Jennifers1969

I have been taking pictures of my family and nature for years. Recently I have become interested in doing this full time. I am pretty much illiterate though in how to do this. I know most people use a photo editing program but there are so many things I do not know any tips and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

EricLPT Loc: Jonesborough TN

Jennifers,

If you post some of your images we would be able to offer help specific to your needs, otherwise it is just basic portrait rules that you may already know.

Don't be shy, we were all new once.

Eric

flatpossum1231 Loc: Chappell Hill, TX.

For quick and simple editing, Goggle's "Picasa" is pretty darn good. I have been using it for a few years and lots of folks recommend it. I use it for batch watermarking more than anything else.

The best part is it is FREE!!!!

I use GIMP as an editor too, but it is a bit more complex and difficult to learn. (It's FREE as well!)

I have CS5, lightroom and all the Adobe goodies - but I still keep coming back to the above two for simple stuff like crops, watermarks and simple editing.

For about 40 bucks I picked up a copy of "Portrait Professional 10". It's a QUICK and dirty editor for portraits. It saves a LOT of time removing skin pores, defects and discolorations. I don't do a lot of portrait work, but when I do, this little package makes it simple, easy and quick so I can give my subjects the quickest turn-around I can give them...

Welcome to the site from another newbie!

Jennifers1969

Thanks for the quick replies. I have been using picnik some and actually downloaded gimp for a while and yes it is difficult to learn. I also need info about printing my own photos. Do most professionals send their photos somewhere to be printed or do they do print the photos themselves?

flatpossum1231 Loc: Chappell Hill, TX.

Personally, I gave up trying to keep a good photo printer working...

I never seemed to use it enough to keep the ink cartridges from drying up between projects. So I send my stuff out to a service once we figure out which shots we actually want to blow cash on printing costs...

My old HP is a workhorse but my little old EPSON is sharp as a tack... Keeping them form getting dry has been my only nagging issue it seems...

Jennifers1969

I uploaded a photo that I took some time ago so you could see kind of what I like to do..

rocco_7155 Loc: Connecticut/Louisiana

Welcome jennifers.....

EricLPT Loc: Jonesborough TN

Jennifers,

That appears to be a large mushroom covered with fallen leaves. A few observations:

The white parts are too white (blown highlights) and the dark parts are too dark (blocked up shadows) I really had to study it to figure out what it was. Also the date stamp is usually reserved for snap shots, not photographs to be critiqued.

With your permission I'd like to try and bring up some of the darkness to reveal some detail and clone out the date stamp. I might tweak it a bit more once I see it in my image processing software, if that is OK with you.

Keep posting, I'm sure you have other photos to share.

Eric

Jennifers1969

Yes that is fine to do that but only to show me what you are talking about. I usually don't have the date on it but had been to check my deer cams and had my small camera with me for this and did not realize that it had the date turned on until later. How do u clone out the date stamp? I had wondered about being able to do this? Thanks so much!

EricLPT Loc: Jonesborough TN

Jennifers,

I am using Elements v2.0 for my edit. I used the magic wand tool to select as much of the dark background as it would and I went into Enhance > Contrast/Brightness. There I increased brightness on only the selected part of the photo and lightened it +11 and then +6 to see how it looked. (I find if I brighten too much at one time it looks fake). The I took the whole photo in Enhance > Levels and brought up the midtones. It still didn't look as good as I wanted so I went to Filters > SmartCurve [a freeware plug-in (a plug-in is a program you can run from inside Elements)] and manipulated the light dark areas until I got them where I wanted them. I couldn't bring back any detail in the white areas, once detail is overexposed it is gone for good.

Then I took the clone or 'rubber stamp' tool and selected areas close to the date stamp and cloned them over the stamp, now it is gone.

If none of this makes sense go on YouTube and look for Elements instructional videos and they can explain things further.

Let me know what you think of my edit,

Eric

Jennifers1969

It looks pretty good the photo that I had uploaded earlier I think had been edited some. I have uploaded the original photo see what you think and can do with it. I never feel that my orginals are vibrant enough.Thanks so much!

EricLPT Loc: Jonesborough TN

Here's what I could do with the original, pretty much the same thing I did with the other one, but I had a much lighter photo to start with this time.

There are some photog's who over saturate their colors for the WOW factor, but I think it looks fake. That is just my opinion. Some people love vivid, it just depends on what you like.

Eric

Jennifers1969

I agree it does look better! Thanks for your input.