So I was talking to someone this morning about Photoshop. She's using a trial version of CS5 at the moment. I'm still using a version of CS I got from my first photography job.
That's when I got to thinking: I use a LOT of software for my photography. Funny since I had once been a computer science major and quit because I didn't want to spend 40 hours a week at a computer. I now spend about 40 hours a week at a computer. Lame.
There is a lot more out there than just Photoshop and Lightroom, and probably quite a few programs you'd never thought of before.
What photography software do you use for various types of shots and effects?
Paint shop pro...but am thinking of geeting PS elements 10 as its under £30 on Play.com currently. I assume this has a better raw editor? If anyone knows?
Oloneo for some HDR work and tone mapping
microsoft ICE and Hugin for stitching depending how the mood takes me
paintshop pro photo x2 ultimate for the majority of my basic layer work and general tweeking
gimp for special effects, brushes, gradients and the like
Virtual studio for when I cant be bothered going through the motions
paint shop for general enhancement, Picasa for straightening and file management. I also like tilt shift gen, iris, pano, andsele rive color on my iphone
I just started using CS5 a few days ago. Picasa 3, Picnik, Paint.NET, and Digital Photo Professional (RAW files). As you can see, slowly working my way away from free programs :)
1. Photomatix for HDR
2. Apple Aperture for general editing and effects. Like the shadow control and definition control.
3. Pixelmator when the above are not available (on laptops, etc.)
4. Various iPhone apps - Pro HDR, Photostudio, TiltshifGen, PictureShow, Camera+
@coolgirlsar grrrrrrrrrr! Wish they'd leave the prices alone! I hope Amazon leaves it at that price for a bit. Just got a new lens (early xmas pressie) and now i'm skint :(
@justindereniws Pixelmator is a Mac software that works a lot like elements but is only $30 (US). I love it! You can also get free trials from all sorts of different companies and it can keep you playing until the computer is paid off.
@cfitzgerald Apple and Adobe are starting to get creative with the free trials. They realized how painfully simple it is to reset your clock. So, they came up with a sneak. If you hit that 30 day mark during a trial period, the trail software saves a file on your computer that permanently disables the trial. Of course, you can still reset your clock back after 25 days and it will still work haha.
But you are right about one thing: trials.
You can get 30 day trials for Photo Mechanic, Photoshop CS5, I believe Lightroom 3, Final Cut Pro X.
Trials for Noise Ninja and Photomatic Pro are fully functional but leave watermarks on your saved files.
Im a lightroom3 user. I love it and havent had any problems with it. When I want to put my watermark on I use GIMP cause for the life of me I cant figure out how to do it in Lightroom. I was sold once I tried it out for 30 days. I used to use photoshop 10 years ago, but that computer croked a long time ago.
@shortperson2002 Same! Lightroom had me hooked after the free trial! I figured out the watermark, kind of. When you hit export and the box pops up, scroll down to watermark and hit the drop down....then you can make a very simple one that doesn't give you much choice for placement :/ If anyone knows a better way (i'm sure there is one) then let us know!!
@jasonbarnette I use Lightroom 3 and picnik the odd time. I'd love to make a proper watermark. I'm guessing I'm going to need photoshop for that?
@jasonbarnette Oh, I had no idea you could reset the clock and get a free trial again and again! I was just thinking that if a person tried Photoshop for 30 days, then try another company for 30 days etc. I have so much to learn about the technical side... :-)
@shutterbugger Actually, I use Photo Mechanic to watermark all my photos. It is a databasing and viewing program for photos and costs just $150, much cheaper than the $700 Photoshop. All I had to do was create a single watermark image, save it as a JPG with a transparent background, and then I could save a photo from Photo Mechanic and choose one of 9 different places on an image to watermark it.
@cfitzgerald Haha..yep...it's a way to cheat. But Adobe has caught on and they are starting to prevent it. I think the latest trial of Final Cut Pro X comes with a 30 day free trial, but the program keeps track of how many days have passed since you first used it. The internal clock doesn't even matter, cause once 30 days worth of time have passed the program shuts down. They are cleverer than our cleverness!
@shutterbugger Ah ok, I found a way a while back to import the water mark I have. But when it comes to exporting or applying the image some how I dont know where I go wrong.
Great discussion. I am thinking about what additional photo software I want and need to get. I have an ancient Photoshop (4). I also use Picassa. I have Paint Shop Pro, but find it too cumbersome for me to use when I am in a hurry.
@jasonbarnette
I use Windows Live Photo Gallery to import and manage pictures. I rank them by stars, 3 being keepers and then go through all of the 3 stars to rank the better ones higher since I'm now looking at only the good pictures.
Then I use GIMP to do any further editing, cropping, enhancing, vignette, etc.
Photoshop CS3, Lightroom 3, Photmatix Pro, Portrait Profesional
I have also tried Helicon Focus which I thought was pretty neat for focus stacking.
LR3 is my main go to quick and easy.
Sadly I am totally useless at editing so use Canon DPP for importing photos & converting from RAW to jpeg, Picasa for basics like saturation, contrast etc, Photomatix Light for any HDR (not much tho) & CS5 for frames & adding my watermark!
I know it's criminal to have CS5 & not know how to use it but I got a *whispered voice* "borrowed" copy from a friend so..................!!
I'm still a rookie. I use PSE9 and have all my photo stored in Aperture. Still learning the ropes. By the way, is a KEY word capitalized in the subject of a thread a trademark of Lord Shadow's?
