Photo Editing Softwares

As an idealist photographer, I'd like to have the final result of my photos as they were originally taken. But it is an unspoken accepted agreement that the post production is as important as the photo shooting technique. Even when it was still the analog/film era, darkroom techniques were used to produce an acceptable end result according to the photographer's taste. Today when things are digitalized, there are more ways to make photos look much more appealing than the original ones, thanks to the photo editing softwares.

Interestingly until yesterday, I only used Adobe Photoshop CS3 and (very rarely) Neat Image. It's not that I am not open to other softwares, but I just think that different softwares have their own pluses and minuses. I've been always using Photoshop since I was working for Excellogix as a graphic designer. I'm familiar with most of its functions, even after it has been upgraded so many times. And there is nothing that Photoshop can't do, really. So rather than following what software is in trend, I kept being faithful to Photoshop.

Yesterday, however, I felt that I wanted to try Adobe Lightroom 2. And the result was I was pretty happy with it. In a way, it delivers simpler functions than Photoshop. So if you want to have a minor edit on contrast, brightness, sharpening, exposure and white balance correcting, you can do it in a few clicks with Lightroom. With Adobe Photoshop, exposure and white balance correction is usually applied exclusively for RAW files. But with Lightroom, you can do it for any type of files.

Again, there is nothing Adobe Photoshop can't do. What Lightroom does, Photoshop does, too. It's just that you need to be more closely acquainted with it and it takes longer time and procedure.

However, when post-editing the photos I made of Villa Asri, I used both softwares. I did the initial primary edit in Lightroom as it was faster, then I transfered it to Adobe Photoshop CS3 for the final touch. In the end, I might have taken the same amount of time with when I edited with Photoshop only. But for the first time using Lightroom, the learning process was not that difficult.

One thing, though, I found out that the output from Lightroom could only be in TIFF file or PSD file. At first, I kept using TIFF files. But since I needed to give the final result in JPEG files to the client, I switched the converted image to PSD file for easier saving. 

1. If you are using Windows, right click the photo you want to transfer, choose Edit in, then choose Edit in Adobe Photoshop 3. If you have another type of Adobe Photoshop, the software will automatically read it as the Adobe Photoshop version that you have in your computer.
2. Then choose the following details

If you happen to have transfered the photos in TIFF files and you want to convert it to JPEG in Photoshop but can't find the JPEG option in the Save As, don't panic just yet. You can't find it because JPEG is a compressed type of file that normally works with 8 bits while TIFF 32 bits (which explains why TIFF has wider sets of color palettes). In order to save in JPEG file, what you need to do is to click Image/Mode/8 Bits/Channel. It is shown in the picture below.

Now you can try saving in JPEG file. I bet that'll work. :)

However, personally I would do it with the first method (sending the file into PSD file instead of TIFF). When you work with TIFF file and want to change it to JPEG, some colors will be lost in the way. You might end up with a vintage-looking photo if you do it with the second method. 

Anyway, it was fun to learn something new again. In the mean time, check the photos of Villa Asri here.