Editing

viscountdriver

viscountdriver

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Name
Gerry
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm fairly new to serious photography and I follow the forums to learn. What I find is that the best shots seem to have been editied and that one has to learn an edit programme as well as how to use the camera.I cannot run to Photoshop but have Serif PhotoPluis which seems to do all I need.
 
I think it depends on the style of work & a heavily retouched photograph can be ruined as much as enhanced. It's getting that balance right.
 
Theres a lot to be said for getting it right in camera, however if you shoot raw format (the data from the sensor more or less untouched) you'll have to process the image, and even most jpegs will benifit from a minor sharpen/tweek.
Then theres the fact it's not always possible to get it right in camera, theres a lot of factors involved, the lighting, a grab shot, a difficult subject etc etc, even the best photographers will get it wrong sometimes.
Finally theres the creative side. I will often take a shot knowing it'll look totally different after I have "photoshoped" it, I'll sometimes know what I want before I shoot, other times I'll get the idea at a later stage.
Theres no right or wrong, if what you do works for you, thats fine, theres no rule that says you must edit.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Theres a lot to be said for getting it right in camera
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I think there's a lot to be said for having your camera set-up the way you want it before pressing the shutter, but that's very different to getting the finished result without any further action after the shutter is pressed.
 
I've spent a lot of time working out the best settings to get it about as right in the camera as possible. Once I'd done that I know I can shoot Jpegs and be happy enough withthe output for a general photo thats going to be left on the computer. If I've got some portrait work thats really important then I'll shoot RAW or Raw & Jpeg so that I've got the options to edit if I need to. Generally the RAW shots need levels tweaking and a bit of sharpening but I never go as far as totally altering the photo to make it look something it's not. I try to get away with as little editing as possible as I prefer the "real look" to my photos.
 
Everything will need a little editing, digital cameras don't have anywhere near enough control over the output to get results spoton for every shot, that's why we have editing software to do it after the shot.

Of course a lot depnds on your own taste and the look you want to achieve, and tehre are plenty of filters about that'll help you get it as close to perfect as possible before clicking the shutter.
 
If you are happy with Serif Photoplus then fine, but if you want to experiment with other editors have a look at -

Photoscape,
Irfanview,
Paint.net,
Faststone, and
GIMP -

they all free.

Dave
 
Why not use View NX2 which came with your D3100..its great for RAW and editing..not so good as an organiser though..as it wont cost anything give it a go!

Robin
 
If the software is good then you don't really have to learn much to make basic editing of the photo. I only use iPhoto (free photo mgmt software supplied with Apple) and it does all I need. Exposure, contrast, saturation, highlights, shadow, sharpening etc, and all by just moving sliders so nothing to learn.

If by editing you mean Photoshop and ending up with an image that is far removed from what was taken then yes you will need to learn a bit but I tend to dislike any photos that have clearly been through photoshop anyway!
 
ernesto said:
If by editing you mean Photoshop and ending up with an image that is far removed from what was taken then yes you will need to learn a bit but I tend to dislike any photos that have clearly been through photoshop anyway!
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If it's obvious then it can be off-putting and distracting, but sometimes if you don't understand the limitations of the available technology you don't realise the extent of the manipulation that's been done (without Photoshop)..



The difference between what can be done in-camera (and generally isn't counted as post-processing by those that care about such things) and what can't, is generally a matter of time and technological advancement. When the sensor that can capture 20 stops of dynamic range is invented we'll wonder what the fuss about HDR was anyway.
 
As above. You can set up the camera to optimise it to produce the sort of images you prefer, and a lot of cameras let you store your own settings too, but a lot of us still find that some post processing is necessary to get the best out of them. Not everyone agrees, and you will find posts from people who reckon they can get perfect JPEGs out of the camera every time. I'm not one of them!

There are several free post processing programmes out there, but I've only tried Gimp and Faststone. Photoshop Elements isn't very expensive, and Lightroom is affordable for many people, particularly if you qualify for the academic discount.This is quite broadly defined. You can download 30 day free trials of both these programmes from Adobe. Don't worry about the full version of Photoshop. There are academic discounts for this too, but very few amateurs actually need this software.
 
Photoshop Cs6 currently has a beta going you can download for free
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs6/

Also there is a beta of lightroom 4 still active.

I think good photos can be made great with editing etc I also go out knowing that the picture I am taking would normally be boring however I have an idea in PP editing that would make it a cool pic etc.

