Does anyone know anything about good photo editing packages for a digital camera? I'm thinking of buying a camera soon and I would like to be able to use a photo and image editing package too, I've no knowledge and skills already so a beginner package would be great, although if anyone knows about more advanced ones it'd be welcome too, I like to hear about stuff like this.
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Photo editing packages?
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KDude
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The websites are free.. they're just web apps, similar to any webmail or online games. You just need Flash.
cascadeco
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picnik is great for something pretty easy/painless. Also it's great for most minor editing you might want to do - such as contrast/exposure, saturation, and cropping/straightening of the image.
I myself am not one who likes the idea of massively editing images, but since I have recently started shooting in RAW format, I had to get software to work with that and then which coverted to jpeg. So I use Adobe Lightroom now - it obviously opens way more doors for those who are wanting to do more sophisticated image adjustments (i.e. white balance, etc). So it's similar to photoshop in that respect, but still more bare-bones in my understanding... doesn't get as deeply into all of that 'crazy' hdr / tone-mapping stuff.
But if you're just shooting in jpeg, I don't see much of a need to use anything beyond picnik.
I myself am not one who likes the idea of massively editing images, but since I have recently started shooting in RAW format, I had to get software to work with that and then which coverted to jpeg. So I use Adobe Lightroom now - it obviously opens way more doors for those who are wanting to do more sophisticated image adjustments (i.e. white balance, etc). So it's similar to photoshop in that respect, but still more bare-bones in my understanding... doesn't get as deeply into all of that 'crazy' hdr / tone-mapping stuff.
But if you're just shooting in jpeg, I don't see much of a need to use anything beyond picnik.
INTP
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But if you're just shooting in jpeg, I don't see much of a need to use anything beyond picnik.
then you dont know much about photo editing
cascadeco
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lol.
For most people wanting to do minor adjustments/fixes, anything beyond picnik isn't necessary. Picnik is just fine for 99% of the population - even those somewhat serious about photography, but who aren't interested in doing massive alterations. Given that the OP is a beginner, isn't talking about picking up a 2-3K digital SLR, and didn't mention massively editing images, picnik is a good option.
It's pretty common knowledge that Photoshop is an option that'll step things up a lot and will add a lot more features. I mentioned LightRoom, which is another option.
INTP
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doing small adjustments(as in the picture doesent change much from the original) doesent mean that you dont adjust alot of different things and do complicated editing.
but yeah if someone isnt interested on adjusting photos well and accept crap results, then crap program will be enough. but since you can get a photoshop for free, i dont see any reason why not to get it. there are good plug-ins for photoshop like alien skin exposure that simulates different film profiles, and you can get very good results with it just by choosing a film profile and you get to do better adjustments easy that photoshop doesent offer in itself.
cascadeco
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INTP said:
Ah, well, if we're going to start talking about Crap Results which, from a purely aesthetic viewpoint (I'm not talking camera settings or general composition 'rules', which can/do have objective components), is totally subjective, then I could easily point to the vast number of Crap Images on flickr or in photo galleries, for sale, that were all altered/modified drastically using software packages such as Photoshop. I find many of them grotesque and distracting, but I recognize this is totally subjective and that others might find the images highly effective and appealing. I could also find images developed in Photoshop that I consider quite good. Photoshop or other more sophisticated software does not make or break an image.
Photoshop does not inherently yield Good Results, just as 'crappy' programs like picnik don't inherently yield good or bad results. If someone doesn't know how to use photoshop, or does, but does stuff with it that some people find totally repulsive, then it could be a Crappy Result too.
I use gimp as well. It does most of the stuff photoshop does. It isn't too hard to learn. There's also a version of it called GIMPshop that looks like photoshop (more or less).
But, I think the main problem with people wanting to edit their photos is that it can be hard to know what tools you need. Yeah, photoshop and gimp have everything you need if you're not shooting RAW, but you really only need a couple of tools that come with the programs. Here's a small list of things you should learn to use (can be found in both PS and Gimp):
Levels
-There is a histogram that tells you the spread of the colors by value. The other end is black, the other white. Usually you will want to adjust it so that there is somewhat even spread across the histogram. So, you drag the little arrows so that they are at the beginning and end of the curve. Or, you can do this with "Auto Levels"
-It's really useful to learn to read the histogram.
Hue/Saturation/Lightness
-If you take a pic so that the white balance isn't good (the pic is bluish or something), you can adjust it with the Hue. There are other tools for this as well, like Color Balance, which will give you more stuff you can adjust.
Crop
-Make a better composition by cropping your photos.
Layers
-Very handy to learn how to use layers, because then you can adjust different parts of the image to have different color tweaks. There are tutorials around. The basic idea is that you duplicate the photo and have it on the overlaying layer, then use different settings for it than the one under it. Then you can erase the parts of the overlaying photo to make the underlying photo come through in those parts. It's a bit too much to explain here.
But, I think the main problem with people wanting to edit their photos is that it can be hard to know what tools you need. Yeah, photoshop and gimp have everything you need if you're not shooting RAW, but you really only need a couple of tools that come with the programs. Here's a small list of things you should learn to use (can be found in both PS and Gimp):
Levels
-There is a histogram that tells you the spread of the colors by value. The other end is black, the other white. Usually you will want to adjust it so that there is somewhat even spread across the histogram. So, you drag the little arrows so that they are at the beginning and end of the curve. Or, you can do this with "Auto Levels"
-It's really useful to learn to read the histogram.
Hue/Saturation/Lightness
-If you take a pic so that the white balance isn't good (the pic is bluish or something), you can adjust it with the Hue. There are other tools for this as well, like Color Balance, which will give you more stuff you can adjust.
Crop
-Make a better composition by cropping your photos.
Layers
-Very handy to learn how to use layers, because then you can adjust different parts of the image to have different color tweaks. There are tutorials around. The basic idea is that you duplicate the photo and have it on the overlaying layer, then use different settings for it than the one under it. Then you can erase the parts of the overlaying photo to make the underlying photo come through in those parts. It's a bit too much to explain here.
