Sapping the shutter is, in my view, only about 25% of the entire photographic process. The other 75% is handled in the proofing and post-processing stages. With film, this was an incredible setback as many of us do not have the space or resources to build a dark room. Those without access to a dark room were therefore missing out on three-quarters of the entire experience. Working with professional shops was a step in the right direction, but you still had to give up ultimate control. Color corrections, at the very least, were adjusted to yield what they felt was the ideal range. But they were not the creator of your work, and they did not have full comprehension of your vision. In a real-life example, I spent a great deal of time and effort antiquing a photograph in Photoshop only to have it readjusted by the technician. What a waste of time and energy.

The advent of digital cameras have done a great deal to make Photography a legitimate hobby for many people throughout the world. Not only is photography more readily shared across the internet, but all aspects of photography are now easy to attain for a relatively low cost. With film, hobbyists literally had to dedicate a room to their art. And while a can of black paint may give you a strong basis for a dark room, the cost of equipment necessary added up quickly. Now, a digital photographer only needs to dedicate some space on their hard drive.

In this article, I intend to introduce you to the Digital Darkroom by introducing some of the important software that you will need. I will focus on what you need in order to get your work done. As you know, there are often a number of different applications available to perform the same or similar tasks, so it usually comes down to preference. But I will try to outline some of the more common scenarios.

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Now that the world of Digital Photography is upon us, many photographers, hobbyists and professionals alike, are utilizing Photoshop for their photo processing. Think of Photoshop as your digital dark room. For the past few years, even when I was still working in film, I have regularly taken advantage of Adobe’s acclaimed photo editing software, Photoshop. It can be expensive, but but it’s well worth the money for serious photographers.

Meanwhile, as great as Photoshop is, converting a color photo to black-and-white properly is more than a simple procedure. Sure, you can simply change the mode of your image to grayscale, but you will miss some of the detailing necessary to make a proper transition. There is a solution, however: Cybia’s Fotomatic Plug-in Filters for Photoshop.

Now, before I go on, I need to explain one caveat. Photoshop Filters are sometimes frowned upon by professionals. The reason is simple: They’re not perfect. Even the best photoshop filters are not a complete solution in and of themselves. You will still want to tweak things a little bit after using one of these filters. Now that I have that off my chest, lets continue. Below, I would like to hilight the benefits of some of these filters and explain why they may be useful to you. [Read more →]