[Bagga_Txips]

Try Faststone.

Its free, give quick results, and is an excellent first step to prepare you for the complexities of Adobe. In fact I think Adobe products are a bit too complex for most PP situations.

I really like photo ninja but I can't buy it here in China.

[barondla]

Ok, I have the Pentax utility. I downloaded LR5 trial. I have GIMP and Picasa(?). I bought, but have yet to install, PSE12. I'm completely intimidated by these. They are confusing. The layout makes no sense to me. I have no clue what half the stuff does. Really. Where's the easiest, most simplistic route to learning at least a little about PP. I've started shooting RAW+ so that I can learn to fix some of my goofs, but that means I actually have to learn to use at least one of these programs. I just want it to be simple. And easy. Click, click, click - done!

You might consider taking a class. A poster here teaches an online beginning photo processing class on Skill Share dot com. Look for Tyler Brown. It is a neat class because Tyler does the same adjustments in 3 or 4 different programs to show how similar they all are. All of your basic adjustments are demonstrated. A very worth while class.

thanks and good luck
barondla

[mikemike]

I just got started with LR since mid January and am amazed at how much of an impact can be made by playing with just the exposure, WB, clarity, highlight, and shadow sliders under the develop section.

[Just1MoreDave]

Ok, I have the Pentax utility. I downloaded LR5 trial. I have GIMP and Picasa(?). I bought, but have yet to install, PSE12. I'm completely intimidated by these. They are confusing. The layout makes no sense to me. I have no clue what half the stuff does. Really. Where's the easiest, most simplistic route to learning at least a little about PP. I've started shooting RAW+ so that I can learn to fix some of my goofs, but that means I actually have to learn to use at least one of these programs. I just want it to be simple. And easy. Click, click, click - done!

The Pentax utility is most useful for setting up the camera's JPEG. Any setting can be applied to a RAW shot. See what the brief description means on a big screen. The software also is a good reference for RAW conversion, if another converter doesn't give you the expected results.

Like taking the photos, have a clear idea of the outcome (most of the time) before starting processing. Sometimes it's easy - "I want to remove sensor dust spots/Aunt Mary's giant foot". Starting with a vague idea that something needs to be better is difficult. [An Auto tone, color or contrast button might give you an idea of what your shot needs.] You'll constantly improve this with practice, and even start shooting with an idea of how you'll process the shot. You can pick up ideas and techniques from books on film processing or step by step processing videos.

Then learn the controls of your chosen software. There's some decoding of jargon here. Some controls have names from film processing techniques and some from the digital age. The same effect can often be achieved in many ways, or at different times in the process. For example, Lightroom has a contrast slider in its RAW converter, contrast settings in its Curves tools, indirect ways to add contrast with other tools, and that's before you can send the image to an editor with more contrast tools. Once you crack the code that the software designers made, you'll know what the tools do and where they are hidden.

PSE is a good place to start and you've already bought it. It's easy to find online advice on a particular topic to crack the code. The editor has enough to keep you busy for a while. The biggest limitation is its RAW processor, which is a purposefully limited version of the one in Lightroom. The basic part of the processor is there, enough to learn it.

[dansamy]

If you are shooting Raw+, you don't need Silkypix unless you need to fix white balance or exposure or something else like that. I would recommend PSE 12 as it has three different interfaces, beginner, guided and advanced. You can use the guided interface to get the look you want until you are comfortable with all the adjustments. I think Adobe offers a trial for a month, so if you haven't opened the box, you might want to try it first.

I use GIMP because it is free, and a good program. For simple photo editing it is more than enough.

Since I've already bought PSE, I think I'll try using it. I think I'm gonna start with this beginner mode. B-) I'll be honest. I'm pretty intimidated by this sort of stuff.

[atupdate]

You might want to take a look at Ron Bigelow's tutorials. I would start with levels and curves. Then learning how to clone and mask is the next major steps. Sharpening should be the last step when you process your raw files.

Ron Bigelow Photography Articles

Tim

[45 Mike]

Since I've already bought PSE, I think I'll try using it. I think I'm gonna start with this beginner mode. B-) I'll be honest. I'm pretty intimidated by this sort of stuff.

I am with dansamy, for myself, I just shoot jpeg cuz the raw stuff really made no sense to me.

I have read a lot of opinions about the advantages of raw, and they make sense.
However when I look at my own photos, as RAW, I am dumfounded as to where to start.

I see the jpeg that the camera stored, and it looks ok.
Then I look at the RAW and it looks dull and sick looking.

Now I can take the jpeg file and run it through gimp and usually get something better looking than what the camera saved, but then I look at pix that others have "saved" from RAW and worked, and they are just gorgeous, but what did the RAW look like before they messed with it? What did it look like as camera jpeg? What did they do with the RAW file, and WHY did they do that?

I don't need a "click this" tutorial, but more of a general discussion of what common problems are encountered and what general solutions are used to solve those.
How to tell if you went too far, what are the rules? When to break them? etc. etc.

