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Help with post processing paralysis
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Jun 19, 2018 07:08:16   #
wteffey Loc: Ocala, FL USA
 
Very few people are experienced in more than one PP program, so when asked for advice they recommend only the program they actually use. Professional reviews are better because they have often tried at least a couple of alternatives. I have "dabbled" with several programs but have used Elements for a long time, and I like it. I am, however, no expert. Elements comes with several levels of automation, from click the mouse and watch the magic, through guided, like having an instructor next to you to expert. Reread sentence one.

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Jun 19, 2018 07:41:42   #
pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY
 
david vt wrote:
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)
Hi br br Well, now taken lots of pictures, and ha... (show quote)


I'm a fan of the LR/PS combination. What I do know is there are many really good videos on youtube to soften the education curve. Morganti and Kost and just two hat have great sets. The LR package is quite powerful alone and PS is the grand daddy. You can do the same with PS and videos. You don't need to know PS thoroughly(unless you get the fever) but they speak to each other. You can edit in PS from LR for just those extra functions you need. For instance LR's spot removal tool is ok for small uncomplicated removal, yet PS's content aware in outstanding.

Crank up https://onlinephotographytraining.com/ and watch and see how you feel. You can always sign up for a trial version. Good luck.

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Jun 19, 2018 07:43:46   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 
Take a look at ON1raw 2018. It’s less than $100, and will do everything you need it to, like LR--lots of training videos. I use it as a plug-in with Lightroom because I already have Lightroom’s catalog set up. But if I were starting over, I’d skip LR and go straight to ON1. It also has a cataloging system of its own that sort of makes more sense to me than the one in LR. You also aren’t stuck with the monthly fee.

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Jun 19, 2018 07:49:11   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
david vt wrote:
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)
Hi br br Well, now taken lots of pictures, and ha... (show quote)


I took some Adult Ed Photoshop classes and now have my own Raw to Print work flow worked out. For special images I may find I want to learn a new Photoshop technique or Tool use. It is not that difficult, just a bit different than chemically processing film and working in the darkroom with Photographic paper. I think the issue or problem with Digital photography is that it opens up an Art to people who lack the Scientific interests and skills of the "old days". So, just take the leap and learn some Ps, Lr, Affinity, etc. You don't have to be A. Einstein or A. Adams to work with digital photography, you just have to put some time and effort into it.

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Jun 19, 2018 07:57:25   #
Alisa Williams
 
I started out with Snapseed. It's free and has a lot of useful features. It's not hard to find your way around in. It's non-destructive. Once you're comfortable with it, moving into something else might be easier? However, if you really think that you will eventually want to move to LR, you might want to just start with that and keep working at it.

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Jun 19, 2018 08:12:14   #
MrGNY Loc: New York
 
david vt wrote:
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)
Hi br br Well, now taken lots of pictures, and ha... (show quote)


Hi David,

Don't be afraid of LR and PS. Think of LR as a hot rodded version of Photos on the Mac. It puts your photos in a filing system according to date just like photos, allows you to make adjustments just like Photos. You can always revert back to your original. From LR you can then export or open your images in PS and blend, mask, exeperiment with layers and color channels. You can do much more with your images in PS. You can do as much or as little as you want with the combo.

Just out of curiosity why did you decide to go Windows? The iMac using photos you can work with RAW images, manipulate and adjust your images and do pretty much all the basics. If you have another Mac products you would be able to pick up where you left off on any other apple device.

As for other software, there is Corel, Photoshop Elements, Affinity, GIMP, Windows Paint, I also think Windows 10 has a photo editor but I haven't tried it. If you do a Google search or look in the Windows Store I'm sure there are even more.

For the price of the monthly subscription you can't go wrong.

Happy shooting.

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Jun 19, 2018 08:28:02   #
OneShotOne18
 
I think you and me are in the same boat....After much research I took the plunge and got On1. While Im still in the learning phase I have had to go to tech support to get some clarity. I do not know how other software tech supports rate. But I can tell you that On1 is great. Plus, there are tons of " how to " videos. My fav tutor is a fella named Morganti. He is easy to understand and very through from the basics to the beyond basic. Jus my two cents. Good luck and hope u find something ya like.

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Jun 19, 2018 08:31:05   #
John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.
 
