Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

So this happened.

At the beginning of 2015 I was happily plodding along, shooting 100% jpegs in my tiny-sensored compact camera, processing in a slightly obsolete version of PS-Elements, doin’ pretty good I thought…

Then, for reasons not now entirely well understood, I took a crack at raw capture (which I had not previously because of an inability to process it).

WELL one thing led to another, and in the space of less than a year (what a difference a year makes) I have been fully converted, an ultra-orthodox raw shooter, AND I subscribed to the Creative Cloud for ten bucks a month.

Who knew? :mrgreen:

For all of my old jpeg-only pals, fear not, I will not try to convert you! Y’all keep on keepin’ on. This was just my personal choice to drink the raw kool-aid. I’ve always been a fan of post-processing. I don’t mind hours at a computer one bit. You do. That’s fine.

What I’m doing now is learning as much as I can as fast as I can. I really like Lightroom, but I spent years learning Elements so I’m pretty comfortable with Phull-dress Photoshop CC, and there are things I can do there that I don’t think I can do (or do as well) in Lightroom, and Adobe provides both presumably for a reason, so I use both as needed.

(Incidentally, I love what Lightroom can do with some of my old jpegs. I’ve gone back and reworked some stuff (I have always kept an untouched SOOC jpeg in case I want to start over—I always “save as” edited versions)).

Hancock MI from Houghton Across the Ship Canal. This example is from the original raw file (Nikon NRW). It has been zeroed in Lightroom. I often run into the challenge of having to move on but the light is. just. wrong.

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Everything that was done to this was done in Lightroom only. Bear in mind that I’m a just-learning beginner, but I think it’s pretty good. I really like being able to easily pop out character in the original sky. The clouds were not added; they were already there. It might be a little "overcooked," but I like the fact that it now looks almost as if there was some sunlight on it. =D

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Kappel’s Clock Shop was shot for a friend who also has a clock shop. Once again the light was poor but I could not wait.

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Kappel’s Clock Shop has been reworked in a combination of Lightoom and Photoshop CC. I LOVE the one-click perspective and lens correction thingy in Lightroom! =D Again, those clouds were there; they just needed a little help to pop out.

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Solar Lights was shot for fun. The idea was to get the lights against the darkening sky.

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My technique so far is to start in LR, then if I need something else to switch to PS. Here I needed PS to select only the sky, then just upped the exposure some to lighten it.

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MtnMan Loc: ID

You don't have to "save as" with Lightroom. I don't think you can. You could export, but there is no need. You can make a virtual copy at any time and click on reset to see your original which remains unchanged by Lightroom.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Oh, I know. The save-as is how I have dealt with shooting jpegs and PP-ing in Elements, which is "destructive" (not sure I like that term). I learned very early that if I wanted to return to the original I needed to keep the original, and jpeg files aren't so huge that it was a burden. :)

Ol' Frank Loc: Orlando,

Chuck, I am beginning to get serious about Lightroom and your story is quite similar to mine. Nice job on your photos.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Thanks, Frank! Like you, I just wanna have fun, but for me havin' fun is trying to get the best I can. I was having lots of fun before but now... :mrgreen: :thumbup:

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

A perfect example of someone actually exerting some quality effort and time to learn something new and then reaping the benefits of that investment. I applaud your energy and I hope it encourages others to enter a brave new world of broadening their horizons.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Thank you! That's very kind! One thing, though—I've got some pretty good pals on the 'Hog that just hate to spend a lot of time on a computer, and I get that. I like it; many don't, and some of 'em get pretty defensive about it. Live 'n' let live. :) :thumbup:

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

I fully support and respect the live and let live way of life. I do cringe though when I see people vehemently arguing from ignorance. Not wanting to spend a lot of time on the computer is certainly a valid reason to keep things very simple. If they are willing to accept the limitations I say go for it.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Even easier, in the Develop Module just press the "\" key to toggle between original and edited images.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Yep, I've seen a lot of "people vehemently arguing from ignorance." I wasn't one, though. I've had three raw-capable compacts since 2011 but hated Nikon's proprietary raw processor and with an antique computer couldn't get something better. I since upgraded and upgraded the OS and lo, discovered that my existing PSE-11 had Adobe Camera Raw but still couldn't deal with the raw files (NRW) from the camera. But then I discovered the DNG converter so I stuck my toe in. I was seriously impressed! I'd joked I wouldn't "convert" but I didn't slam the door, either. The more I played with raw the more impressed I was. Within weeks I was shooting all raw, but the process of converting everything to DNG and the limitations imposed by the ACR I had were too much; I tried Creative Cloud for a week and said, yeah, that's it, and subscribed. I am not a bit sorry! :D :thumbup:

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Thanks! For the pictures I posted I went back to the original raw file (NRW) and zeroed everything out, then made a jpeg from the result so you could see how "bleh" the original looked. I'm really pretty blown away by the possibilities and I just got started. :shock: :thumbup:

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Welcome to the Purple Koolaid. And now that you have seen the LR light and shoot raw, you don't have to mess around alternate copies, unless you want to create a virtual copy to say flip it to B&W or mess with repsets. By the way, the virtual copy[s] are NOT another full copy of the raw file, but simply a different side car file which get applied on the fly to the one raw file.

By the way, you will find that even the pros can do about 95 to 100% of their editing in LR. PS comes into play when you need layers and other more sophisticated functions.

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

I actually use large jpg only where the action is fast and I use high speed on my 7dm2. The next couple days I am going to the local rodeo and will shoot up to 10fps trying to capture the perfect action shot. Raw fills the buffer too quickly and slows it down.

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

[quote=pithydoug]Welcome to the Purple Koolaid. And now that you have seen the LR light and shoot raw, you don't have to mess around alternate copies, unless you want to create a virtual copy to say flip it to B&W or mess with repsets. By the way, the virtual copy[s] are NOT another full copy of the raw file, but simply a different side car file which get applied on the fly to the one raw file.

By the way, you will find that even the pros can do about 95 to 100% of their editing in LR. PS comes into play when you need layers and other more sophisticated functions.[/quote]

The virtual copies/clones are a fantastic feature. It was always a pain to try and keep track of these in PS using layers for the various versions or even worse when I created separate files. LR makes it so simple, clean, fast and takes virtually no extra storage room. I use that feature extensively.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Thanks! I'm finding that I can do most "routine" editing in LR only, but yeah, I like layers (used to them) and for making very precise selections I'm still sending the file to PS. Kappel's had a green box on the corner that I thought was distracting, and a wire across the sky I didn't like. I am so far not liking LR's correction brush, but I'm not used to it and need to practice, but I am so used to PS's tools that I just naturally gravitate to them. :)