Digital Photo Enhancement

[mongo2]

I have several questions on this topic.

I have an older Nikon P100 Coolpix and an even older Exilim EX-V7 pocket camera.

Obviously both of these cameras are not up to the standard available today.  So, nearly all of my photos could use some enhancement.

So, I am interested in finding out which computer apps are the best and which may be the easiest to use.  Not particularly interested in apps that cost money.

Currently I use one of several : 

Photoscape,

FastTone Image Viewer,

IrfanView 64,

Nikon's View NX

I recently donwloaded  GIMP from the GIMP.org website but I cannot get it to open.  Has anyone out there had the same trouble?

 

 

[Piece Corp]

I have the same set.  Gimp works fine for me but I use Fast Stone because I think it's easiest to use.

[mongo2]

Thank you Piece Corp.   Any other comments from the forum members?

[Colin back in Pattaya]

You can't get GIMP to open. Did you download the right version for your computer? Windows, OSx or Linu?  Personally I use GIMP and like it because it does the job without excessively flashy.

Remember even a 2 megapixel photo fills a hi res 1920 x 1080 pixel screen. so you don't NEED 20 megapixels for computer work, though that will give better resolution if you want hard copies.

[mongo2]

I do believe I downloaded the proper version and directly from the GIMP.org website, not from a third party website.

 

Having said that, I guess I will go back and check..  If need be, I suppose I cou;ld even uninstall what I have and re-download the app.

[Jo1992]

Photoshop portable can be downloaded free off portable appz website

[ctrlcopypaste482]

Pretty sure you can Lightroom mobile for free

Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

[mongo2]

Re;  Jo1992 , adanjscott:  I think (but correct me if I am wrong) but i believe that Photoshop portable and Lightroom mobile are for mobile phones (Android).  I am using a DELL desktop with Windows 10.

PS:  I have uninstalled GIMP, then reinstalled GIMP and still cannot open it.  I thought I saw a message that quickly displayed and disappeared that indicated to launch it the first time one needed to use the 'hot keys' but I see no reference to 'hot keys'.   Does anyone know how to launch GIMP?

Very confused!

 

 

[Little Evil]

Depends on two factors. What is meant by "enhancement" and what formats are the photos? If you have RAW, then your "enhancement" options will be better, as adjustment range is helped by the extended data set of RAW. Still, if the photos are just soft, there's little to be done to improve focus and resolution.  If you are talking about messing about with exposure, HRD merge, color correction, and removal of aberrations/distortion, then it sounds like you already have decent free tools. Most of those things can be done in Gimp alone. 

[mongo2]

Re: Little Evil

Thanks for your input. 

(1) I am using a desktop PC with Win10 Pro to process my photos.

(2) My current camera is a Nikon P100 purchased over 10 years ago.  Photos are saves as x.jpg or x.jpeg.  It does not save them as "RAW".    While many of my photos seem just fine, there are others that couls be improved by cropping, changing size, adjusting shadowed faces, sharpness, etc.  I feel that "Fasttome Image Viewer" does a pretty good job on most of what I need but am curious if there are any better free apps.  I have been particularly interested in GIMP (I have downloaded version 2.10.12) but I have not been able to open the app.  No desktop icon.

(3) How do I o0pen GIMP?

[Atlas]

Hey mate,

I personally use Lightroom and Photoshop but pay a subscription... 

I just downloaded Gimp out of interest. 

The first time I opened it, it took a good couple of mins to come up (I am on a gamers laptop) which is to be expected the first time. The second time was nearly instantaneous. Did not use it yet however. 

Make sure you are getting it from here : Gimp

Maybe time to upgrade your camera

 

[mongo2]

Re: Atlas

 

Thank you too for your input.

 

I must agree it would be nice to get a new camera, but it takes money which is in short supply.

Regarding GIMP, people keep saying they opened it but they don't tell me how they did it.  I downloaded GIMP 2.10.12 directly from the GIMP website and installed it.  But it did not produce a display icon, nor an icon in the Task Bar.  I right clicked on the Windows icon (far left corner of my Task Bar) and clicked "Run".  Entered GIMP into the Run entry line and the PC tells me it cannot find it.  Still very confused.

[Atlas]

Hey Mate,

Are you running Windows 10 ?

if you are and it has installed, click the start button and if it is not the top icon go down the list alphabetically to Gimp and it should be there. 

