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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

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Free post- processor 6 years 7 months ago #1281

  • Anna Browne
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Hi everyone,

as I've been getting more into my bird photography I realized post- processing is quite an important way of improving my images.
Anyway, I was wondering if there might be a free photo editor that would be suffice. At the moment I just use GIMP to resize my photos but I've heard it's not very good for post-processing.

cheers
Anna

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Free post- processor 6 years 7 months ago #1282

  • Bruce Terrill
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Hi Simone/Anna ??
I think from memory that you are using Canon equipment and if this is in fact correct, then the software that is thoroughly recommended by 'The Best' on this site is the Canon software: DPP4, I think it is? Ian Wilson is currently running through the steps of using this software in the Improve Your Image section I think?
From what Ian and Glenn Pure suggest, DPP4 is very easy to use and follow.
HTH,
Bruce

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Last edit: by Bruce Terrill.

Free post- processor 6 years 7 months ago #1283

  • Anna Browne
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Thanks Bruce,
I actually have Nikon equipment (coolpix p900.)
Is there similar software for Nikon?
Anna

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Free post- processor 6 years 7 months ago #1284

  • Glenn Pure
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Hi SImone
GIMP is a very powerful program and should be able to do most or all of what you need in the short term - especially if you are taking your photos from your camera as JPG files. Is that the case?

I have used GIMP in the past and there should be tons of online help material and videos. I'd encourage you to look at these but first you need to have an idea of what to do when you work on an image after you've taken it. It will be easier to go into that once you let us know what type of file you are getting from your camera.

Cheers
Glenn
The following user(s) said Thank You: Bruce Terrill

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Free post- processor 6 years 7 months ago #1285

  • Les Peters
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Hi Simone,

Like doctors and their Hippocratic oath, the first rule in post processing is to "do no harm." You may have seen many people's images that are consistently dark or the reverse -washed out. Most often you'll see high contrast, high saturated images that look nice, but don't show the real colours of the bird. This comes about if you try to post process without having calibrated your screen before hand. Without calibration, people are just working towards to making their images look good on their screen but not necessarily anyone else's.

If you have a good photography club in your area, they should have a screen calibrator to loan out. SA Birds has one, and it's quite interesting to see folk returning it after using it and admitting their shock when they found how much more realistic things looked after using it. Ideally calibration should be done reasonably often, but if you are starting out, just see if you can get your hands on one to judge how good or bad your current screen setting are. You'll most probably find that you get a much wider range of colours after the calibration. The transition from dark to light on your screen should also be more even and "natural".

I often judge my own picture's accuracy by how well I can work out what time of day the image was taken. If I can do this , it's makes me a happy camper.. But that's just my preference.

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Last edit: by Les Peters.

Free post- processor 6 years 7 months ago #1286

  • Bruce Terrill
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Thanks Glenn,
You know far more about this stuff than I do and to tell you the truth, I've heard of Gimp but never seen it open on a screen.
My question to you would be is it suitable for a beginner as their first software, as in this case??
Thanks for your continued, valuable advice. . .
Bruce

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