Photo Tutorial

[Neal Addy]

LOL! You should have waited for the movie to come out!

Thanks for the kind words, all.

[Alec H.]

Neal Addy said:

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LOL! You should have waited for the movie to come out!

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Jack Nicholson gets to play me!!!!!

[Cian]

Very very cool. I'll have to INDEX this later if you don't mind.

[keepsake ®]

Excellent tutorial, Neal.

Nice progression from a good "amateur" to a great "professional" result.

Well done!

Pete

[Gordon Seto]

GREAT work! Neal
Thanks for taking time to put these together. The software manuals are intimidating.
You highly recommend the GIMP software, but you are using Photoshop. I find the learning curve on Photoshop is very steep. The other problem I have is I don't use it often enough, I forgot what I have learned the last time. I always have to re-discover what I have discovered the last time.
Can you explain the main pros and cons of the two in layman's term? Thanks.

[Neal Addy]

I'm not an expert in either so my comparison would be subjective.

The main reason I recommended GIMP is I didn't figure most woodturners would want to spend $600+ on Photoshop (after all, we need tools). GIMP is an open-source (free) package that is basically a reverse-engineering of Photoshop's most-used features. But it doesn't have the full functionality or power (yet) of Photoshop.

Frankly, I don't see where woodturners would ever need that much power. Photoshop is mainly geared towards graphics design rather than simple photo editing. For our needs that would be like using a Ferrari to go to McDonald's (no offense to McDonald's fans).

Adobe does make another (cheaper) product specifically for photo editing called Lightroom but it's still $260+. I'm sure there are some folks here who use it.

I have an older version of Photoshop and use it frequently for certain functions but my main go-to software for photo editing is Nikon Capture NX2. NX is easier to use and specifically geared towards photographers. But, let me add that I shoot in RAW (no, not "in the raw") so NX gives me more control over photos than is possible with GIMP. RAW rocks.

[Gordon Seto]

Neal,

Thanks. From the nice photos in your site, you do know what you are talking about.

[Alec H.]

There is a third option: Photoshop Elements. Essentially it is a watered down version of Photoshop and it sells for around $130 (give or take). Here's a link to the site: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/

If one plans on doing a lot more with photos, like manually adjusting color lines, creating vectors, editing portions of images, or creating art, then Photoshop is the industry standard. There's no getting around it. But, if you are only planning on working with images to make them viewable on-line, to send to friends, to put on your website, or even to print out, then go with Gimp, Lightroom, or Elements.

If any of you are teachers, adjunct teachers, or students, most colleges and universities have product discounts on software, including Adobe. And some large organizations have it too, like Dell. Look into it if you can. Also, you can find older versions of programs for sale at usually reduced costs. For instance, Adobe is now coming out with CS4, which means older versions like CS2, CS, and previous versions are getting cheaper. That may be another option too.

Just a few thoughts.

Alec

[ChukkB]

That's really great Neal!

It's easy to see that you spent a lot of time on it and you did a very good job.

That could easily be a magazine article

Chukk

[Neal Addy]

FYI, a few minor edits have been made to the tutorial since it was first published. If anyone saved it to PDF you might want to refresh your copy.

I've received numerous emails regarding this and really appreciate the enthusiastic responses and support!