Editing and posting photos

[Ed FM]

Hi,

I recently purchased a D80 and have been taking a few photos. I was wondering when you see some of the good photos on this forum have most been altered in some way to improve the look of them? I have some photos that I would like to play about with and wondered what software to try, are any of the free downloads worth looking at? For example I was taking a few of the sea with slow shutter speeds but they have ended up a bit on the dark side, I found it hard to judge the photo through the screen on the camera and adjust the settings to correct at the time. Hopefully this will come with experience.
Finally I just wondered the easiest way to post photos on this forum if I feel brave enough to reveal the results. I figure I may get some pointers to where I am going wrong.

Thanks,

Ed.

[dibbly dobbler]

Hi Ed - welcome

I would say yes most have been altered in some way to improve the look - all personal taste of course.

Most folk use Photoshop (Elements or full version) but if you want a free one try GIMP.

If you want to post them up, most folk upload them to Flickr and then it's easy to link them to PH.

[flat-planedCrank]

Ed FM said:

Hi,

I recently purchased a D80 and have been taking a few photos. I was wondering when you see some of the good photos on this forum have most been altered in some way to improve the look of them? I have some photos that I would like to play about with and wondered what software to try, are any of the free downloads worth looking at? For example I was taking a few of the sea with slow shutter speeds but they have ended up a bit on the dark side, I found it hard to judge the photo through the screen on the camera and adjust the settings to correct at the time. Hopefully this will come with experience.
Finally I just wondered the easiest way to post photos on this forum if I feel brave enough to reveal the results. I figure I may get some pointers to where I am going wrong.

Thanks,

Ed.

Welcome to the photography section

Some people post images that are 'straight out of the camera' but most images have probably been through some sort of 'processing'.

Software such as Lightroom (for RAW file processing, exposure changing, contrast - general 'look and feel' changes, etc) and Photoshop (for per-pixel level control of the image, more complex editing) are popular. Demos of both can be found from http://www.adobe.com/uk/

(a cheaper (!) Photoshop Elements is also available and is pretty popular)


To post images to the form you will need somewhere to upload them - there are a number of options - many people use either their own website, or use one of the free options such as flickr. Once your images are uploaded you just need to link to them when posting on PH.

Hope this helps

[Stiglet80]

I downloaded Photoscape, definitly limited compared to the likes of photoshop but for a beginner it's good to get the hang of basic editing. It is also free.

[Ed FM]

Thanks for the replies, I downloaded the free trial of lightroom to have a play about and sorted out a Flickr account. I will post up a few of my efforts to hopefully get some constructive criticism.

Cheers,

Ed

[Ed FM]

[Ed FM]

[Ed FM]

[RobDickinson]

Hi Ed, there looking good, think you could add some more pop to them though!

[Comacchio]

Nice compo, but it looks like there's dust on your lens/sensor in that last one.

Theres a nice clone/heal tool in Lightroom that will be perfect at getting rid of that and give you a much better image.

[Ed FM]

Thanks for the replies, I guess it is a case of practising different settings and getting to know how it all affects the shots you take.

[mcflurry]

Raw Therapee and GIMP are both free