Thank you both. Funnily enough, I've abandoned the software I've been testing and am exploring the capabilities of the Photo option on my desktop!
Sounds like a good plan! It's easy to get carried away with all the whizz bang things these softwares offer now but the basic freebies are pretty amazing for the essentials.
One option to think about is getting a second hand copy of Photoshop, but you do need to make sure it's not a fake. I have PS Elements 11, it does all I need plus, with no annual subscriptions. It does take a little bit of learning and practice but it's worth it, IMO. You can clone out annoying bits, for example, that the freebies don't tend to do, and you can tweak contrasts, colours, etc. more precisely. And there is a who range of effects. Maybe worth looking into?
Thank you @NormandyLiz, that's very helpful. I've been trialling Pixelmator Pro which is designed for Macs and it's a one off payment. It is good but complicated and without basic tutorials. I'm struggling with the layers concept! There's a month's free trial available for the latest PS Elements I've been considering. (I've noticed there's a Dummies Guide available on Amazon too!) Do you think it's worth a go?
I have no idea about Pixelmator so can't really help you there. But I can do layers and, provided they haven't changed PS Elements too much, I can also help you with that.
Layers are incredibly useful. You can make all sorts of adjustments and apply them to only certain areas of your shot. I did this really quickly, to give you and example.
First is opening up a file, as shot sort of (I shoot in RAW so this isn't exactly the file as shot)
On the left are all sorts of things you can do like crop, erase, straighten and, very importantly, clone (where you airbrush over one area with another). On the right are the layers.
A little play gives this (I've dragged the side over to make easier to see)
I have the original file at the bottom, then a copy of that. On top of that is a brightness adjustment to the background copy layer, followed by a second background copy and an adjustment to that. The first copy was also blurred but you can't see that on the layers.
Because I only wanted to blur and the darkening to the outer part of the shot, I erased from the copy 2 layer the area I wanted to come from underneath, if you like (the erased parts are the grey and white hatching) and really just to demonstrate also erased from the brightness adjustment layer (the grey spludges on the brightness layer).
The top layer, called levels but don't worry about that now, has a little blue arrow next to a white box, that's me saying to apply it only to the next layer down.
The overall result is that the central point that I wanted to focus on stays sharp while the background blurs out, and you get the vignette effect (I happen to have noticed you like that!) but with greater subtlety. Vignetting adds black, this darkens the existing colours so they remain more natural.
Does that make any sense whatsoever?
(ps, don't overdo effects such as vignetting otherwise they overtake the subject, IMO).
And here is the above shot as I did it yesterday with more subtle tweaks
And another photoshopped shot - I took two of the same pair of butterflies. In one shot the one was clear, in the other it was the second. I merged the two to end up with two reasonably clear butterflies
Posts
One option to think about is getting a second hand copy of Photoshop, but you do need to make sure it's not a fake. I have PS Elements 11, it does all I need plus, with no annual subscriptions. It does take a little bit of learning and practice but it's worth it, IMO. You can clone out annoying bits, for example, that the freebies don't tend to do, and you can tweak contrasts, colours, etc. more precisely. And there is a who range of effects. Maybe worth looking into?
Layers are incredibly useful. You can make all sorts of adjustments and apply them to only certain areas of your shot. I did this really quickly, to give you and example.
First is opening up a file, as shot sort of (I shoot in RAW so this isn't exactly the file as shot)
On the left are all sorts of things you can do like crop, erase, straighten and, very importantly, clone (where you airbrush over one area with another). On the right are the layers.
A little play gives this (I've dragged the side over to make easier to see)
I have the original file at the bottom, then a copy of that. On top of that is a brightness adjustment to the background copy layer, followed by a second background copy and an adjustment to that. The first copy was also blurred but you can't see that on the layers.
Because I only wanted to blur and the darkening to the outer part of the shot, I erased from the copy 2 layer the area I wanted to come from underneath, if you like (the erased parts are the grey and white hatching) and really just to demonstrate also erased from the brightness adjustment layer (the grey spludges on the brightness layer).
The top layer, called levels but don't worry about that now, has a little blue arrow next to a white box, that's me saying to apply it only to the next layer down.
The overall result is that the central point that I wanted to focus on stays sharp while the background blurs out, and you get the vignette effect (I happen to have noticed you like that!) but with greater subtlety. Vignetting adds black, this darkens the existing colours so they remain more natural.
Does that make any sense whatsoever?
(ps, don't overdo effects such as vignetting otherwise they overtake the subject, IMO).
And another photoshopped shot - I took two of the same pair of butterflies. In one shot the one was clear, in the other it was the second. I merged the two to end up with two reasonably clear butterflies