Edit or not to Edit

[aee]

I was told to download an editing programme which I did and watched a few tutorials. My dilemma is do I want to take photos or produce pictures. Would like to know if someone else has the same thoughts as me.

[Geoff F]

Depends what you want to produce, Awstin.

Most of my friends simply shoot in full auto mode then just download or take their cards to a shop and are happy with their poorly exposed crooked snaps.

Most of us here want something better and consider editing to be part of the photo taking process.

You didn't say which editing software you now have. Some of the free options are rather basic while others get quite complex.

[Shadowman]

I was told to download an editing programme which I did and watched a few tutorials. My dilemma is do I want to take photos or produce pictures. Would like to know if someone else has the same thoughts as me.

Did these same people who told you to download an editing programme tell you why they suggested it?

[aee]

I downloaded GIMP , It is to improve my images

[Polar01]

Awstin, GIMP, Lightroom, Photoshop or any other photo editing program will not improve your images. What they will and can do it to let your vision of the images come to life. If you were to shoot in j-pegs than the image you see is what some tech sitting at a computer screen has decided what the image should look like not you. If you shoot in raw all the data is there, it is now up to you to how that image should look and that is done with some sort of post production program. As I see it you have 3 choices, 1. j-pegs it is what someone else thinks it should look like, 2. shoot raw do nothing, looks boring, 3. post process yourself thus letting your vision of what it should look like in your mind come through.
Your choice.

Cheers: Allan

[aee]

Thanks Alan food for thought there. I use a Sony HX300 bridge camera which does not shoot raw

[NorthernFocus]

Most of us have been through this "phase", Awstin. Only you can decide what you want/need. If photography is simply a means to collect snapshots to aid ones memory as time goes by, well then editing is likely not important/necessary. If you plan to pursue photography as a hobby then learning to edit is requisite. It's totally up to you based on your needs/desires.

[Manfred M]

Awstin - when you do not edit, you are relying on the decisions of some engineer or programmer located in Japan, Korea or China as to how your images look.

Not only that, but you are "stuck" with what comes out of your camera. The horizon that is not level, perhaps a branch sticking in at the side of the picture or the electrical lines running through the middle of a beautiful landscape. Editing the image lets you (assuming that you have the tools and skills to do this), "fix" these issues.

I have taken some shots that I have done no editing to, but these were shot in a studio under very carefully controlled conditions. There is also a view among some photographers that jpegs cannot be edited. While I agree that a raw file has more "headroom" for drastic edits, jpegs can be edited just as well as jpegs in many cases. The first cameras I owned did not produce raw files but I quite happily edited them and this is a practice I still use. Many of the files I post on this site are edited jpegs.

I very rarely find images that I would use straight out of the camera.

[rtbaum]

un-edited



edited

[aee]

Very valuable point for me to ponder over. I am new to photography and just learning so who knows which road I will take. At the moment I will try anything long short exposure day night just to see which I like best. So far I enjoy it all.
Thanks

[rachel]

aee. I understand completely. Until recently I used software for nothing more than the level the horizon and once in a while to tweak contrast. Now I'm experimenting to see what I can do, though at the moment I can't achieve anything like the amazing results I see here and elsewhere by people who are editing RAW. And while it might not be possible to achieve the same by editing jpeg, I think it is still perfectly possible to enhance an image significantly that way.

I would definitely draw the line at moving things though, or placing objects where they aren't really.

[DanK]

Manfred beat me. Beginners often think the choice is between processing and not processing images. That's not the case. When you shoot jpeg in the camera, you are simply imposing a pre-set editing recipe on the photo--a color balance, a white balance, a degree of sharpening, a certain degree of contrast, etc. It's a applied blindly, with no consideration of the image. When you do the edits yourself, you take control, and you can decide how the image will be processed to make that particular image look the way you want. Shooting jpeg in the camera is analogous to dropping film at the drugstore for processing. It's still processed, but you have zero control.

Allan wrote:

Awstin, GIMP, Lightroom, Photoshop or any other photo editing program will not improve your images. What they will and can do it to let your vision of the images come to life.

I disagree with this. In some cases, the recipe you impose in the camera might come close to what you want, and in that case, the improvement from doing the editing yourself may be small. In other cases, the improvement can be huge--but only if you learn enough about editing to use the tools to create the image you want. That takes time, practice, and study.

[aee]

Is GIMP an easy programe for a complete novice or can you recommend a basic programe for me to try please

[Geoff F]

I would say Gimp definitely isn't a 'user friendly' starter programme; but it is an excellent piece of free software once you get used to the individual quirks.

It is widely used and there are plenty of places which can offer help once you search around for information. However, be willing to accept a bit of confusion and head scratching initially.

As an alternative if you are prepared to pay, Serif Photo Plus covers the range between beginner and more advanced user. But beware of my usual warning about giving any personal contact information to the Serif Sales Team!

You may find one of their older programmes available at a knock down cost if you search around. Something like PP X2 or X3 for example. I think the current version is around X6.

There are alternatives and everybody seems to prefer the software which they are currently using. Personally I much prefer Photo Plus to Adobe Elements. But once you move on to something like Adobe CC you are in a totally different league.

So as you have Gimp now, I would suggest that you persevere with it for a while and ask questions when it gets a little too confusing.

[rachel]

There are some excellent online tutorials for GIMP, it's how I learned to do what I do with it. A quick search will bring up lots of options.

[Donald]

There are some excellent online tutorials for GIMP, it's how I learned to do what I do with it. A quick search will bring up lots of options.

And the very best, in my opinion, is www.meetthegimp.org. Rolf's tutorials, especially the early ones that cover the basics, are great. Even though they refer to earlier versions of the GIMP, they are still relevant. I learned everything I know about post-processing from them.

Go the Table of Contents in the menu bar and choose 'Getting the older shows'.

[aee]

Thanks everyone. I think I have my work cut out

[Brev00]

Some programs cost money but offer a free trial to see if it suits the user. I highly recommend taking advantage of these free tastes. With photography, nothing beats seeing what you are doing as you are doing it. Getting a feel for the program and deciding based on your own chemistry (or lack thereof). I tried several programs (not Gimp, though) and continue to explore free trial even though I have settled on Elements. I just found it so easy to operate. I have not done any videos though I read a few chapters of a couple of books. Even iPhoto, if you have a Mac, is offering some decent features. So, explore and take your time. Regardless of what you choose, you will get better with practice.

[rpcrowe]

Awstin...

When I first shot with a DSLR, I shot in JPEG. Even though a lot of the post processing was done in the camera when shooting RAW, I was still able to improve my JPEG images with post processing.

I do PP on a lot of JPEG images which are shot by our Maltese Rescue California group volunteers and can improve many of these images considerably by tweaking exposure, color and contrast as well as cropping and leveling horizons. Unfortunately, I do not save the JPEG images so I have no before and after images to post. But believe me, there can be a considerable difference between a JPEG that has benefited from a modicum of PP and one that is SOOC.

[jcuknz]

As I see it you have 3 choices, 1. j-pegs it is what someone else thinks it should look like,

Cheers: Allan

What a lot of baloney ... I rarely shoot raw and I edit every photo I take ... what the 'tech' choose is simply the starting point. But then in my distant working life mostly I was an editor, so perhaps I am biased