I just joined this site a few days ago, and i have seen a lot of amazing pictures already. but i was wandering if those pictures are straight off your camera, or if you use photoshop (or an other programm) to edit them. And if you do what is the reason for that and which options do you use?
(At the moment i just installed picasa and am playing around with it to see what i can do)
@nicoleterheide I use Photoscape - it's free and does some cool things to my pics. I don't have a fancy schmancy camera though so if I did maybe I would invest in Photoshop :)
@speedy0901 thanx allison, but i actually ment any program to alter your photos like photoscape or picasa (i edited my original post to loose the confusion)
Yes and no. If the camera gives me what I want SOOC then no and most of the time no except for simple editing but occasionally I want to remove something that doesn't make sense or I want to play around with some fun edits. I don't do any fancy photoshopping but there are plenty of those here that are masters. Check out the WWYD ... discusssions to see what people are doing. It's crazy cool!
i use photoshop and nik silver fx for editing... however, i recently learned from this site how to adjust my in-camera settings and as a result i am finding i need to do much less post processing to get sharpness, contrast and a nice saturation of colours...
I love photoshop, been using it longer than I've had a digital camera. So yes, I use it all the time, even if its only for resizing a photo down to fit on my monitor. Sometimes I use it a whole bunch, sometimes almost not at all, depends on the picture and what I want to do with it.
I've found that photoshop elements can do 80-90% of what I do with the full version of photoshop. So if you think you'd be interested in Photoshop at some time, try Photoshop Elements first and see if you feel like you need anything more. I will usually do a bit of adjustment for exposure/contrast and then a little sharpening to counteract the bit of softness one gets when you downsize a photo on everything I post on a bulletin board.
I always shoot in RAW so there's always a small amount of processing needed though I normally try & keep it to a minimum! It really depends on the shot! I use photoshop!
Yes I do :)
I almost always do little tweaks to my photos.
I shoot in RAW so do initial processing in lightroom then if needed move through to photoshop.
oh yes I can never get the colours I want or I need to crop it down slightly, post editing for me is as fun as take'ing the actual photo!! I use varios free editing software to boost my skill.... Allthough i'm allways excited when a pic comes out perfect..
Maybe more experiance will eventualy render these programs obsolete but for now I need all the help I can get..
I have recently started using photoshop and as a result of all the great tools on offer I have over edited one or two images of late but its all good fun, in all seriousness I like to use my images SOOC and as such am still unsure as to where I should be sitting on the whole photoshop v photography debate. I keep telling myself it is a digital darkroom and if I think it would be OK in the darkroom then it is OK in photoshop.
Lightroom 4 primarily, but also Photoshop CS 6 and Portrait Professional for my beauty shots. Silver Efex usually for black and white conversion, but sometimes in Lightroom.
Thanks for the question. I have been debating this for months. I have a friend into commercial production in LA, and he recommended the full version of PS6. I also ran into a photographer just finishing her degree, and she recommended Lightroom. My goal, after 4 months of work here, is to be 90% pre-processing and 10% post-processing. It looks like I will be going to Lightroom.
I use Photoshop Elements 10. It can do most of what the full version of photoshop can do at a fraction of the price. Lots to learn though on either program. As mentioned above Lightroom is another good one. Getting into more professional portrait editing I think I will be switching over. There are some free editing sites picmonkey and iPiccy which you might enjoy playing with if you are just getting started.
I use Photoshop Elements 10 with two primary plug-ins: Topaz Adjust and Topaz B&W FX. Since I shoot in RAW, every shot I take is Photoshopped in some fashion. That's about as close to true film handling as you can get. Remember, that color lab we sent our film to for development and processing performed quite a bit of manipulation before we received our prints in the mail. They were influencing exposure +- 2 stops in the development. (The amount of time the film was exposed to each chemical applied a stop adjustment.) When printing, they were adjusting brightness (again by as much as 2 stops), they were adjusting contrast, and they were adjusting color tones via the use of 3 filters in combination in the enlarger. Finally, again through the use of filters, they were adjusting for warm or cold tones in the final image. Later processes, like the ones used on-site in pharmacies, automated a lot of that, however it was still being applied to each and every photo we took.
