Just like many of you, I prefer to let my photography skills shine through my unedited photos. A person can buy the most expensive cameras and use the most expensive photo-editing software, but if they don’t know how to take photos correctly, then their photos will never look good straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) and they will have to spend hours editing them just to share them with anyone. This is not a lot of fun and can be very tedious.
Most of my photos that I share on my blog are SOOC photos, and the only thing I add is my LOR watermark before uploading them via a fabulous free program that I’ve been using for almost three years now called Windows Live Writer. If you get frustrated with Blogger or WordPress when your post vanishes while trying to upload it, or you just find the entire blog composing process difficult and tedious and you wish you could do it all off-line on a larger, brighter, easier to read screen, then I highly recommend Window’s LiveWriter because you never have to be online to compose a post and it even allows you some basic photo editing and a few other fun extras, too. You also never have to upload your posts via Blogger either, as this program does that for you. So, the only reason you’ll ever have to visit Blogger anymore is just to read blogs or tweak your blog design. I love it!
But I digress.
This post isn’t about Blog Post Composing Software, it’s about Photo Editing Software. I want to recommend the free, easy-to-use, fun photo editing software called Photoscape that I’ve been using for over a year now. Anyone can use it straight off the bat. There isn’t a learning curve and the options and interface are all easy to understand and you can quickly find what you’re looking for. There are also lots of fun creative special effects and filter tools to play with, too. Since I’m techno challenged and find most photo editing software to be too complicated and/or too expensive (I prefer free), this one is perfect for me and is the only photo-editing software I use.
I tend to use Photoscape to brighten, add contrast and color saturation, or sharpen a few of my ho-hum photos that are otherwise composed well, but need a little ooomph.
I’m including some Before and After snow photos below, which tend to be extra challenging to photograph, to show you what PhotoScape allowed me to do and you can tell me if you prefer the SOOC or After Photos.
SOOC
The After: I used the the Clone Tool to remove a blurry snowflake on Apache’s fur, tweaked the Saturation Curve, the Luminance Curve, Brightened, added Contrast, used the Deepen filter, Cropped and Sharpened.
SOOC
The After: Again I used the Backlight tool, Saturation Curve, the Luminance Curve, added Contrast, used the Deepen filter, Cropped and Sharpened.
SOOC
The After: I used the Backlight tool, tweaked the Saturation Curve, the Luminance Curve, Brightened, added Contrast, used the Deepen filter, Cropped and Sharpened.
SOOC
The After: I rotated the photo to the right to make it level, used the clone tool to cover up the big wheel bike, then tweaked the Saturation Curve, the Luminance Curve, Brightened, added Contrast, used the Deepen filter, Cropped, Sharpened and added a Frame and a Font.
And finally:
SOOC
And After: I used the Clone tool to remove the distracting pipe rail fence, then tweaked the Saturation Curve, the Luminance Curve, Brightened, added Contrast, used the Deepen filter, Cropped, and Sharpened.
So which do you prefer: SOOC or After Editing?
Do you use photo editing software? Which one?
25 comments :
I generally don't use photo editing software, other than the basic crop and enhance sometimes, and every so often I'll lighten something up. But this seems pretty cool, so I'm going to try it. Thanks!
Bummer, it doesn't work on my Mac OS :(
I love your after shots! I don't have that available on my mac. Jealous! But I don't know that I have your artistic eye anyway. You've got a gift my friend!
Oh my gosh, I just assumed you had Photo Shop or some fancy schmancy program for your pictures. I have always admired your photos. I have to admit, I get a bit confused with the saturation and this luminance curve you speak of, but there is no way I can afford a program either. I can't believe this is a free one, I'm going to go check it out. If it is as easy as you say it is, I may just be able to figure it out.(maybe)
I like live writer too, but every once in a while, my computer freezes up on me, and sometimes I lose things. I know it's my computer (I need more memory, or, as they say in geekville, RAM) when I have used it, and it doesn't crash, it's really nice. Like you said, more room, and there are a few more enhancements you can add, I do like it. Thank you for the great photo tip! I'll be back...
Oh and as for your question...definitely the after photos, much better.
for the most part, I like the sooc pics since it gives it more of a foreboding feeling with the snow being grey, lol, but snow typically isn't grey so the edited ones are more lifelike. I've tried to work with windows live after you told me about it but can't seem to get it to download:/
I have the expanded version of Creative Suite, which includes Photoshop. I always keep my camera set to the highest resolution so that the quality is there if I were to choose to print or enlarge.
Most of the time for the blog, I use them unaltered SOOC except to downsize and optimize them for fast loading on the web. I don't spend a lot of time messing with the images unless it's to brighten them or up the contrast.
I have to say that I prefer the edited pics in this case. I find I'm always trying to brighten my pictures, so I like that look better...
Cool that photoscape does so much. I don't think it works on my mac. :-( I tend to use iphoto (which is free with a mac (i think) to do the basics and I have photoshop elements for bigger stuff. I also have photoshop at work if I'm feeling the need to use something like that.
Oh - and look at all of the snow! I know it is a hassle for you guys, but I would love to have snow that deep one winter...!
