This has really been my first attempts at doing any editing outside of basic crop, straighten, contrast and red eye removal. So the learning curve was pretty steep, but I think I'm starting to understand some basics and stepping out of the box a little too. *Warning.. this post is heavily photography related. If you want real life updates, skip to the links at the bottom*
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND -unknown
(This is on a second grade classroom door at one of my schools. Good advice, I think)
I hope that I eventually learn to compose, expose and capture the picture that I want to end with, instead of taking
I also started shooting my pictures in RAW+JPEG. This eats up a ton of memory.. but has also saved some photos I would have otherwise ruined because I forgot to reset my white balance or didn't check the exposure etc. I also find that I like the results from editing the raw image over the results from editing just a jpeg. Basically, I'm sold on raw ... even if it means I'll probably need a bigger memory card and an external hard drive for my computer. I like it that much.
So as I process images, and experiences. I'll leave you with some links to the retroposts about recent events, rather than loading this post with pictures.
Pendleton on A Sunny Evening (my first editing)
Spring Break in Mexico
Easter
A Windy Afternoon
Date Night
I know nothing about post processing. I haven't been shooting in RAW at all (although I can, apparently) because I don't have the ability to do anything cool (Photoshop or Lightroom or something cool is on the list for whenever we get a new computer) so I shall have to come back here for tips.
ReplyDeleteI also have never messed with white balance. Another thing to try. :)
Let's see... I liked all of these pictures and am very impressed with your editing away of the fence. I know what you mean about light in the evening, it's awesome!
I really like the color on the first picture of the flowers in the park and also I like the last one in the sunset with the grass. Do those have post processing?
I think your pictures are excellent and look fantastic the way they are... I can see you have definitely gotten the hang of your camera a lot faster than I have :)
-Lisa
Thanks Lisa :) I probably should have said which ones I edited and which I didn't. I updated the pictures but yes, the first one of the flowers in the park has a filter/effect added called 'Lomo-ish' - that's the first time I'd used it and honestly, I have no idea what Lomo is referring to. The last of the sunset pictures is mostly unedited, just the basic crop/contrast/color and possibly some saturation.
ReplyDeleteMy computer, even with the new ram, is just a little netbook, and photoshop elements slows it down. But I think I'm going to start trying to use it more, maybe I'll read some tutorials and trying out some techniques. That will probably give me more options for better final images. For the most part I've been using Picasa 3. It does the basics and a little more, reads raw format, and seems to be easier to run. Sometimes on the raw files it takes awhile and says "not responding" when really it means "just wait, I'm thinking". Have you tried Picasa on your computer? It might be an option until you get a new one.
As silly as it sounds.. reading the camera manual has been really helpful! I've learned a ton just from reading that and of course millions of blogs ;). It's such a never ending hobby to learn! That's the beauty of it though, I suppose :)