Even in today's digital age, if you're not shooting RAW, then you are processing that shot. You're allowing a computer program in your camera to manipulate the white balance. The camera is sharpening the image after you take it. It's applying a color profile that, through your menu options, you may or may not have control over. It's effectively taking all of the steps we also take in Photoshop. So I don't worry about SOOC, knowing that it's not something that ever existed with film. Think of it this way. Which is "true driving": manual or automatic transmissions? Whether you shift from first to second, or you let some engineer in Detroit program it for you, the net result is the same. You're shifting from first to second. Same thing with your images. Whether you let a programmer decide or whether you do the manipulation yourself, the net result is the same. Your image is being modified, either by you, by the camera, or both.
I use Photoscape for all my post-processing. When we all shot film and mailed the rolls off, the lab post-processed everything. Ansel Adams post-processed everything. It is part of photography. A little post goes a long way - I usually make minor adjustments to contrast, exposure and sharpness. Most of my shots are not cropped.
I got photoshop elements free with my laptop. have started to tweak and play with pictures more recently. always shoot in RAW so the options are kept open.
@speedy0901 lol yes that's what i'd meant - photoscape is for processing pics after you've taken them. i'm just saying since i haven't spend a boatload of money on a camera, i'm not going to pay for expensive photo processing software! especially since i'm a poor grad student ;)
I always edit my photos. 99% I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and sometimes I also edit using Photoshop CS4. Many times I also place a link to the before&after comparison, e.g. my latest shot with a skyline of Rotterdam: http://365project.org/djepie/365/2012-10-18
Why edit? Digital photos tend to be rather grey, and especially when shooting in RAW format there is many more detailed info in the photo to improve the results. Enjoy the project!
I use Photoshop, but I shoot in Raw format so I can't even see my photo's on my PC till I open them in PS. Sometimes I do more adjusting than other times.
I'm a Lightroom fan - if you shoot in RAW then you need to have something to process the photos. If you are shooting in JPEG, then the camera is doing the processing for you. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, those manufacturers are pretty clever folks, and I've shot what I think are some great images in JPEG. Probably best not to get too hung about it all; unless you are making money from it then it's all really just personal preference and needs!
in my case, if I am not satisfied with the outcome of my shot, then I need photoshop or other photo editing software to post process my photos. or sometimes I need to use photoshop just to crop :)
@speedy0901 If you are a poor grad student, you would be able to get either Lightroom or photoshop at the huge academic discount. Adobe is very generous that way. If your school has a student store, check out the prices (or the online academic prices).
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
I've found that photoshop elements can do 80-90% of what I do with the full version of photoshop. So if you think you'd be interested in Photoshop at some time, try Photoshop Elements first and see if you feel like you need anything more. I will usually do a bit of adjustment for exposure/contrast and then a little sharpening to counteract the bit of softness one gets when you downsize a photo on everything I post on a bulletin board.
http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/14409/new-camera-settings-challenge-13
I almost always do little tweaks to my photos.
I shoot in RAW so do initial processing in lightroom then if needed move through to photoshop.
Maybe more experiance will eventualy render these programs obsolete but for now I need all the help I can get..
Even in today's digital age, if you're not shooting RAW, then you are processing that shot. You're allowing a computer program in your camera to manipulate the white balance. The camera is sharpening the image after you take it. It's applying a color profile that, through your menu options, you may or may not have control over. It's effectively taking all of the steps we also take in Photoshop. So I don't worry about SOOC, knowing that it's not something that ever existed with film. Think of it this way. Which is "true driving": manual or automatic transmissions? Whether you shift from first to second, or you let some engineer in Detroit program it for you, the net result is the same. You're shifting from first to second. Same thing with your images. Whether you let a programmer decide or whether you do the manipulation yourself, the net result is the same. Your image is being modified, either by you, by the camera, or both.
Why edit? Digital photos tend to be rather grey, and especially when shooting in RAW format there is many more detailed info in the photo to improve the results. Enjoy the project!
amm ok .. photoshop , lightroom , photomatix