TBPJr Loc: South Carolina

You should take some courses. If you would like to learn the basics of photography and post processing from beginning to expert, try some online sources. One I have found useful is Udemy.com--I bought courses for Lightroom and Photoshop, and then one called "The Ultimate Photoshop Elements Training Bundle," which says it has 64 hours of instruction. The bundle actually has separate courses for versions 11 through 15 (I have 14 and I am about finished with the course). I was able to buy these items for $10 each (the bundle was only $10), because I didn't need the latest versions and I bought what was on sale. It has courses in lots of different areas (Microsoft Office, for example) and advertises sales frequently. There are plenty of others out there, Udemy is just the one that had what I thought I wanted (my first course was free).

Canon has a lot of online tutorials--you may have to have your camera registered (or at least be able to post the serial number to get to them), but they are free. The Canon website is a mess, in my opinion; use your search engine to search for "Canon tutorials for Canon Rebel 6T/1300D" and you should get a useful link. Canon also has any number of general digital photography tutorials online; once you find the ones specific to your camera, you should be able to find others. These links will make a start: http://learn.usa.canon.com/galleries/galleries/tutorials/eos101_cll.shtml; http://learn.usa.canon.com/dlc/search/search.spr?keyword=Rebel6T.

If you are really after "perfection," you probably should plan on going to the Photoshop subscription (I have stayed with the stand-alone versions of Lightroom and Photoshop Elements) to get all the tools. Adobe has lots of tutorials online as well, but I have not used them much.

Good luck, and enjoy your new about-to-be-obsession.

uofmwoodie Loc: Bonita Springs, Fl

Photoshop has some nice CD's for beginners. Just make sure you get the right one, ex. -photoshop elements 15. It is worth the cost because you can always have it for a reference. Also
You tube has some great video's. Just say what you want to look at.,ex. using the clone tool in photoshop elements 15. Hope this helps. Few free to post me off sit

Steve DeMott Loc: St. Louis, Missouri (Oakville area)

If you have never used LR or PS I suggest you try Lynda.com. They have a tutorials concerning LR, PS and Photography. You can use their service for 30 days free after that it's about $39.00 monthly. If your good at watching movies and using the exercise files you can learn a lot in a few hours.

mdougc Loc: Sarver, PA

I highly recommend the Adobe Photoshop CC plan
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html?sdid=KKSPY&kw=cssem&mv=search&s_kwcid=AL!3085!10!15343061468!20541710810&ef_id=V@8w-AAABERd7eAE:20170703184940:s

For $10/month, you get Photoshop and Lightroom.
There are 1000's of videos for help - ranging from beginner level to omnipotent guru level.
The learning curve is steep at first, but go through the intro tutorials and learn the basics.
You'll be ok.

Lightroom is wonderful for adjusting light, color, lens anomalies (using data about the actual lens model), clarity, etc.
And you can transfer the adjusted photo to Photoshop to do anything you can imagine.

I have used all these for 8+ years.
I'll be glad to answer more questions.

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA

Another great recommendation!

breck Loc: Derbyshire UK

There are a million free tutorials on the web, just google Photoshop tutorials , look for some effects you are interested in and follow the instructions easy!!
Good luck

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

If you don't use layers Photoshop is as easy to use as any other post processing program. I have used it for years without using layers. Just using the three items on the image menu, auto color, auto tone and auto contrast will improve a picture 100% in about 5 seconds. Also on the image tab are choices for cropping, image rotation, and file resizing. These are all easy to use and lean in just a few minutes each. Tweaking exposure, hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, shadows and highlights are all simple sliders under the image/adjustments tab. Just play with the sliders until you are happy with the image. Other tools you can get videos for on youtube to walk you through the steps, are the use of the spot healing brush to hide specs or lint or anything else on pics and replace it with the adjacent background, the use of filters for sharpening, for removing wide angle lense curvature, and using PS to create panos and HDR images from your still pics. As far as organizing your pics, I have a folder on my desktop called photos, and sub folders in that. I don't keep thousands of pics. I erase about 99% of them after picking none, one or two keepers to post process out of a session. I probably have saved less than 200 pics out of thousands taken in the past few years.

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

I agree with MtnMan. Steep learning curve. You can do much with LR alone. You probably need to take a class or three before you are comfortable with PS.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

I have seen since this thread started, and in others before this one, people posting that something is tough or as in the case of PS has a steep learning curve. So did algebra, or for some, driving a car.
So what? Don't let hard dissuade you. While you may find it difficult the rewards are many.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Let's be a bit more honest. A new user to LR will need to take some classes or 5-10 videos before coming up to speed. PS will take many many more. I don't want the OP to think he can just install and then start editing photos. That would be disingenuous if not untrue.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

[quote=SusanFromVermont]LR is fairly easy to use, in my opinion quite intuitive. Nothing complicated about sliders to adjust images!.



Thank you Mark for your kind words. You are right that not all of LR is easy and intuitive, but those sliders let you do a lot of different things. There are not many things worth pursuing that won't have a learning curve, and anyone who wants to progress in their editing skills will have to work at it. Another advantage to choosing LR is the wide availability of instruction on how to navigate the program. Even Adobe has improved their tutorials and guides, although there are plenty of other sources doing it better...

I have to admit I had been exposed to some simple editing programs that came with my earlier cameras before trying Elements [most of it I could not understand]. Then I tried LR and stuck with that. As others have pointed out, there are those that find LR easy, and those who find it difficult; the same thing with Elements. This is why the free trials are a good idea. And I did struggle with some aspects of LR, but liked it much better than Elements. Only bought into the Adobe CC subscription when I wanted/needed to be able to use layers!

Susan

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I applaud your encouragement for photo3333. However, many (most?) users of PP software do not begin with PS or LR. I certainly did not and I've been post processing for over 15 years, I graduated from Picasa to PSE to CS3 to CS5 to PSE 10 to PSE 11 and PS CC and LR. I now use other software too. If photo3333 is a beginner and I suspect that is the case, it might make more sense to begin with a few free choices, (FastStone, Picasa, Windows Photo Gallery, ...)
Mark

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

My pleasure Susan. I had a similar learning progression. Had I started with the complexities of LR or PS, I may have quit. (LOL) I'm certainly not trying to be right or win a debate - just trying to offer sound advice to photo3333. I feel there are easier staring points than LR and/or PS. I fully appreciate your comments. You are a very "cool woman".
Mark

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

zoomphoto Loc: Seattle, WA USA

Years ago I made the decision to tackle Photoshop and not give up. I am now glad I did.