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I gather that Photoshop is software that can manipulate photo images on screen. Is this the same software that was supplied free with my Canon SLR [Digital Photo Professional and a few other utilities]. If not what am I looking for and where do I download it? As you can see I am lacking in knowledge on these things......

Thanks.

Nope:


Photoshop, lightroom, illustrator, premiere etc are all part of what is known as "the creative suite" made by a company called Adobe. Think of them as a full suite of software that will address any need of anyone in the graphics/photography/movie industry. A rolls royce solution, with more capability than nearly anyone will ever use, and there is quite a learning curve with them. You'll pay for these, they are the industry standard and you will see many many tutorials etc online for how to use them..

Most camera manufacturers also distribute software with their cameras that will allow the user to take pictures off the camera without taking out the SD card, and may also allow you to catalogue your pics and so forth. The one that comes bundled with most canon SLRs (I'm a canon shooter myself) is called "digital photo pro". You should have a copy of that on a CD that came in the box with the camera. Its free, and very useable.

Other options:

Adobe recently made a little booboo and essentially have released photoshop CS2 for free after you jump through a few hoops. I wouldn't recommend this though, as PS is hard enough to come to grips with. You'll have to google around a bit for "free CS2"or similar.

Photoshop elements is the amateur version of photoshop. Costs less and you get a restricted set of tools. These 2 can be downloaded from adobe.com.

Use one of the many free bits of software for editing - I can recommend Picasa - its made by google and will allow you to edit, crop, brighten, darken, b&w etc etc etc. It also will act as a database program to allow you to view all your images and keep them so that you can find what you want eg mary's wedding from 4 years ago.

There are other programs out there (apps now I suppose), but all have varying levels of issues that stop me recommending them.


Last word:

What most people really want when they mention photoshop is a way of managing their photos, and also do more minor adjustments, like brighten or darken, crop, b&w, contrast, resize etc etc. The "pro" program to pick for this is Lightroom. Its absolutely fantastic and much more intuitive than photoshop. Cost is usually around €100, if you know a student you can usually get them all for less.

Fran

Thanks Fran, I will use the supplied Canon software and see what it does.

Tom, if you want a simple editing suite then download Picasa 3. It is very user friendly, has all of the basic editing tools, is a Google owned product and is free. I use it myself and find it good....basic but good.

what are you looking to do Rocker?

Fran has covered most of the bases there....

If you need any help drop me a line (I've been using photoshop for more years than I care to remember...!!!)

What am I trying to do? Good question Jaybee, the simple answer is that I am not sure. I learned about photography using film, 645 B&W in a Rolliflex and developed and printed my own photos. Colour work was on 35mm using Olympus and Nikon cameras, they were developed and printed in a D&P lab.

It became increasingly difficult to get film and with failing eyesight, I switched to digital and a Canon EOS 400D. Basically I am overwhelmed by the complexity of the 400D. But I am determined to learn how to work this thing which has had little use since I purchased it a few years ago. Each button is explained in detail in the manual but unless someone shows me the how and why of the button, the knowledge goes in one ear and out the other. I tried to use the Canon as a digital version of a film camera but the results were disappointing [digital is not analogue, now where did I hear that before], maybe you could suggest a good book on digital photography that would guide me step by step. The monthly magazines are no real help either, they assume you have Photoshop and the latest model of camera, hence my query about Photoshop. Confused, you bet I am.

Thanks for the suggestions and help guys, keep them rolling in.....

well you're about 499 steps further along the learning curve than most digital photographers so....

the best way to think about your digital camera is this...

If you shoot RAW you have a color reversal negative, which requires darkroom processing (ps/ Lightroom) to make it look excellent.

If you shoot JPG you have a slide neg which can just be printed.

obviously this is incredibly simplistic, but it's a conceptually handy launching point....

RAW is all of the data captured by the sensor, which has linear gamma and as such needs work to make it pleasing to the eye ( silver halide film has an s curve gamma which is coincidentally coincident with the human eye's gamma)

see here for what gamma is ( response curve )

http://www.hamiltonblain.com/linear_gamma.pdf

more to follow....

but pop your mode dial on M and ignore most of the buttons....

also, if the eyes are struggling consider upgrading to a 5D, the full frame (35mm) sensor means a much bigger and brighter viewfinder....

a good used 5D is fairly cheap now....

There's a camera club in mullingar - might be useful to you.


I do a lot (mostly in fact) film work still. B&W mainly, in 35mm,medium format and 5x4 too, developing and printing in my own darkroom. So I kinda know where you're coming from. Ignore most of the buttons. Set your iso (=load your film), set either Av or Tv for aperture, or shutter priority and shoot away. If you remember all the stuff about depth of field and f-stops its all the same on digital.

The difference is that now you need to save the files to your computer (filing your negs) and adjust them to get them looking their best (darkroom printing) followed by getting the actual print from fuji or even your own printer.

Ask away any questions!


Fran

I'll second the suggestion of joining a camera club to get the most from your camera.
You'll get lots of hands on assistance along with practical workshops.
Mark.