Digital Processing Question?
- This topic has 14 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated Feb 24, 2008 at 1:08 am by
.
-
Posts
-
This amatuer photog is getting ready to make the transition to an Apple computer and to some quality processing software. I’m beginning to explore my options. Could you guys (and gals) briefly list the software you utilize to produce such great photos. Right now I’m looking at Adobe products….CS2 and CS3.
Any help appreciated.
Drifter
Photo Mechanic or Adobe Lightroom for your browsing, viewing and archiving. I use PM myself, running hundreds of images through it every day. It’s simple and very quick.
Drifter
Photoshop CS2 or 3 – I’m still using CS2 and honestly can’t see why I’d upgrade to CS3. There are one or two new features on CS3 that are cool, but since I’m a journalist and the only photoshoping I do is color correct, tone and crop I don’t need all the fancy extras.
Apple’s Aperture is also a good program but it sucks a lot of memory and is big $$$ and though you can use it to do basic photo manipulation, you’re still gonna need Photoshop.
Hope this helps.
CS2- or 3 – Get 3 if you have an Intel Mac.
http://www.iridientdigital.com/products/rawdeveloper.html
That’s what I use for a RAW developer.. I believe it was Richard Bernabe that recomeded to me and I like it a lot. It’s made specifically for mac and they update it pretty regularly to tweak things and support new cameras.
I’ve been in the photography business for a long time and was a early adopter of digital. You have picked a great time
I believe this guy is a switchin over to a Mac. There is nothing wrong with Lightroom. Some people use both. I picked Aperture to invest my time and money in though. There is plenty of room in the market for both applications. I use both Macs and pcs but if I had to choose one it would be the Mac. A lot of the buzz about a product is generated by people on the take from a brand you can’t trust them totally. I am not implying anything about you Labrati but you know the people you see associated with a camera of a fly rod. I know when a fellow pro says “hey you need to check out Capture NX” he wouldn’t steer me wrong he had nothing to gain. Does Lightroom still have a free trial? If it does and Drifter thinks he might like it then he should try it. Adobe enjoys a huge position in the market and there is a plethora of “experts” getting rich trying to teach people how to piss there life down the drain in Photoshop. Aperture does the better job in my opinion of acquiring evaluating and editing images.
I believe this guy is a switchin over to a Mac. There is nothing wrong with Lightroom. Some people use both. I picked Aperture to invest my time and money in though. There is plenty of room in the market for both applications. I use both Macs and pcs but if I had to choose one it would be the Mac. A lot of the buzz about a product is generated by people on the take from a brand you can’t trust them totally. I am not implying anything about you Labrati but you know the people you see associated with a camera of a fly rod. I know when a fellow pro says “hey you need to check out Capture NX” he wouldn’t steer me wrong he had nothing to gain. Does Lightroom still have a free trial? If it does and Drifter thinks he might like it then he should try it. Adobe enjoys a huge position in the market and there is a plethora of “experts” getting rich trying to teach people how to piss there life down the drain in Photoshop. Aperture does the better job in my opinion of acquiring evaluating and editing images.
Adobe enjoys a huge position in the market and there is a plethora of “experts” getting rich trying to teach people how to piss there life down the drain in Photoshop.
I was going to ignore this comment but then I remembered that someone actually asked for advice and this pasted quote is so far off of the truth that it must be addressed: Wrong and very insulting to those that know how to use this software package and understand the potential of same.
Drifter, getting back to your question: I agree with just about all of the advice already offered. CS2 and CS3 are very complex packages and they are so great that one can also get college credits for studies and certificates in this package. I don’t know of any other editing software that hold this sort of recognition of national accreditation. How-ever, it is professional software and the learning curve is very profound. It really is not a wise investment for using it as just a post editing enhancements tool, unless you are on a contracted assignment with a publisher that allows the photographer to enhance their images. If that were the case, they would also demand that everything be done in separate layers and named for each corresponding action. Or, request the TIFF files with light post processing, in other cases.
