Plugins, actions and presets oh my!

[fotomumma09]

Okay I'm confused! When doing PP on photo's why or when would you use plugins, actions or presets. I get that presets are for Lightroom/aperture etc and plugins/actions are for photoshop. But I'm unsure what's best and how to achieve a great edit? Hope in making sense.

 

[cgipson1]

Typically, I don't recommend using actions, and plugins... until you have learned to PP properly without them. They can be a crutch, that will prevent you from ever learning to edit properly....

Have to learn the basics first.. then move on to the stuff like that.

(but that is only my opinion! We do see a lot of amateur PROs that use a lot of the actions and such that someone else made... to cover up thier lack of ability to either shoot or PP! )

 

[analog.universe]

Typically, I don't recommend using actions, and plugins... until you have learned to PP properly without them. They can be a crutch, that will prevent you from ever learning to edit properly....

Have to learn the basics first.. then move on to the stuff like that.

(but that is only my opinion! We do see a lot of amateur PROs that use a lot of the actions and such that someone else made... to cover up thier lack of ability to either shoot or PP! )

I agree with this.

Do whatever you can by hand if you want the best results. Once you know how the automated stuff can perform in comparison, it's useful sometimes to save time, but never as powerful as manually manipulating. I do use some plugins for denoise and stuff, but never actions or presets.

 

[fotomumma09]

I agree with this.

Do whatever you can by hand if you want the best results. Once you know how the automated stuff can perform in comparison, it's useful sometimes to save time, but never as powerful as manually manipulating. I do use some plugins for denoise and stuff, but never actions or presets.

"Doing it by hand" hmmm, would that require knowledge? Lol, I need to find a course! I'm a geek and love playing around with the images but with no real purpose. At least I'm having fun

 

[MTVision]

"Doing it by hand" hmmm, would that require knowledge? Lol, I need to find a course! I'm a geek and love playing around with the images but with no real purpose. At least I'm having fun

You probably don't need a course. Buy a photoshop book that teaches you the basics and work through it. The Scott kelby books aren't bad and he always give cool little tips/tricks. Then when you want to learn how to do something specific just google for tutorials. There are tons of tutorials out there (all different for the same effect) and eventually you will teach yourself.

Once I get to my computer I can send you some links for some great tutorials. It takes some time to learn it but it's actually fun!

 

[fotomumma09]

You probably don't need a course. Buy a photoshop book that teaches you the basics and work through it. The Scott kelby books aren't bad and he always give cool little tips/tricks. Then when you want to learn how to do something specific just google for tutorials. There are tons of tutorials out there (all different for the same effect) and eventually you will teach yourself.

Once I get to my computer I can send you some links for some great tutorials. It takes some time to learn it but it's actually fun!

Wow, thanks! I would appreciate some great links