Which software to use for editing?

[Wayne3]

Good morning!

First thanks for your very detailed responses to my previous couple questions on macros and camera bodies.

Which software should I be learning to edit my photos?

For the last several months, I have been happily doing the little bit of editing I do with Canon Digital Photo Profession 4. I don't do a ton of editing but I crop, change the colour saturation, sharpness, in really egregious situations maybe do a bit of cloning or removing shadow. DPP 4 has met my simple needs. I recenlty had someone suggest I should be putting a copyright symbol on my better photos, and I picked up Photoshop Elements for that, but that is all I am using it for. Then googling around I found I could have done that with Canon Image Browser EX or EOS Utility, Hold it, those are pieces of software that have sat on my desktop for years without being opened up. Are they worth learning? is that the editing software I should be tackling if I want to expand my editing skills?  What do people  usually use for editing? What should I be picking up next?

Thanks!

Wayne

[jrhoffman75]

I don't know about Image Browser, since I don't use it, but EOS Utility does not add a graphic copyright symbol to an image. It will allow you to add copyright information to the camera, but you can also do that directly in the camera.. The info is appended to the digital fiile metadata; it doesn't show on the actual image.

It's a few years old, but here is a Canon tutorial on EOSU:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIS8RnhRQew

There are a myriad of photo editing/processing software products out there. Most of them cost money.

Lightroom by Adobe is very popular. Folks that started in graphic editing before digital photography frequently use Photoshop. The basic processing engines are the same in both products. Lr is also has a digital asset management feature. Lr has an export feature to Ps for more pixel based editing. Lr is only available by subscription, which some folks are adverse to, but at $10/month it is a great price.

Lr can do muich more than DPP, but based on what you have described as your current workflow, it sounds like DPP is meeting your needs.

If you feel you need to be doing more pixel crunching you can do all your basic editing (as you have desribed) in DPP and then export a TIFF to PSE that you already own for more of the work that Photoshop is famous for. There is a software product called Elements+ that purports to increase the capabilities of PSE. I have no direct experience with it.

[Wayne3]

Thanks John!  

After watching the youtube I like your idea of sticking with DPP4 and PSE.  Thanks!

Wayne

[falconfirsit]

I use movavi editing software mostly, they have really clear programs and even their own blog about editng, so it is very easy to learn new things about editing and some new tricks. And that is a really huge benefit for me. Here is the blog btw https://movavi.io/ It is really possible to learn video and photo editing from zero with it.

[chulai]

For free RAW photo editing, take a look at RawTherapee and Darktable.
https://pctechtest.com/22-best-photo-editing-software