Photography and other thinks that go click

After watching and waiting for a loooooonng time, I finally bit the byte(!) and added a digital camera to my arsenal of cameras.

Photography has become more interesting, but I seem to be spending more time on the computer post the photo sessions, downloading, sorting,deleting, and finally editing and then uploading.

It is funny just a few months back, I kept filling up cupboards with prints, negetives and the albums, now my harddisk is filling up with the RAW files, the 4 to 5 variants of the digitally processed files,the backups of the images which are WIP. Not to forget the backup of the original files on CD's,(DVD writers still looks expensive..i know, i know about the amount of space you get on a dvd blah blah...)

Has my photography improved? not sure, but I sure have become a little lazy. The PC is there to fix it!

Digital world has opened up more options, previously shots which I would have thrown out(exposure problems) seem to be salvagable.

Interesting stuff which I figured out in the last 10 days. You can take 2 images ,one exposed for the highlights and the other exposed for shadow and blend the both using a photo editing software. Considering that I am lazy,(hey dude,use the tripod!) I change the exposure in the RAW file editors and merge the original with the modified exposure one... seems to work.

Wonder what other stuff I am going to figure out.

Previously I never had the energy to scan a slide and correct it...but now,anyway you need to sit on the pc to see the results of the days work,so you tend to screw around with the editors. See Newton was right about the inertia stuff.

Does it matter what software you use?

Some of the more interesting try and buy software which I have laid my hands(oops the mouse) on...Noise Ninja(why do you leave lines all over the image, oh ninja master?what have we evaluators done to you?) Shortcut PhotoZoom ( an impressive sharpening tool), how could I forget my first imaging software IrfanView.

Nikon's Capture editing software is real nifty.

Not very impressed by Bibble (must have tried out an old version, could not open the D-70 NEF's)

PhotoShop CS (seems to have too many options for a simple mind people like me! But a real powerhouse of a software)

Will i purchase these programs?I may end up paying more that what I paid for the camera, so till then it is IrfanView.

P.S: Just in case you are wondering about the rig i use : f-80(right now gathering dust), d-70, 18-70 (kit lense), 80-400 vr and a 50 mm(love this one and it costs so little,at least compared to the other shit i blow up money on)