photo editing, what to use

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For editing I've had great results using MS Picture It Digital Image Pro.  Does everything I need to do and has some neat features.  Not too pricy either!
 
Well, after reading in reverse order, I had the thought you never used anything, hence the suggestions of the really l programs.  (L as in so light that lire is too big a word), then seeing your
progression of programs, I'll throw my vote in for LF, I have LR3, used LR2 previously.  If you are disciplined, it makes workflow a snap.  PS9 is nice for some things like stitching a pan, but
there are other pprograms for that.

I shoot RAW, so some programs won't handle, like MS Excel. (did you really mean Excel???)  Picassa will handle raw, and does a pretty good shotgun appraoch.

Have fun with it, and post some examples.
 
Larry N. said:
I use the  Gimp, a free (GPL) software program. It's fairly powerful, and works on most any OS.
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Same here... Picasa too.  best photo editing programs I've ever used for the price.  ;)  And both would be really decent even if they DID cost money!  Both have more than enough functioning for the average user, I can't imagine needing much more unless you are in the photography production profession in some way.
 
Another Picasa user here ... mostly shoot RAW ... have used PS Elements but don't have an updated copy. 

Howard
 
mike eddleman said:
That looks like a great site Tom. I guess I will try Lightroom. I'm not planning on trying to do a lot of editing, But just small things if needed most likely more on the cropping and trying to make the color pop a little. But first I have to try to remember how to take pictures. It's been many, many years scene anything but point and shoot
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Lightroom is fantastic. One of the main reasons for using it is that it doesn't bruise the pixels.  That means that it NEVER changes your original file, be it RAW or jpg.  It posts the changes in a log, then applies them for your current view, export to file, or print.  So it will export a file, jpg or TIF or whatever, with all the changes applied.  The beauty of this is that you can't screw up your original.  You can create a new image (virtual) from any step in your processing.  This virtual image takes up almost no disk space, because all it is is a different list of processes applied to your original. You can still send the current view to Photoshop, make changes, and have it come back as a different file than the original.  I export all my pano pics to lightroom, process them, then bring back a composite to lightroom.  The same for HDR, using Photomatix 4.0. 

All the pics on my home page were processed with Lightroom, along with the creation of the web page.
 
gkas said:
That means that it NEVER changes your original file, be it RAW or jpg.  It posts the changes in a log, then applies them for your current view, export to file, or print.
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There is no editing program in existence that changes the original file unless you specifically tell it to overwrite the original. In order for any editing program (words, songs, photos, videos) to be edited it takes the file from your hard drive and loads it into memory. The editing program then changes the file that is in memory. In fact it can't edit a file on your hard drive. When you go to save it (or export it) you must specify whether you wish to save it as a new file or overwrite the original file. You can very easily change the original file with Lightroom. Just choose Filename from the 'Rename to' drop down box, choose the folder that the original is in and then select 'Overwrite' when it asks you if you wish to overwrite the original file or save with a different file name. You can also select 'Overwrite without warning' from the 'Existing Files' drop down list. I have been using Lightroom for 4 years since it was in Beta and I have overwritten the original many times. But only when I want to do that.
 
I'm feeling really dumb; I used an early LightRoom beta, but never could figure out how to use it. I'm one of those people for whom software has to be intuitive to use, or it gets dumped. I've used PSE for some years, although it does have many more features than I'll ever use. I've also used a few low-cost or freebie software for very basic stuff.

One of the replies to this topic had a link to an online LR tutorial, and I've started watching it in the hope I can figure out how to use it.
 
I'm with you Tom, I'm still having trouble importing the photos into the program.
I have been doing a lot of playing with it. I did a jpg search on my computer and found I already have about 3000 photos on it. My new camera will be here today, so I plan on a lot more of them on it. I have a old 300 gig hard drive hooked to it to save a lot of them.
I used the old PS and got pretty good at it but still don't use the new one that much, Mostly for cropping and little things like that. I guess time will tell. I did watch the tutorials that were posted but it wasn't the same version as mine so their was some changes right off the bat, Like how to get the picture into the program
 
Tom said:
I'm feeling really dumb; I used an early LightRoom beta, but never could figure out how to use it. I'm one of those people for whom software has to be intuitive to use, or it gets dumped. I've used PSE for some years, although it does have many more features than I'll ever use. I've also used a few low-cost or freebie software for very basic stuff.

