Software - which ones and what do they do?

Garnett

Garnett

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Name
Sam
Edit My Images
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I'm new to digital photograpy, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

I keep on reading about "shooting RAW" and how it saved so many shots and allowed this and allowed that. SO I've read a bit about RAW and understand it a bit.

What I want to know is:-

What software to people then use on their images, and for what purpose?

I'm after a list of the most popular packages and the most common actions.

I've seen photoshop, and been wowwed by some incredible effects people have achieved, but I'm guessing most people aren't doing anything very extreme, just tweaking, but tweaking what?

Thanks for any help.
 
Most DSLR's wil come with there own software enabling you to do all the 'tweaking', and more, you want..I have a Nikon D3100 and shoot mainly in RAW and the Nikon View NX2 software that came with the camera suits all my current needs.

Robin
 
Thanks Robin. I'll have to check out the Silkypics CD that came with my Pentax.

What I was after as well though, was an idea of what people do most often... Is it red-eye reduction kinda stuff? Or more like "Brighten this part, put a yellow tint on that side, edit out Mike doing that stupid trick with the milk bottle..."
 
I think most will have some sort of workflow..crop, saturation, highlights etc:. I tend to go by what a particular image may need..i.e WB/exposure compensation/shadows/highlights/colour,saturation..the last thing I always do though is crop (if it needs it)

Robin
 
Ah, OK. Thanks. I guess like you say, I need to check out the bundled software and see what it can do.
 
Get Lightroom 4. Brilliant programme, probably all (more than) you'll ever need, now down to £100. Download a free one month trial from the Adobe site http://success.adobe.com/en/uk/sem/...=p&skwcid=TC|23077|lightroom||S|b|21212135494

As a principle, shooting Raw and post processing should really be used to optimise an already good image, rather than rescue disasters. However, if the worst happens, there is more scope to work with on the Raw file.
 
If you feel like playing you can usually download trial versions of popular packages plus there are free ones which may be worth trying and keeping for use on other pc's.

I used a free package called Raw Shooter Essentials for years and still have Rawtherapee although I've only used it recently while waiting for my most used package to be updated.

Anyway, as you asked what people use RAW processing software for here's what I normally do...

The usual tweaks to suit... contrast, saturation, vibrance.

I apply some standard changes and then treak if required for... sharpness and noise reduction.

Occasionally I adjust the exposure and / or levels.

Rotate and crop as required and then output as max quality JPEG.
 
woof woof said:
If you feel like playing you can usually download trial versions of popular packages plus there are free ones which may be worth trying and keeping for use on other pc's.

I used a free package called Raw Shooter Essentials for years and still have Rawtherapee although I've only used it recently while waiting for my most used package to be updated.

Anyway, as you asked what people use RAW processing software for here's what I normally do...

The usual tweaks to suit... contrast, saturation, vibrance.

I apply some standard changes and then treak if required for... sharpness and noise reduction.

Occasionally I adjust the exposure and / or levels.

Rotate and crop as required and then output as max quality JPEG.
Click to expand...

That was the company Adobe bought upon which they based ACR and Lightroom.
 
RSE is a joy to use but to be honest CS5 gives much much better results. It would have been nice to see what RSE could have become had to continued to be developed but sadly that was not to. It was a lovely and free package in its day though, IMVHO.
 
Lightroom and Photoshop Elements seem to be mentioned a lot. After I've had a look at the bundled software I'll be reading up about those two I think.
 
Before you rush out and part with real money on something which may not be suitable, get used to using the software which came with your camera. When you have got the hang of processing your images, you'll have a better idea of which features you'd like in a commercial package. If you still can't decide, download the free Picasa. It's highly thought of on here and will give you further insight into what you want from an image editor.
 
I use Lightroom, but as I am only a beginner, my photos tend to get over done a bit, have a look at You Tube and see what others do, it will give you an idea at what different software does.
 
Thanks a lot. What Robin said seems to ring true, and I'll hold back until I start taking shots that are worthing of more time and attention!
 
The software that comes with the camera is often rubbish IMVHO. I have Canon DPP and it's a pile of crap IMVHO as is Silkipix. I never use them.

Most if not all of the good stuff is available to try before you buy and there are also some good free packages, that's not free to try it's FREE :D Rawtherapee is pretty good IMVHO and I've seen results on line that are way beyond what I can personally do. I think it's worth trying and keeping as a backup or for use on other pc's even afrer a main package has been bought.

The best thing IMVHO is a two pronged approach...

1. Google "Free photo processing software" and spend some time seeing and trying what's available. If you can't get by with the manufacturers software (which is often horrible) or the free stuff...
2. Download and trial a few of the main contenders, Light Room, CS?, Capture One etc.
 
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I stand by my comment re camera's own free software..and there are those that believe, in the case of Nikon, there own software reads RAW (NEF) files better that even Photoshop..there have been major improvements to these products too with regular updates..(just my 2 cents worth)

Robin
 
I'm think I'm fairly typical in that I use Aperture 3 (Lightroom is probably more commonly used) for Raw conversion, basic/intermediate editing, organisiation, tagging etc... Any more edvanced editing, I'll use Photoshop CS5.
 
I use and only use Photoshop CS5 - horses for courses - you get what you pay for ;)

Lightroom and Photoshop Elements are very good editing programmes, just not for me

Les :thumbs:
 
I'm starting to realise I'm going to need a bigger computer than my old laptop... :shake:
 
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