In my opinion using Lightroom or Aperture (because I have a mac) it's more than enough, to manage your images and you can adjust the basic, and with plugins like Nik Suite it is better and easier then using Photoshop, plus you have a great organization for your images. BTW I prefer Aperture 3, also I haven use Lightroom since ver. 1... but if you want to edit every pixel individually then use Photoshop :)
@jasonbarnette I did student media in college and got spoiled. We had a very awesome adviser who kept us in the latest technology. We always had the latest Adobe suite. There's certainly nothing wrong with CS. I used it very happily for years and it's still a fantastic program!
Well im only 13 and not as smart as the rest of y'all, I have CS5 but I just use Picnik because I dont have the time or patience to learn how to use CS5...(:
i primarily use photoshop CS5 for editing at home and photoshop elements in my classes just because that's what they give us to use
i also use photo explosion deluxe for crafty-er stuff like scrapbook pages, etc. when i'm on my netbook (which i can't download disk programs onto) i use picnik for that kind of stuff
and if i just wanna do some quick straightening and maybe a slight saturation change, i just use windows photo gallery that came with my windows seven.
hope it helps!! i don't comment on many of these things cuz i don't have much experience but i've used alot of programs and these work great once you learn how to use them!! good luck:)
I always thought Photoshop CS5 was essential for editing photos, but then I discovered Adobe Lightroom and have never gone back. it has all that I need, and only on special occasions do I find the need to open up photoshop.
Nik Software also offers some great add-in effects and their HDR Efex Pro is what I primarily use when I need it.
Color Efex Pro if you ever need to just bump up the colours.
If you do a lot of night photography, Noise Ninja is your best friend. it dramatically reduces noise even at super high ISOs.
I primarily use Lightroom. I also use Snapseed. I have CS6 which I am trying to get past my intimidation and learn more!
I have the Onone software suite, but I find I don't use it as much because the other software programs do what I need and on my system it is turtle slow.
Oh and I have a few programs on my iPad which are fun (like percolator).
I love playing photo processing software. Just wish I had more time for it!
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
Photoshop - Duh. Editing.
PTGui - I use this for stitching together panoramas and gigapans. Powerful. I once stitched together 114 photos to create a 1.2GP panorama.
Photomatic Pro - HDR photography.
Noise Ninja - I use this to reduce noise while shooting 1600 or 3200 ISO night photography.
Quicktime Pro - I use this to put my time-lapse photography into a movie format. Very simple to use.
@looseimages Lucy, the elements program sounds intriguing. will have to look into that!
microsoft ICE and Hugin for stitching depending how the mood takes me
paintshop pro photo x2 ultimate for the majority of my basic layer work and general tweeking
gimp for special effects, brushes, gradients and the like
Virtual studio for when I cant be bothered going through the motions
2. Apple Aperture for general editing and effects. Like the shadow control and definition control.
3. Pixelmator when the above are not available (on laptops, etc.)
4. Various iPhone apps - Pro HDR, Photostudio, TiltshifGen, PictureShow, Camera+
Photomatix for HDR, but I haven't done one of those in ages.
Photoshop CS5 for editing.
And magic for everything else!
As for what i use:
picnik for my basic edits, I have the premium account and just love picnik.
GIMP is what I used if I wanted to do anything more or play around with levels. I still occasionally use it but I now have
Photoshop Elements 7 which I use when not using either of the above. I just mix and match. :D
Then CS4 for the rest.
Each has different features that I like. Sometimes even use all three on a single photo!
But you are right about one thing: trials.
You can get 30 day trials for Photo Mechanic, Photoshop CS5, I believe Lightroom 3, Final Cut Pro X.
Trials for Noise Ninja and Photomatic Pro are fully functional but leave watermarks on your saved files.
@jasonbarnette I use Lightroom 3 and picnik the odd time. I'd love to make a proper watermark. I'm guessing I'm going to need photoshop for that?
I also have Photodraw - anyone remember that one? Microsoft's rip-off of Photoshop? :)
I use Windows Live Photo Gallery to import and manage pictures. I rank them by stars, 3 being keepers and then go through all of the 3 stars to rank the better ones higher since I'm now looking at only the good pictures.
Then I use GIMP to do any further editing, cropping, enhancing, vignette, etc.
I have also tried Helicon Focus which I thought was pretty neat for focus stacking.
LR3 is my main go to quick and easy.
I know it's criminal to have CS5 & not know how to use it but I got a *whispered voice* "borrowed" copy from a friend so..................!!
photomatix/ hdr effex
silver effex for b&w
topaz
iphone photo apps
pse
perfect layers
couple of other plugins.
Cheers
i also use photo explosion deluxe for crafty-er stuff like scrapbook pages, etc. when i'm on my netbook (which i can't download disk programs onto) i use picnik for that kind of stuff
and if i just wanna do some quick straightening and maybe a slight saturation change, i just use windows photo gallery that came with my windows seven.
hope it helps!! i don't comment on many of these things cuz i don't have much experience but i've used alot of programs and these work great once you learn how to use them!! good luck:)
Nik Software also offers some great add-in effects and their HDR Efex Pro is what I primarily use when I need it.
Color Efex Pro if you ever need to just bump up the colours.
If you do a lot of night photography, Noise Ninja is your best friend. it dramatically reduces noise even at super high ISOs.
hope that helps!
Photmatrix
Efex pro for B+W
Topaz
LR3
Prefer alot of B+W over colors unless its Macro which i thoroughly enjoy
Luminance
Samsung Mobile Application
I want PS, but I could never afford it.
I primarily use Lightroom. I also use Snapseed. I have CS6 which I am trying to get past my intimidation and learn more!
I have the Onone software suite, but I find I don't use it as much because the other software programs do what I need and on my system it is turtle slow.
Oh and I have a few programs on my iPad which are fun (like percolator).
I love playing photo processing software. Just wish I had more time for it!