apicius9
New member
I hope you will tolerate the question - I know I could spend a few days searching for it but the more I look, the more confused I get.
Until now, I have minimized any PP - the appeal of taking pictures to me is to get away from the computer, not to spend more time working on it. And I am really strictly an amateur with no ambitions beyond occasionally shooting a few nice ones and learning more about photography. But I have gotten to the point where I want to do just a little bit more. Unfortunately, most software seems to be doing things of which I have no clue what they are, let alone whether I need them... I also just got the GH1 and never in my life edited a video, so that is completely new as well. I also assume there will be as many recommendations as there are individual photographers, but I will ask anyway:
What is a good basic software setup for the GH1?
Points I am looking for:
- I want to learn how to work with raw files
- I need something to organize my pictures better
- I expect that I will mostly correct for contrast, noise, color or white balance
- I would like good color-b&w conversion
- I want to add frames or watermarks
- minor retouching capability would be nice
- parsimony, i.e. fewer programs is better than having to use several different ones
I find Photoshop too expensive for my needs, Gimp too confusing, and Picasa too simple. I have worked a little bit with Photoshop Elements 6 but not even to its full potential. Lightroom sounds interesting, and I understand that Silkypix would work with the raw files. Not sure what the latest PSE does beyond the version I know. As a university faculty, I get Adobe products fairly cheap, so that might be an issue.
So, any guidance for setting up a new workflow (you couldn't even call what I did so far a workflow...) that is not too overwhelming will be greatly appreciated. And for once, you can assume that I am a complete dummy...
Thanks,
Stefan
Until now, I have minimized any PP - the appeal of taking pictures to me is to get away from the computer, not to spend more time working on it. And I am really strictly an amateur with no ambitions beyond occasionally shooting a few nice ones and learning more about photography. But I have gotten to the point where I want to do just a little bit more. Unfortunately, most software seems to be doing things of which I have no clue what they are, let alone whether I need them... I also just got the GH1 and never in my life edited a video, so that is completely new as well. I also assume there will be as many recommendations as there are individual photographers, but I will ask anyway:
What is a good basic software setup for the GH1?
Points I am looking for:
- I want to learn how to work with raw files
- I need something to organize my pictures better
- I expect that I will mostly correct for contrast, noise, color or white balance
- I would like good color-b&w conversion
- I want to add frames or watermarks
- minor retouching capability would be nice
- parsimony, i.e. fewer programs is better than having to use several different ones
I find Photoshop too expensive for my needs, Gimp too confusing, and Picasa too simple. I have worked a little bit with Photoshop Elements 6 but not even to its full potential. Lightroom sounds interesting, and I understand that Silkypix would work with the raw files. Not sure what the latest PSE does beyond the version I know. As a university faculty, I get Adobe products fairly cheap, so that might be an issue.
So, any guidance for setting up a new workflow (you couldn't even call what I did so far a workflow...) that is not too overwhelming will be greatly appreciated. And for once, you can assume that I am a complete dummy...
Thanks,
Stefan