digital editing

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Im not really sure about what I'm supposed to do to "edit" my pics on the computer, or i guess you could enhance them?

can anyone help me out?

and what do I do on the compture too? I have a digital editing program that came with me canon...

THanks,

Jordyn

[Dbl]

Jordyn,

In most cases any shot straight from the camera will likely require some editing and if you shoot RAW it will definitely require some work. How much and what you want to do with that shot will depend on a number of factors, more than we can describe here. There are literally hundreds of books on that very subject! Start surfing around the internet, there is a ton of really good information out there as well.

Editing, for me at least is a constantly evolving work flow. As I learn new techniques I go back and edit older shots that might benefit from my new technique. That does bring up probably a few very important points to start with.

-One, never work on your original file! Always make a copy of that file and do your editing on the copy. Keep in mind with JPEG files everytime you edit the file and then close and open the file you are slowly reducing the quality of that file. That is one reason you should always work on a copy. As I mentioned earlier I often come back to an original file years old that I can re-work because I never edited the original, only the copy.

-Two, find a system that works for you to organize your work in a manner that will allow you to easily find your work. Shooting digital can quickly cause you to lose track of what is located where! I like to start with a folder by year > event > Original > edited. What ever you do make a simple system and if possible learn about keywording!

-Three, begin to think about a backup strategy. VERY important to consider, you no longer have an album with prints and a box of negatives. You now have thousands of files that can be lost in a blink of an eye with some form of hardware or software failure. Never put all of your eggs in one basket! My work is backed up in 5 separate systems! Multiple drives, server, disks, off-site and on line. You may not have to go to that extreme but have at least two separate sources for storage. Never delete images from a memory card until it has been backed up on at least two different devices. Also when you put that card back in the camera you are better to actually format the card with your camera, not delete your shots or format the card on your computer. You will encounter very few if any errors if you adhere to this little tip!

I may not have answered your question but you need to consider all of these things as you start. DPP is the software that came with your camera that will do some editing for you. Another good recommendation is Photoshop Elements. You can find older versions for a very cheap price! You could also use Picassa (free) for basic editing work. Like most things as you become more versed in editing you will likely want to do more things and you will need more software (expensive) and the techniques to take advantage of it. I hope that gives you a basic start. Editing is important if you really want to the very best from your files. There is really no way around that.

[Todd Caswell]

You can do alot of things to a photo in with a editing program including screw them up if you go to far. You can crop, brighten, sharpen, increase or decrease contrast, the list goes on and on.

Here's an example of editing a photo. These were taken by a friend and she asked me to "fix" them, not sure if I fixed them but heres an example of how I "changed" them. This was done with photoshop.

Befor

After.