Finally receiving my Camera and Now......?

[eribeiro]

Well, finally my camera is arriving in 2 weeks. Thanks to all who helped me choose, in particular Jiro-san and Donald.

Another absolute beginner question. I've been reading a lot about Lightroom, Photoshop and others. Came across the information that I will need a RAW converting software and that when you buy the camera I'll be provided with one. Doesn't Lightroom 3 sufise? Do I need both pieces of software?

Is Lightroom somthing I can learn for myself or should I take a course (which are not at all expensive here in Brazil).

Sorry if the question seems dumb, buy I am learning to walk in what concerns to digital shooting.

Tks in advance,
Eduardo

[jiro]

Lightroom is a stand alone RAW and other formats editing software. Its interface is more suited for a direct image editing workflow. It does not have the added features of photoshop. Better buy the Photoshop CS5. Why? Because Adobe Camera RAW (or ACR as we typically call it) is basically THE SAME as adobe lightroom and its already incorporated inside photoshop CS5. The interface is a bit different but they work the same.

If you can enroll on an actual post-processing course in your locality that would be great. You can also enroll online like the kelby training online courses for versatility. I can't afford them (burned my last savings on softwares. LOL!) so I study post-processing by books and tutorials in the net. My suggestion would be - once your camera arrives, study its features and familiarize yourself with it religiously. Then when you get the hang of it that's the time you immerse yourself heavily into developing your post-processing skills. Patience is a virtue. Good luck!

[eribeiro]

Lightroom is a stand alone RAW and other formats editing software. Its interface is more suited for a direct image editing workflow. It does not have the added features of photoshop. Better buy the Photoshop CS5. Why? Because Adobe Camera RAW (or ACR as we typically call it) is basically THE SAME as adobe lightroom and its already incorporated inside photoshop CS5. The interface is a bit different but they work the same.

If you can enroll on an actual post-processing course in your locality that would be great. You can also enroll online like the kelby training online courses for versatility. I can't afford them (burned my last savings on softwares. LOL!) so I study post-processing by books and tutorials in the net. My suggestion would be - once your camera arrives, study its features and familiarize yourself with it religiously. Then when you get the hang of it that's the time you immerse yourself heavily into developing your post-processing skills. Patience is a virtue. Good luck!

Domo Sensei. All I neede to here.

[eribeiro]

Domo Sensei. All I neede to here.

ARRGH sorry bad typing: All I needed to hear.

[jiro]

Domo Sensei. All I neede to here.

You're welcome.

[bfkimball]

If I may, :-)

Jiro is absolutely correct that Photoshop, by including Adobe Camera Raw, includes all of the same RAW editing functionality present in Lightroom. It also has layers, powerful selection capabilities, content-aware fill, HDR processing, panorama stitching, and many more great features that aren't present in Lightroom. Photoshop is an amazingly powerful tool for photographers who want to do extremely advanced post-processing. But with great power comes great responsibility. :-)

However, Lightroom, unlike Photoshop, encompasses the entire digital photography workflow, from importing off the card, to organizing your picture files, rating/tagging your photos, "developing" your digital negatives, and then finally printing them (Lightroom's printing is very advanced, by the way. Much more so than Photoshop's).

Additionally, Adobe's main photoshop user base is graphic designers, not photographers (by a 4 to 1 margin, last I heard). So if you're not extremely careful in your post processing, you risk using tools that may be more suited for graphic design than processing photos.

If you want to be able to replace dull skies with dramatic ones, remove pesky tourists and guard rails from your vacation photos, and maybe replace the eyeballs on the jerk who kept blinking in the group shots, Photoshop is definitely for you. But if you want to challenge yourself to get the shot right in the camera, and then still have very sophisticated tone, color, and image detail controls, Lightroom is for you. Where you personally draw the line between "digital photographs" and "computer graphics" will determine which tool may be better for you to start with.

So thinking metaphorically, Lightroom is a well-stocked, fully featured, professional darkroom, whereas Photoshop is a well-stocked professional chemistry laboratory that also happens to have a functional but utilitarian darkroom in the corner.

