What Photo Program?

[Daxter]

I am trying to figure out what photo touch up program is the favorite for underwater pictures.
A little background: I have a simple Sea&Sea 750g camera, no RAW capability.
I am just looking to make our vacation pictures a little more appealing to our lame non-diving friends. Sort of hard to hear "Boy, sure have a lot of pictures of fish and rocks." To which I must reply "Coral not rocks, and you wanted to see the pictures.":shakehead Just would like to bring out the color a bit more. I have paint shop pro 8, which I am getting better at touching up with but is there a better program for underwater photos?
Thanks
Tom

 

[zahner]

I use PSP 7 for my underwater pix. I find it very easy to use and it was free
The main things I use it for: histogram adjustments, brightness/contrast adjustments, clone tool, crop/resizing, adding borders/text. I have access to PS but I rarely use it.

 

[mjh]

I had Paint Shop 6-9 but switched to CS2. For your needs Paint Shop is fine the only issue and one reason I changed was as I started doing more things in post I needed help. Most people use Adobe and it is just easier to get help.

 

[DiveTub]

Photoshop, nothing beats it.

Cheers
Chriso

 

[justleesa]

lots of people are also working with Picassa (which is also free) and getting good results.

I started with elements and now use PSCS2 and like it.

Just remember - even with the software you won't be able to get anything out of your picture that isn't there...in most cases red.

 

[p1medicshawn]

I have the same camera plus strobe. I use PS and some of the photos have turned out amazing and others...well lets just say the recycling box got full quick. It just takes time to sit down and learn all that Ps has to offer.

 

[ianw2]

I'm using Adobe PhotoShop Elements 5.0.

I just started shooting underwater at the beginning of the year. Some of my results are in my gallery at Scuba Board and at:

http://www.diver.net/bbs/posts002/69793.shtml

http://www.diver.net/bbs/posts002/69861.shtml

http://www.diver.net/bbs/posts002/70072.shtml

I'm not claiming that these are world class results. However, they ARE the results of a rank amateur farting around underwater for fun and hacking around in PSE with ScuaBob's tutorials at my elbow.

PSE is not as powerful as CSE, but it has a lot os useable functions to edit U/W photos. At less than $100, it is less than 1/6th the price of CSE. PSE still has the layer capability and all the functions that go along with editing by use of layer techniques.

You can D/L a free trial of PSE from Adobe.

I HIGHLY recommend going to the Tips and Techniques section of the Digital Darkroom here at SB for some incredible toutorials from Bob

http://www.scubaboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=210

Although many of the toutorials are written for CSE, you can still find many of the very same functions in PSE 5.0!!!

Look around the Photo forum for other tips, too. There is a vast storehouse of knowledge here on SB. I would not be in the place I am with my diving without this board.

Cheers!

And good luck to you!

Ian Wilson

PS:

You maight also check:

http://www.magic-filters.com/

We're headed to Cozumel in June. Do you have any tips, dos, don'ts, avoid-at-all costs, absolutely-do-anything-to-dive-this-spot tips to share?

I

 

[Daxter]

Thanks for all the info. Will look at picassa, PSE and photo shop. Like I said, I am starting to get better by not using the one step fix in PSP, dont like purple sharks . I did buy a new strobe for are trip to Bahamas next month, now just practicing taking pictures of snowflakes (really need winter to be over!!).

Ian, we went to Coz twice last year all dives were great, Maracaibo and Palancar Caves were my most fav. deep dives and El paso de cedral most fav shallow dives. Best thing is every day currents change even the same dive a few days later is different. Tip: rent a jeep on last day, visit the other side for a couple of drinks(nobody over there, very peaceful), Christi's restarant list is a must have. Have fun!!

Tom

 

[randini]

Bring out The Gimp. It's an open source (i.e. completely Free) image manipulation program that is supposed to compete with photoshop. There are even tons of plug-ins available for it.