Digital Photography Instruction Support Pages - Steve Gandy Photography

 

Photo Editing

Your old film was optimized by the lab when being printed all along and that is why we are sometimes disappointed with what we see at first with our digital shots. Digital images can record a very wide range of brightness and because of that the colors don't always "pop" or look as bright and good as they should. So some optimization is sometimes (often) required.

Though the cameras are getting "smarter" all the time and if you shoot JPG's it will process them to a degree at the time of capture. Some adjustments can be made in almost any software that will open the file; See below for some current choices.

 

Crop/Size, Color/Contrast Correction, and Conversions (JPG/B&W) are the  3 main tweaks that you will want or need to do with your photos.

Crop/Size: You want to control the crops on prints! If you let the printing company choose your crop you will be sorry. Your camera shoots at a certain aspect ratio, probably 3:2 but common print ratios are very different. Sizing is important for sharing.

Color/Contrast Correction: Sometimes we just need to lighten or darken slightly. Color correction is a catchall term that applies to contrast, color casts, brightness, and color saturation. All the software tools mentioned above have these basic functions and more.

Conversions: If you shoot RAW you will need to make JPGs to print and share. Black and white is another common conversion.

 

Software Editors

This topic is always changing. Some titles disappear and new ones arrive. Currently, Adobe Lightroom Classic CC is the best title in my opinion. But it has a hefty price tag, $10/mo.

Here's a list of what I found recently. Let me know if you have questions.

CLICK HERE FOR EDITORS LIST