digital software

frosty111 · May 30, 2008

hey i was wondering do photographers use software to make photos look better, if so what do you recommend?
landscape wise and portrait wise.

if not i mean no disrespect cause i'm sure great photos need not enhancing

Rhuarc · May 30, 2008

Two of the most popular programs you will hear people say is Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

There are of course many other programs but these are among the most popular. (What I personally use)

Oh, and don't think of it so much as a program to enhance a great photo, but as your digital darkroom. These programs are the equivalent to the chemicals and equipment back in the film days. The files straight out of the camera are like negatives. They may contain a lot of potential, but you need to develop them first using the tools of the digital darkroom.

frosty111 · May 30, 2008

digital dark room huh, makes alot of sense
thanks

u've open my mind

MrBook2 · May 30, 2008

I would also like to put in a plug for both the GIMP and Bibble.

GIMP is an opensource photoshop like program. While it isn't nearly as powerful as Photoshop is, it is a great place to get your feet wet; after all, it is free! For Windows:http://www.gimp.org/windows/ For Mac: http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/ For Linux: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

If you want something more "digital darkroom" (see above post) also check out Bibble: http://www.bibblelabs.com/ It has a lot of powerful features and will also run on all major platforms. You can download a demo and test drive it.

I mention these because I am a linux user myself, so no Adobe for me. (That is not entirely true, you can kind of get them to work under linux, but I don't find it worth the effort. I am actually super happy with Bibble.) Both programs have pretty steep learning curves; that is to say that it will take you some time to learn how to use them well. But this is true of any powerful piece of software.

The "standard" programs would be the Adobe ones; Lightroom and Photoshop. But there are alternatives.

Happy shooting!

--Aaron

frosty111 · May 30, 2008

thanks for the advice i shall try it out

jziegler · May 30, 2008

If you use Windows, you might also consider Paint Shop Pro from Corel. It is less expensive than Photoshop by quite a bit (sometimes on sale for around $50), easier for a novice to use (at least me, that is) and pretty powerful. It seems more powerful than the old version of Photoshop Elements that I had used before.

I tried the Gimp and wanted to like it, but it's a lot of work to really get into it. It was designed almost entirely by programmers with many great ideas, but I'm not sure that any user interface experts worked on it to clean things up. Powerful, but steep learning curve.

There are lots of great programs out there, it's probably a matter of trying them out (many have free trials) and picking what works best for you.

Art Scott · May 30, 2008

something else to consider is what software has the most and easiest to understand book, tutorials, cd/dvd classes available for you to use.....Most of the comapny employed tech writers do not necessarily write the manual or the help sections to be very easily understood....so then we have to go to the 3rd party or freelance authors for our information.
Yes Photoshop is the number 1 sellar out there(as well as the highest priced) with Paintshop Pro and others in line for less money.....but also with less support by the 3rd party and freelance authors.............so it is a trade off....by reading various Photography magazines I see pros using every piece of available software outthere and even some that use multiple softwares to acheive everyting they need to.......

BPerron · May 30, 2008

This really depends on how serious you are about processing your photos with software...If you just want to clean them up a bit to just make them look better over all, then the suggestion of Corel Paint Shop Pro is probably the best route for most.

However if you are wanting something along the professional lines, then you should look into photoshop...it will cost you hundreds of dollars to get it. This is why I seconded Corel Paint Shop cause you can buy it for 50 bucks and the average photographer will not go beyond its capabilities...

Photoshop and Corel both offer free trials, however unless you are wanting to spend countless hours learning photoshop, the trial will probably end before you can get real heavy into it...Photoshop is a major, major program...I mean they have course on it...

frosty111 · May 30, 2008

wow i didnt know photoshop was so extensive
i have paint shop pro lyin around somewhere..i guess i shall dig that out and use it

thanks for the advice, almost made up my mind about buying photoshop, but now it seems too much for me rite now. i'm only starting out, well see what happens in the future, thanks again

Art Scott · May 30, 2008

frosty111 wrote:

wow i didnt know photoshop was so extensive
i have paint shop pro lyin around somewhere..i guess i shall dig that out and use it

thanks for the advice, almost made up my mind about buying photoshop, but now it seems too much for me rite now. i'm only starting out, well see what happens in the future, thanks again

Then Pick up a copy fo Photoshop elements.....

ziggy53 · May 30, 2008

RAWTherapee (RT) is surprisingly powerful, freeware and it also opens and processes most raster image files.

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

Version 2.4 is very full featured and could be used as a primary image processor. The combination of RT and the GIMP could handle just about any task as GIMP now has layers capability. GIMP is lacking in 16 bit processing and alternate color spaces but all the basics are there.

I also use Picasa 2 to handle file organization. Another freeware it also has pretty good redeye reduction and an excellent straightening and cropping ability.

http://picasa.google.com/

digital software

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