Picture Editing

[elsaspet]

Every Single one of them, always.

 

[xfloggingkylex]

Converting the picture to B&W doesnt count towards editing, ill edit that into the first post..

I guess if your not majorly changing the sole color, and just tampering with the brightness, ect, then its fine..

And yeah, i started using my Olympus FE-190 on.. December 24, 2006.. thats about 5 months..


Does anybody have some ideas for an editing program for me thats basic, and can start me off using more complex programs?? (i need something very easy to learn.. i use "Paint" right now, just for cropping, resizing, ect..)

Also, I guess I made a good post, seems to stir up some discussion

for photo viewing, quick cropping and resizing I use FastStone's Image viewer. Works great and supports just about every file type.

For color and exposure I use the GIMP, basically a free open source of photoshop. Difficult to get used to, but there are millions of tutorials online that teach you how to use programs such as photoshop and GIMP.

www.GIMP.org if you are interested. It can be a little difficult to set up, if you try and are having problems let me know (PM me) and I'll help you out.

 

[cedew]

I don't know about other folks, but I have two categories of photos from any given day...the ones with potential, and the others. The percentage of excellent photos straight from the camera is fairly low...for me anyway. Just about every photo that makes it into my favorites will benefit from some sort of an adjustment. To say that any photo is perfect is...wrong. If you take 100 photos, and you have 20 that you think are perfect from the camera, you either don't know anything, or the photos don't mean much to you, in which case perfect really means good enough.

 

[Kent Frost]

Converting the picture to B&W doesnt count towards editing, ill edit that into the first post..

Of course it does, especially if you're doing more than just converting to grayscale or eliminating the saturation to get to that point. If you're using a channel mixer to achieve black/white, then you'll find that there's almost infinite combinations of monochromatic balances, and it may take a very discerning eye to find a balance for a specific image that is most pleasing. In some cases, you may have to blend different balances.

 

[mysteryscribe]

You left out most of the things one does to a photo routinely.... even in the old wet darkrooms when it wasnt considered editing we routinely.

cropped.
adjusted for density (light dark)
burned and dodged for spots of different density.
Of course we didnt convert to black and white that seems more an edit to me but alas im old fashioned.

The burning and dodging are esential to image quality.

 

[ksmattfish]

You left out most of the things one does to a photo routinely.... even in the old wet darkrooms when it wasnt considered editing we routinely.

cropped.
adjusted for density (light dark)
burned and dodged for spots of different density.
Of course we didnt convert to black and white that seems more an edit to me but alas im old fashioned.

The burning and dodging are esential to image quality.

unsharp masks
contrast masking
select contrast grade (and with multigrade papers split contrast filtering)
toning/selective toning/split toning
hand coloring
expand and contract tonal range in development
use colored filters to change tones and contrast at the exposure
polarizing filters
Velvia
negative retouching
zone system

 

[ksmattfish]

Really, but you dont think its somewhat "fake" picture?

Name some famous photographers that you think take unedited photos (other than photojournalists).

 

[Digital Matt]

Even photo journalists edit their photos. Watch "War Photographer", the documentary about James Nachtwey. His first "edit" is picking out what photos to submit. He has an assistant doing all of his printing for him, and they go back and forth about where to dodge, and where to burn. The editors of the magazine he is shooting for are cropping and arranging his photos in a layout. It's editing from beginning to end.

 

[abraxas]

Really, but you dont think its somewhat "fake" picture?

There's that 'word!'

Check this out;

Fake:
something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
forge: make a copy of with the intent to deceive; "he faked the signature"; "they counterfeited dollar bills"; "She forged a Green Card"
imposter: a person who makes deceitful pretenses
fudge: fake or falsify; "Fudge the figures"; "cook the books"; "falsify the data"
bogus: fraudulent; having a misleading appearance
juke: (football) a deceptive move made by a football player
bull****: talk through one's hat; "The politician was not well prepared for the debate and faked it"
not genuine or real; being an imitation of the genuine article; "it isn't fake anything; it's real synthetic fur"; "faux pearls"; "false teeth"; "decorated with imitation palm leaves"; "a purse of simulated alligator hide"

ref: http://wordnet.princeton.edu

Is all that what you mean? I wouldn't define it as the antithesis of real.

 

[ksmattfish]

Even photo journalists edit their photos.

It's funny how some are allowed to do it, and others get fired for it. Glad I'm into it for the creative side rather than the delivering factual information side.

 

[Digital Matt]

I know what you mean Matt, but some do it tastefully to make the photo as good as it can be, while others manipulate it to make the scene more dramatic than what it was.

 

[mysteryscribe]

It all comes back to my favorite phrase about digital dark rooms and wet dark rooms... in the end... Its all rock and roll to me

 

[Hertz van Rental]

As an old purist, what I see is what you get!