I would support and advise the same packages suggested already but use the 30 day free trials and find the one that is both best and easiest for you. Form your own opinion after that and let us know which one you chose. 🙂
Ben I’ve been using Photoshop it seem like forever its like the first thing I do when I get to work is start Photoshop. I think I gave Drifter some straight up on target advice. I think Aperture is a great tool for a photographer and much more focused on the tasks that most photgraphers do like select and pick images and spot and do color correction etc. I shoot and work in a high end pre-press enviroment. I do a lot of image correction and manipulation. You can blow a lot of time in Photoshop”piss your life down the drain”. Don’t get all insulted. I like the idea of using Photoshop as a image enhancer not a image creator.
Photography for me happens at the camera I might visualize or plan for something to be done in post but I try to avoid it by handling as much as I can up front.Adobes position in the market is almost a monopoly. Thats not good for anyone!
Wow guys! There’s a wealth of knowledge and experience here. I guess that’s why I hang out here so much. I’ll take what you all have suggested and spend some time researching and digesting it.
I really appreciate the time you took to express your firsthand experiences. I’m sure others will benefit from this thread as well. Thanks again!
David, I pasted the comment I disagreed with and I don’t take it as an insult at me as much as it insults all of the professional Graphic Designers and Art Directors from every publisher that I know and/or work with. I like you though so, lets let that go at what it is [ch9786]
This miss conception about Photoshop, on a true professional level, is this. Because of its popularity, many believe that the images are all created and that it takes no skill from behind the camera. Trust me, the skill had better be there as no large well established publisher and/or Art Director is going to touch a photographer who’s work has to be fixed. Images are created but most often they are created from original great images, from very skilled and professional photographers. Granted, great images can also be created but no publisher is going to spend the time or money in making crap look good.
On all of my assignments, I have had to score the images, convert and process from RAW then print the contact sheets for review with the folks from the publisher. All of this is done in Bridge and then the selected files are opened directly into CS3, Illustrator or migrated straight to InDesign. This process takes very little time and a lot of it is automated. So, there really is a savings of time with fixed color management of the entire suite. Being in pre-press, you know how important consistent calibrated colour is, especially while working in a CMYK mode.
Just about all of the publishers, internationally, use either Adobe InDesign or QuarkXpress, with the mass majority now using InDesign. The Graphic Designers and Art Directors are the ones that make sure a photographer gets assignments or is sent back to sit at home wondering why companies don’t want to do it the photographers way.
My mother raised and idiot but no fool, these people don’t care about my beliefs or philosophy, they only care that I can get the quality of images that they want, the proper composition and am able to capture what they imagined in the original images, constantly! There is a reason that they are all using CS2 and CS3 suites, it isn’t just that it is the best on the market, it increases their margins in that it is more effective, less time consuming, more accurate, better detailed and in knowledgeable hands, very easy to use.
I equate it like this: Just because I drive a car everyday, doesn’t mean that I will win any Formula One races. I can purchase a Ferrari but again, I can’t win any Formula One races. I can learn a small bit about a Ferrari and try some other petrol’s but again, I am not going to win any of the races. But, if I learn the tips and tricks of the real pro’s and use the same tools, in the same ways, as the professional racer’s, I am getting better. If I listento the drivers and set my own opinions aside as I apply theirs, I am getting into the same race. Once I go back and spend time with the mechanics and really learn all of the tools that they create for me and understand the why’s of why they use them, I might just win one of those races. Point is, I can’t make an informed decision until I learn every single aspect of the car and how to race with it properly.
Back to the topic of this thread, PS is a very complicated and complex program. It is professional software that has very well designed professional applications but that does not mean that it is right for everyone. It does a GREAT job of enhancements but the software goes far beyond that as well. If you don’t need the Ferrari and don’t want to have to dive into the intense training of how to drive one properly. Get a package that is designed and limited to enhancing images, there is nothing wrong with purchasing only that which you need. They are great programs at a lesser price point.
(sorry had to edit several times due to my terrible writing and spelling skills 😉 )
Oh yes, I also wanted to add this about Adobe. I will probably get in trouble from them for posting this 😉 but when I switched from PC to Mac, Adobe not only sent me the new Mac software, they also upgraded the suite. Price: $10.00 to cover shipping.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.