First attempt to use lightroom

[Rancor]

So I took one of my RAW images, and corrected the white balance and various tone settings. This is my first ever attempt to use lightroom, so how did I do?

1 Before
IMG_4601 by JEMcorePhotography, on Flickr

1 After
IMG_4601 by JEMcorePhotography, on Flickr

2 Before
IMG_4523 by JEMcorePhotography, on Flickr

2 After
IMG_4523 by JEMcorePhotography, on Flickr

 

[RauschPhotography]

The after pictures do look better--but LR isn't always a savior in these situations. I suggest you pick up a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. And as always, the manual will be a great asset to understanding the technical aspects of your camera.

 

[Rancor]

Got it 2 days ago, I'm just a really slow reader. I'm glad to hear they do look better.

 

[Rancor]

Attempting the resurrect this thread. Plenty of view, and 1 reply. Anyone else have any comments?

 

[Blake.Oney]

When you learn how to use LR properly it is amazing. I almost never use Photoshop anymore unless I need to clone out stuff, or do collages for whatever reason.

 

[subscuck]

There's not much else to say, but to piggy back on what Rausch said, the less you use PPing as a "fix" and the more you use it to simply "tweak", the better. This takes understanding the fundamentals of photography and your camera, and how they go together. Keep shooting.

 

[Rancor]

Well if thats the case then never mind I will just go back to working on proper picture exposure, using "Understanding Exposure: 3rd Edition, How to Shoot Great Photographs With Any Camera." as my guide.

 

[KmH]

I prefer to use the term 'finish' over tweak.

A photograph made as a Raw file is not close to being finished when it comes out of the camera.

Unless the shooter really knows what they are doing, most JPEGs don't leave the camera in a finished state either. The only trouble with JPEGs is their limited bit-depth, and the resultant minimal editing headroom often makes it nearly impossible to actually 'finish' the photo.

Of course, Lightroom is a Raw converter, so using Lightroom to work on non-Raw image files, like JPEGs,
is kind of like having one hand tied behind you.

 

[ronda]

I've been an avid Lightroom user since it's first beta. But I use it first for cataloguing, and tagging images. Then for helping me with image selections and categorizing. I use it last for image editing. As far as image editing/tweaking/finishing - whatever verbiage you prefer - it's a powerful tool. But I don't lean on it for "surgery" so to speak, and if I can, I'd discourage anyone from doing so. With that said, master your camera, principles of exposure by shooting, studying, shooting again. In the long run, it will save a lot of time - production time that is. Just my 2¢.