Photo editing software

xxaquanutxx

xxaquanutxx

New member
Hi All,

Is there a software program that you would recommend for digital photo editing?

I am going to start to try and do some freelance stuff here for friends and I was curious which software you all use.

Currently I do not have any form of software and I have a MacBook.

I was thinking of Photoshop... Do you know if that will suffice?

Thanks for all your help!
 
Hey aquanut, I use photoshop. Are these going to be pics you take and what type of editing are you planning on doing?
 
Hey Jesse,

My friend can not afford a photographer for her wedding and really likes my shooting style so she asked me if I can do her wedding photo's for her and other friends over hearing this asked me to take photo's of their birthdays and babies.

I have always planned to take my photography to another level and eventually take it up as a career, so the type of editing will vary (lighting, contrast, sharpness, color, etc).

I saw something called photoshop CS4 on the net. I dont mind spending a little bit of money as long as it is on a program that I can progress with.

Pmolan_ I will check that out... thanks!
 
Any of the ones listed, even the inexpensive elements should work fine. You'll need to make yourself a watermark to "own" your pics. You'll also want to take all your pics in raw. Will make things alot easier when editing.
 
Yeah you can progress with it alright. You could spend $1000 for CS4 and still just scratch the surface of its abilities after using it for a year. I bet in 5 years there will still be deep crevices and tricks to that program that you won't even realize exist.

Keep in mind how stressful shooting your friends wedding will be (for you and for her). You will have to set up all of the family portraits. You will have to know exactly what you are doing before you do it. There will be no time for having drinks and gossiping about how pretty the bride is with your mutual friends or dancing with your boyfriend. You will have to be a drill sergeant. The two most stressful times of my life were my first two of weddings, and they were both free jobs for friends. Both turned out great and I've earned many paid jobs from others at the wedding who saw the results...but...man...what a load. I'm not necessarily trying to scare you away from this. I just want to drive home the point the level of performance the bride is going to expect on the biggest day of her life, so do your homework, practice practice practice specifically for this, and all around bring your A-game. Your going to need a good flash to. One thing all weddings seem to have in common is low "romantic" lights which are an ambient light photographer's worst nightmare. I don't care if you have f/1 lenses.
 
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I have both lightroom and CS4 Design Premium. I bought both under educational discounts so I can't use them commercially but if you are a student somewhere, there is a significant savings.

Lightroom can do a lot but I am doing more and more with photoshop - I find it much better at removing baggy eyes and a few other things. I am just scratching at the surface of what it can do.

I would suggest getting a copy of Lightroom and then sending out the few photos they choose for enlargements to a graphic artist and just pay them to do retouching - that or get a copy of elements to save some money. I think you can upgrade elements to the full version later if you outgrow it.

I would not have bought the full CS4 Design Pro suite had I not been able to get it for $350 under an education discount with the purchase of my macbook.
 
Thanks all...

Titus_ my friend is only asking me to photograph her ceremony. There are no guests for her ceremony, just her, her fiance, their baby and her witnesses. There is no way I would shoot a full on wedding having no experience. I am also not a fan of having friends shoot weddings for gifts. I have seen too many photo's come out badly because they got tired of being the photographer and wanted to enjoy themselves as well.

Hypertech_ why are you not able to use your CS4 for commercial... does it not come with all the features?
 
CS4 is the current version of Photoshop. Its capabilities and learning curve have already been handled. It's the gold standard for photo editing for a reason, it's AWESOME.

Adobe sells CS4 for about $1000. As a student, you can get it as low as $200 for the same, full featured version. However, they're limiting student use to non-commercial, it sounds like. It sounds like Adobe's way of saying "Here, students, you can have it cheap, but if you're going to use it to make money, you need to pay just like everyone else." It's a legal boundary, not one set by capabilities within the software.
 
They are sort of saying that. The licensing terms basically restrict it to personal and educational use.

However, I can buy an upgrade to convert my license to the regular commercial terms. So, I can buy the software for $350 plus an upgrade of something like $600 for a total of $950 which is still much less than the $1700 the suite I have goes for retail. I can also wait for the next version (or the one after that) to come out and buy an upgrade at that time to get the latest version and the commercial license at the same time.

When you buy straight from Adobe, you do have submit proof of your current student status (since I've been in grad school basically forever I had no problem there). If you buy it somewhere else like the link above, I think there is a key in the box like a normal version.
 
I use photoshop some, but alot of the editing i do is done in Capture One. Getting the raw image correct can do a huge amount for you pictures and IMO C1 does a better job than adobe's camera raw.
 
Photoshop is the gold standard, but the GIMP is pretty good too. And it's free. From what I can tell, it looks to work fairly similar to PS.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14086727#post14086727 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xxaquanutxx

Titus_ my friend is only asking me to photograph her ceremony. There are no guests for her ceremony, just her, her fiance, their baby and her witnesses. There is no way I would shoot a full on wedding having no experience.
Click to expand...

Oh, well that makes a lot of sense then. I still recommend a good flash if its indoors though!
 
aperture for mac you can download a trial version fully functional for 30 days on the mac web site. I use this and like it. It is simple to use
 
Thanks all again!

I am going to download a bunch of the 30 free trials to test them all out and then go from their. All your help has been tremendously appreciated!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14092955#post14092955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
Oh, well that makes a lot of sense then. I still recommend a good flash if its indoors though!
Click to expand...

It's outdoors :) On the beach :)

What is GIMP?
 
Well I've never used a flash on the beach, and I think I could give just about anyone here a good running for time spent at the beach! Of course unless I had a better beemer or something I don't think flash would do me a lick of good. Most of my subjects 20-100 yards away.
 
I am kinda broke and if I dont take any pictures my friend wont have any of her wedding... so it is the least I can do for her. We have gorgeous sunlight here and the ceremony is going to be at 8am... Just going to have to work some magic :)
 
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