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To Edit or Not - What is Photo Editing and Should You Edit Yours?

Okay, now that you've spent some time reading your camera's manual and learning what all those buttons on the camera do I want to talk to you about the Exif data that should be in each picture.

So what is exif data? It's the information your camera places with each photo you take and it tells you what the camera settings were for each picture. Why is this data important? It's important because you always have a reference point for pictures that don't turn out the way you think they should have. You can view the information and see what settings you used once you've loaded the images onto your computer. Let's say you were on holiday and printed the pictures from your card - that information wouldn't show, but if you take the card home with you and load those pictures onto your computer you can look at each picture's settings. Other people can see this information in your digital images too, so when you ask for help, they have a reference.

To see the exif info you need to have some software. Most cameras come with software so you can get your pictures from camera to computer, and there probably is a way to view the exif data from that software. If you have a card reader in your computer you may not have loaded the software; like many of us, you might not even know where the disc is for it. Never mind - there are some very good free software products that are easy to use.

Irfanview is one I use for a lot of things - besides being able to show you the exif data, it allows you to add keywords and descriptions to your images; you can batch process your images to specific sizes in the space of a few seconds; you can crop and even add a copyright; you can stitch two images together, even make a poster. It only has some basic functions for editing, so I seldom use it for full edits. To see what the exif data looks like in Irfanview, click on the image and you'll be able to see some of the information available.

 

PixVue is another free software that allows you to add keywords and descriptions and shows you the data from your image. It works differently than Irfanview. With PixVue you can just hover your mouse over a thumbnail of the image and it will show any information there without having to open the image in a viewer. It installs in your system so that if you right click on an image PixVue selections are available to use - right click the picture and keyword without opening the image.

 

Editing your photos also requires some software - some software can give you the means to view your exif data, add your keywords, and edit the photos with more tools than just a crop or an auto fix. Why edit? Well, unless all of your photos come out perfect, you'll want to be able to make  adjustments to them, like fixing red eye, or lightening a too dark image, or enhancing the colour. Ever wonder why some of the photos you see have such vibrant colours? Most often it will be because the colours have been enhanced in a photo editor.

 

Take this photo from a skating event - it's unlikely I'd be able to reshoot it given that the event was a year ago. It's too bad it's so dark, and so far away. This is a shot of Jeff Buttle, the current Canadian Men's figure skating champion, and a medalist. It was taken in a blackened arena with only spotlights, from nearly the top row of seats. Pretty dark for taking a photo handheld. Even with editing it isn't going to be great, but at least you'll be able to see who it is.


With my photo editor the first thing I did was lighten it. You'll see in the lightened image what looks like a lot of graininess - that's because the photo was underexposed and I've lightened it. In most cases, I wouldn't bother trying to save a photo like that, but Jeff Buttle is my granddaughter's hero, so I wanted to have at least one or two photos to give her. Printing this as a 4X6 with a little grain doesn't hurt the picture too much - trying to sell an image with as much noise as this is another thing. Maybe your local newspaper would use it, but it's doubtful anyone else would.

Okay, so it's lighter and at least you can see Jeff, but he looks like a tiny dot in the middle of the picture. So now you might want to crop it so the final image is a lot closer.
Not everything we want to photograph happens in the best conditions for shooting, so learning how to salvalge an important photo is part of the learning process.

 

What you don't want to do is depend on being able to "fix" a bad shot - some bad shots should just be left to die on the table. The best results come from learning how to take photos even in bad conditions - shooting that skating event was the first time I've worked entirely in the dark without a tripod. Ah, yes...well, we'll talk about tripods the next time.


The photo editing software I use is Photoshop's CS3 (they are up to CS4 now) - high priced, and high powered - it retails in Canada for just over $840 (with taxes), so unless you've got lots of money you don't know what to do with, or are heading into the world of professional photography, it isn't likely going to be one you'll use.

Photoshop makes a great little photo editor for the home user or hobbiest - Elements 5. The cost is reasonable (I believe just over $190 Cdn, but you can find it for less on the internet) and it has a lot of functionality - many functions are the same as those in the higher priced Adobe products.

Another similar program with a cost very close to Elements is Jasc's software - Paint Shop Pro. Another excellent choice for the home user or serious amateur who can't afford a high price tag. It has the same functions as Adobe's Elements, but also includes a few options not found in PSE.

For a freebie editor with functions close to Photoshop's CS series, you can try The Gimp. Many people who use this prefer it over photoshop: my own personal opinion is that while it is quite powerful, it does lack a little for my use and I do not like the user interface, but I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone who doesn't want to pay the price for CS.

Another free editor is PhotoFiltre. The free version lacks layer functionality, but for a beginner I'd recommend this one. As you progress you can upgrade to the Studio version, which costs about $50 Euro - I actually purchased this one because I really liked some of the functions and use it along with my CS2 - the cost worked out to something like $74 Canadian - certainly easily afforded by most people. The site also has a forum in multi-language where you can ask for help and download plugins (many 8bf filters for photoshop run in Photofiltre very well). The support is also very good for this program, and if you purchase the studio version, updates are free.

There are numerous freewares available for editing photos - for the home user or less serious enthusiasts the choice is almost endless. Just be careful where and what you download - some come with a lot of "adware", some even come with viruses.

For anyone who just wants to do "auto fixes" you can download Picasa from Google (free). Along with being able to auto fix colours and red eye you can convert to black and white or sepia, and it has a reasonably good gallery/catalogue so you can view all the pictures on your computer easily.

 

 


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