For what it's worth I shoot sports and I shoot raw. No reason to shoot jpeg unless you shoot for Reuters. Can process and convert to jpeg to email in 30 seconds or less. When I have time to go to the office they want tiffs for printing anyway, so there is no reason to shoot anything other than raw. Not only that, you can set photoshop up to batch process, so it can do the work and process one memory card while you are still shooting another one. Doesn't really take any time and gives better results especially in low light sports than shooting jpeg will.

Hi

Well, now taken lots of pictures, and have been working on improving those skills (thanks to help from many of you). I am an amateur, and while I would like to be a good amateur, I don’t aspire to go further than that. Will be a hobby for me, not more.

On the post processing side, I feel stuck. for the last year, I have been shooting jpeg+raw. Starting with the jpegs in photos on the Mac, as I knew it, but dillegently saving the raws for when I would take the next step. I have taken advantage the basic editing capabilities of photos, but want to move to the next step (and get off the family shared MAC)

Well, I now have a windows machine capable of running post processing well (along with good backup routines) but I just can’t seem to pull the trigger on picking a post processing system and learning it. I know many of you use LR for organizing and it has a a good basic editing program (or at least more than I will need for a while). But, feel intimidated by LR for use by an beginner, and worried that if I start down that path, with what appears an elaborate library system that stores the raw “edit files” separate from the raw file, that I will be stuck there forever.

Should I feel this intimidated? If I start with LR (likely Classic via the Creative Cloud photo subscription), is there a path to something else if I don’t like it without losing all of the edit efforts up to that point?

Is there a good alternative? I have tracked and reviewed the threads here for about a year, and while there seem to be good basic alternative editors (e.g. affinity), but have not seen much discussion of on the other side of LR, its organization/library function.

So, what advise do you have for a beginner trying to pull the trigger. Should i just try LR and see if it seems to work for me? If not, what SIMPLE alternative library/basic editor software(s) would you suggest?

Thanks in advance for your advise (and indulgence)

New to photography, five years. New to Ugly Hedgehog...love it! Photography was suggested to me in a PTSD group, they were right, life looks brighter now . Anyway, I like Luminar and Aurora, easy to use, easy to understand. What concerns me, I want to join some photography workshops hosted by (for Example) 'Arizona Highways', however when the "golden hours" are finished, the rest of the time is spent working on your photographys using...what else, Lightroom and Photoshop. Why? Are those two processing programs the oldest kids on the block, is that the reason? Insights would be appreciated.

I am currently shooting with a canon T3 and would like to purchase a flash unit for this camera. Unfortantly I have no clue what to look for when buying a flash. My budget being a single parent is limited to about 100 dollars. Can anyone give me some details about what I need to look for in a flash or any links to study about flashes. Ive tried the internet and youtube but the terminology used is something I know nothing about. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you all for any advice. Reason for this purchase is for a friends up coming wedding that I am shooting for free due to they can not afford a photographer and its a chance to practice. I have made them aware that buy no means am I a professional and this is just a hobby of mine but I still want to give them the best photos I can.