I recommend Lightroom. :-)

[bfkimball]

Oh yeah, and two of the best Lightroom tutorials are:

George Jardine's Develop Tutorial
(This only covers "developing" your photos. You'd need to also buy his Library tutorial to get the file management workflow)

and

Luminous Landscape's Guide To Lightroom 3
(uminous Landscapes has some other really excellent tutorials too)

Both of these tutorials are done by extremely passionate and knowledgable photographers. Jardine previously worked for Adobe as their Lightroom Evangelist (whatever that means), while Jeff Schewe in the Luminous Landscape video also has an insider's view of Lightroom development, and his company, Pixel Genius, contributed the print sharpening technology to Lightroom, which Photoshop doesn't have unless you buy Pixel Genius' $100 plug-in.

Regarding Kelby's Training Material: after attending 3 Kelby workshops, I would recommend avoiding them. They are the McDonald's of digital photography. They are about volume, volume, volume, & sales, sales, sales. I find their material to be superficial and formulaic (do A, B, & C to achieve X, but they rarely include "why"s or alternative approaches) It lacks depth. You won't get that vibe from the above two sources.

If you do decide to go the Photoshop route, check out Jardine's "Camera Raw" tutorial. It will set you on the right path.

And as always, the above is IMHO. Many will reasonably disagree.

[tbob]

From a starter standpoint consider Photoshop Elements 8. It is substantially cheaper than Creative Suite and does the basics. Sort of like a Toyota Matrix to a Maserati sort of thing. Elements has all the basic stuff to get you from A to B but no fancy frills. In my case buying a Maserati to haul groceries and get to and from work would be analogous to buying Creative Suite. You may find CS or Lightroom are what you need to satiate your creativity and need a Maserati.

{I will admit my bias here. I am one of those people who would rather drive hot nails through my feet then spend hours finessing and caressing an image on a computer. I shoot in RAW because I have found I get the best results overall; I much prefer to get the exposure and composition right in camera than spend six hours in front of the computer processing 400 images when I get home after a photographic jaunt. I admire the creativity of those who can use CS properly, just not my thing. For family snaps I use JPEG (unless I forget to switch camera settings ; which happens only 90% of the time.) End of disclaimer.}

[Pohled]

Hi, it's nice to know that I'm not alone here representing Brazil
Eduardo, seja bem-vindo ao fórum, eu também sou iniciante, e pode ficar tranquilo que o pessoal do fórum é bastante solicito e vai te ajudar bastante.

I have some doubts similar to Eduardo's. I have already downloaded GIMP, but I haven't started to really use it - only to convert photos to smaller sizes - and at the moment I cannot spend money in software , and I still don't shoot RAW - I have a CanonSx20is, only JPEG - so if you can suggest some nice tutorials for me I'd thank a lot

[Colin Southern]

ARRGH sorry bad typing: All I needed to hear.

Hi Eduardo,

I can type 120 mistakes per minute!

Are you aware that you can edit mistakes after you've posted them here? Just click on the "Edit Post" button (I use it all the time!).

[eribeiro]

Hi Eduardo,

I can type 120 mistakes per minute!

Are you aware that you can edit mistakes after you've posted them here? Just click on the "Edit Post" button (I use it all the time!).

tks Colin. I xhall use yt.

[eribeiro]

Hi, it's nice to know that I'm not alone here representing Brazil
Eduardo, seja bem-vindo ao fórum, eu também sou iniciante, e pode ficar tranquilo que o pessoal do fórum é bastante solicito e vai te ajudar bastante.

I have some doubts similar to Eduardo's. I have already downloaded GIMP, but I haven't started to really use it - only to convert photos to smaller sizes - and at the moment I cannot spend money in software , and I still don't shoot RAW - I have a CanonSx20is, only JPEG - so if you can suggest some nice tutorials for me I'd thank a lot

Fala Jonathan,
nice to see other Brazilians "in Cambridge".
We promise to all that we will not turn Cambridge in Colour into the new Orkut, where portuguese took over.

Well as hard as it may be to believe, I won today a free copy from PS-CS5 and LR-3. A friend leaving the business of graphic design. I guess a saved a few buck here. Now it's all about start learning.

Trevor, I'm still driving a Beetle in photography, but since I was given the Maseratti, I might as well learn it and try to get the gals.....

I'll dive into the tutorials right away.

tks to all
Eduardo

[Jo Brown]

Eduardo - congrats on winning CS5 and LR3 - good prize!

I have taken tutorials from lynda.com and find them to be very, very helpful.

Good luck!