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Thanks to our family business, I have both Photoshop and Lightroom, but I can only put them on 2 machines. I have a laptop that I use for editing and backup when I travel that is pretty low spec- i3, 4gb ram, etc. So on that, I use Gimp and Picasa. Picasa is, or was owned by Google, but was scrapped in favor of a online editor. It was a free program and was great for storing, sorting, tagging, and basic editing. Kind of like a older version of Lightroom. I have never liked Gimp after using Photoshop, but it is free and can do everything I need. The main difference is Picasa is a global editor, meaning that your edits affect all the pixels in the picture, whereas Gimp is a pixel editor, allowing you to make much more precise, targeted adjustments. If you can download a copy of Picasa, I would certainly try it.
Very nice photos, @silas. It’s good that there’s room on the right side of the bird for it to gaze into. Perhaps too much? Cropping in some could help bring more attention to the bird, but I almost kinda like how the bird is blending in to it’s surroundings slightly. Lighting is beautiful. Awesome catchlight in it’s eye. Too bad there are “crumbs” on it’s bill. Perhaps it’s telling a unique story I don’t know about.
Again, beautiful lighting on the cotton tail. Love the blur in both foreground and background. Clean photo overall. Like the others said, I’m not sure about the centered composition. Well done.
Very nice photos, @silas. It’s good that there’s room on the right side of the bird for it to gaze into. Perhaps too much? Cropping in some could help bring more attention to the bird, but I almost kinda like how the bird is blending in to it’s surroundings slightly. Lighting is beautiful. Awesome catchlight in it’s eye. Too bad there are “crumbs” on it’s bill. Perhaps it’s telling a unique story I don’t know about.
Again, beautiful lighting on the cotton tail. Love the blur in both foreground and background. Clean photo overall. Like the others said, I’m not sure about the centered composition. Well done.
Hey @silas!
Wow, super impressive shots! Way to enter the forms!
People are talking about the piece of grass in the foreground of the bunny… I see it, and yes, it’s annoying. While there’s not much you could have done then and there to get it taken care of (without spooking your subject), you can use a photo editor to remove it (I get lay-people’s jaws to drop when I show them how I can “remove” things in my editor).There are two different types of editing software. A little reading will tell you which best fits your needs.
Photoshop type editors are more for one-on-one image alteration, and some might tell you with Photoshop anything is possible with your image. And they are pretty much right (scary!). With my Photoshop-style editor, I can remove trees, add sunflares, add watermarks, put a person next to the Eiffel tower (or on top of it), change someone’s face out for a family portrait shoot (like if they were smiling perfectly only when no one else was), and do a lot of other nit-picky (or not so nit-picky) adjustments.
Lightroom type editors are more for subtle image tweaks to make your pictures “pop.” It’s really a darkroom for your digital photos. You can brighten areas of your photo, change the coloring, and do a little bit of Photoshop-like editing with the clone stamp tool (I think I could remove your bunny’s blade of grass in Lightroom, if I had it). Two things that Lightroom-style editors should have that Photoshop editors do not is the ability to catalog your photos and edit them non-destructively (I believe that means you can go back to your image in the Lightroom catalog and dial back that overdose of contrast you made the last time you edited it). Photoshop edits images destructively. Once you make changes to a layer, it’s “burned in” and stuck.
My first questions to you on editing software… Mac or PC? (Don’t get me wrong, there is a difference. I happen to be an Apple user who can’t stand Windows!).
If you are on a Mac, and just starting out, I would start with Photos for your Lightroom-style editor. You can put your photos in it, organize them, crop them, and even apply some basic edits (like Exposure, Black point, contrast, saturation, levels, vignetting… sound familiar, Lightroom users?). Best of all, it comes with your Mac starting with OS X 10.10.4. If your Mac OS is fairly recent (I’m running macOS Sierra 10.12.6), it has some great tools and it is absolutely free (I was able to get rid of your blade of grass with a few strokes in it). After you’ve used that and decide you need more advanced edits, do your research and find one that fits you. Obviously, Lightroom is the historical industry standard, but it’s moving to subscription only.
I’m currently trying Skylum’s Luminar 2018 which currently has no way of non-destructively editing (unless you save it as a “luminar” file) or cataloging, but it supposedly is coming soon.
I’m not sure about free PC Lightroom-style editors…
If you are on a Mac (or PC), I would also start with GIMP for your Photoshop style editor (https://www.gimp.org). It’s a bit clunky, but it works, and it’s free! You can get pretty good at it. I had a co-worker back when I worked in product photography who used GIMP to edit product shots and he was great with it (and wouldn’t use Photoshop!).
After you’ve done that for a while, you could try Affinity Photo. I know a couple of people on these here forums who use it (including me). It’s $50, and available on the Mac App Store (with more info, a free trial, and the Windows version right here: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/).
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WOW!!
what you did to my picture looks awesome!!
I thought about affinity photo but I wasn’t sure about it and
I am this minute downloading a free trial of Photoshop cc
And again what you did to my picture looks awesome!!!
THANKS 🙂Are you on a Mac, @silas?
SORRY
I was going to send a link… here you go buying a laptopHm… do your research. If you are just starting out, my recommendation is that you stick with what’s free. If and when you later decide “I love pushing shutter buttons!!!” and… “I can’t get (or it’s really really hard to get) x results in my program, even though I know it forwards and backwards” …then I would try out something paid for. I hear ON1 is pretty good (and ACDsee looked like it had potential when I saw it and then couldn’t get it because it was for Windows only) but again, do your research.
Hey Silas! Nice to see you on the forums! For an editing program, I would suggest Luminar 2018. I haven’t used it yet, but I’ve heard some great things about it being a good editing program. I love how vibrant the photo of the rabbit is, and the only thing I see that I would remove is the blade of grass. The picture of the Tufted Titmouse photo is great too, but I would probably get rid of the slight vignette.
The flowers from the dogwood tree add a nice touch. Great job!
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