I use an old Microsoft program called Digital Image (or something). It does all the same things except instead of a clone tool, it has "smart erase." Oh heck, it may have a clone tool, for all I know. :) I mostly use it for cropping and adjusting brightness and contrast.
I have downloaded LiveWriter and I like it, but I often forget to use it until I'm halfway through composing a new post! Habit. The only issue I have with LiveWriter is that you have to load your videos through You Tube, and I've never been able to get one to load successfully. It's mostly a function of our super-slow DSL connection, but Blogger's direct video upload is the only one I can get to work.
I have to admit that I like the edited photos better. Thanks for the info on the free software!
Oh, I really like the "after" ones! Like you, I rarely did anything to mine except to crop them and I've been using Picasa, but I feel like I need something more! I'll check out this program when we get home. Thanks for the tips! I finally DID get Live Writer to download and work and I have it linked to one of my other blogs.
Well, they were nice photos to start with but I have to say your touch-ups really help bring out what's there. Those wintery overcast days just suck all the colour from photos and you've restored it nicely here without making it look altered. My recent pics could have used some help with the same issue...maybe this will give me new inspiration!
And here I thought you photo shopped all your pictures because they are just beautiful! I do like all the after photoshop ones on this blog though. I am going to have to check out these sites you posted. Sounds like my blogging life might become a lot easier this next year!
Thank you!
I love your edited photos...especially the chickens. They just 'pop'! I think that shooting in snow is tough anyway. The whiteness seems to mute the other colors. I used to use an old version of photoshop, but then I changed to a Mac. Currently I've only been using the editing features of iPhoto - but they don't really have a cloning function and I like being able to clean up distractions, like you did with the pipe fence. My hubby bought some program on his computer. It is very complex - dealing with layers and a gazillion functions. I only tried to edit one photo on it... and gave up! Too much stuff to figure out!
So, since I'm too cheap to buy a program, most of my photos are SOOC.
Thanks for the interesting post. It's fun to learn what other people use and how it works for them.
Well... since I am a techno geek I have the entire adobe creative suite... but rarely do I use it.
I use photoshop to brighten or crop my photo's - beyond that I leave them be. I have another application that is for our Nikon camera that allows me to do digital zoom so use that as well.
With the whiteness of the snow enhancing is nessary because of the white unbalance - you did a WONDERFUL job and the photos still look natural.
Happy New Year!
Each has their own qualities but the touched up pics look best, I just use simple touchups from the Nikon software..:-)
Edited pictures get my vote. However, what all of us say matters not a whit. The only vote that matters is your vote. What pleases you is what is most important.
Dan
I downloaded both programs from your links, and apparently I had done it once before and forgot to try them out. If I use my Canon or Kodak cameras, I just upload what comes out of the camera. If I use my Nikon, I transfer the photos to the Mac and do the quick and dirty changes with Capture One and the more difficult stuff with PhotoShop. The black backdrop in my studio works well with most pets that aren't black, but because it is 100% cotton, I cannot for the life of me get all the pet hair off the thing in the washer and dryer. I use packing tape to get most of it off, and PhotoShop to get the rest off.
I have photoscape too...many I use it for cropping or changing my photos to black and white or brown...add objects or something...most of my photos are SOC...
I have photoscape too...many I use it for cropping or changing my photos to black and white or brown...add objects or something...most of my photos are SOC...
Update: I love the clone tool! I have been playing with it for quite some time, I actually got rid of Fred's "glowing" eyes by using the clone tool, the fur next to his eyes had just a touch of shine to it in the photo I was playing with. Pretty neat! I do believe I can use this program, yay!
I usually just crop my photos to frame them better , the odd time I brighten them too, Nothing too fancy . I like what you have done with yours, just brightening them up a bit they still look wonderful and natural
I agree, I prefer to get them SOOC if at all possible, but sometimes a little tweaking helps. I use Picasa, which is also free, but I'm going to check out your recomendations - particularly Live Writer, because I find blogger a real bear to deal with, especially with lots of pictures, but my blog has been there for years and I have no intention of changing it. An easier way to post would be really nice!
BTW, I like the first picture a little better SOOC, but I think the rest look much nicer with a little editing - and it's nice to be able to remove fences and things you don't want in the background. My guess is that the snow is confusing your camera's metering - I have that problem a lot taking pictures of our bright white dogs! :)
I guess I lost yet another comment. I had asked about the shadow on your SOOC shots. There is your watermark, but there is also a darker area around the border. What is this? It goes away on your edited ones. You can see the "shadow" best behind your LOR signature.
I love the Zuni photo but funnily I like the fence too. I think it's a really nice looking animal-safe fence.
Great post! Thanks for all of the tips! I've been meaning to try Windows Live Writer for sometime now and after reading this, I'm going too for sure!
Hey Lytha, I'm not exactly sure why my unedited shots show that shadow. I've seen it before in my unedited photos and I'm afraid it might be due to something in my camera's lens or something not working correctly? (too scary to think about!), but it seems to happen in low light conditions. When I cropped the photos during editing, I was able to remove that shadowing, thankfully.
~Lisa
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