Yes get a good pic first then edit it as it is very hard to turn a bad pic into an amazing pic.

Most photos are edited in dome form as most photos by photographers are shot in Raw so you have to edit to enhance before the image is finished.

I was a photoshopper before photographer so I guess I use it a lot more with my photographic stuff.

Even when it looks good straight from your camera on the lcd screen when you see a full size version you may see things you didnt at the tiome of shooting so yeah it needs tweaking.
 
Alastair said:
I think there's a lot to be said for having your camera set-up the way you want it before pressing the shutter, but that's very different to getting the finished result without any further action after the shutter is pressed.
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Couldn't agree with this quote more.

Post production gives us the ability to further develop our work. We can take a shot of something the way all cameras perceive it & make it appear exactly as we perceive it. Every individual has a different vision, a different perspective & a different photographic style. Post production is another amazing tool to make your work your own or just to take it to the next level.
 
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If you get a chance to print in a darkroom you will find that even with film there are a lot of adjustments made to change the look and feel of a picture from the original negative. Photoshop et al are more powerful manipulation tools, but there has always been some post production to create a final print.

Mike
 
If taking photos in a controlled environment then it's easier to knock out batches of images without the need for editing even then I like to shoot raw as I like to sharpen all my images myself.

But when shooting personal portraits i deliberately shoot with the intent to edit... My photos are quite often drab and lack impact to retain as much detail as possible. You can always add contrast dodge this and burn that but only if the detail is there in the first place!
 
There's is definitely a lot to be said for getting it right in camera. Mostly, it's "Welcome to 2012, we haven't needed to do that for years now".
 
London Headshots said:
There's is definitely a lot to be said for getting it right in camera. Mostly, it's "Welcome to 2012, we haven't needed to do that for years now".
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There may be no NEED, but some WANT to post process.

There is no right or wrong way, it's just another one of those Internet arguments that goes around more than a fairground roundabout.
 
So what are the most popular editing tweaks? This side of things scares the life out of me and is rather off putting.
 
MadaCup said:
So what are the most popular editing tweaks? This side of things scares the life out of me and is rather off putting.
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The possibilities are literally endless, but the most common tweaks are sharpening the image, changing the colour, and changing the contrast.
 
viswcountdriver said:
I'm fairly new to serious photography and I follow the forums to learn. What I find is that the best shots seem to have been editied and that one has to learn an edit programme as well as how to use the camera.I cannot run to Photoshop but have Serif PhotoPluis which seems to do all I need.
Click to expand...

You can get Photoshop Elements 6 for around a tenner on Amazon. That's amazing value as this is a programme capable of doing pretty much any editing you'll need to begin with - including RAW processing. Add a few quid more for Scott Kelby's book on this, and you're away.

MadaCup said:
So what are the most popular editing tweaks? This side of things scares the life out of me and is rather off putting.
Click to expand...

Pretty much all images will benefit from re-naming, cropping, levels and sharpening. Don't try to swallow the whole thing in one go. Start with a few basics and work your way through the more esoteric stuff when you need it.

Learning to edit is just as important as any other part of photography if you intend to become a good photographer.
 
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Hi
Does anyone know if photoshop elements 6 works ok with Windows 7?
 
Good luck! (And do get a decent book -such as Kelby - unless you enjoy screaming at your computer... :help:)
 
MadaCup said:
So what are the most popular editing tweaks? This side of things scares the life out of me and is rather off putting.
Click to expand...

For me it is Exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, sharpening. I have used a few editing programs and most do far more than you may need at first and they are not always as intuitive as they could be so could scare people off.

All the common functions I use are on iPhoto. The photos are auto loaded into iPhoto when connecting the camera and the editing is done via simple sliders (even handles RAW for a lot of cameras).
There is nothing to fear and nothing to learn to be able to do simple editing within seconds. You do need a Mac for iPhoto but are there not similar simple editing tools on Windows?
 
Thanks. Lookout for future posts if and more probably when I get stuck 
 
MadaCup said:
So what are the most popular editing tweaks? This side of things scares the life out of me and is rather off putting.
Click to expand...

I usually use Curves, Levels, Colour Balance & Hue/Saturation. Often play with Overlay Layers, Brush Tools & Clone. It depends.

Experiment with post production & it gradually becomes second nature. Took me a few years to grasp it all.
 
Have a look at Zoner Photo Studio 14, It's free on the Internet.
 
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