Editing software

[1tripandIfell]

Honestly, I am not sure what I want to do yet at all... I have always love taking pictures, even if they are crappy, I do it just for my pleasure no other reason. I seen some HDR pics and really liked them so wanted to be able to try to do it. (I have a habit of picking up hobbies: painting, beading, sewing, scrapbooking, etc) I just got my first DSLR (Sony Alpha300) and I am still learning how to use it. DH asked what I wanted for Mother's Day and photoshop is the only software I have really heard of. But now I see that there are other options so I may just stick with the free GIMP until I get the hang of it.

 

[TakeMe2Disney]

Disney Photography is expensive, but the couple can hire an independent photographer. That's what most of the brides on the DIS wedding board do. Check out the wedding forum here on the DIS; the brides there can recommended photographers with very affordable rates. If there's any part of a wedding that the couple should not skimp on, it's the photography. Food is consumed, flowers die, and everything else about a wedding quickly fades from memory, but photographs live on for generations.

I just want to clarify that she is going to have Disney photography take pictures of the wedding and reception. I don't know if she's having them do anything else. She asked me just to take some shots while they're getting ready and anything else I'm inclined to. I just thought it would be nice to be able to get a little more artistic. I would love to be able to give her something she'll love - not just the ordinary.

And believe me, I know how important the pics are...it's the only evidence I have to prove I once had a size 4 waist!

 

[Angrypenguin]

Disney Photography is expensive, but the couple can hire an independent photographer. That's what most of the brides on the DIS wedding board do. Check out the wedding forum here on the DIS; the brides there can recommended photographers with very affordable rates. If there's any part of a wedding that the couple should not skimp on, it's the photography. Food is consumed, flowers die, and everything else about a wedding quickly fades from memory, but photographs live on for generations.

I recommend this as well. We just got married at Disney (pics in my flickr!) and our photographer did a great job. Take a look there if you want or our planning journal, there's plenty of getting ready pics you can try to get ideas from.

Hmm, I'd recommend possibly recommending a backup body with another lens (a 24-70 2.8 would be ideal) just in case. the 24-70 also gives excellent portrait shots and it's fast enough for less than ideal lighting situations.

 

[GrillMouster]

I just want to clarify that she is going to have Disney photography take pictures of the wedding and reception. I don't know if she's having them do anything else. She asked me just to take some shots while they're getting ready and anything else I'm inclined to. I just thought it would be nice to be able to get a little more artistic. I would love to be able to give her something she'll love - not just the ordinary.

And believe me, I know how important the pics are...it's the only evidence I have to prove I once had a size 4 waist!

Gotcha. Based on her requests I assume that Disney Photographic Services won't be taking getting ready shots, which IMHO, is a shame. I like the wedding photography and albums to tell a story of the entire day, like a storybook. Some of the most compelling images and emotion can be captured during the getting ready stage. Ideally, the same photographer (or photographc team) would capture all parts of the wedding (including getting ready), so it all has the same consistent look and cohesiveness.

If Disney won't photograph the getting ready part, or if it's too expensive to include, I again suggest that the bride go with an outside photographer that can do it all for the same price, or maybe even less than Disney.

 

[GrillMouster]

Oh, and one more thing if you do take the getting ready pictures. A few people have mentioned the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. There's no doubt that it's a exceptional lens, but its range is better suited for a full-frame body. On a crop body it's effectively a 36-105mm lens, which isn't wide enough for shooting in a small room. The 17-55mm f/2.8 is perfect. It's optically as good as the 24-70, has a better focal range for a crop body, and it's lighter and smaller than the 24-70.

 

[Angrypenguin]

Oh, and one more thing if you do take the getting ready pictures. A few people have mentioned the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. There's no doubt that it's a exceptional lens, but its range is better suited for a full-frame body. On a crop body it's effectively a 36-105mm lens, which isn't wide enough for shooting in a small room. The 17-55mm f/2.8 is perfect. It's optically as good as the 24-70, has a better focal range for a crop body, and it's lighter and smaller than the 24-70.

Good point GrillMouster!

As for some getting ready shots, I always think the bride in her sweats or something while getting their make up and hair done is always fun. Also, don't forget the hanging dress shots. It's also neat to take pictures of knick knacks, like jewelry or other items that are special.

Here are a few from ours:

But have fun, and be creative! Just the fact that you're thinking about it and want to make it great is a huge first step. You're going to do great!

 

[WillCAD]

So long as you are not the primary photographer for the wedding, and you're just snapping some additional shots in areas where the pro photographers are not present, I think you'll be okay.

