And now for another segway. What type of post-processing software have you guys found useful? I'm currently using Picasa (is this even considered post-processing?), which seems great for beginners like me, but I wonder what some of our other more prosumer-ish contributors use? I really like that "dark-edge" look which I see on a lot of Tim's photos -- that seems to be more advanced than what Picasa can do.
Does anyone use the software which comes bundled with the Canon DSLRs? I haven't loaded it on my computer yet, but I wonder if it's worthwhile to do so.
6 comments:
personally, i don't do any post-processing. almost everything sits on my hdd and doesn't see the light of day. very bad, i know.
however, several of my friends use various versions of Photoshop (CS2 mostly) and have done very nice jobs w/ their pix. i have PS Elements which came w/ either my G2 or 10D, i can't remember which. i got too frustrated trying to figure it out b/c it wasn't very intuitive for me.
i guess to answer your question, picasa is more of a viewing/sorting program and does minimal processing. if you want to make any sort of headway on processing Photoshop seems to be the way to go. I think Elements is MUCH more affordable than CS2 (off the top of my head $99 vs $4-500?)
I don't particularly do too much post-processing other than turning it into sepia or b&w. I use Macromedia Fireworks for that. Maybe I'm just lazy, but I like pictures to be how they turn out.
I think you should try CS2. It's $1 in China....wink..wink..
I use the DPP (Canon Bundle S/W) to convert from RAW to JPEG. I shoot almost 100% RAW. I use minimum Photoshop -- actually I only use it to print with special effect.
I have used RawShooter and other S/W to convert RAW to JPEG and I like DPP the most except Adobe RAW has better noise remove function.
Give it a try, you might like it :)
to be honest, prices have risen given inflation and appreciation of the chinese currency. these days, a new cs2 would set me back $1.25. not cheap at all. but at least they throw in microsoft office, digdug, and rain's greatest hits on the same cd.
richard (and this is another novice question), what is the advantage of shooting in RAW, if you're going to convert to JPG anyway? why not just shoot in JPG directly, which would save a lot more space on the memory card?
if i'm not mistaken, RAW allows you more latitude when processing pictures. when you shoot in jpg, you're allowing the camera to do some processing for you.
to make maybe a bad analogy, shooting jpg is like basically allowing your local costco to go ahead and determine what your picture looks like. you can go ahead and fix it, but it's not quite the same. when you process RAW to jpg, it's like taking the negative and making the jpg what you want it to be. i think there is simply more info on RAW that you can manipulate.
having said all of that, i still shoot jpg! :) but my friends who shoot RAW will never go back since they can easily convert to jpg. then it becomes a matter of doing what you want with all the hdd space you take up!
As J3 mentioned above, shooting RAW is like having a digital version of negatives. When shooting JPEG, you are allowing Camera to make all adjustment/enhancement from the information the sensor provides and discard the rest – hence smaller file size for JPEG. Whereas, RAW files keep ALL the information the sensor provides – given ISO, Av, and Tv. All the other settings you make such as picture style/parameter, White Balance, and exposure level (up to 2 stops plus or minus) can be changed later during post processing. Some people argue that JPEG can do the same but I think not – at least not in the same image quality.
When I convert from RAW to JPEG using DPP, I do make some corrections if necessary – such as WB and exposure level. Even a straight conversion from RAW has more detail than in camera JPEG
Detailed example and explanation can be found here:
http://www.phototestcenter.com/html/raw_v_jpeg.html
I will try to do a similar test and post it here -- as soon as I get around to doing Tamron 70-300mm test first :)
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