Photo Editing

[cccott3]

I have a really hard time editting with GIMP... I know that is because I am not familiar with how to use it but it would take forever to search "how to" for everything thing I need to do. I edited the same pic in GIMP and in windows live photo gallery and I think the one from windows looks better...what do you think?

I really wanted to play with my new lens (nikon 50 1.4) so I took my son to the park turns out he was not up for taking pics
I know the picture is not great but because he is mine I like it Its super hard to get a good pic of him these days because he is NEVER still.

1. GIMP

2. Windows gallery

 

[480sparky]

I think you can achieve the same results in GIMP. It's just a matter of learning the way to do it. Many of the steps will probably be the same, just a different name, under a different tab, etc.

 

[MTVision]

I have a really hard time editting with GIMP... I know that is because I am not familiar with how to use it but it would take forever to search "how to" for everything thing I need to do. I edited the same pic in GIMP and in windows live photo gallery and I think the one from windows looks better...what do you think?

I really wanted to play with my new lens (nikon 50 1.4) so I took my son to the park turns out he was not up for taking pics
I know the picture is not great but because he is mine I like it Its super hard to get a good pic of him these days because he is NEVER still.

1. GIMP

2. Windows gallery

It really won't take that long to learn GIMP. I've had photoshop for 2 months and I can edit pretty well with it. Granted I haven't even touched the surface of its abilities but it works for me. I learned by playing, following tutorials and watching videos on YouTube.

Just learn the basics - how to fix exposure, brighten eyes, remove blemishes, etc.

Are you shooting RAW?

 

[cccott3]

@MTVision I guess I will have to watch more videos and play with it. It's just way complex as far as the % to sharpen and working with exposure and color.. So many people like it so I'm just going to keep working with it until I get it figured out

I do not shoot raw! From what I understand when you shoot in raw the colors are not that great but it's easier to edit them? Yeah definitely not ready for that!!

I seriously wish I could steal one one you for the day for a crash coarse! You guys know your s***

 

[MTVision]

@MTVision I guess I will have to watch more videos and play with it. It's just way complex as far as the % to sharpen and working with exposure and color.. So many people like it so I'm just going to keep working with it until I get it figured out

I do not shoot raw! From what I understand when you shoot in raw the colors are not that great but it's easier to edit them? Yeah definitely not ready for that!!

I seriously wish I could steal one one you for the day for a crash coarse! You guys know your s***

You still shoot RAW that way when you get better at editing you have the RAW. You can shoot RAW+JPEG. The colors are a little duller but they are IMO opinion easier to edit. GIMP must have a RAW editor.

Also, you probably got ViewNx with your camera. That has RAW editing capabilities and it makes it super easy. The colors are really vibrant in the RAW files when you open them in ViewNX. They actually look really similar to the JPEGS.

My RAW files look 100% different in adobe camera raw then they do in ViewNX. Try it out - you'll be surprised.

 

[KmH]

JPEGs have little editing headroom. JPEG was designed to be a final, no editing, ready-to-print file type.

In other words, you have to be real careful what editing you do, or editing artifacts start becoming easily visible in your final image. That is why so many photographers shoot Raw and not JPEG.

I am not familiar with how to use it but it would take forever to search "how to" for everything thing I need to do...

It wouldn't take forever, but it does take some effort on your part.

The really cool thing about searching for "how to" is you run across stuff you didn't know you want to know.

 

[analog.universe]

UFRaw is the most popular RAW frontend to GIMP. I really like it a lot, but RAW converters are a very personal thing. It does have presets though, as well as the ability to save your own settings, so you can "quick process" if you want something as simple as the JPG out of the camera. I'd really recommend shooting RAW, especially for the type of editing it seems you're interested in. GIMP is more designed for actually moving pixels, touching up, manipulating, etc... RAW converters are for color correction, contrast adjustments, curves adjustments and the like. You literally have hundreds of times more data to mess with in a RAW file than you do in a JPG.

There are some shots that I took in JPG when I was new to all this that I still wish I had shot RAW, because now that I've grown I've gotten much better editing ideas for them, that I absolutely cannot pull off with the JPG version.