I have three pieces of advice:

1) Get a hot-shoe flash! Being a Canon man, I'm not familiar with Nikon's line of Speedlites, but I assume they have similar stuff to the Canons that I have. A reasonably powerful hot-shoe flash, with a diffuser, is an absolute must for good indoor pics. Not only will it light up darn subjects, but most hot-shoe flashes also have powerful supplemental infrared focus-assist lights, allowing your camera to auto-focus in much darker areas that it could on its own. It's also a good idea to learn how to do bounce flash, and learn how to use a bounce card; these are fairly simple techniques that will help you to reduce or eliminate glare spots in your flash pics. A good hot-shoe flash will cost you between $100 and $200.

2) Concentrate! Most peoples' biggest problem with photography is that they simply point the camera in a general direction and click the button (I am guilty of this myself, even after 10 years of shooting SLR cameras). But to get better pics, you have to actually look through the viewfinder and concentrate on the framing of the shot. You don't have to stand still for 10 minutes, but a second or two of actually looking at the details of the frame, as if you were critiquing a print or someone elses digital file, will often allow you to see ways that you can re-frame to make the shot look better.

3) Don't be afraid to shoot, and shoot, and shoot, all day long. It's digital; you can always delete bad shots later, when you download to your computer, but you can't go back and re-shot a shot you missed. A crummy pic of an important moment is better than no pic at all; of course, you'll get more good pics with practice and fewer bad pics, but the best way to learn something is to do it, so click away! You'll learn as you go, especially when you review your pics later.

 

[TakeMe2Disney]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess I should have also said that I did some extra photography for her BIL's wedding in February and that's what prompted her to ask me to take some shots of hers. She liked that I was able to get a different perspective - kind of more what the guests see than what somebody who's right next to you sees.

I've been convinced that I need to get an external flash and another lens. I love any excuse to get more "toys" for my camera. I've also downloaded GIMP and have started to work a little with that. Hopefully I can make some solid progress in the next 5 months!

 

[jfinke]

I use lightroom. Love it. But, I don't do much as far as pixel pushing. It is much more along the lines of organization and manipulating light.

 

[Angrypenguin]

I've been utilizing Lightroom 2, and I think it's fantastic. Really makes the workflow manageable, and they've made it so powerful, that I'm not even sure I need to branch into Photoshop.

 

[1tripandIfell]

Let me know what you think I should do different, keep the same...TIA
(Hope this works)

( ^ ^ This one was taken during an overcast morning)
Here are a few in case it doesn't work.

 

[jann1033]

i agree with the lightroom 2 ratings. i love it ( my main editing program) and also have photoshop elements 5, i use pse5 occasionally mostly for plug ins and some of the filters. it could do most of what photoshop (non elements ) did, the main difference being actions but there are lots of free add ons for that. ( about.com has a decent list of places for plug ins for elements btw) i also have painter x from corel for more advanced editing, at the moment to advanced for me to do much with it


not sure how much difference in
pse
5 and 7 but if you ever plan on shooting raw you might like lightroom better if you only want one program. elements isn't the greatest for multiple processing raw images etc. but lightroom doesn't have as many options for different type filters, artistic adjustments etc. you can download a free trial from adobe though for both and see which works best for your needs
if you have a student in the family you might want to check someplace like journey ed for prices. lightroom there was $99 and the painter x with a large graphic tablet was $149, both good prices.

 

[MICKEY88]

if your alpha came with image data lightbox and image data converter, you should install and give them a try, they work great for processing sony raw files, I use them for my brightness,white balance etc, basic processing, then if I want to do more advanced processing I can export the file directly to Paint Shop pro, which is also an excellent editing program

 

[JR6ooo4]

I already had ps7 and got an upgrade to CS2 for $150 at best buy (which is never cheapest) about two years ago.

MIkeeee

 

[YesDear]

I use Photo Mechanic to manage my pictures.

I use Capture NX2 for 90% of the post processing. Primarily because I shoot with Nikon's and it was designed for the Nikon image.

I then will use Photoshop CS3 for the rest. I just have not spent the time or the $ to upgrade.

 

[kangareaux]

I love photoscape. I have photoshop, but rarely use it. My computer's just too old & slow now so everything takes FOREVER to do in photoshop.

Are thre any free programs you use?

 

[Groucho]

I am a huge fan of Irfanview. It's free, small, fast, and has a pretty solid range of editing capabilities, including great batch processing. You can do the usual cropping, rotation, color adjustments, red-eye, watermarking, etc, very efficiently.

 

[Evad]

I like to use Picasa. It's a great little program that can now handle raw files as well. Here's a link if interested.

 

[racreel]

I use Paint Shop Pro (which is inexpensive, but not free) for editing, but I use the free Raw Therapee for manipulating raw files and converting to png.

 

[MICKEY88]

I use the Sony software for basic processing, such as exposure and white balance, of my raw files , then if I want to do more processing I export from there to Paint SHop Pro Photo X2, for Portraits I use Portrait Professional, which is incredible software..