Instead of working on the blog post I intended to write today, I have spent the past few hours messing around with my new copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. I’m trying to get a grip on my photo file management because I have been using iPhoto and I find that everything is scattered across random folders. When I rename the images within iPhoto, the file name remains unaltered and usually something meaningless like IMG_7402 . This online article has been invaluable in getting me started.
My five-week course in Camera Craft II at the Australian Centre for Photography ended last night. I won’t be doing another course until the first term of next year but a few of my fellow classmates are forming a camera club – like a writing circle but for photography – so I might get involved in that. I may also go along to this talk on travel photography at Sydney Community College later this month. I have a few personal projects to work on as well in the mean time, though time is always an issue. There is plenty to keep me busy over the next couple of months but I intend to return to this in the new year.
I’m interested in further developing my skills in documentary photography, photojournalism, travel photography, street photography and so on. I’m less interested in working with studio lighting at this stage. But I think I need to delay all of that and get to grips with a little bit of post-production and workflow. So my next course will probably be learning how to use Lightroom properly – unless I manage to teach myself with online tutorials and trial and error in the mean time. I’ve already managed to establish a preset to embed copyright information in the metadata, which was near the top of my list so I’m off to a good start.
This is day nine of NaBloPoMo. I will be posting every day in November.
Previous NaBloPoMo posts:
November 1 | David Austin roses at Carriageworks, Sydney
November 2 | Books in Krakow, Poland
November 3 | Rhyolite, a ghost town in Nevada
November 4 | City by the bay: Best of San Francisco
November 5 | Silhouettes and shadows in the morning sun
November 6 | Summer of the Seventeenth Doll at Belvoir
November 7 | Thai cookery class at the Spirit House
November 8 | Guest post: Hitting the language barrier in Sweden
I think you’re going to really like Lightroom. I find that I hardly ever go to Photoshop any more. Printing from LR gives superb results and the file management is great once you get a system that is right for you.
Here is a couple of Lightroom books that help me get a grip on the program.
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers by Martin Evening
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby
and on image organization
The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers by Peter Krogh
Good luck
Tim
Thanks for your comment, Tim. I don’t have Photoshop but figured Lightroom would give me most of what I need. It’s tempting to get Photoshop just because we have access to the student edition at the moment but I’m resisting the urge right now. I would rather spend the money on a new lens but I have trouble choosing!
Caitlin´s last [type] ..Learning Lightroom
I’ve never used Lightroom or Photoshop but I use Aperture on my iMac. I downloaded it from the Appstore for $99 I think and as far as photo-storage software goes it has been brilliant!
Angela @ Travelling With Monkeys´s last [type] ..Strawberry Cheesecake – a wobbly recipe.
Good to know. I considered Aperture but with the academic pricing, Lightroom was just as cheap.
Caitlin´s last [type] ..Learning Lightroom
The academic version is a great price — but — lightroom is more than sufficient and a new lens will probably add to you photographic experience more. IMHO go for the lens
Tim
Great, thanks for that! Maybe I can pick your brains about lenses some time? Do you shot on a Canon?
Nah i’m Nikon but Dominique @midwestguest shoots a canon D30. Both companies make great lenses. And so do Tamron, Sigma and Tokina.
Yes, I have some Sigma lenses for my Pentax film camera.