Reading blogs of photographers on WordPress, I sense that almost everyone is using some software, such as Photoshop or Lightroom, to edit their photos and improve on their quality. I am no different, except that up to now I have been using the free software that comes with Canon cameras, Digital Photo Professional. DPP is very basic and crude, lacking in many nice features as compared to other software. Not every Canon camera owners use it, and I am one of the very few who does.
Well, that could still change. I am trialing DxO OpticsPro, version 11. Among its features is its renowned noise-removal tools which help improve images shot in sub par lighting. Below are two of the same raw photo that I processed first with DPP, then a second time with DxO OpticsPro.
Black-crowned Night Heron, processed with Digital Photo Professional.
In DPP, I selected and adjusted the settings for colors, lighting, noise reduction, sharpness, gamma correction, and so on. It used to be an arduous undertaking, but after so many years I have become more proficient and can now process each image fairly efficiently. All the photos you have seen in this blog have so far been results of adjustments made solely in DPP, with no other additional software.
Black-crowned Night Heron, processed with DxO OpticsPro 11.
With DxO OpticsPro 11, I just selected one canned preset and within a few seconds it produced the above image, after cropping of course. It is still possible to go into the details of each preset and change or fine tune just like I had to do manually in DPP.
Also, DxO Optics Pro can produce the final JPEG image directly, or can be integrated with other software, such as Lightroom, for even more adjustments. DPP does not offer that choice.
Which of the above two images do you like better?
neihtn 
Good job man! The second one is more brighter and is more appealing 🙂 👍
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Thank you, and I agree with you.
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Me Gusta Este Blog.
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Thank you for visiting and commenting.
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Interesting thank you
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Thank you for visiting and commenting!
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I Think the second one is better but only by a very small margin. I’d be very happy to have produced the first image. You are right to say that the most important thing is to try to take a good image first.
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Thank you for your kind comment Christina. One reason I am considering DxO is to see whether I can reduce the amount of time spent editing photos.
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I like the second one, Hien. The colors were more brighter, given a bit more detail. I use Photoshop CS6 and am self-taught. I shoot both raw and jpeg, and 99% of time edit my raw image. It gives so much more leeway on exposure when lighting isn’t working with the capture, and detail is always more sharper in raw. Good luck on your choice of software! Everyone has their favorite!! 🙂
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Thank you for your comment Donna. Your photos on your blog are so outstanding. I am not surprised that you shoot mostly in raw and edit your photos with CS6
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The second one 🙂
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Thank you Elle!
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I agree with most of the comments, I like the second version “more” for its clarity and brightness 🙂
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Thank you Takami! The second one is the almost unanimous choice.
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I much prefer the second image, sometimes it just a matter of what you like as the photograph! As a hobbyist (me) vs professional, I can just do what I like 👍
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You are right John. We hobbyists have more fun than the professionals, who have to make a living out of their work.
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Well, seeing as we get no money it only right we have lots of fun, LOL. We also get to make all our own decisions about what and when we shoot too 🙂
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I agree with you 100%!
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hi hien, image 2 by a whisker, for its slightly better clarity and brightness, which gives a bit more life to the heron. i suspect further tweaking with the dpp may achieve a similar result. i used to use a combination of photo ninja and lr but since i am now quite happy with the sooc jpegs in most situations, i tend to just use lr for some tweaks. pretty long lens to capture this bif given the details i am seeing? regards, ken.
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I also like the second image, especially the ease of getting it from DxO. I used a Sigma 150-600 mm lens for these photos.
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It was a great photo you took! The ppd made it brighter. I play with different kinds of editing software packages for fun, most of the time I used Lr.
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Thank you for commenting, Amy! Lightroom is probably the most popular software out there.
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You did a good job Hien.When viewed large,I think the second one is brighter,it’s so beautiful!
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I agree with you Doda! I may switch after all to the new software. 🙂
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I like both versions.
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Solomon’s choice? Thank you so much Sukanya.
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Two is slightly better. I am a big fan of Lightroom as a basic editor and archives of photos.
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Thank you Victor!
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Thanks you Anh Hiền. I learned something. No wonder your pictures are so bautiful and perfect.
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Thank you for commenting Anh Dinh!
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Also like 2 a little better, but difference not much. Like the idea of adaptability as a minimum by being able to link with other software too, but it depends on your requirements and in that from what you say…hmmm…stick with the known?
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Thank you for commenting Boeta!
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Anh Hiền, Not much of different. 2 weeks ago I attended a friendly photo shop in California. After and before are convincing me to learn how to play Photo shop.
I know that is not easy for me.
I’m back to NJ 4 days ago.
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Thank you Anh Nhi. Remember, take good pictures first, software is secondary.
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I clicked on both images to view them in as large a format as I could, and the second is the one that I would pick as the best, but not by much. I must have been a good image to start with.
You’d think that since Canon programs the cameras in the first place, that they’d be able to write better software to work with the files. But, if that were the case, there wouldn’t be Lightroom, Photoshop, McPhun, or DxO Optics that people are willing to pay for if they could use the “free” software from Canon. I put free in quotes, as I’m sure that Canon adds the cost to write the software to the base price of the cameras to begin with, we just don’t see the cost.
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Thank you for commenting, Jerry. I agree with you entirely about Canon and their software. Perhaps they think of themselves as a hardware company only.
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