really like to know what you guys n gals use photoediting software for – is it for straightening lines, retouching red-eye and slight touchups or is it for other things like really changing the original photo with exposure, colour balance etc?

I ask as i was considering aperture or PS, but having tried some basic things i've found that the changes seem to 'falsify' too much the image..

so..any tips or good tutorials for doing this – i realise its an art but i'd like to try even if its just to 'help' some good photos become better..

I use it for all of the above, really.

straightening horizons, subtly altering images, b&w conversions, changing saturation levels, removing 'imperfections' from pics etc. etc.

There's a great book by Scott Kirby (i think that's his name) that contains loads of useful guides on doing certain things in Photoshop – it'll be on Amazon – it improved my understanding of photoshop loads.

Mostly for editing. That is, if I come home from a wedding / event with 1500 photos, I need an easy to use prog which will allow me to sort them out in the order I want, label them, weed out the rubbish, rename them, add metadata / keywords etc, etc. Then I need to resize them all for web use and sharpen according to size – it's all automated so I can go have a cup of tea.

You can do as much or as little as you want to the images in whatever bit of software you have – if they look 'false' then that's because you've overcooked them – it's the user's choice…. I do add a little 'pop' but that's about it.

PS is the 'daddy' of all photo-editing software, but very expensive, and can be a bit daunting to the unititiated.

PS Elements offers lots of the same features, but is perhaps easier to get to grips with. The Gimp is a free alternative, which is fantastic.

There are loads of online tutorials, offering advice on how to achieve specific effects etc. But a good book is invaluable, one of the 'Dummies Guide' type publications.

PS is like a musical instrument; you wouldn't expect to learn to play the piano or a guitar in 2 weeks, so don't expect to be brilliant with PS etc straight away.

It's very easy to 'overdo' effects, less very often is more. But the best thing is to simply plug away at it, practice makes perfect.

is it for straightening lines, retouching red-eye and slight touchups or is it for other things like really changing the original photo with exposure, colour balance etc?

whatever it takes to make it look right 🙂 I usually shoot tilted slightly due to astigmatism, but colour balance, dynamic range, removing sensor blebs, cropping to the subject, etc etc.

As user-removed said, it only looks over-done if you over-do it.

it's great for making over-saturated pics of sunsets and dogs to post on flickr and garner plaudits from your peers.

As stated PS takes a long time to learn. But its an invaluable tool. Not for going mad with neccessarily. I use it for removing lense flares, atering hue and saturation. Or altering contrast on black and white images.

I also use it as a blank canvas for illustration work.

I find the people who are best at using it are older guys who would know a lot of techniques used in the darkroom back-in-the-day. Its just bringing that theory up to date.

I guarantee you wouldn't be able to tell if their final images were edited or not.

Just have a play with it.Its the best way to learn. You end up learning stuff through 'happy accidents' too.

it's great for making over-saturated pics of sunsets and dogs to post on flickr and garner plaudits from your peers.

Flickr in a sentence! haha!

I personally use it to create fake celeb porn for my own amusement.

I personally use it to create fake celeb porn for my own amusement.

I personally use it to superimpose the faces of girls I know, onto the overly pneumatic bodies of various 'adult starlets', which I then incorporate into Hieronymous Bosch style collages to adorn the walls of my bedroom from which I rarely venture….

ok, thanks for the advice (the sensible ones)…i think i will try gimp as i have already downloaded it and played a bit…need to find a book tho, its kind of easy to get lost in it. Aperture seemed 'easier' but i'll see what gimp does first..

Good luck! With practice, you too will be able to produce stunning collages of imaginary girlfriends, to impress all your friends and family!

No mention of Lightroom!?

I use lightroom for storing all photo's, and for quickly editing photo's, as it saves the original and edits the copy; means you can switch back the original very easily. You can add keywords and things too, which is handy when you have a lot of photo's.