Welcome to my world. Over the past few years I have progressed with LR but for the past year hit a wall trying to expand my skills in to PS. I have tried quite a few cheap tutorials but I just don’t get the big picture. I seem unable to comprehend luminosity masking and exposure blending. Yesterday I ordered the new book (classroom in a book) because my older book is a bit out of date with the newer software. Would love a good course at a local school but there are not any near me.

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Jun 19, 2018 08:37:18   #
david vt Loc: Vermont
 
traderjohn wrote:
You seem to be a bit nervous about nothing. It's ten bucks a month. Not the end of the world.


It’s not the money (especially at these levels).....

It’s my time. I think what i am most worried about is choosing a program, investing time in it to edit my images, and then, if I wanted to switch, losing all of that work and having to start over with the original raw files. Do any of these programs make it “reasonable” (if not necessarily easy) to take the files, with edits, from one program to another?

This may be also what is at the root of the my concern with Lr. Seems very powerful as a cataloging and organizing tool, but the threads here indicate that once you put stuff into it, you are locked in forever and can only add/move/delete from within Lr. That seems pretty daunting..

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Jun 19, 2018 08:45:03   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
It is a catalog...just a database that tracks where you import from and keep things. It does not dictate where you store the actual files. I keep my catalog on my laptop and my images on a external drive. Any issues that I had early on were because I made a mistake or misunderstood something. But it was all early correctable and nothing was lost...

david vt wrote:
It’s not the money (especially at these levels).....

It’s my time. I think what i am most worried about is choosing a program, investing time in it to edit my images, and then, if I wanted to switch, losing all of that work and having to start over with the original raw files. Do any of these programs make it “reasonable” (if not necessarily easy) to take the files, with edits, from one program to another?

This may be also what is at the root of the my concern with Lr. Seems very powerful as a cataloging and organizing tool, but the threads here indicate that once you put stuff into it, you are locked in forever and can only add/move/delete from within Lr. That seems pretty daunting..
It’s not the money (especially at these levels)...... (show quote)

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Jun 19, 2018 08:58:33   #
marklucey
 
I agree with jaymatt. ON1 photo raw is a great program. I used LR and PS for years but i always found that LR did things that PS could not and also PS did things better than LR could. I didn't like going from one program to another to get a task done. With ON1 i can do it all in that program and it was easy to learn. There are a bunch of video's on Youtube about it. Also they are about to update it to ON1 2018.5 the end of this month. So get the trial version and check it out. Oh and one more thing. It has some cool effects and you can work in layers just like in Photoshop
.

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Jun 19, 2018 09:02:36   #
johnst1001a Loc: West Chester, Ohio
 
One thing that Lightroom and photoshop do extremely well is manage the printer profiles. If you plan on using a home printer, make sure that any software you pick other than the Adobe products has the ability to select and as necessary add print profiles. For years I struggled with getting the right colors, brightness etc., from my printer. Then I bought the Canon Pro 100, and read up on profiles and watched a few YouTube videos, only to find out I was not providing the right print profile to the printer, including the type of paper, ie luster, gloss, or Canon, Epson etc.. I don't know the capability for OnOne or Luminar, or any other product in this regard, but it would be a show stopper if the software did not have this profile selection feature.

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Jun 19, 2018 09:22:18   #
gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast
 
When I bought Photoshop Elements 11, I knew little about post processing but I knew that Photoshop was considered to be at the top of the class. So I read the box info and saw that I could edit and also organize my photos, which I sorely needed to do. Recently I upgraded to Elements 14 and am satisfied that Elements meets my needs. With a little digging on-line, I found it to be fairly easy to learn.

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Jun 19, 2018 09:26:48   #
Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast
 
david vt wrote:
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)
Hi br br Well, now taken lots of pictures, and ha... (show quote)



Like you a total amateur and don't plan to go any farther and also like you, initially intimidated by these PP programs. Currently i'm using Luminar and PS Elements (15) and quite happy. These stand alone programs are quite powerful, need no subscription and are relatively inexpensive....It all depends what capabilities you need/want and how far you want to take your PP quest.

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Jun 19, 2018 09:29:02   #
Nikon1201
 
Light room and Photoshop combo and also free trial of On1 Photo Raw

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