Photoshop

[cruce]

Hi,
Im new at photography. I love taking picture so my husband bought me a Canon Rebel. Now I would love to have a photo editor. I have tried Lightroom2 but it is very expensive. Anyone knows anything similar for less or what's out there similar to lightroom 2 that I can use?

Thank you,
Alejandra Cruce

[Photologyst]

Hi Alejandra:

Get Adobe's "Elements." Costs about $100 and has most of the features of Photoshop. photo editor and movie editor software | Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 & Adobe Premiere Elements 8

Check the price on the net. Amazon might be a good source.

[oldwolf]

You should have gotten some software that came with the camera called Digital Photo Professional. That's the RAW processing program that comes with the camera that is like Lightroom but doesn't have as many features.

You could also get Paint Shop Pro Photo to edit your pictures. Costs much less than Lightroom and Elements and does just about everything Photoshop can do.

If you want free then you can try the GIMP. It's open source, completely free and does about everything Photoshop can do as well.

[Eastree]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

If you want free then you can try the GIMP. It's open source, completely free and does about everything Photoshop can do as well.

I use GIMP, and UFRaw for editing Raw files. They're all I need.

[NZMXr]

Originally Posted by cruce

Hi,
Im new at photography. I love taking picture so my husband bought me a Canon Rebel. Now I would love to have a photo editor. I have tried Lightroom2 but it is very expensive. Anyone knows anything similar for less or what's out there similar to lightroom 2 that I can use?

Thank you,
Alejandra Cruce

I would recommend you dont use any editing program until you get used to your camera and the world of digital photography, you become reliant on it if you use it too soon and focus less on the composition on the camera "Ill just fix it when I get home"
I am one that shouldve followed this advice

Good luck with your new hobby!

[BCampbell]

Originally Posted by cruce

Hi,
Im new at photography. I love taking picture so my husband bought me a Canon Rebel. Now I would love to have a photo editor. I have tried Lightroom2 but it is very expensive. Anyone knows anything similar for less or what's out there similar to lightroom 2 that I can use?

Thank you,
Alejandra Cruce

I suppose you're shooting in JPG, and not RAW. A lot of people here shoot RAW so you'll hear them talk about a RAW workflow (which usually involves a RAW editor and then a more complex editor when pixel-level modifications are necessary).

Honestly, if you like Lightroom, you should buy Lightroom. You won't find free software that's quiet as easy to use (you can try Darktable but that's only available on Linux).

Depending on what you liked about Lightroom you might like RAWTherapee. It combines some previewer and editing options. I suggest staying away from the beta v.3, you want the last stable version which I believe is 2.4. Google and check. It does not have the same cataloging functionality as Lightroom.

If you want a powerful editor, GIMP is free and heavily documented. It's essentiallya photoshop clone, but lacks a few key elements -- most notable 16-bit editing -- but you probably won't miss them. But it's a "heavy" program.

I've also heard good things about Picasa, but I've never used it myself.

[joe27]

Originally Posted by NZMXr

I would recommend you dont use any editing program until you get used to your camera and the world of digital photography, you become reliant on it if you use it too soon and focus less on the composition on the camera "Ill just fix it when I get home"
I am one that shouldve followed this advice

Good luck with your new hobby!

If you are serious, I think the advice from NZMXr is good to follow, it forces you to learn your camera and what it is capable of.

[windrider86]

Corels Paint Shop Pro is what I use

[tuxcomputers]

Originally Posted by Eastree

I use GIMP, and UFRaw for editing Raw files. They're all I need.

+1 to this, if you find yourself doing the same steps over and over again in GIMP I could possibly put together an automated script for you. Let me know.

Originally Posted by BCampbell

(you can try Darktable but that's only available on Linux).

If you want a powerful editor, GIMP is free and heavily documented. It's essentiallya photoshop clone, but lacks a few key elements -- most notable 16-bit editing -- but you probably won't miss them. But it's a "heavy" program.

I have never heard of Darktable, I will have to try it.

GIMP is an extensive program that you can do alot with, I have been using it for years and still don't know it's full capabilities. I suggest starting with the simple easy things like histogram adjustments. Learn as you go, it's no "heavier" than PS.

Word of advice if you are shooting in JPG's, the first step of editing is to save your file in the native format of the program (in GIMP that is XCF). When you are finished the editing save it as JPG before uploading to taking to be printed. If you save the file over and over in JPG format you will lose things like layers and it will degrade in quality the more times you save.

[cruce]

Thank you guys. It was very helpful. I am going to start shooting RAW and make use of the software that came with the camara.

One more question:
Now can someone tell me why is it that when I edit in Picnik the Exif data is no longer available when i try getting it from Flickr.
Anyone knows what im talking about?