[flyboymack]

I'm new to the DSLR world and I'm searching to find good editing (RAW and JPEG) software. The hunt for the appropriate camera was hard enough (I'm going with the K10D) but at least there seem to be a lot of articles (some of them more like short novels) that take you in depth into all of the features and performance aspects of most of the cameras out there. I can't say I've been able to find the same amount of really thorough information out there about software. I've read a bit about GIMP but I'm afraid installing, using, and updating it would require more computer savvy than I have. Adobe Photoshop CS is way outside of my budget. Other than that I have come across Adobe Elements 6, PhotoImpact Pro, and Paint Shop, along with a few others. I can't find a single article on the new PhotoImpact and the rest just don't seem to really dig or demonstrate the capabilities of the respective programs the way the camera reviews do. Any helpful hints or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Cloudy Wizzard]

Well The Gimp is not hard to install, you just download the .exe file for the windows version from this site and run it.

as for the other commercial software the best reviews I've read are saying Photoshop Elements is the best of them all, but that's all subjective.

I think most if not all programs offer a trial version so it might be a good idea to try a few of them (like PSE6, PhotoImpact, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, ...) and see which one fits your needs.

Also if you don't need to do much editing you can also try Photoshop Lightroom. It's a nice tool if you shoot in RAW but it lacks some advanced features of PSE6 or CS3 (but then PSE6 and CS3 lack some tools that Lightroom has).

There is a review on Lightroom on the website of the NAPP that tries to explain where Lightroom fits in.

I'm curently playing with lightroom myself and it looks like a great tool for photographers (if you don't want to photoshop them to much like adding your face into a photo).

[bymy141]

I'm new to the DSLR world and I'm searching to find good editing (RAW and JPEG) software. The hunt for the appropriate camera was hard enough (I'm going with the K10D) but at least there seem to be a lot of articles (some of them more like short novels) that take you in depth into all of the features and performance aspects of most of the cameras out there. I can't say I've been able to find the same amount of really thorough information out there about software. I've read a bit about GIMP but I'm afraid installing, using, and updating it would require more computer savvy than I have. Adobe Photoshop CS is way outside of my budget. Other than that I have come across Adobe Elements 6, PhotoImpact Pro, and Paint Shop, along with a few others. I can't find a single article on the new PhotoImpact and the rest just don't seem to really dig or demonstrate the capabilities of the respective programs the way the camera reviews do. Any helpful hints or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

It depends what you are looking for.
Unless you are a Pro, 95% of all you need is available in Picasa.
It is free software from Google, it can also organize your photos, share them in picasa web albums and it is pretty fast as well.
Yes, it is no APS, by far. Nevertheless, I know a lot of people happy with it.
GIMP is also for free, but it is cumbersome to work with (IMO) and not very userfriendly for processing a lot of photos.

Nowadays postprocessing is as important as making the photo. Compare it with the dark room work in the past. You might want to consider investing in good software at some point in time. When you do, also have a look at Lightroom and Bibble.

Have fun.

- Bert

[flyboymack]

Thanks guys. I'd like to learn how to shoot and manipulate RAW so a decent program is a must. I learned photography in B&W so I don't have any knowledge on developing color film. I'd like whatever software I get to be able to manipulate an image in all the ways I could with a negative in a darkroom. I'll check out the links you guys sent. Has anybody seen anything on the newest PhotoImpact Pro because I can't find a shred of info in terms of reviews or opinions? Everything I've found is about the older versions.

[davemdsn]

When it comes to processing raw I prefer Adobe's Camera Raw hands down over everything I have tried. Version 4.x offers tremendous control. It comes with Adobe Photoshop CS3, Lightroom or Elements 6. CS3 is $650, Lightroom is $300 and Elements is under $100.

[Peter Zack]

I'd also suggest Paint.net which you can download here: Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing I find it much easier to navigate than GIMP and there are constant PS plug in updates. Does what I need.

[Mikhail]

I find LR and GIMP work well together. Personally I dont do more editing than what LR can do, so gimp is used occasionally.. and when I do want to do any "digital art" I use my girlfriends laptop which has photoshop. [ CS3 or 2 cant remember ]

Thanks

[Cloudy Wizzard]

I'd like whatever software I get to be able to manipulate an image in all the ways I could with a negative in a darkroom.

I think Lightroom is the ideal tool for that (I guess it's build for that reason).

you can download the trial version of Lightroom to checkout it's features (it's said that they asked the opinions of a bunch of real professional photographers when designing it so it should fit their needs pretty well).

Kelbytraining also has a tutorial on Lightroom which covers the basics (from importing the RAW files from your camera to correcting exposure, toning, ...).

so I personally think that your only goal is to do quick corrections on Exposure, white balance, ... on 1 or 100+ photo's Lightroom is the tool (you can apply the same exposure correctons and other adjustments to all your RAW files at once) another advantage is that it's non-distructive so your RAW files will not be altered (you can export the modified photos out of lightroom and then further edit them in the Gimp, Elements, CS3, ... but from what you're saying here you don't seem to want this at the moment.

I Think bibble offers similar tools (also noise reduction with Noise Ninja basic or pro if you happen to own a Noise Ninja Pro license and I don't think I saw this in Lightroom yet, but I have to discover all features of Lightroom).

anyways, if you are interested into lightroom you might want to follow some of these links :

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips I think the site is by Matt Kloskowski who's also the guy who hosts the Lightroom Basic Training at Photoshop Lightroom Basic Training | Photoshop Training

the course is around $70 for non NAPP members and $50 for NAPP members

offcourse this get's you in a dillema since you could download the trial of Lightroom to check it out and following the course I feel you really get to know the things you can do and can not do with lightroom but then you've paid $70 for a tutorial to learn a program you might not end-up using.

Anyways, I'm not a expert or seasoned photographer and for me at this moment Lightroom is the one I use the most (I also own Bibble Pro and Elements 6 but Elements is more for doing some things that lightroom can't like using the clone stamp to remove a sign from the picture, but the Gimp can do the same).

Oh, talking about the Gimp, people call it the Photoshop for Linux, the only "downside" is that people comming from Photoshop are confused by the interface (it's not the same as the Photoshop one) so I guess people with a Photosop background are actually a bit handicaped when trying out The Gimp. But there is Gimpshop which sould make it function more like Photoshop so the only downside of the Gimp is that it has no 16-bit image support (if that's a problem for you offcourse).

Well Good Luck with your search on the perfect program for your needs.

[stewart_photo]

Well, since everyone else is listing their favorites, I have to chime in by pointing out that I have Photoshop CS2, my wife has Photoshop Elements 6, and we both gravitated to these from Paint Shop Pro because many of it's tools are simply too harsh for quality photographs. My wife (and obviously many others) seems to absolutely love Photoshop Elements. Of course, since Elements does support both raw file formats generated by the K10D, as well as JPEG and others, and offers virtually everything the average photographer might need, that adoration is certainly understandable. Of course, control fanatics who demand the ability to tweak every little detail, or are required to do so by their work, will be satisfied with nothing less the Photoshop.

stewart

[flyboymack]

Thanks everybody for all the helpful tips. Its a lot to chew on but I've got a whole lot more info with which to make a decision. Happy shooting!

[and]

There is also raw therapee, which is a freeware raw converter, last itme I tried it it seemed to work nicely as a raw converter, although it doesnt do a lot of editing, but for the conversion part i thought it was not bad.