Editing software

[ukcatfan]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[ThurlFan]

Got it, thanks!

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

This topic is definitely not my strong point because the DW does all the PP in our family. My goal this year is to hit it hard and learn the software. We currently have Corel Paint Shop Pro Ultimate Photo x2 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. My DW is talking about upgrading to Elements 8 even though at this time she primarily uses Paint Shop, but in her scrapbooking everything is focused on Photoshop. The upgrade is not all that expensive, but are there enough good differences to warrant the upgrade from 6 to 8? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can rebuild a computer with hardware, but software tends to be my weakness!

 

[croppincolburn]

I just upgraded from PSE6 to 8. I use a Mac and 7 was not an option. There are some nice new features. You can check out the new features here
http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/learningcenter/

I'm a digiscrapper. There are so many more things available for PSE out there. I enjoy using actions, styles and other things from third parties. I also enjoy the tutorials available for PSE.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Thank you for the information. The PP is not my strong point. I try to minimize it by trying to get the best image out of the camera. My 2010 goal is to learn more about it and standardize what my wife does and what I will do. The website you provided will be the first step. Again, thanks.

 

[disneyboy2003]

Thank you for the information. The PP is not my strong point. I try to minimize it by trying to get the best image out of the camera. My 2010 goal is to learn more about it and standardize what my wife does and what I will do. The website you provided will be the first step. Again, thanks.

While getting the photo right "in-camera" is definitely a worthy goal, I find that post-processing helps to fine-tune each photo. There is always something in each photo that I can do to make each photo look better with post-processing. It is only the rare 1 or 2 photos that I actually leave untouched with zero post-processing.

Most of my post-processing work is done in Lightroom. If you have Photoshop Elements, you can do the exact same post-processing work using Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), which is already included with Photoshop Elements.

A couple years ago, I learned post-processing techniques by reading Scott Kelby's book The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers. It's an excellent book, very easy read, lots of screen caps and examples, and easy to follow along.

If you're using Photoshop Elements, then I'd recommend his book The Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital Photographers (here's the link to the book on Amazon).

Basic post-processing is surprisingly simple! At the very least, there are 8 sliders in Lightroom / ACR that you move back-and-forth until the picture looks better. If you didn't want to learn anything more about post-processing, you can probably get away with these 8 sliders and walk away with a very good photo.

(BTW, the 8 sliders that I use are: Temp, Tint, Exposure, Recovery, Fill Light, Blacks, Clarity, and Vibrance. I usually ignore the other 3 that are available.)

I, then, use the Local Adjustment Brush to do some local dodging and burning (making certain parts of the photo brighter & certain parts of the photo darker, respectively). Ansel Adams did this with all his photos. Even though you may have gotten the correct overall exposure in your camera, sometimes, certain parts of the image are slightly darker, slightly brighter, or not as evenly-lit as you'd like. That's where dodging and burning comes in handy.

At the end, I may add some sharpening to my photos and some noise reduction, too.

Of course, there's tons of other stuff you can do with your photos, like remove spots / blemishes, add a gradient, add a vignette, convert to black-and-white / sepia, etc. It just depends on the photo, and each photo is unique. But for sure, each of my photos goes through the above post-processing steps. Wash, Rinse, Dry, Repeat.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Thank you for the information. I know as soon as I get into the PP software I'll probably end up going back and 'fixing' some of my older 'good' photos. It seems the more I learn the more I learn I don't know! Again, thanks.

 

[croppincolburn]

I also recommend Scott Kelby's books. I borrow them from my local library. I own one for an older version.

 

[Soupermom]

We recently purchased a new Dell laptop and somehow when we transferred our programs, the editing software I had been using (Snafire) was lost. I don't even know how I originally got it (It was free with something), but it isn't on any of the discs we installed. Now I cannot find anything on my computer to edit (crop, color, basic enhancing stuff) my pictures. My noiseware made the move okay, but I can't really do anything else.

Is there anything free out there I can try or can somone suggest something simple to buy. I use a Canon 3SIS for family photos and "nature" photos.

Thanks!

 

[cosine4]

GIMP is just like Photoshop but it is open source so it is free. I use that at home and Photoshop at work, but I prefer GIMP.

www.gimp.org

 

[Bstanley]

My local Office Max had Paint Shop Photo Pro X2 for $49.95 last weekend (the X3 version has been announced). I have used it in the past (I use PhotoShop Elements now) and found it to be straight forward to learn and feature rich.

I believe they have a trial version available.

 

[ukcatfan]

If you can find the $49 deal, I would go for that. Otherwise, I would say GIMP. For basic stuff, there is also Irfanview for free.

 

[haggler]

i use picasa and find it very good indeed

 

[SrisonS]

If you're looking for something basic, very easy to use, and free; I'd suggest picasa too.

 

[Soupermom]

Thanks for the info! Can I find Picasa if I Google?

I need something for color enhancement (b/w, sepia, etc.), cropping, and "tweaking" the overall picture. With snapfire I was able to adjust brightness, sharpness, etc. That's really all I need. Is that what Picasa has?

Thanks again!

 

[TinksDH]

Thanks for the info! Can I find Picasa if I Google?

That's actually ironically funny, as Picasa is produced and distributed free by Google.

 

[Soupermom]

 

[girlandboy]

http://picasa.google.com/

It is free..distributed by Google.

 

[Soupermom]

OP here...I was able to install picasa and have been playing with it all day. How can I save the photos on a disc and then view them as thumbnails instead of just the jpeg numbers? I've made a few discs, but cannot see them as thumbnails. Any suggestions???

 

[ukcatfan]

OP here...I was able to install picasa and have been playing with it all day. How can I save the photos on a disc and then view them as thumbnails instead of just the jpeg numbers? I've made a few discs, but cannot see them as thumbnails. Any suggestions???

If you are using Windows Explorer/My Computer in Windows, then you just change the view setting.