Adjusting portions if an image..Beyond DPP

I was wondering if someone could recommend a photo editor that is easy to use for adjusting portions of an image. I have a shot of a hummigbird I took and while the bird itself is properly exposed the bright sky is over exposed. I want to leave the bird in the exposure it's in but bring down the background sky only. I shoot only in RAW and currently use DPP which I like but it has limitations such as this. It's great when the exposure is correct throughout the photo.

I'm particularly interested in something that might be one of those free downloads. I'm not interested in photo shop. I find it too complicated and I just don't have the patience to learn it. It's also too expensive. Maybe a 30 day trial of PE? Hopefully there's something simple out there.

Also, can portions of the image be adjusted independently from others while in RAW with these programs? Or is it required to be converted to JPEG first?

Thank you in advance for any and all help.

Henry

For free,

You could try Gimp... but its going to be as complicated as photoshop.

For 30-day trial you could do PS Elements... but may also find it complicated if you don't have patience to sit down and learn it. Maybe start with tutorials? You also won't be able to do those adjustments in RAW with either of the above... you'd need to convert to .tiff or .jpg, and do your edits there.

Lightzone and Lightroom2 are the only ones I know that will do selective adjustments in RAW files themselves. Of the two, I've only used LR... but, it doesn't sound like you'd want to pay $300 for it. There is a 30-day trial of it from Adobe however.

Thanks David. I appreciate the response.

You covered everything I asked so I think I may try the LR2 30 day trial as I think the adjustment in RAW may be worth the try. I tried PS Elements a while ago and didn't really like it. Gimp might be worth a try just for these couple of shots I have.

Henry

There are several. The cheapest PS wannabe I know of is Serif PhotoPlus for about $20. It has Curves, Adjustment Layers, Masks and Many Blend Modes. It might also serve as an inexpebsive learning tool before moving up to PS. My personal favorite is Picture Window Pro which follows a different workflow policy from PS, one more derived from wet darkroom work, and costs about $100. Vs. 5.0 is now in beta testing.

Thanks Elie,

I look into those too. The one for $20.00 is sure worth a go!

Much appreciated

Henry

[QUOTE=HWP;6176006]I was wondering if someone could recommend a photo editor that is easy to use for adjusting portions of an image. I have a shot of a hummigbird I took and while the bird itself is properly exposed the bright sky is over exposed. I want to leave the bird in the exposure it's in but bring down the background sky only. I shoot only in RAW and currently use DPP which I like but it has limitations such as this. It's great when the exposure is correct throughout the photo. [/quoite]

Lightroom 2. Download the free trial and the required pciture styles. DPP is lke driving a car with only one wheel in comparison. In LR2, you can "paint" in exposure changes. It's incredible.

Yep. In RAW, the only way to go.

[QUOTE=Mike55;6177811]

HWP wrote in post #6176006
I was wondering if someone could recommend a photo editor that is easy to use for adjusting portions of an image. I have a shot of a hummigbird I took and while the bird itself is properly exposed the bright sky is over exposed. I want to leave the bird in the exposure it's in but bring down the background sky only. I shoot only in RAW and currently use DPP which I like but it has limitations such as this. It's great when the exposure is correct throughout the photo. [/quoite]

Lightroom 2. Download the free trial and the required pciture styles. DPP is lke driving a car with only one wheel in comparison. In LR2, you can "paint" in exposure changes. It's incredible.



Yep. In RAW, the only way to go.

Thanks Mike,

I did download LR2 and liked it right away. Seems pretty intuitive. I haven't tried it with RAW yet. I read that it might look a little wierd if the LR2 doesn't recognize my 40D for the RAW programing. Not sure what all that means.

What do you mean by "required picture styles" to download. When I downloaded LR2 trial I didn't see any reference to picture styles.

I appreciate the help.

Henry

HWP wrote in post #6180107
I did download LR2 and liked it right away. Seems pretty intuitive. I haven't tried it with RAW yet. I read that it might look a little wierd if the LR2 doesn't recognize my 40D for the RAW programing. Not sure what all that means.

What do you mean by "required picture styles" to download. When I downloaded LR2 trial I didn't see any reference to picture styles.

Maybe what you heard was referring to the Adobe Camera RAW's (ACR) propensity for bad colors. There are "beta" profiles you can download and install from Adobe. Then in LR, under the calibration tab, you can choose to use one of these new profiles intended to more closely match colors you'd see from the camera maker. If you find or create a preset you'd like to be applied by default whenever you import a RAW file from that camera, you can do that too.

[QUOTE=HWP;6180107]

Mike55 wrote in post #6177811
I did download LR2 and liked it right away. Seems pretty intuitive. I haven't tried it with RAW yet. I read that it might look a little wierd if the LR2 doesn't recognize my 40D for the RAW programing. Not sure what all that means.

What do you mean by "required picture styles" to download. When I downloaded LR2 trial I didn't see any reference to picture styles.

I appreciate the help.

Henry

No problem. LR1 did have "weird" images with Canon RAW files because the converter wasn't that great. They fixed it for LR2 and now it's pretty much perfect.

Go here and download these BETA profiles:

http://labs.adobe.com/​wiki/index.php/DNG_Pro​files

Install them (they install to LR2 automatically). Then when in "develop" mode in LR2, scroll down to the bottom and look for "camera calibration". Choose one of the BETA profiles (standard, neutral, faitful, etc). These are the Canon picture styles that get the color right. LR2 knows you are using 40D files and adjusts accordingly. Pick between the ones you like. Personally, I really like Adobe Standard, faithful beta and neutral beta. Landscape beta looks to underexpose just a touch to me.

davidcrebelxt wrote in post #6181030
Maybe what you heard was referring to the Adobe Camera RAW's (ACR) propensity for bad colors. There are "beta" profiles you can download and install from Adobe. Then in LR, under the calibration tab, you can choose to use one of these new profiles intended to more closely match colors you'd see from the camera maker. If you find or create a preset you'd like to be applied by default whenever you import a RAW file from that camera, you can do that too.

[QUOTE=Mike55;6183087]

HWP wrote in post #6180107
No problem. LR1 did have "weird" images with Canon RAW files because the converter wasn't that great. They fixed it for LR2 and now it's pretty much perfect.

Go here and download these BETA profiles:

http://labs.adobe.com/​wiki/index.php/DNG_Pro​files

Install them (they install to LR2 automatically). Then when in "develop" mode in LR2, scroll down to the bottom and look for "camera calibration". Choose one of the BETA profiles (standard, neutral, faitful, etc). These are the Canon picture styles that get the color right. LR2 knows you are using 40D files and adjusts accordingly. Pick between the ones you like. Personally, I really like Adobe Standard, faithful beta and neutral beta. Landscape beta looks to underexpose just a touch to me.

David, Mike,

Thanks much! You've both been a big help.

I downloaded the profiles and it appears to have loaded fine. Now I have enough to be dangerous!! I'll report back on how it goes.. I think I'm going to like it even more.

Henry