The install took about 5 mins even on this fast laptop. 

PS. If you download it, it will not install automatically... That maybe where you are coming unstuck. Find the Gimp installer and run it. If you are not into computers that much try saving it to your desktop, find the downloaded files and click the install one.  

[Billyboy294]

I use Adobe Photoshop CC.

First crop out any superfluous background (as most software programs can do).

There are several tweeks you can use but the one I am amazed at is Shadows which 50% of photos posted here could do with.

Here is an example. Before and After.

I have no claims to being an expert and many of my photos get criticized. But 90 % of the photos i post here were taken with a simple Point and Shoot Sony W1 (5 megapix) so no fancy lens's.

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Billyboy294

[mongo2]

Hello Atlas:

Thank you very much.  That instruction worked. 

The GIMP start display page opened up.  It looks like I have a lot to learn. 

Many thanks to all who have offered help.  It is well appreciated.

 

[mongo2]

Hello Billyboy294:

 

That looks good to me (in more ways than one).   Can that be done without bleaching out the background?

I have a number of similar photos on my PC that would like to improve.

 

[Jaws56]

I was just going to say Atlas is on the right track but now I see you already know....

[Billyboy294]

22 minutes ago, mongo2 said:

Hello Billyboy294:

 

That looks good to me (in more ways than one).   Can that be done without bleaching out the background?

I have a number of similar photos on my PC that would like to improve.

 

I dont know. I am normally concentrating on making the girl look better..And I dont want to spend too much time on any one photo.

Most computer shops in Tukcom will  install CC for about 100 bah  or can buy the CD.for 150 baht..

Edited August 15, 2019 by Billyboy294

[mongo2]

Again thanks BillyBoy294:

I will keep Adobe Photoshop CC in mind, but at the moment I am going to try to learn GIMP and there seems to be a lot to learn.

[southsidebruce]

on my iPhone I have the FaceTune2 app, and that works real good/very easy to use for touching up photos (remove blemishes, make boobs bigger, blur the background, etc)... I also have a couple other photo touch up apps and use them occasionally - Afterlight, UltraLight, and PS Express... I have another interesting app that I use from time2time - Oillist - which can take a photo and turn it into a picture that is based on various artists... you choose the artist style (VanGough, Escher, Manet, Kandinsky, Picasso, etc), and then the amount of abstraction (3 levels), and it turns the photo into a painting... You can also change brush size, mood, "chaos"... Very wayKEWL, interesting app... I have an iPhone X, and it is plenty powerful enough to do the photo mods/enhancements, etc - on the phone... I usually pick the apps that I mostly purchase (to avoid having ones that bombard you with advertisements) based on user reviews (although as we all know, some apps (and shopping items/Amazon/Lazada, and movie reviews (IMDB, etc)) have fake reviews posted, so can't take them all seriously... 

[mongo2]

Re: southsidebruce;   Interesting, will keep them in mind as well.

[Atlas]

4 hours ago, mongo2 said:

Hello Billyboy294:

 

That looks good to me (in more ways than one).   Can that be done without bleaching out the background?

I have a number of similar photos on my PC that would like to improve.

 

Hey mate,

Glad you sorted it out.

The 'bleaching' is actually called over exposure and it's not something that can really be 'fixed' as such. It is always better to under expose a photo as you can add light in the post processing, though you are more limited if you shoot in JPEG. 

For the average user I am sure GIMP is all you really need. I started with LR version 1 way back when and got into PS around ver 4 I think... Now I am in subscription mode, hardly use it..But I am lazy to learn another piece of software !

 

[mongo2]

Often I am lazy too.  Especially when it comes to learning proper camera techniques.  I most often just use the automatic settings rather than try to mess with (fool with) (sensibly) set shutter speed, ISO, aperture, white balance, etc.

Now i am thinking (wondering) if reducing the incoming light with one or more of those settings for photos with strong backlight conditions could improve my shots and which ones of those I should try to adjust.

 

[Atlas]

1 hour ago, mongo2 said:

Now i am thinking (wondering) if reducing the incoming light with one or more of those settings for photos with strong backlight conditions could improve my shots and which ones of those I should try to adjust.

If you are talking portraits then you need to learn about fill flash. Basically what you do is expose for the background (which means you will probably want to make it darker) but then the 'model' will be too dark, hence the use of flash to light them up a little. 

[mongo2]

That makes sense.

Thanks