Your Thoughts On My Editing Skills

[gosshawk]

Hi guys, I am completely new to DSLR photography, but been out on one shoot so far and really enjoyed it!
Using a D60 with a borrowed 55-300 lens atm.

Not sure how to best edit the pics though, so what are your opinions on the following? And any tips?
#1 Original

#1 edited with Photoscape

#1 Edited with Gimp

#2 Original

#2 Edited with Photoscape

#2 Edited with Gimp

#3 Original

#3 Gimp Edit

On photoscape, I used a lot of their "auto" options, and on Gimp, I used some "Unsharp Mask" and a bit of Brightness adjustment.

Care to share your opinions on the above and help out a newbie please?

Thanks

 

[ARD]

Just tried to reduce the background as it was a bit mundane

Removed colour cast and sharpened slightly

Removed colour cast and sharpened slightly

When taking insects try and get more of the insect in the frame, i.e. closer so you haven't got so much background

 

[Janesy B]

Too much grain, why are you shooting at 800 ISO? Drop the aperture down and let more light into the sensor rather than upping the ISO.

 

[sarge78]

Was that dragonfly trying to pull a troll face?

Fx-Foundry has some decent plugins for GIMP, like noise reduction, shadow recovery, tone mapping etc.http://registry.gimp.org/node/13661

However I'd recommend something like Lightroom to manage/edit your pics, it's much much easier.

 

[martynpd]

nikon view NX is good for quick edits

 

[AHarvey]

Hi guys, I am completely new to DSLR photography, but been out on one shoot so far and really enjoyed it!
Using a D60 with a borrowed 55-300 lens atm.

Your gimp edits look the best of the bunch, although they may need sharpening a tad, however that will make the noise more pronounced.

800iso on a D60 is a high as you would want to go, it sucks ass at anything higher.

Just tried to reduce the background as it was a bit mundane

Removed colour cast and sharpened slightly

....

When taking insects try and get more of the insect in the frame, i.e. closer so you haven't got so much background

OMG what is that first edited monstrosity doing here?? That is awful and the sort of effect that belongs in the 80's. A simple crop would have been enough for that shot.

As for the colour cast, I can't see one on either of them so it didn't need doing although the sharpening did. You also mean that the insect should fill more of the frame, however, sometimes it works have a lot of the same coloured background and a bright insect.

Too much grain, why are you shooting at 800 ISO? Drop the aperture down and let more light into the sensor rather than upping the ISO.

I am guessing the iso is down to hand holding and depth of field so they may not of had much choice on the matter.

 

[gosshawk]

Thanks for the comments guys, given me plenty to work on!

The ISO was up quite high as I was indeed hand holding the camera, so fast shutter and wasn't the brightest of days, but I downloaded lightroom trial and here is another edit:

and

I think it gets rid of a lot of the noise. Does seem to be quite a good program, may have to invest in it soon, although I will check out those GIMP plugins.

Thanks for your help so far!

 

[theheyes]

Shoot RAW if you aren't already and just experiment. My advice would be to be careful not to overdo things. Don't over sharpen, don't go nuts with noise reduction etc. A monitor calibration tool is something you should buy if you get more serious.

 

[ARD]

Your gimp edits look the best of the bunch, although they may need sharpening a tad, however that will make the noise more pronounced.

800iso on a D60 is a high as you would want to go, it sucks ass at anything higher.



OMG what is that first edited monstrosity doing here?? That is awful and the sort of effect that belongs in the 80's. A simple crop would have been enough for that shot.

As for the colour cast, I can't see one on either of them so it didn't need doing although the sharpening did. You also mean that the insect should fill more of the frame, however, sometimes it works have a lot of the same coloured background and a bright insect.



I am guessing the iso is down to hand holding and depth of field so they may not of had much choice on the matter.

LOL, was 79' actually. But, if you can't see the colour cast.....better go to spec savers, else take up shooting in B&W lol