There are so many different kinds of photography editing software, and I’ve been checking some out.
First, there’s the really old software that came with my little Olympus point-and-shoot camera – that’s always been my go-to software because it’s so very easy to use and has all the basic features – adjustments for color, saturation, contrast, etc., and tools for tilting and cropping.
One of the on-line photography websites I belong to has offered a 90-day free trial of Adobe PhotoShop, so I downloaded it. But really, I don’t need all that extra crap since I’m not into adjusting each photo pixel by pixel, nor doing all that fancy creative stuff. I just want photos that are presentable enough for this blog and good enough so other photographers won’t actually laugh at me. After playing with PhotoShop for awhile, I decided it’s not right for me – too many confusing features, most of which I would never use anyway, and it’s costly. (My camera software was free.)
The Nikon Coolpix B700 came with free software too, which I’ve never previously used. Today I tried it. While it’s not as complicated as PhotoShop, it still has much more stuff than I need and I find the editing process too difficult. BTW, the Nikon Capture software can, in fact, be purchased on Amazon, and I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for it.
After taking one picture and editing it in all three programs, I’ve decided to simply stay with the old Olympus software. It does what I need, and it’s supremely easy to us. I don’t expect to ever win any photographic awards, and my WP readers seem to enjoy my photos even if they’re not always, well, picture-perfect.
I’ve also decided to use the newer Nikon Coolpix A1000 as my go-to camera. Like the older Olympus, it has all the features I need, an extremely easy menu to negotiate, is easy to carry around in a purse or pocket, and takes photos plenty good enough for me. The one feature it has that the Olympus does not, is the 35X zoom – and the A1000 seems to do a little better on cloudy days.
Please enjoy this week’s offerings, all taken with the Nikon Coolpix A1000 and all edited with the Olympus software:
White Petunia
Garden Flowers
End-of-Season Yellow Mum (looking a little sad)
Trapped! (Sure, flowers are pretty, but sometimes people go overboard.)
Attention!
I couldn’t resist that last shot – they look like little solders, don’t they? Maybe they’re in charge of guarding that poor bison.
Happy Weekend, Everyone.
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalie Studio
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Beautiful. I love the garden flowers shot, best. I hardly ever edit photos, but when I do, I use GIMP. It’s a free open-source GNU program, about as good as Adobe. But it has a long learning curve, so be sure you have lots of time, if you ever want to try it.
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I’ll keep it in mind, Tippy. Someone also suggested SnapSeed, which is supposed to be quite basic and easy. I have very little patience these days, so I try to do as little editing as possible.
PS – Everyone always likes the flower pictures, and they’re the easiest ones to take.
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GIMP was like Photoshop, but with completely different ways of doing the same thing. It made me crazy. Why can’t they all at least call the same things by similar NAMES so we can recognize what it is?
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May have something to do with copyright laws. But at least GIMP is free. Photoshop costs an arm and leg.
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My copy of photoshop is more than 15 years old and I got it when I got laid off. I would NEVER buy it now.
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The offer I downloaded was a free trial for 90 days, but I think it’s then $10 a month or something like that. No way am I paying $120 a year for software for a hobby. I was considering buying a disc at about the same price, until I realized I don’t even like Photoshop.
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I can use maybe 3% of Photoshop and that’s all I actually NEED. The only rest is for professional graphic artists and the like.
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I hear you. The cameras themselves are like that. I would have gone with the Canon but I couldn’t figure out the menu. The Nikon menus are the same as the Olympus I’m already familiar with.
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I have a little tiny automatic Leica that has a menu that anyone can understand. Every other camera is essentially incomprehensible including my beloved Olympuses and my two Panasonics. I’ve had Canons and a Nikon (or two or three?) … and who knows what else. The ONLY one I can make sense of is the Leica. When I finally get something set up in a usable fashion, I NEVER change the settings.
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As you know, I f*d around with the setting on that B700 for months until I finally figured out it was screwed up internally. Now I just use the auto setting on the A1000, and it seems to be just fine. Even the photos I took on a cloudy day turned out well.
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The truth is, almost everyone uses some version of automatic. iAuto, Auto, “P” (all auto, but you can adjust things like the meter measurement), “A” (aperture — it adjusts the aperture first, and it’s still all automatic, and “S” (shutter) — it adjust the shutter first and it’s STILL all automatic.
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Yeah, I learned about all of those settings, and it just gave me a headache. I don’t need to be the best photographer in town, I just want to have fun with it.
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I used to use Photoshop Elements when I took pictures with a real camera (or as real as I cared to get). I have never wanted to learn all about camera settings and such, I just wanted to take pictures, which I now do with my phone. I did love the 20X zoom on my Olympus, though.
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I’ve spoken to quite a few people recently who agree that we just want to take photos without worrying about all those settings. I mostly just leave the camera on automatic unless I want to use the close-up setting.
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That’s exactly what I did.
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I set mine to “P” which is automatic but allows you to make a few more adjustments. ALL of the settings are automatic these days except “M” (manual).
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I’ve been checking out software too and I’m not thrilled with any of it. I use a very old (disc-based) version of Photoshop because like you, I’m not going pixel to pixel to achieve perfection. I use a lot of filters which save a lot of time, especially when you set up a batch for particular types of jobs. But they are expensive and I’ve been buying them one at a time as they come on sale for at least five years. If you find something really good — and pretty cheap — I’m all eyes and ears! So far, though, it’s either too destructive or ridiculously expensive and complicated. And FRUSTRATING.
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Hm. Check out SnapSeed and let me know what you think. It’s a free download. I checked it out briefly and it looked pretty simple, but I didn’t check into any details of the download itself. It was recommended to a friend of mine (who just got his very first “real” camera!) by an IT person he knows.
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As a note, MOST cameras — good ones, anyone — have a set of thier own software. Olympuses is pretty good and Panasonic’s not bad, either. It’s also FREE.
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The Nikon software isn’t bad, but it seems to be geared more to professional photographers, not to hobbyists like me. I’m sure I could learn it, or the Adobe, but I don’t want to work that hard.
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Try Corel. Get the least expensive version of it … and they have sales, so don’t be afraid to wait for a bargain.
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Whatever you are doing with your photos, it is working very well!
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Thanks, Nick. I think I’ve finally learned to just relax and enjoy the process.
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The photos look wonderful to me, CM.
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Thanks, Mark. I was quite pleased with them. Hope to get out soon to take some fall pictures. The leaves here are just starting to change.
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The leaves here seem to be going straight green-yellow-down. Not a great color year so far. I hope it’s better to the west!
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So far, it’s the same here. I see a red one every once in awhile, but even those are washed out and not really worth photographing.
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This is great! I have recently started trying to learn about photo editing. I like to use Lightroom to edit the pictures I take with my Nikon D3500. Check out my most recent post to see some of my edited photos from this weekend!
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I did check out your site, and now I’m following you. Keep up the good work.
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I love my Nikon but i haven’t tried many other systems. Do you shoot film at all?
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No, I’ve never shot any video, mostly because I don’t really know how to. And I certainly wouldn’t know how to edit video.
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Oh, wait, you mean film for still photos! Duh. No, I don’t shoot that, either. For me, it’s digital photos only.
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ahh ok ok. try film sometime its really fun
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Maybe someday, once I gain enough confidence in my abilities.
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The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. …
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That’s my feeling, too. No sense in paying huge money for an expensive camera I probably couldn’t use properly; my new Nikon does the job just fine for my purposes and is so easy to use.
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