Thanks again, Chris.

I hadn't really thought about the destructive vs/ non aspect, but I usually do a save as when I make changes. Plus, I try to burn a backup to DVD before I do editing. I try to be careful to keep the original around somewhere. Disk space is cheap enough that I don't really worry about it.

I did a little more work in PSP last night, working with a file that was both noisy (shot at ISO 800 inside, relatively low light) and had a background that I didn't like, the DOF was too high. The noise reduction worked well, I wasn't happy with the DOF reduction tools. The large DOF on a small sensor can be a real drag sometimes. It seems that noise reduction in the Gimp is not as easy of a task. At least there are a couple of tutorials out there (different methods).

Lots more to learn.

claudermilk

Please, don't leave me such an open door to climb back on one of my favorite soapboxes! :uhoh:deadhorse Run a search on DVD backups for lots of reading.

jziegler

claudermilk wrote:

Please, don't leave me such an open door to climb back on one of my favorite soapboxes! :uhoh:deadhorse Run a search on DVD backups for lots of reading.

OK, i'll nip this in the bud. I know DVD's aren't archival, and aren't enough for backup on their own. My plan is to get an external HD in the near future to backup my media files (both pictures and the large collection of (legaly obtained) music files). The drive will only be used for backups, and will only be connected while performing a backup. Good enough?

And now back to the original topic.

dmmattix

jziegler wrote:

OK, i'll nip this in the bud. I know DVD's aren't archival, and aren't enough for backup on their own. My plan is to get an external HD in the near future to backup my media files (both pictures and the large collection of (legaly obtained) music files). The drive will only be used for backups, and will only be connected while performing a backup. Good enough?

And now back to the original topic.

Thank you

cjlacour

I cannot say enough good things about Lightroom. The software, combined with two books (Evening's Lightroom book and The DAM Book), is in the process of revolutionizing my workflow for the better.

To respond to someone that said that LR is just a raw converter, not an editor, well, I respectfully disagree. I can do 98% of everything I'll need to do editing wise in lightroom.

Check it out, you can't go wrong.