PP & Software advice needed

jonjay3012

jonjay3012

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74
Edit My Images
Yes
Having just bought my first ever Dslr I've been reading a lot online, manly on here, to try and get to grips with things and learn as much as I can.

One thing I come across endlessly is threads and advice on PP. This is something that I have never really gotten in to, other than a bit of cropping, cloning and red eye removal. The other BIG recommendation that is made a lot for SLRs is to shoot RAW, however this seems to need a lot more PP knowlege.

One thing that particularly appeal to me is white balance adjustment for them pics that could have been good if the cameras auto brain hadn't got confuddled by multiple light sources, plus I'm a bit lazy with white balance and generally just let the camera decide in Auto WB.

I've also looked at a couple of tutorials, like the "make them eyes pop" one, and would like to try things like that.

I'm not particularly flush and can't afford silly money on software, I'd also like if possible to limit the numbers of programmes I use. I currently have
Faststone Image Viewer,
Nikon View NX
Paint.net

The only one I use at the minute is Faststone and that's only really for cropping, red eye, cloning and photo organising. I don't know if it has the capabilities to do much more or not.

So the question is, if I were to concentrate on using JUST 1 programme for editing (not counting organisation) is there a general consensus as to which is best. Should I stick with one that I have or invest in something better, mainly thinking Lightroom or Elements from what I read.

One last thing, please do suggest full blown PS as there is no way I will ever be able to aford it.

Many thanks
J
 
There are free programs about that offer a lot of features, GIMP being amongst the best, i have not used it but it gets good feedback but may be a little fiddly than something like PS.

LR is a excellent program and it is what i use along with PS for most of my editing.

It doesn't have all the features of PS but will do most of what you want.
 
Elements or lightroom should do what you want, remember though lightroom doesn't do layers, so if the tutorials your following use layers you'll need elements. The full version of photoshop does have more tools/options but theres very little that can't be done in elements.
I'd suggest you download the trial versions of both and see what suits your style/workflow best, both have pros and cons, they are really intended to compliment each other, lightroom for the bulk batch editing, and photoshop for the more fiddly tricky stuff.
 
So, are the main differences between LR and Elements the ability to handle layers (Elements) and ability to work on batches (LR), or is there more to it than that?

I've heard too many people say how tricky GIMP is to use, which is why I've ruled that one out.
 
I don't find GIMP tricky. But I've learned how to use it for what I want to do.

Never having used a PS or elements - I would definitely find these tricky (to start with).

Download GIMP - (its free) and try it. Join in one of the two photo editing games on this forum, you'll soon learn loads!
 
When you say that you have Nikon View NX I assume that you have View NX2 which is a much better program, if not it is a free download from the Nikon site.

It has
Exp comp
WB
Picture Control
Sharpness
Contrast
Brightness
Highlight Protection
Shadow Protection
D Lighting
Colour booster
Crop
Straighten
Auto Red Eye
Axial CA
Auto Lateral CA

You can also edit metadata, batch process etc.

All of the adjustments are made non-destructively so that you can change any of them at anytime, you can also process raw images and VNX2 will apply all the camera settings which you can then change if required.

VNX2 only applies edits to the whole of the image, if you want to change at a pixel level, cloning or healing etc, then you will need to save as a TIFF and open the file in Paint.net.

So my advice would be to use VNX2 and only go to Paint.net if you need something that you cannot do in VNX2.

FWIW I use Nikon Capture NX2, which is like VNX2 but has many more features and occasionally I also use Photoshop Elements if I want to do cloning, better healing or combine 2 photos.
 
I find Adobe Elements meets all my editing need ,I have version10 which is a little bit cheaper now version 11 is released. Check out prices on fleabay. version 11 has a free limited time trial you can download to see how you get on.

Realspeed
 
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Suvv, yep I meant NX2. Maybe I'll just learn to use that to begin with first then and see what limitations I come up against as time goes by.
 
jonjay3012 said:
Suvv, yep I meant NX2. Maybe I'll just learn to use that to begin with first then and see what limitations I come up against as time goes by.
Click to expand...

It is quite a powerful program, it is a stripped down version of Capture NX2 which costs about £130. It uses the same algorithms but as it is stripped down it is actually faster than Capture NX2.
There are a few tutorials on the web that will get you started, remember that with any processing if a little adjustment is good then a bit more adjustment is usually terrible :D

Have fun
 
jonjay3012 said:
So, are the main differences between LR and Elements the ability to handle layers (Elements) and ability to work on batches (LR), or is there more to it than that?

I've heard too many people say how tricky GIMP is to use, which is why I've ruled that one out.
Click to expand...

Theres a lot more to it than that but to simplfy, lightroom is far better and easier at batch ajusting the basics (exposure/colour/ sharpening etc) and also cataloguing your images, but it can't do layers, or cutting/pasting type jobs.
Elements on the other hand if fine with layers and far better for any local ajustments, LR does have some limited local ajustments, but it hasn't got the selection options elements has. Elements also has better cloning/healing than LR.
Many photographers manage fine with just one, but IMHO lifes a lot easier if you can afford both, but it does depend on what your doing with your pics.
 
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There's loads of free programmes available (I'm a Linux Mint user), many of which can also be had in Windoze form - I recommend the Gimp, Digikam and Raw Therapee
 
With GIMP, would many of the PS tutorials you find on here and in many other places be fairly easily transferable to GIMP?
 
Organnyx said:
There's loads of free programmes available (I'm a Linux Mint user), ... ... - I recommend the Gimp, Digikam and Raw Therapee
Click to expand...
My workflow is Digikam, Raw Therapee, Gimp, and Hugin. Digikam is very extensive and can manage the whole workflow. I also use Kubuntu.
 
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