PHOTOGRAPHY EXPOSED
by John Peters A.R.P.S.
PAINT.NET
Possibly the most important part of the website, Ive been putting off starting this page because there is so much I have to cover.
This is the 'secret' bit if you want. This is what you have been waiting for. This is where the filter maufacturers such as LEE and HOYA will hate me, and ADOBE will also be miffed as a free alternative to PHOTOSHOP or LIGHTROOM is described.
Again, many of the functions are just 'concepts' and can be used in Photoshop or Lightroom if you are used to them and don't want to consider the free alternatives. You are unlikely to use all the functions of PHOTOSHOP or LIGHTROOM but many of the "add-ons" or tweaks are made for them, so you might want to stay with them for that reason alone. If you are not into editing your images, don't read on. If you are into editing and being creative, this is for you. Imagine being able to select and replace anything in one of your images, imagine never having to purchase or use Neutral Density Graduated filters, imagine combining two or three images, and all for free! Yes, you can do this and more.
FASTSTONE is used for 90% of my editing but PAINT.NET or AFFINITY PHOTO are used by me for more complex edits. Complex edits are not for beginners. Having said that, I'll try and explain everything in detail. You can decide to try and follow it, or not, as the case may be. PAINT.NET supports layers which is a superb function. It is very easy to use and has a number of other features I find very useful. PAINT.NET can be used for many other editing functions and layers and blending really are the secret to good images. Play around with PAINT.NET, try each of the drop down menu functions and discover just what PAINT.NET has to offer.
If we define the some of the various categories or functions of PAINT.NET (there are many) that I find particularly useful, they are listed as follows:
1. GENERAL SELECTION
2. UNDERSTANDING LAYERS
3. GENERAL BLENDING
4. REPLACE SKY
5. REPLACE A BACKGROUND
6. MAKE AND USE PAINT.NET TO CREATE THE EFFECTS OF AN 'ND' (NEUTRAL DENSITY) FILTER
7. SELECT A SPECIFIC AREA TO APPLY AN EDITING FUNCTION
8. ADD MOTION BLUR
9. ADD A VIGNETTE
These are the functions I use most in PAINT.NET, which remember, is currently free. I'm not dissing PHOTOSHOP or LIGHTROOM, probably the industry standards in editing, but they are more suited for experienced photographers, and those that are quite happy paying for their editing software. Before my stroke, I used PHOTOSHOP myself, but when they moved to a monthly rental basis, that was the last straw for me. Being a 'tight Jock', I just had to find an alternative. Sorry Adobe.
PAINT.NET can be downloaded and used legitimately, free of charge. It's a wonderful piece of software for editing your photographs, it has many standout features, but supporting and simplifying LAYERS is for me, simply the best as far as ease of use and understanding is concerned.
It opens the door for many styles of editing with LAYERS. Yes, PHOTOSHOP supports adjustment layers, masks, different blending options, virtually all you'd ever need and more. But, there's a degree of complexity involved and probably a learning curve far steeper than that required for PAINT.NET If you know and use PHOTOSHOP, fine. If your happy paying a mothly fee - fine. I'm not. There is a free alternative out there, PAINT.NET
Remember, we should treat taking a photograph like baking a cake.
The ingredients are represented by FACE (Select 'F' for more)DOWNLOAD PAINT.NET
Lets take things from the top. The first thing we have to do is download the free version of PAINT.NET I'm not recommending it, but I used the site 'getpaint.net' with the full address of 'getpaint.net/download.html'
TOP TIP A word of warning, DO NOT download PAINT.NET from just any website that offers a free download, don't use nchsoftware.com which often appears at the top of many internet searches. nchsoftware.com is notorious for installing "bloatware" or something other than what you intended.
DO NOT click START or anything else that may appear, select what is shown on the following image, highlighted by the red arrow. You may have to scroll down the screen a bit.
TOP TIP It can useful to create an icon for PAINT.NET and FASTSTONE on your Windows Task Bar. I "show" my task bar so that I can launch these programs easily, at any time. You can launch additional programs from within FASTSTONE which is a very useful feature, for advanced users.
Lets assume you have successfully downloaded PAINT.NET and you are ready to tackle some advanced editing. I never like 'assuming' because I was taught "Never assume". It makes an ass of you and me, "ass/u/me". OK, lets take it that you have PAINT.NET on your computer ready to run. With PAINT.NET running, you should be presented with the following screen. The basic screen may differ a bit, I've tailored my version of the screen.