Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

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The Digital Photographer's Software Guide
The Eye of the Beholder
In the fake software described in the last section, it is possible to detect a symbolic blinding
of the user by the unscrupulous vendor, or at least, that is how Susan Sontag (On
Photography, 1977) might have seen it. If beauty, like color, is in the eye of the beholder,
there is ample opportunity for vendors to pass off second-rate software without raising
too many objections. This is particularly true in special effects manipulation where even
the touchstone of reality has disappeared. Only practice and a “good eye” can tell you
whether software is adding real value to an image.
Photography will always be more dependent on what happens in front of the camera
than back in the virtual darkroom. This is why we travel to the farthest corners of the
planet or hunt for the most unusual or attractive people to photograph. Because software
merely improves or alters what is already there, the best images tend to be those
that start with a great original. At least half the software represented here has been produced
with the intention of rectifying deficiencies in the digital photographic process.
Lack of resolution, focus, or dynamic range, insufficient sharpness, too much noise, not
enough “snap”—software deals with all these issues in turn. When it is successful, as it
is more often than not, it turns a good photograph into a great one. The digital photographer
cannot work without it.
About This Book
In a single volume, The Digital Photographer’s Software Guide brings together information
on over 300 software packages and plug-ins for the benefit of photographers of all
levels of expertise. You’ll find solutions to meet every photographic need, not only image
processing and editing, although these important tasks are covered at length, but also
software color management, image rescaling, film simulation, slide show creation, professional
studio management, and much more. This book is a map that will lead you to
additional, in-depth information about each product on the Internet, where you can
download and try nearly all the software it introduces.
Here’s a smidgen of what you’ll find in this book:
■ Concise descriptions of photographic software, from downloaders to RIPs
■ Review-style comments about each program and its suitability for purpose
■ Introductions to each software category, its scope, and development
■ Technical specifications such as operating system, host program, and supported file
formats
■ Full contact information, including developers’ street and Web addresses
■ In-depth reviews of Apple’s Aperture and Adobe Lightroom
■ Information to help you build low-cost alternatives to the full Adobe Photoshop