Photoshop?

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Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:22 am

I have recently bought my first digital camera (Nikon D70) and am looking for software to 'enhance' the pictures.
A mate suggested Adobe Photoshop but that seems a bit too pricey for my budget. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:23 am

Gimp

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:28 am

^^^ Seconded

I actually use Photoshop at work, but trying to get it for home was a bit out of my price range.

I now used GIMPShop at home and constantly switching between the 2 isn't really a problem.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:47 am

Thirded. But check out what software they gave you with the camera as well. You never know what gems you might find on the driver disc.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:52 am

Quote:

Gimp

That�s what I threatened the users with back in my days as Sysadmin, when they started to be cheeky and complained that they REALLY REALLY need Adobe Photoshop: "Shut up, or I will install Gimp on your computer" Usually worked wonders and they found out, that they were able to do just what they needed with MS Paint Twisted Evil

BCFH (breadcrumb from hell) Wink

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:27 am

@wayne : bought the camera second hand - no disc included...
I downloaded Picasa, but am not entirely impressed and am looking for something more 'professional'
Thanks to all for the advice though, will try Gimp when I get back home

419Eater Admin Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Posts: 7469

As well as Gimp you could also try Photoshop Elements. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than the full blown Photoshop, but should have most of the features you should need. The advantage being that using Elements with familiarise yourself with the Photoshop interface for if/when you decide to splash out on the full version!

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:26 pm

Another option is Paint Shop Pro.

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:51 pm

GIMP beginners should read Grokking the GIMP. It's written for the older 1.3 version, but this book should still clarify many, many things.

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:20 am

As Shiver says, try Photoshop Elements, I use it quite a lot (although I have GIMP also). When Elements 5 came out I was able to get Elements 4 for under $30. (I started with Elements 2 that I got bundled with a scanner).

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:09 am

All I have to say is Limewire! Share and share alike is what i say.

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:26 am

I brought a new D70s when it first came out a while back.

The photo editing suite is very useful and a lot more scientifically geared toward digital photo editing than photoshop, where you just have to rule of thumb stuff. In addition the Nikon software is the only software capable of editing the NEF(RAW) data. A lot of Nikon owners have complained about this.

Photoshop can open and edit NEF files (I think), without installing the NEF editing software, but it reduces the data by fitting them into a different pallete. You won't notice this much on screen, but the best printers are able to recognise the higher range supported by RAW files. You'll still get all the pixels (it's just over 6mp for a D70s I think), but the color range will be squashed a bit.

The Nikon software doesn't come free with the camera, but you can download the trial version - or you could hassle the person who sold you the camera for the CD, which includes the trial.

I'm not sure how the price compares to PS, but like I said you'll need the Nikon software anyway if you want to edit the encoded RAW files.

Sucks for us Nikon users I guess Very Happy

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 571

For basic touchups really really fast, Google's Picasa software is really quite good, and free. But for anything more complicated than color/lighting adjustment and red-eye removal it's not terribly useful unfortunately.

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:42 am

@battery : unfortunately the seller didn't have the Nikon software - I already checked ... I'll see if i can get it any other way...
Have downloaded The Gimp : looks quite complicated (haven't yet managed to edit a picture yet - shows you the level of my computer/software knowledge eh? Laughing

). It will probably take me a few months (years?) to get the hang of it Evil or Very Mad

. In the meantime I'll see if I can get the Photoshop Elements, and until then I'll use Picasa.
Thanks everyone for your help and comments

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:48 am

battery wrote:

In addition the Nikon software is the only software capable of editing the NEF(RAW) data. A lot of Nikon owners have complained about this.

That's not true. For Windows I can recommend Raw Shooter Essentials and for Linux Bibble.

I didn't even like the original Nikon software very much and although you've already paid for the camera you only get a trial version.

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:13 pm

Ziggyzap wrote:

All I have to say is Limewire! Share and share alike is what i say.

If you're advocating copyright theft, don't do it here. Plus anything downloaded of Limewire could be virus riddled, not the best idea. If you want commercial software's (e. g. Photoshop) features without paying for them, use open source (e.g. The GIMP).

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:06 pm

RSE opens NEF?.... cool. Can it save them back as NEF or does it convert them?

-edit - it's actually not bad. i still prefer the nikon software (I have to - we paid for it), but for free you could do worse.

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:56 pm

Hey Bobo, I can recommend Irfanview. It is very easy to use and has almost all the power a non-professional needs. It's free for personal use, but I find it so useful that I sent money anyway. The programmer is a guy named Irfan Skiljan from Bosnia who lives in Vienna now.

http://www.irfanview.com

Photoshop Elements is a slimmed down version of Photoshop but I still find it quite complicated and difficult to figure out. However, there are times when you need the extra power that it provides. Such as when you want to make it look like a squirrel ate a hole in the wooden statue your mugu sent!

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:15 pm

I do all my stuff with good old MS PAINT (and hours of patience)

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:12 am

MS PAINT rules.

I write all my script and code in MS PAINT now as note pad seems too technical.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

I was a Paint Shop Pro devotee for versions 3, 4 and 5, but once the Gimp went past them there was no point in paying money for something available free.

Gimp hint: right click then layer, image or filters, with select and dialogs also occansionally useful. These days those are on the menubar too. You don't need the main application menu bar for anything other than New or Acquire->screenshot/scan.

I still have trouble selecting gradients, and I need to learn masking, but most of it is straight forward; there are lots of tutorials out there.

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:03 pm

@tae : I downloaded Rawshooter essentials, yet when I open the program and click on the folder which contains NEF files, I get the message "no Raw files found - this folder doesn't contain any supported RAW files.
Can I only use Rawshooter in combination with the Nikon software (which I don't have...)?
At one time during installation it did mention it supported Nikon D70...

Maybe I should've stuck with my Minolta Dynax 7000i and my ever familiar Kodak film... Jeez, you need a degree in computer science to operate these things (or, and I'll say it before anyone else does.., a few more braincells...)

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:11 pm

I'd suggest Ansel Adams' triology: The Camera, The Negative, The Positive if you seriously like to photograph.

For baiting: The Gimp Very Happy

Not quite a Newb Joined: 11 Feb 2007 Posts: 68

NEF is an odd format unique to Nikon. Only a few image manipulators support it.

Irfanview recommended by Dog Dine has a NEF plug in and will happily open your files. Give it a try.

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:29 am

Bobo419 wrote:

@tae : I downloaded Rawshooter essentials, yet when I open the program and click on the folder which contains NEF files, I get the message "no Raw files found - this folder doesn't contain any supported RAW files.

That's odd, When Tae mentioned it I downloaded it pretty much straight away, not expecting it to work - just so I could reply to tae with "I told you so"

To my surprise it worked fine. The only thing I haven't been able to find is a way to print the NEF file directly. It seems to need to run the batch converter and print them to tiff files first.

Not a major problem. It opens the files faster than the Nikon software and has a neat memory saving rendering system when you zoom in and out. Looks a bit like loading a hi res of a google earth picture.

I don't know why you're having trouble using it. If you like you can send me a nef file from your D70 and I'll try and open it.

pm me for addy.

@ the mob
I went to a few Nikon forums after buying my first Nikon digital and there were some people posting there who were absolutely furious that Nikon had used some contraversial encoding methods to make it's files unreadable to other packages. That's why I originally thought that there were no editors capable of opening them. I guess over time people have managed to work out ways to support them. In anycase - Nikon are still a pain in the ass.