What is a good editing software for an amateur?

[Becca_007]

Digital Photo Professional is the free software that comes with Canons. I see no need to pay for something like PhotoShop or Lightroom. I can make minor adjustments with the free stuff and if something major if needed then I should have taken a better picture to begin with.

 

[elanarchist]

Over the years I've used Photoshop Elements, Photoshop CS w/ Bridge and others - now Lightroom is by far *THE* best solution for the 1000s of u/w photos I shoot. For me, it's not just about editing the images, but also managing the images and streamlining the workflow. If you are going to invest your time learning one product, this is the one that has the most to offer. You can download a beta copy of Lightroom 3 for free here.

 

[shoturtle]

Mac user, Apple aperture. very easy to uses and you can add a bunch of plug ins.

 

[phillybob]

I use Picasa, although it's reasonably basic, it's free and does most of what I need to do...

Me too. But I don't fart around with my pics much. Mostly just crop.

 

[bvanant]

If you have a Mac, go to apple.com and download Aperture, Lightroom and Photoshop. If you have a PC no aperture for you. Play with them all for 30 days or so. I believe that most UW photo guys have moved to Aperture/Lightroom for most of their work. You can also download Lightroom 3 public beta and play for a bit longer than 30 days. In any case, Lightroom is designed for photographers not graphic artists and I believe that 95% of what you can do to photos in Photoshop you can do in Lightroom. If you have GIMP then you know more or less what you can do in Photoshop so that is a start. I would argue that the Lightroom learning curve is far less steep than Photoshop but that might be just me. In any case, there are tons of Lightroom classes out there, download and play and see which one fits your workflow and style.

IN any case, what is it you want to do with your pics? Crop, color correct, what?

Bill

 

[Tigerman]

I ususally use Adobe Lightroom, it doesn't have full editing capabilities but it does what I want to do with a photo and also catalogs it!

And if you also have adobe photoshop, its all integrated

Well, thats because Photoshop and Lightroom fills two different parts of the workflow.
Lightroom are better at color adjustments and that sort of things, while Photoshop is the program you move on to for the editing.

Problem is, if youre going to buy Photoshop and Lightroom, the total price isnt really "cheap" :/

 

[bvanant]

Well, thats because Photoshop and Lightroom fills two different parts of the workflow.
Lightroom are better at color adjustments and that sort of things, while Photoshop is the program you move on to for the editing.

Problem is, if youre going to buy Photoshop and Lightroom, the total price isnt really "cheap" :/

What do you mean by editing and what part of editing can't you do in Lightroom? To me at least editing means things like color correction, cropping, toning, etc and then printing or not. I do all of those things in LR. Photoshop for me at least is mostly used just to do things like composite a bunch of pictures or create posters and the like. I would say that for a typical dive trip I will use LR for 99% of everything I need then convert pics from LR to a slide show with music from a different program.

Bill

 

[under water]

What do you mean by editing and what part of editing can't you do in Lightroom? To me at least editing means things like color correction, cropping, toning, etc and then printing or not. I do all of those things in LR. Photoshop for me at least is mostly used just to do things like composite a bunch of pictures or create posters and the like. I would say that for a typical dive trip I will use LR for 99% of everything I need then convert pics from LR to a slide show with music from a different program.

Bill

Hi Bill,
Can you use layers with Lightroom?
A lot of advanced editing uses layers.
If it has this, then you are right.
If you get a really well lit subject to start (with strobes), then you may not need any editing at all.
What do you use for the 1% that Lightroom can't handle?

Frank

 

[bvanant]

No layers in LR, but for me at least editing pics (as opposed to creating other types of documents that have pics in them) doesn't require layers. In the Photoshop class I took we used layers a lot, but for just editing pictures, there isn't (for me) a need to use them. If I am making a composite of several pictures or extracting a picture to add it to a different background then layers are quite useful but for straight photographs not so much. For the 1% of things I need to do that LR doesn't do well, I use CS4 but I find I use it less and less.

Is there something you do to a simple photograph that involves layers but leaves it as a simple photograph? I haven't found it, but that doesn't mean it isn't something I should be using.

Bill

 

[Doubler]

If you have an Apple, Aperture 2 rocks. I think they make a Windows version also. Aperture in combination with Photo Shop Elements is about all the hobbyist needs. CS4 is great but more geared towards commercial applications and expensive. Just my 2 cents