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Photo Editing Programme

Workflows, editing help and feedback on your aviation photos.
 

FlySwiss 07 Aug 18, 19:10Post
Just bought s new computer and finaly I have an internet connection at home. I think I was the last person on world without internet. I will soon start uploading some pictures. Even from airports which are not yet uploaded on NetAirSpace.

But before I start I need a photo editing programme.
Which are you using and which can you recommend to me.

Thank you and best regards
Stefan
miamiair (netAirspace FAA) 07 Aug 18, 21:22Post
Photoshop.

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopfamily.html
And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
airtrainer 07 Aug 18, 21:29Post
Congrats Stefan, I can't wait to see your uploads from all around the world {thumbsup}

I think Photoshop Elements is the best programme to start, easy to use and cheap compared to the full version...
Grounded...
vikkyvik 08 Aug 18, 01:36Post
I use Photoshop as well.

Honestly, it's way overkill for editing airplane photos, but oh well.
symphonicpoet 08 Aug 18, 06:59Post
Photoshop is the gold standard, but . . .

(And this is a VERY big but)

. . . it's hugely expensive and a bit of a learning curve.

Either or both of these can be avoided.

If you want a powerful photo-editing suite GIMP (or its cousin GIMPshop) is really quite nice. And free. Hell of a learning curve, though. (Much like the above software.) It will do just about anything Photoshop will, though the native filter set isn't quite as nice and the workflow is . . . different. All the same basic tools are there, but they often behave slightly diferenrly. (Clone, color correct, masque, burn, dodge, draw, paint, layer, type, filter in a thousand ways . . . ) You can do chromakey. You can fix perspective issues. It's really very very close to PSD quality. Almost. Pro-grade. Maybe every bit as hard to use, but much cheaper. Of course, it's just the photo manipulation and none of the other sorting and indexing or video stuff. It's a substitute for Photoshop alone, not Adobe Creative Suite entire.

If you want free and easy to use (but not so powerful) Google's Picasa is pretty good. It'll do color temperature and contrast modifications dead quick. You can crop. You can do a little cloning to patch flaws. (But not remotely as well as either of the above. Very basic.) It actually does some sorting. You can tag things very easily. There are some decent filters and a few basic effects. All simple beginner grade stuff, but . . . 90% of the time that's all I use. Fix the exposure and crop. Boom. That it will do a lot faster and more easily than either Photoshop or GIMP. And you can add tags and titles to the EXIF. (Though it WILL set the author to Picasa. Which is a ROYAL pain to correct.)

Short version? If you don't want to spend in excess of a hundred bucks a year on software you have options. If you want something more casual and easier to use you have options. Adobe will probably always be the industry standard as industry is somewhat allergic to freeware. But if you're not . . .

GIMP and Picasa. And if you want to mod the EXIF I can make a few other recommendations. (To geotag or fix the author slot.) PM me if you want more.
Yokes 08 Aug 18, 08:27Post
I started editing my pictures with Photoshop Elements. Its not too expensive and offers a lot of functions and has everything you need to edit plane pictures.

Meanwhile I´m working with Photoshop CC, but I think thats not nessasary in the beginning. You can upgrade late when you get more sophisticated.
Zak (netAirspace FAA) 08 Aug 18, 11:47Post
symphonicpoet wrote:Photoshop is the gold standard, but . . .

(And this is a VERY big but)

. . . it's hugely expensive and a bit of a learning curve.

Understatement of the year. Took me over a year just to understand the basic functions, and develop a halfway reliable workflow.

Photoshop is a monster, but it's also more powerful than any other program on the market. Especially with the addition of Nik Tools, it can turn an average out-of-the-camera photo into a real eye-catcher.

I still use CS5, as I don't like Adobe's pricing policy for CC. The price itself is okay, but why do European users have to pay 40% more than US users?

I'd have to pay €11.89 a month, whereas US users pay $9.99 = €8.50. Until Adobe ajusts those rates, or offers me to pay in USD, I'll stick with CS5.
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
airtrainer 08 Aug 18, 12:41Post
Zak wrote:I'd have to pay €11.89 a month, whereas US users pay $9.99 = €8.50. Until Adobe ajusts those rates, or offers me to pay in USD, I'll stick with CS5.


And it's 12.09€/m here in Belgium {mad}
Grounded...
ShanwickOceanic (netAirspace FAA) 08 Aug 18, 14:37Post
FlySwiss wrote:I will soon start uploading some pictures. Even from airports which are not yet uploaded on NetAirSpace.

Nice. Do us (and yourself) a favour, let the DB editors know which airports those are, so we can check whether we have the airports themselves in the database and add them if necessary. It'll make uploading easier for you and avoid extra work for the editors.

Back on topic: I was using Photoshop CS2 until Windows died on me. I installed Linux to see how it goes. I've tried editing shots with GIMP, and it's one more reason why I'm liable to sling the penguin out on its arse.
My friend and I applied for airline jobs in Australia, but they didn't Qantas.
vikkyvik 08 Aug 18, 15:11Post
ShanwickOceanic wrote:it's one more reason why I'm liable to sling the penguin out on its arse.


What?
ShanwickOceanic (netAirspace FAA) 08 Aug 18, 15:29Post
vikkyvik wrote:What?

Linux (whose logo is a deceptively cute penguin). It gets a couple of weeks to stop being annoying, then I put Windows back.
My friend and I applied for airline jobs in Australia, but they didn't Qantas.
ShyFlyer (Founding Member) 08 Aug 18, 16:21Post
I've used Photoshop Elements for quite some time. I'm currently using PSE 15 on my Mac and getting pretty lousy results, but I'm unsure if it's the software or the hardware.

I have PSE 9 (I think) on a Dell that I still fire up from time to time and get what seems to me to be decent results.
Make Orwell fiction again.
symphonicpoet 09 Aug 18, 07:34Post
ShanwickOceanic wrote:I've tried editing shots with GIMP, and it's one more reason why I'm liable to sling the penguin out on its arse.


The workflow between the two is quite different, but I've found I've (slowly) gotten used to it. I'm not remotely a power user, and I confess I'm more of a general photographer than aviation photographer in particular, but I can't find any discernable difference between what I can do with CS . . . 4? (circa 2010) . . . and GIMP. The way I do it is different but the result is the same.

It might depend on what you're doing. I use GIMP for matte effects and graphics work. I use it for multi-shot composites, occasionally for complex retouching or more challenging color correction. For occasional artsy stuff. But I'm not pro-grade. Just an amateur. I use clone stamp a lot, which behaves differently. (It tracks from the same spot each time until you reselect. You have to tell it what brush you want EVERY dang time you reboot.) The healing tool is . . . different. But you can do masks, edit curves, do chromakey, work with fifty different layers . . . Probably depends on what you want. There are surely differences. But my cousin who works with the architectural firm admits she would probably use GIMP were it not for the fact her job pays Adobe's freight.

As to Linux . . . I can't help you there. That's my brother's department. I'm a happy Windows (7) customer. For the moment.

. . . Also, I do really wish there were GIMP classes in the way there are Photoshop classes. That would make a big dang difference.
FlySwiss 12 Aug 18, 12:52Post
Thank you all for the replies. I think I will go with the Photoshop Elements.
 

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