One of the replies to this topic had a link to an online LR tutorial, and I've started watching it in the hope I can figure out how to use it.
Click to expand...
Don't feel dumb Tom. Usually I can pick up any program and just start using it right off the bat and figure it out as I go. Not so with Lightroom. There is absolutely nothing intuitive about it, that is why I put a link to the tutorials. I had to use them to get started. This is probably because of Adobe's close association with Apple over the years. No Apple program is intuitive to me. I have been in the PC camp for the last 30 years. In fact Lightroom is the only Apple-centric program I allow on my computer only because it really has no competition. Still today I shake my head at the way things are done in Lightroom just about every time I use it.

Here are a few tips:

When you connect your camera to your computer (or plug your memory card into the USB port) you must move the photos off your memory card to some place on your computer. Most people use the My Pictures folder. If you are an advanced computer user you should never do this. You need to have your hard drive partitioned and use a folder in any other partition except the C drive where Windows lives. Or use a separate hard drive either external or internal. External USB hard drives are dirt cheap. If you put your photos on the C drive you run the risk of loosing them if you get a virus. If they are on a different partition or hard drive that won't happen. Put the photos into a folder that is unique to the upload you are doing, usually people name the folder the date the upload occurs. Or you could call it Tom's birthday or whatever.

Open Lightroom and click on the Library button (upper right) and then click on the Import button (lower left). Choose the folder from the Source list in the upper left, then click the Import button on the lower right. All the photos from that folder will be imported into Lightroom.

Now comes the best part of Lightroom. All the photos you just imported will be in a "filmstrip" along the bottom. They will also be displayed as if you have a "slide tray" in the middle of the screen. Go to the filmstrip and double click on the first image. It will be displayed in a larger size in place of the slide tray. Now use the right arrow key on your keyboard to look through your images one at a time. When you find one you really like and you want to "Photoshop" it just hit the B key on your keyboard. This will add that photo to your Quick Collection. Once you have looked at all your photos then click the "Quick Collection" link in the upper left. Now only your Quick Collection selections will be in the film strip. Now click on the Develop button in the upper right. Click on the first image on the left in the Quick Collection and it will be displayed in the slide tray area and you can start cropping and adjusting colors. When you are satisfied with the way it looks click the Export button in the lower right. Save it as a jpg to a different location than the original and give it a descriptive name. Then go to the next photo in your Quick Collection and repeat the process until you have PPed all the images in your Quick Collection.

Please post any questions you might have about using Lightroom. It is a real pain to get started with the program but once you have it figured out it is magic.
 
Thanks Tom, much appreciated. Unfortunately, I don't currently have LightRoom installed, and I'm not sure I want to spend a few hundred $$ to try it out.
 
Tom said:
Thanks Tom, much appreciated. Unfortunately, I don't currently have LightRoom installed, and I'm not sure I want to spend a few hundred $$ to try it out.
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There is a free 30 trial version for download on Adobe's web site.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom

 
I use Elements 9 also. I have the new paintshop but I found it to complicated and not very intuitive. I just got started and fell and broke some bones so looking forward to trying things out. Now I have to refresh how to use my new camera I got just before the accident.
 
I have used an old version of Photoshop now for about 10 years, but I still only know enough about it to make myself dangerous.  Using Photoshop to touch up a photo is like trying to get a drink of water out of a fire hydrant. ;D  Lately, I use Picasa for most of my photography needs and love it.  When I want to do something I can't do with Picasa, I try Photoshop.
 
This is where LightRoom comes in handy, Best part is the part I am so bad at, and that is organizing.  I would be almost willing to pay someone to go thru my catalogs and get them straight.

 
Cs5 is very good and high end.
I use Photo shop elements but is slow. But I like my pictured cataloged
If you want free and pretty good try Pisaca. very fast for lookups and especially good for backups
 
Mike, resize?  file size, like to put n here, or as in to change dimensions? 

For dimensions, just freeform crop.  For size of file, use Export with Presets, and pick your options. 

 
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