For stuff like HDR, removing bins, beauty treatment and things then it has to be Photoshop, roll on PS5!

curves and layers are really useful – and often not in cheaper photoediting software. GIMP is awesome for free, plenty of tutorials online and a couple of good flickr groups.

Nikon CaptureNX here.

Non-destructive developing of RAW files into images.
Typically I just do "darkroom" type adjustments (colour balance, curves/levels, sharpen, dust removal, straighten and crop).

I have an old version of Paintshop Pro ( v10 ) and was wondering about updating it, though the new version doesn't get a good writeup.
I need it for similar things – cropping, red eye, adjusting basic balance etc., nothing complicated, just the basic stuff.
I'm definitely not into PS simply because I don't need all the stuff it can do let along the phenominal cost, but i acknowldge it's a full-on pro tool, the industry standard for professionals. Was wondering about the latest PS Elements, the 'slimmed down affordable' verion of PS, but a few people on here have said Google Picasso is pretty good and free.
Now I'm wondering – Elements v's Picasso v's just carrying on with what I've got!
Decisions decisions……
Q

I'm not anti PS in the least, but is there a name for a sort of photographic philsophy that believes the picture should be left as an accurate reflection of what happened (warts an all) rather than an image altered to suit our expectations?

LOMO?

actually scratch that.

that's just a basic camera.

Whilst that philosophy has it's place as a niche form of art, it's like saying we should still be recording music on wax cylinders

is there a name for a sort of photographic philsophy that believes the picture should be left as an accurate reflection of what happened (warts an all)

Deluded? Or perhaps just misguided?

A photograph, even an unaltered film negative, is never entirely accurate. It's just degrees in innaccuracy you're talking about.

Bear in mind that post-processing can be used to make a picture more "accurate".

There's too much post-processing of images atm; the HDR feature seems to be quite popular right now, and some of it is just awful. It will calm down though, as more people find where the 'line' is.

Photoshop is perhaps the best invention since photography. It's an amazing bit of software, and has helped shape the design and imaging industries. As for manipulation, it's been done since photography was invented, it's just a bit easier now.

Photoshopdisasters is a good site to see how not to do it.

Now I'm wondering – Elements v's Picasso v's just carrying on with what I've got!

Picasa is an outstanding bit of free software – non destructive editing & keeps everything neat & tidy. If I didn't shoot raw from my dslr that's all I'd ever use.

billybob: ok….thanks for that thought. I'll give it a look.
Q

I use gimp all the time this gimp book which is very helpful..

Binners and talkemada both say it best, or at least when both of them are being serious. With any photoediting, I was always told ‘sneak up on things’. PS is very complicated, and Elements or Picasa are really all most people will ever need. Something it's worth learning how to use properly and with subtlety is the clone tool, along with adjustment layers, if available. Irritating things that weren't spotted at the time, like a piece of litter in an otherwise pristine landscape, or power cables that can't be avoided can be removed with practice and patience. I've been given a photo of a group of shop staff outside the shop, with another separate photo of a staff member who was away, taken on a different day and different lighting, and asked to put the person into the middle of the group. That was challenging, and while I could see my work, in the finished catalogue no-one ever spotted the addition. I was rather proud of that one.
My job used to involve scanning hi-res photos on a £65000 drum scanner for the likes of Castrol and Titleist, so quality was of the essence, and subtlety. You mustn't be able to see the joins.
Have fun.

I personally use it to superimpose the faces of girls I know, onto the overly pneumatic bodies of various 'adult starlets', which I then incorporate into Hieronymous Bosch style collages to adorn the walls of my bedroom from which I rarely venture….

Quality. 😀

Photoshop 7.

Standard editing would be crop, levels, curves (to increase contrast in shadows, highlights or midtones or to make wacky solarised effects).

Often use channel mixer for punchy B&W

Occasional sharpening

Layers for selective colour or "manupulating" images (taking elements from one photo and using in another)

Probably only use about 10% of its capabilities.

Oh yeah – it's great fun.