I was wondering what would be a good app for editing photos thats good for a beginner that is still good as I progress. I would like to spend around 100 I dont mind if its not the newest version of software. Im running leopard on a unibody macbook so it has to be able to be handled by the macbook.
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Best Photography app for a noob that can help progress
- Thread starter armenakadino
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What exactly are you looking to do? The first step should be learning how to take proper photos- something that no application is going to do.
thats what I want to learn my uncle just upgraded his camera and gave my brother a canon d20 with a tamron 220 lens. They go take airplane photos so my brother wants to take the photos edit them. For me im going to get a short lens for the camera and take a photography class, I want to be able to do that hdr images those are awesome, or be able to take a picture of my car and crop in some different wheels. Play with the color add signature to the picture etc
I forgot to add my brother is taking a photography class right now and there using photoshop cs4 so he knows what he is doing
why not save that $100 (since you have access to CS4, yes?) you were going to spend on software and by the nifty fifty? That is the "cheapo" 50mm f/1.8 that Canon makes that sells for about $90 new? It IS a must have for any photographer. Ya know, i took a photography class (part of my degree i am earning) and it really didn't teach me anything new, however, it wasn't worthless....
The best thing that you can do is read the manual of the camera several times, and go to a book store and sit down and look through some books. It really doesn't matter is the book isn't the newest "digital" book or is 3-4 years old, the subject matter in the book doesn't go bad.
I think spending money on a class at this point isn't necessary. Go out and shoot. Now if we were talking about film, I would say that would be a good idea. Shooting digital doesn't cost you a thing, as far as developing or if you come back with bad photos. Don't be afraid to mess with different aperatures, exposures, etc...
I just say practice, practice, practice, and read. Classes with teach you lighting techniques, exposures, aperatures, etc. I say after practicing for a while and you still feel uncomfortable, than spring for a class. I mean it can't hurt.
I am no pro by any stretch of the imagination, but persistance and practice can yield great results. These were shot with a 30D (basically a 20D, which is what you have) and a 10-22mm lens, which cost about $600, not too expensive...
The best thing that you can do is read the manual of the camera several times, and go to a book store and sit down and look through some books. It really doesn't matter is the book isn't the newest "digital" book or is 3-4 years old, the subject matter in the book doesn't go bad.
I think spending money on a class at this point isn't necessary. Go out and shoot. Now if we were talking about film, I would say that would be a good idea. Shooting digital doesn't cost you a thing, as far as developing or if you come back with bad photos. Don't be afraid to mess with different aperatures, exposures, etc...
I just say practice, practice, practice, and read. Classes with teach you lighting techniques, exposures, aperatures, etc. I say after practicing for a while and you still feel uncomfortable, than spring for a class. I mean it can't hurt.
I am no pro by any stretch of the imagination, but persistance and practice can yield great results. These were shot with a 30D (basically a 20D, which is what you have) and a 10-22mm lens, which cost about $600, not too expensive...
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I am no pro by any stretch of the imagination, but persistance and practice can yield great results. These were shot with a 30D (basically a 20D, which is what you have) and a 10-22mm lens, which cost about $600, not too expensive...
:drool
Beautiful shots. I need to get my but out and do some shooting. Also don't be afraid to take pics of anything. You never know when and where you will find a shot you love. I have to agree with persistance and practice although being at the right time also comes into play. For instance my recent trip to Aruba I headed up to the north-western part of the island to catch the sunset. While waiting I figured I would take some pictures so I captured the California Lighthouse and wouldn't you know it its probably my favorite pic from the trip. Printed and just waiting for a frame to hang.
What I need more practice is my post work but that will come in time as well.
here is a web site i just stumbled upon...
http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html#whichcategory
http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html#whichcategory
He does have access to cs4 at school but thats for summer only I was looking for something after. I saw aperature 2 on ebay for 100 new. I think im going to go on the lens idea I been wanting a shorter lens
Cool link.
Here's a cool forum for Canon users:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/
Wonderful pic, btw...
Is aperature 2 good idea to get for someone who wants to begin but become good, btw will aperature 2 run on the unibody macbook or will it be sluggish
My brother does at school but thats only for the summer im trying to get something we can use after the class is done
I think you would learn more as a photographer (or about photography) by spending the money on a lens versus software. For now you can use the free Picasa (which manages and allows for some basic photo tweaking). Take all the shots now and worry about getting a good software later on to tweak your photos. You also have iPhoto too so play around with both of those to see which one suits your needs for now.
Aperture is a wonderful piece of kit, but it won't improve your photography. Practise, practise, practise... that's what you need...
I would get an app like Aperture or Lightroom to sort pictures, rather than edit them. Try to take proper pictures that require a minimal amount of retouching. You can't photochop bad pictures into good pictures.
I know what you guys mean what made me want the software is seeing those hdr pictures I tried taking a few shots when the sun was coming down of my street and some at night and the pictures are good shots but they need that hdr thing to make look cool
It seems like aperture and lightroom are a photomanger like iphoto which I use for managing and to able to do all that croping and cutting photoshop is known for Id need to get photoshop. I was looking and found on ebay for 200 brand new cs4 but its for windows, where as cs2 for mac is running about the same is there a difference in the windows and mac version. I do have vm and paralles to run the windows app
If you think that your photographs NEED HDR to look good, you have no business handling a camera.
Its not about making it look good the photos already look good it just i like the affects and I wanted to be able to take a picture of my car and crop in new wheels or tints or a new grill or morph one picture over the other showing the inside and outside.
i would just get PS Cs4 for Mac, just easier i would think instead of having to get into windows everytime, but then again i have a windows and a Mac..
I have found that Light Room is nice. I havent used it a whole lot, but it is geared t'words "digital developing"; meaning it specializes in exposure controls, highlights, etc...
My suggestion is to download the trials of both aperture and light room.
And you DO NEED editing software. It goes hand in hand with photography. Nothing is going to be sharp right out of the camera shooting RAW. Even shots taken with a 24-70L, 10-22, etc are not going to be sharp out of the box. JPEG will be sharper, but i never really shoot JPEG.
The darker photo I posted was soft. I had to edit it in photoshop. The other falls i took was made in Photomatix. I took only two shots of the falls, due to the spray and wind being so bad, as well as the lighting. I had a photo with over exposed highlights, and the other one was under exposed maybe 2 stops. I was lucky i could salvage that shot. It isn't the best HDR by any means, but i like that one! Thanks for the compliments on the shots, guys!
Also, adobe.com has the trials available for PS for 30 days. My girlfriend bought the CS2 (a few years ago, ofcourse
) student design suite for like $400 or something. If you are going to be only using photoshop for photos, i would buy LR or aperture. With the money you save, buy some glass. the body alone will only get you so far. Good glass makes a difference!
iPhoto for organizing and Photoshop Elements for basic to mid-level editing. It has some great tools and runs around $70 or so.
HDR is something advanced -- not something you should start with. In most instances, you can create the looks of an HDR if you expose your picture properly.
actually Photomatix is an amazing piece of software. It does all the work for you. All you really need is several photos that have different exposures of each other, obviously.... The HDR feature in PS is garbage, imho; but i probably don't know how to utilize it...
It's not about the software, it's about the photo. Most HDRs I see are ****** photos turned into HDR. And the good HDRs are those where the effect is not overused, made from properly composed and exposed pictures.
I don't get it.