Advice

[Lacrossedad]

Ok, so I spent some money on new equipment after being away from photography for awhile. Now that I had gotten over the shock of the money I spent on camera and glass, now I find my self ready to start shooting in RAW and investing in Photoshop/Lightroom.

BTW, I have not been shooting RAW as the old software I have from my old D70s didn't support RAW files.

Do you suggest buying the software outright or getting a yearly membership? When actually out shooting, is there anything I need to keep in mind about RAW?

Thanks in advance....

 

[vintagesnaps]

I find it better shooting digitally in Raw, from the time when I first got a digital camera and started out shooting JPEGs. But I'm a longtime film photographer and for me shooting Raw seemed to be more like shooting film and gives me better quality.

The files are larger. Other than that, I learned to shoot the way I want an image to be, so I do minimal editing anyway. I got Photoshop Elements that was a one time purchase/payment. I don't like to have to sign up for anything that bills or renews continuously.

My camera is DNG so I get the Raw image and an automatically generated JPEG. Sometimes they don't look real different; shooting in lower light is sometimes where I notice more difference. I usually save a copy of an original Raw image as a PSD then as a JPEG and use that because it looks better than what the camera came up with as an automatic JPEG.

Try some experimenting and practicing and see what you get. I noticed your name and thought if you're shooting some sports (I've done hockey) many sports photographers shoot JPEGs because of needing images right away and smaller files being more workable (since photos are often on a team website before the game's even done). But I've shot hockey shooting Raw because these days it's just for my own enjoyment and I'm in no hurry for the photos. At a game, it doesn't make much difference for me. I've shot hockey with 400 ISO film.

 

[Dave442]

I would say the subscription plan would be the best option, although I am still using the final standalone version of both programs. As your learning it is easier to be on the current version so you can follow the latest on-line instructions.

With Raw you may notice a bigger difference between what you see on the rear screen of the camera vs. the image when imported into LR. The camera is showing you a processed JPG image. With Raw you can adjust the WB in post so I often just leave the camera on Auto WB about 90% of the time. From a suggestion here I have a few pieces of styrofoam with me to help with setting WB in post when I see the lighting is difficult.

I now shoot just Raw and I have LR change the filename upon import.

 

[Designer]

Ok, so I spent some money on new equipment after being away from photography for awhile. Now that I had gotten over the shock of the money I spent on camera and glass, now I find my self ready to start shooting in RAW and investing in Photoshop/Lightroom.

BTW, I have not been shooting RAW as the old software I have from my old D70s didn't support RAW files.

Do you suggest buying the software outright or getting a yearly membership? When actually out shooting, is there anything I need to keep in mind about RAW?

Thanks in advance....

Greetings!

For capturing the Raw files, you probably won't notice a big difference, if any. It is mainly for greater bit depth when editing. Your camera will produce a JPEG thumbnail to display on the LCD, even if you don't specifically set it to save both file types.

For processing Raw files, you can get a file converter (some are free) to use in conjunction with your choice of editing software.

You can no longer purchase the latest version of Photoshop as a stand-alone software. Some outdated copies of Lightroom are still available. If you elect for Photoshop, then as far as I know, you will need to engage in a rental/lease situation, but at least you will always have the latest version.

 

[Lacrossedad]

Thanks for everyone's response and advice. I have bought the CD and loaded on my PC. Things are going great. Just one stupid question. How do you copy a pic from Photoshop and paste in another folder?

 

[benhasajeep46 44]

Since you say you bought a CD. Did you buy Lightroom? As Photoshop is no longer offered on CD. Only online subscription. Unless you bought Photoshop Elements.

If you bought Lightroom. You have to use the Export function. There are really good tips on Youtube on Lightroom if that is what you purchased. Also for Photoshop as well.

 

[Lacrossedad]

I bought a CD for Photoshop/Lightroom 6. Thanks everyone for your help, I have figured how to copy pics out of Photoshop/Lightroom!!

 

[TCampbell]

I bought a CD for Photoshop/Lightroom 6. Thanks everyone for your help, I have figured how to copy pics out of Photoshop/Lightroom!!

The short answer is, you right-click the image and pick "Export".

It helps to understand how Lightroom is handling your data.

When your import your RAW images into Lightroom, Lightroom treats them a bit like you might think of a physical film negative. Nobody "edits" the negative... they adjust and tweak the printing process to get the output they want without ever altering the original input.

Lightroom does the same thing... When you import your RAW files, they'll never be changed or adjusted (you do have an option to convert them to Adobe .DNG but I recommend you do not do that... because if you ever want to take them out of Lightroom and switch to something else, you'll have to hope that the "something else" supports Adobe .DNG and not a lot of non-Adobe software supports .DNG files. Best to leave them in your camera's native RAW file format.)

So where are all the changes you make actually stored? As you make adjustments, Lightroom is keeping a list of all the adjustments you're making which it keeps in it's library. e.g. "he tweaked up the exposure by + .3 stops", "he adjusted the white balance down to 4800k", "he applied sharpening at a radius of radius and strength of __ and __." etc. etc. etc. When you view an image, Lightroom opens the original RAW and simultaneously looks at the adjustments you made and rapidly applies them to the image you see on screen. The version you SEE isn't actually stored in that form anywhere on your computer (although you can build "smart preview" images.)

The advantage is... suppose you later decide you want to change your mind about an adjustment you made. You can change it's value at any time or remove an adjustment completely (independent of all other adjustments.) This isn't the same as an "undo".... for example if I make adjustment #1, then make adjustment #2, then decide to remove adjustment #1 it will not impact adjustment #2 (you don't back out everything you did back to the step you want to remove - you can edit them out of order.)

With all of this in mind... what you are looking at on the screen is basically a "version" of your edit. If you like that version, you can export it.

Right-click on the image and pick "Export..." and you can set all the properties... type of export (e.g. JPEG, TIFF, etc.) resolution (described as a "fit within" which really means it will maintain proportions but the longest edge wont be longer than the size you specify), and so on. If you want a watermark, this is when it would be applied (they are only added when you "export" your image). ... you can also select a many images and they'll be exported with the same properties. There is also an "export with previous" which will just do an export using whatever settings you used last time (it wont ask you). So if you're not changing your export properties, it's a short-cut.

There are lots of tutorials on how to use Lightroom.