DPP 4 or photoshop elements or adobe lightroom

[Wayne3]

Hi everyone, 

I have a newbie question for you.  I have recently started editing photos with Canon digital photo professional that came with my Rebel.  It seems to do everything I want it to do with the exception of maybe ease of editing one particular section of a photo.  Would it be worth it to move up to photoshop elements or adobe lightroom?  Would I get that much bang for my buck?  Thanks!

Wayne

[shadowsports]

HI Wayne,

Why not tell us more about what you feel is missing and maybe we can suggest something.  Recommended software is largely a matter of personal preference.  DPP, Adobe Elements, LR, Affinity...  I like DxO, because of its features and 3rd party lens support.  But everyone here has a slightly different opinion often based on their own needs. 

[Wayne3]

Hi Shadowsports!

Thanks for your quick response.  Largely I have been happy with DPP 4, and mostly I find I am using the sliders for sharpness, saturation, etc., although I have started using the histogram and curve to get rid of some shadows and clipping.  I am wondering about moving up mostly because I sometimes want more control over a segment of a picture. I'd love the sky to be a bit bluer without adding blue to the bird's breast that I am shooting, and I have just taken some pictures of starry nights and I have tried stacking but no success yet (I used the free deepskystacker software which sort of works but DPP 4 was inconsistent it seems in its ability to work with TIFF files).  I have had my Rebel T4i for probably 6 years but it is just in the last few months (I had to take a few months off work for a medical reason and there was the camera) that I got off the automatic functions and started taking a lot of shots.  Hope that helps a bit.

Wayne

[Wayne3]

[Wayne3]

[shadowsports]

Hi Wayne,

Thats helpful. 

Any of the apps I mentioned above can do what you need.  I know Adobe LR and DxO both have free trials if you want to give them a try. 

[BurnUnit]

---

@Wayne3 wrote:

...I am wondering about moving up mostly because I sometimes want more control over a segment of a picture. I'd love the sky to be a bit bluer without adding blue to the bird's breast that I am shooting, and I have just taken some pictures of starry nights and I have tried stacking but no success yet (I used the free deepskystacker software which sort of works but DPP 4 was inconsistent it seems in its ability to work with TIFF files)...

Wayne

---

Don't know how deep you've gotten in to DPP4, but have you spent any time experimenting with the Color Adjustment Tool palette? It will allow you to make some pretty specific and narrow color adjustments for some shots. It may take a bit of time though until you start to get a feel for working with it.

Also, later versions of DPP4 (4.10 and above?) now have a Partial Adjustment Tool palette which can be used to mask off areas of the picture that you don't want to edit. It works well for things like lightening areas where someone's face didn't get enough flash fill. But it should also work to "juice up" color saturation, hue and/or brightness in specific areas. And again, you'll have to experiment some with the Blur Radius settings for the borders of your masked area.

[Wayne3]

Just played around with the partial adjustment tool. It will take a little practice LOL. I have these blotches of light I have to remove now.  Thanks for the advice.  I'll play around with it. 

Wayne

[BurnUnit]

---

@shadowsports wrote:

... Recommended software is largely a matter of personal preference.  DPP, Adobe Elements, LR, Affinity...  I like DxO, because of its features and 3rd party lens support.  But everyone here has a slightly different opinion often based on their own needs. 

---

@ shadowsports

One of these days I'll download a trial of DxO PhotoLab and give it a try. Had DxO OpticsPro on my previous desktop and found it very capable and quicker than DPP4 on the same machine. My newer computer works much better with DPP4 but I'm still curious to see what improvements this new PhotoLab might have over OpticsPro. Maybe they've decluttered the interface a little bit ? ? ?

[Wayne3]

Thanks a ton! I didn’t know either that there was a free trial for the software or that DPP4 has a partial adjustment tool. I’ll go deeper into DPP4 first but will try both. I probably have a good picture to experiment with, although I doubt it will ever be a keeper. We are almost at full moon and last night I tried taking a shot of the full moon and the rather eerie lit trees. As you might guess, I had a shot of a perfectly exposed moon and the foreground completely dark and a picture of an over exposed moon and eerie trees. I’ve since read that the full moon is easier to photograph at dusk or dawn when light contrasts are not so extreme. Thanks for helping a beginner out!! Wayne