Photo editing software
- Thread starter Maxie
- Start date
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
PhotoShop is the ultimate. If you are a student or teacher (or like me married to a teacher) you can get a pretty good deal on PhotoShop. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended-Windows-Academic Discount-JourneyEd.com $248 vs regular price of $999.
WoW, it's hard to believe how much they get for their software. Nevertheless, I understand how much time goes into programing. I think they would make more money at a lower price due to the increased volume... I could be wrong, do to the fact that I really do not wish to pay that much, lol. Althought, I'm sure before the next month or so I'll own one of them.
I'm going to look into these programs. After purchasing the camera and lens, I'll have to wait.
Thanks guys!
Max
btw, still waiting for the Sigma lens :/ great ebay seller, just waiting on the post office.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Maxie, I've been working with Photoshop Elements and Lightroom almost exclusively for the last year and a half and found it more than enough for most of my pot-processing needs - provided all I wanted to do was fix noise and spots, adjust white balance, and generally just do cleanup work. I did the first 6 months with Elements (9) alone but adopted Lightroom (3) primarily because of its catalog management capabilities. I've since upgraded to PSE 11 and LR 4, and the upgrades are great. You can get into both of them for under $125 on Amazon if you swing the educational license, otherwise it'll tack on another $40 or so.
I've since added the Nik Collection of tools, and while some of them are similar to what you can do in Elements and Photoshop, the easy of use is incredible. And, for me, their HDR and Silver Efex tools in particular give you features that you just can't find in the Adobe products.
My brother has been shooting digital since the first Kodak-produced backs were made decades ago, and his advice to me when I started was to grab Elements and Scott Kelby's companion book (Elements for Digital Photographers) and have at it. My only complaint about the book is that it assumes knowledge of what layers are and how they work, so if you're like me and didn't know then you'll need to find some tutorials elsewhere. But at $49 on Amazon, Elements 11 is a fairly cheap tool that will fill a good chunk of your basic processing needs without setting you back. And it has a decent cataloging system on its own without requiring you to go to Lightroom. Best is that you can download a full 15-day trial and decide if it's enough or if you need more.
I've since added the Nik Collection of tools, and while some of them are similar to what you can do in Elements and Photoshop, the easy of use is incredible. And, for me, their HDR and Silver Efex tools in particular give you features that you just can't find in the Adobe products.
My brother has been shooting digital since the first Kodak-produced backs were made decades ago, and his advice to me when I started was to grab Elements and Scott Kelby's companion book (Elements for Digital Photographers) and have at it. My only complaint about the book is that it assumes knowledge of what layers are and how they work, so if you're like me and didn't know then you'll need to find some tutorials elsewhere. But at $49 on Amazon, Elements 11 is a fairly cheap tool that will fill a good chunk of your basic processing needs without setting you back. And it has a decent cataloging system on its own without requiring you to go to Lightroom. Best is that you can download a full 15-day trial and decide if it's enough or if you need more.
Jake, thanks for the advice, I'll take you up on your advice. I had a program that was great for catalog management, but have no idea what happened to the CD. IIRC, it was by Ulead? I think I loaned it out to someone that never returned it. I think it was more for veiwing then anything else.
Right now all I have us Windows Photo Viewer, which is very limited. I think I'll go with Lightroom first. In order to regain some kind of file management system and then get Elements.
Thanks for the heads up and detailed information regarding the programs you're using, which are more affordable to me right now.
I'm not totally sure, but I think I might understand what layers are and how that works.
Organizing files, without the proper software is such a pain the the butt. I loose track without having the proper software I use to have. I end up with so many duplicate photos over time trying not to loose the photos I wish to not loose.
I haven't done much with editing photos, outside of zooming in, in order to get a better view. I enjoy taking photo's of all kinds of aircraft, cars, my cats, the moon, the sky etc... I can't wait to go to to Gatornationals and also in March the Air Shows. One in Titusville and I really would like to see the one at MacDill AFB, if they have it this year. I think they are all in March of next year. This will be the first time I'll be able to go with a descent camera and lens. I just hope I learn enough between now and then to be able to take a few good shots.
Right now all I have us Windows Photo Viewer, which is very limited. I think I'll go with Lightroom first. In order to regain some kind of file management system and then get Elements.
Thanks for the heads up and detailed information regarding the programs you're using, which are more affordable to me right now.
I'm not totally sure, but I think I might understand what layers are and how that works.
Organizing files, without the proper software is such a pain the the butt. I loose track without having the proper software I use to have. I end up with so many duplicate photos over time trying not to loose the photos I wish to not loose.
I haven't done much with editing photos, outside of zooming in, in order to get a better view. I enjoy taking photo's of all kinds of aircraft, cars, my cats, the moon, the sky etc... I can't wait to go to to Gatornationals and also in March the Air Shows. One in Titusville and I really would like to see the one at MacDill AFB, if they have it this year. I think they are all in March of next year. This will be the first time I'll be able to go with a descent camera and lens. I just hope I learn enough between now and then to be able to take a few good shots.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
You're quite welcome, Maxie. In addition to catalog management Lightroom has some powerful tools for post-processing your images as well, so depending on what your needs are it may be enough. Lately I find that I do most of my work there and then use Elements and/or Nik software to tweak. As always, take advantage of whatever free tutorials are available to learn the full extent of what your software can do.