Kinda new to digital

[kk610lt]

I have converted over to digital in the last couple of years and I am currently using an A-600 Powershot and a Rebel XT. My photos are on my laptop in the Canon software and also stored on cd-roms by event or trip etc.

I have a couple of books on digital photography but, I need advice on taking the next step. I have all of my photos in an unmodified state ie. just as I shot them without any color correction or cropping etc.

What do you guys do step by step from shooting the photo thru final presentation and storage? I suppose a class at a community college this winter would help.

I would apperciate any help on this.

Thanks much.
kk610lt

[larrykay]

I use Photoshop when I want to "play" a little or to make a presentation that needs a lot of stuff taken out of the photo. For most purposes I use Picassa which can crop and do some minor enhancing, and does a great job of organization of all my photos.

[DaveDragon]

I take photos at 10.1 mega pixel resolution.

Copy them to the laptop and run WebRazor Pro Smart Saver on them to dramatically reduce the image size without losing significant image data.

I then re-size them for web publishing and generate Thumb Nails which I use as links/place holders for the large images.

I then FTP them to my website and include links to the images in my Blog Posts as well as posts here on the board.


Here is an example of a Thumbnail that is 11% of the size of the actual image it links to:
http://www.davedragon.org/Photos/Trips/SMFR/Saturday/TN_CIMG1689.JPG
(http://www.davedragon.org/Photos/Trips/SMFR/Saturday/CIMG1689.JPG) Click the Thumbnail for the larger image.

[BeemerRiderBoB]

Here's how I go about it.
1. I shoot in max resolution of camera
2. Transfer to Laptop (or PC), which is backed-up regularly on an external drive.
3. I use ACDSee to select keepers and to do basic 'single' or 'batch' picture adjustments, ie, renaming files, crop, rotation, resize, etc.
4. Photoshop and Paintshop Pro is used for detailed image manipulation or special effects and other presentation needs.
5. If I'm going to the web or email, thumbnail to 800x600, I resize pics accordingly to 72dpi.
6. If making a powerpoint I sometimes resize to 640x480 (instead of 800x600) to keep presentation file size down. Otherwise I use 800x600.
7. If printing I use full resolution.

To keep track of all these pics I store in major category files and subfolders like "Trips/CCR08/resized/web" with each folder holding the appropriate pics. It does require more storage space since I keep the original full resolution pictures but sure makes it easy to access pictures later in the required format.

[Gizmo1137]

First, get the highest quality images from your camera available that can be accomplished by changing your settings in the camera menu, if that is an option. I recommend if available, TIFF format at a minimum, raw if you are so inclined to invest the time even better. Stay away from JPEG unless the particular photos are of the quick and dirty share on the web, throw away later variety. Yes it will eat up storage space, but storage is cheap so buy extra cards. There are good choices of image editing software and you will need to find what works best for you and fits your price range. I use Photoshop but unless you are a Pro or serious hobbyist, or intend to move in that direction, save the $$$ and the time learning on a steep learning curve. Alternatively Photoshop Elements might be a good choice, it is a watered down version of Photoshop, much less costly, easy to learn and a very good program. From here you can fix, fool or play with your photo's but what I would do after selecting the keepers, is to make masters that should definately be saved in TIFF format. These masters should be saved at 300 dpi, 5x7 to 8x10 in size and in the final form where you are pleased with the results. From these masters you can then make prints in the size you choose, this is why I recommend mastering in 5x7 to 8x10 as they represent what I am guessing is the largest prints you may want. You cab also save as JPEG for internet and e-mail use as well. For storage you ought to consider saving your masters on at least 2, 3 hard drives would be better as it is not a question of if the hard drive will fail, but when so back-up is king. Hope this helps and good luck to you.

[Gino]

I have all of my photos in an unmodified state ie. just as I shot them without any color correction or cropping etc.

Photoshop (CS) is probably overkill for the daily edit. Photoshop Elemnets has most of the feature set you'll use daily and is a great program for the price.

If you're looking for a free alternative, I recommend this one (http://www.getpaint.net/).

Good luck!

[MarkG]

I give occasional short seminars to rank amateurs on how to take better photos. I'm not a pro, I don't even own a current copy of Photoshop, and never mastered the copy I do own, but I do like to take photos and I do think there are many ways to get better, easily and quickly.

Photoshop is, in my opinion, much too complex and feature-rich for a casual photographer. I personally use Adobe's Photoshop Elements, the current edition being 6.0, which means you should be able to find an earlier edition for very little money with a little google-ing.

However, the program I recommend people start with is Picasa, a FREE download from Google, which will do several very nice things for you:

index your photos to make them very easy to locate;

give you a very simple, easy, no-brainer way to improve any digital photo with the "I'm feeling lucky" button;

and give you a little more control over adjusting color, exposure, contrast, brightness, etc, as you become more adept with the program, all in an easy, non-technical, non-threatening way.

Once you're completely comfortable with Picasa, you can try Pshop Elements or one of the other very excellent programs suggested by others. Photoshop Elements has evolved into a really friendly, mostly automated program that will dramatically improve your photos.

Any of the programs mentioned will allow you to crop your photos, which is a major key to improving your shots.

Here's the absolute best tip ever for improving your photography: THROW THE CRAPPY PICTURES AWAY!!!!