Which Programs do you use ?

[Dao]

Photoshop elements 6

Overread. I am pretty sure you know about GIMP. Did you try that yet? I believe it is more powerful than Elements.

 

[matt.voran]

There are plenty of great suggestions here, I would only add this link. This website is a pretty good resource overall...

Three great tools for managing your photos, and one is FREE! | Almost Pro Foto

Hope this helps!

 

[512]

organizing: windows
editing and post processing: photoshop + some plugins and sometimes camera raw

for editing gimp is a free and powerful alternative

 

[PhotoXopher]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the value in Picasa.

 

[Eel Noob]

I use both free programs GIMP and Picasa.



I might look into getting photoshop as my next purchase.

 

[thenikonguy]

I have absolutely no experience with lightroom. Why do you prefer it over photoshop, and what version of photoshop do you have?

I have CS4... the reason I like lightroom so much over PS, is EVERYTHING i need to do is in lightroom, even cloning if needed.

when I say everything, i mean everything! from Import, all the way up to printing. Lightroom has some awesome print options/layouts, i can even create slideshows for my website directly in lightroom.

I have a LOT of filters in lightroom that I have created/downloaded... its just a really smooth program, and it isnt as much of a ram whore as PS.. i do have some photos in iPhoto, but, thats just for facebook purposes.. because I can tag people directly in iPhoto and then upload to facebook..

If I didn't have photoshop, I know I could still get by.. because I'm not at a place where I don't need to do a HUGE amount of editing, because more and more I'm getting it right in the camera.. so I don't have a lot of BIG edits to do.. just coloration, cropping.. and lightroom does all of that..

 

[PhotoXopher]

I'm getting it right in the camera.. so I don't have a lot of BIG edits to do.. just coloration, cropping.. and lightroom does all of that..

Heck, Picasa does all that

 

[jbylake]

For editing and for organizing ?

I'm curious

before becoming proficient in marathon sessions of PhotoShop, spend that many hours learning to take great shots first, instead of the shoot whatever and photoshop to death mentality. As far as organizing, there are a mryiad of ways to do so, most already mentioned. Just my opinion, but PS or other editing programs should be used like salt or pepper, sparingly, not to make photographers out of (some) people, who barely understand their camera. Not trying to be antagonistic here, just concerns me how many people in the beginners forum are ready to jump right into photoshop, or some other editing program, before learning to take great shots, then using PS to either clean up a little here and there, or be extremely artistic, when there is no other way to do so without a good editing program. Lastly, if you must, GIMP, includes a photo organizer, and much of the functionality of PhotoShop.....for free!...It's free open source software.

j.:mrgreen:

J.

BTW, I use both GIMP and Picassa, so not trying to be hypocritcal. Sometimes to enhance, and sometimes to try to salvage a totally Muffed Up shot..

J.:mrgreen:

 

[Overread]

Photoshop elements 6

Overread. I am pretty sure you know about GIMP. Did you try that yet? I believe it is more powerful than Elements.

True I have heard the same, but I must admit that I am still perfecting my basic editing skills in elements - I still have a lot to really learn. Also the layout and interface for GIMP (frm what I have heard from users) is different to that of photoshop and it is generally less intuative a setup - so I don't feel the pressure to really move ot learning to use it as yet.

I don't need to do a HUGE amount of editing, because more and more I'm getting it right in the camera.. so I don't have a lot of BIG edits to do.. just coloration, cropping.. and lightroom does all of that..

I'm not going to talk down "getting it right in camera" by any means, but be carefull that you don't underestimate the power and importance of good editing. Sure its not that exciting (heck most times its downright boring) but just like in the past with film work - editing is still a major part of the photographic experience. Using it well does not mean making massive change, but making the right ones to pull the image so that it is showing exactly what you wanted it to show when you took the photo

 

[jbylake]

Yeah, Overread, I believe you're correct. If you already have PS Elements, no need to go with Gimp. It isn't really intuitive, as you've stated, but I was able to figure most of it out, just playing with it. I'm no pro at GIMP, but I can get what I need out of it.

The only thing, if you have the time to spare, is you might want to download it since it's free anyway, and play with it. If you're proficient in PS Elements, I'd bet money that you'd be able to pick it up much more quickly than I have. If you can spare the disk space, download it for the heck of it, and just goof around with it when you can. You can always delete it, so no harm, no foul.

J.:mrgreen:

 

[Nolan]

I use aperture 2 and PS cs4. There great!

 

[thenikonguy]

I'm not going to talk down "getting it right in camera" by any means, but be carefull that you don't underestimate the power and importance of good editing. Sure its not that exciting (heck most times its downright boring) but just like in the past with film work - editing is still a major part of the photographic experience. Using it well does not mean making massive change, but making the right ones to pull the image so that it is showing exactly what you wanted it to show when you took the photo

Oh I agree with you 150% even when I get things right in the camera, I still do some editing.. I love some of the awesome things you can do in Post, that you could never do in the camera.. my most recent pic that I posted is an example of that.. the pic itself turned out great, and got some rave reviews here on TPF, but, I still did some editing in the end, and made it better!

I LOVE post processing, it can take a good/great photo and make it amazing!

as for the comments about picasa.. It can do it.. but there is a LOT more that a program like lightroom can do that picasa cannot.. i've only used picasa a few times.. and it doesn't even compare to a program like lightroom... its like comparing a ford focus to a lamborghini gallardo.. sure, they can both get you to your location, but, the lambo will get you there faster, cooler, and in the end, you look way better!

 

[SrBiscuit]

photoshop cs2 (just more familiar with it since i use it all day for work)
bridge for organizing (though i dont know it too well)
some alienskin plugins.

 

[Dominantly]

This may sound crazy to some but this is how I do it.

When I take photos I remove the SD card from the camera and plug it into my PC. Then when the folder opens I do one of two things, I either go through and copy all the photos I enjoy, or I select them all. I then open my External Hard Drive (My Book) and put them in the "Photos" Folder in their own folder. For example "Malibu Jun 5 2008", or "Lake Padden"..... THEN I erase them off my memory card and put it back in the Camera.
I Dont need a program to do that for me, I do it on my own.

As far as editing goes I use Photoshop Elements 6 (7 can be found for less then $80) with Topaz's Adjust 3, and Denoise 3 to add some powerful enhancement capabilities.

That package is fairly inexpensive yet has very powerful tools. It is my belief that most people can accomplish the same tasks using Elements 7 that they could using CS3. To quote a blog about the differences, 1"On a quick overview of the 22 tools in CS3, I counted 17 commonalities between CS3 and Elements 7! That’s a lot of overlap! Are there more buried tools in CS3? Most likely. On quick count, I found 60 tools throughout the CS3 Toolbar. In elements, 48! Even still, not a lot extra. From a percentage perspective, that is 20% additional functionality in CS3 Extended versus Elements 7.0 My guess is CS3 Regular would have less of a difference still."

I personally am happy with the features and even more so at the price.

1.Blog

 

[MBasile]

Organizing and the majority of tweaks and tinkering I use Lightroom 2. For heaver tinkering I used Photoshop. For the occasional HDR I use Photomatix.

I have a Mac, but I got rid of iPhoto because it doubled the library even when the option NOT to recopy the library was selected.