Apparently there are only a few general problems that should be addressed in processing from RAW "negative" to an image ready for further processing in gimp, photoshop, ect.

Basic starts for basic common problems.

Please! and thanks!

[dansamy]

Yes, basic starts.

[45 Mike]

You might want to take a look at Ron Bigelow's tutorials. I would start with levels and curves. Then learning how to clone and mask is the next major steps. Sharpening should be the last step when you process your raw files.

Ron Bigelow Photography Articles

Tim

Thanks!

I am looking at this and am finding some of it helpful.

I see a plethora of articles and tutorials on how to use this or that brand of processing software, and generally they have good instructions for which button to press, but and this is a big BUT,. . . very little information on WHY would someone press that button. What problem was being solved?

I think that is sorely lacking in web information, very little insight as to process of the process.

I could really use some examples of pix that have problems, common issues, and a discussion of how the determination was made that there was a problem, and in general what sort of remedies would be applied to resolve that.

Thanks!

[SpecialK]

I think I'm gonna start with this beginner mode. B-) I'll be honest. I'm pretty intimidated by this sort of stuff.

Buy a "how to" book. Many are published for Elements. Read the portions about what you are trying to do - not everything at once. It's not a complicated as you make it out to be.

Do not start on beginner mode. You will not get the best results. There is an "auto" button even in the advanced mode that (usually) will provide a good first guess.

Certain buttons do certain things. Slider do things in various strengths. There is also an "undo" button, so try things.

[45 Mike]

There is also an "undo" button, so try things.

YAY for the "undo" buttons!!!

[45 Mike]

Yes, basic starts.

dansamy, I just looked at this, and it helped me somewhat.

Basic Raw Workflow in Photoshop

The example photo looked just fine to me before he messed with it, but the "done" pic did look better.
I would like to see examples like this dealing with different problems and how the process of deciding the problem exists and what tools to use for fixing them.
Myself, I can figure out how to use the tools, it is what to look for in the original to say, oops that should be fixed, and then what tools to use to do the fixin!

[dansamy]

Yes. Common problems that should be addressed in the RAW file & then what can be done and what *shouldn't* be done to the RAW processed jpeg file to improve the picture.

[timmijo]

I started out way back when, with Photobase 4.5 (we're talking dinosaur era here), then went with Picassa. Then I outgrew Picassa. I loved its healing/retouch tool (forget what it was called) but eventually hit my limits with what I could do. I did like the "glow" effect one could use to finish a photo in Picassa. I think one of my issues was that the sliders in Picassa were not measure-able; you could use sliders but they did not have any numbers or percents on them; you would just have to "eyeball" the effect. That, and the fact that I never quite understood how Picassa was organizing my photos all over my hard drive made me look for something better.

In time, I got ahold of my first Photoshop Elements, on Ebay. It was about $20.00 for Photoshop Elements 7. It took me about three years to master on my own, but I did find some books on Amazon to help me. Those are always pretty cheap since books about older post-processing programs are yesterday's news.

Photoshop Elements 7 almost killed me; I was on my own, so I began to teach myself the retouching tools, one at a time. I started with the healing tools and learned to use the clone stamp tool as an overall "healing" tool as well. Then I moved on to learning how to use adjustment layers and the blends that go with them.

It did not have "Quick" "Guided" and "Expert" modes like the newer Elements versions; everything was "Expert" mode. Last year, I installed Photoshop Elements 11 which had some advancements over 7 but also some dumbed-down areas. I still use it more than I use LIghtroom 4, which I also bought on EBay last year.

I finally got Scott Kelby's book on Lightroom 4 because THAT is too much to try to teach yourself. Taking my good old time with that. I do put over or under-exposed photos in through Lightroom because Lightroom has more sophisticated tools to deal with those problems. Then I send the corrected photo to Elements to finish it off.

Here are a few places that I found helpful with any version of Elements:

Texas Chicks Blogs and Pics: Texas Chicks Blogs and Pics ? Making Digital Photography Easy for You! (You do not have to pay for anything, just read through the how-to's, very informative and easy to understand.)
David Peterson's Digital Photo Secrets: Digital Photo Secrets - Take Amazing Photos with these little known tips and tricks! (You do not have to pay for anything, just read the articles that interest you. I subscribed to the newsletter tips via email. Lots of stuff about how to use Elements, any version.)

As far as Lightroom goes, I do best by following books, but here is the PDF for Lightroom 5: http://helpx.adobe.com/pdf/lightroom_reference.pdf

[jimr-pdx]

I found several British camera magazines at my local bookstore with tutorial CDs inside. Many of them show you the before and after shots inside, then a video on the disc shows how they got there using Elements or other common programs. I found those pretty handy when I started, and you can choose your pace - for example I skipped the portrait retouching as that isn't what I do. Scary stuff like opening a raw file twice with two exposure settings, then blending them into a single shot with better range.

---------- Post added 02-09-14 at 18:54 ----------

dansamy, I just looked at this, and it helped me somewhat.

Basic Raw Workflow in Photoshop

That's a good one, covers the typical steps and shows you how each affects the image.