digital photography noob

[Baked_bean]

Hey guys,
I used to do abit of Photography using 35mm so im familiar with apertures and iso's. However, i have just got myself a digital SLR and am hoping to get back into photography but i am limited in my digital knowledge. I am just looking for advice on post processing software and what other pieces of software you'd recommend that i use? as im abit lost when it comes to processing RAW images and the like.

Basically i'm just wondering what software you guys use and what for?

Thanks

[Kermit power]

What sort of camera have you got?

The RAW conversion software that comes with Canon DSLRs is pretty decent on its own, so worth a try before upgrading to something like Photoshop Elements if you want extra capabilities.

[JulianHJ]

I use Paint Shop Pro, but I'm wishing that I had Adobe Elements, as thats what a lot of the online and magazine tutorials seem to focus on. Around £60 will get one of those, but depending on your budget you could go for Lightroom for £175 or Photoshop CS5 for £600(!).

[Baked_bean]

I have a 400d, got it off of ebay brand new sealed for a good price and im happy so far. I havn't actually got round to installing the software off of the discs yet, ive only had it since xmas day but ill give it a go thanks . Is elements just as good as photoshop for basic editing? as i used to use Photoshop at sixth form for manipulation and although i know its the way to go i can't justify £600!
Is shooting in raw definitely the way to go then?

[flat-planedCrank]

As has been said - If you have a Canon DSLR then you will have installs for Digital Photo Professional - imo not terrific but will certainly be ok if you are new to post processing.

Many people use Adobe Elements (about £60) as it has some image cataloguing bits, but also allows pixel-level editing of image as you would get in full-fat Photoshop.

A popular (and at around £180 considerably more expensive) is Adobe Lightroom. This is Adobe's flagship RAW processing software (complete with sumptuous interface), but it doesn't give you the fine detail control that Photoshop gives - they are meant to be used in tandem really.

There are demos of all these packages, just go to http://www.adobe.com

Edited by flat-planedCrank on Tuesday 28th December 19:32

[flat-planedCrank]

Baked_bean said:

Is elements just as good as photoshop for basic editing? as i used to use Photoshop at sixth form for manipulation and although i know its the way to go i can't justify £600!

Its not as good but its certainly enough for most editing. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of full-fat Photoshop was in Elements.

Baked_bean said:

Is shooting in raw definitely the way to go then?

Should be an option to shoot in RAW+JPG if you are unsure at this stage, best of both world but obviously fills up your memory card faster...

Long term, I'd go with RAW

Edited by flat-planedCrank on Tuesday 28th December 19:28

[Kermit power]

As far as I know, the only really significant feature for photo editing that Elements lacks over full Photoshop (now that the latest version includes layer masks) is curves, and the Canon RAW processor rather conveniently has these!

[Killwilly]

You could also try one of the free processing downloads, Gimp, Faststone, or Picasa. Do a google and have a read and see what each one does.

[Lucas CAV]

Killwilly said:

You could also try one of the free processing downloads, Gimp, Faststone, or Picasa. Do a google and have a read and see what each one does.

GIMP has Curves too.

[Baked_bean]

Thanks guys for all of the reply's, some helpful stuff. Ill have a look into everything and hopefully post up some images in the near future.