i use the lr and photoshop cc combo which includes a few other products as well like bridge, camera raw of course, etc.. It works the same as if you own it. You store your images where you want them. I store mine on my hard drive.. as an option you can store online. They do "check" your machine to a) make sure you are paid up and that you are following the license agreement.. which I believe allows you to install on multiple machines ie a desktop and a laptop but only use one at a time. There is a newly released feature that provides lr on an ipad (I have an android tablet) so I haven't been able to try this. I know you can download photos from your camera to the ipad and access and even do some PP on the ipad. Rumor is they will be releasing an android version at some point. I've been using this for a few months now and have received at least 2 updates / new features and camera raw update already. So as long as they keep the price point at $10 per month... I'm good with it. The main issue, is that if you let it expire you no longer would have access to your image pp modifications. So make sure you backup your catalog and smart previews (LR) so that if downline you choose to buy vs rent you can recover your pp updates in LR. similiarly if you save psd files in photoshop You should be able to use a purchased copy of PS if you choose not to rent.

That's the whole idea of it..it is constantly updated and kept to the minute.

Cape May zoo especially the bird house. All the piers and marinas Victorian style homes the sea...

Gary Friedman has great sony books and also books on taking better photos..

The Camera Raw component of Photoshop is almost identical to Lightroom as far as editing photos.. I find that I can do the majority of my edits in LR and only have to go to PS if I need selections, ie to change out backgrounds or make composites or to take out serious distractions beyond the capability of the healing tool in LR. and of course for HDR and panorama blending.

Check out Serge Ramelli on youtube and see what he does with LR.. it's pretty amazing.

I got a spider pro holster.. fits around your waist and hangs camera from tripod connector and provides attachment plate that fits on most tripod heads. I have a very heavy camera and lens and this solution is far better than having it hang around my neck.

http://spiderholster.com/

I used to use Bibble... but recently switched to LR and spent a considerable amount of time viewing videos on the adobe site, Kelbytraining and finally on Youtube Serge Ramelli. I learned the in and outs of using LR from adobe site and kelbytraining and just doing web searches for free lr videos. Once I got comfortable using the tool the Serge Ramelli you tube videos got me well beyond the very basic exposure, contrast, brightness and white balance adjustment. They showed me how to use light to paint within the photo (dodge and burn and color saturation) to bring out the best the photo had to offer. I've very quickly gotten quite good at it and highly recommend watching his stuff. He does tend to go with a lot more pop, vivid hdr looks then I personally like so I just tone things down to my taste. Now I've upgraded to CC and added photoshop and am starting to learn it so that I can do composites, hdr blends, panarama shots, more extensive editing, ie removing obstacles from photos, etc. I'm finding Photoshop much more difficult to learn as compared to lightroom.

Keep in mind that Camera's sensors have a severely limited dynamic range (ability to see/capture the full range of darks to lights) as compared to the human eye. When you snap a picture JPG .. your camera processes that to adjust white balance, brightness, exposure, the saturation of color etc. based on the program that is built into every camera by the manufacturer. Post processing allows the artist to fine tune this by making further adjustments or by shooting raw which eliminates the processing done within the camera and leaves the flexibility to adjust based on the views of the artist/photographer. I suggest work first on composition - the art of bringing the viewers eye into the photo and keeping it there through the use of various composition techniques. Understand the exposure triangle and the various effects and then experiment with a post processor to see how you can make your photos pop to the degree that matches what you saw or what you want your viewer to see and get out of the picture. I'm 67, been taking photos since I was a kid and still learning and improving.

i know you can partition an internal drive and use it to run multiple OS's. I can't say for sure if that would work using an external drive.... and depending on how the drive is connected it might be pretty slow.

check out the zone system of exposure for color photography.

http://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/understanding-using-ansel-adams-zone-system--photo-5607

Using manual if you meter on a light blue sky, a pastel color, light colored skin or the palm of your hand -- set your camera so that meter reading is at + 1 on your camera's exposure meter.
If you meter on a gray card, average sky, dark grass, bricks then set it at zero
highlight set at + 1.75 to 2

-1 for dark skin, dark blue sky dark green foliage etc
-2 for dark dark colors (anything less will render as black)

Once set, when you re compose do not change the setting again. You are setting your exposure on a known entity and known light.

i just had a custom desktop built to my spec. The keys for photography are max the memory.. I've got 16gb, a Solid state diskdrive for the Operating system and all your software. I store pictures on a built in 2 tb regular hard drive and back up to a 3 tb external drive. I have a 4 core intel i7 processor and a mid range video card and a 27 inch hd monitor. It is smoking fast and I have no problems with slowdowns or hangups using adobe lr 5 and ps cc... they key elements lots of memory and the Sold State drive.

Adobe site Julian kost videos once you get familiar with the program check out out free serve ramelli YouTube videos he is a master with techniques that make photos really pop and look great.

I just bought a spyderpro holster and belt.. it uses the tripod connector (which incidentally has some negatives floating around regarding whether the tripod screw is meant to hold the weight. I like it a lot!

Yes lightroom 4

To many photography is an art form and a means to create or re create beauty, emotion that moves people, a feeling when you view a picture. In much the same way as a painter "interprets" what he sees onto canvas.. many of us photographers paint with light to add drama, impact and emotion to an otherwise well composed and exposed shot. I am a hobbyist and trying very hard to develop my creative eye for both composing and snapping and now also painting with light for the final view!

Technically, your camera can not capture the broad dynamic range of light that your eyes can, today's digital camera's can't yet match the dynamic tone range of film either. To get close PP provides the means to expand the dynamic range and embellish a snapshot into a more pleasing work of art. Whether you do this in the camera through the programs that are in your camera developed by the manufacturer or take on that creativity yourself (which is challenging and fun. Is the artists choice and each choice is valid.

mayan ruins Belize w/PP