Learning post processing

[308Shooter]

Hello all,
In a past life, I used Photoshop for post processing. I shot weddings, senior pictures, family outings, etc. I did Okay if I do say so myself. Now.... quite a few years later, I'm learning the ins and outs of drone photography, strictly hobby and for fun. Phototshop is out of reach financially, so I'm trying to learn Lightroom. VERY DIFFERENT from what I remember Photoshop being, and the combination of drone and learning a new software is.... well let's just say, it's going to take a while. Here are a couple shots - original is HDR merge in lightroom (5 shot AEB) and 2nd is with a few minor curve adjustments.....

As was pointed out on another forum, composition doesn't follow the rule of 3rds, but I think I like it anyway.

Thoughts??

 

[Martin Kuhn]

LR is really a very nice piece of software.
One feature of the recent versions that really rock is Dehaze.
Try it out

Also there are Tons of good Tutorials available.

 

[rkyleh]

Hello all,
In a past life, I used Photoshop for post processing. I shot weddings, senior pictures, family outings, etc. I did Okay if I do say so myself. Now.... quite a few years later, I'm learning the ins and outs of drone photography, strictly hobby and for fun. Phototshop is out of reach financially, so I'm trying to learn Lightroom. VERY DIFFERENT from what I remember Photoshop being, and the combination of drone and learning a new software is.... well let's just say, it's going to take a while. Here are a couple shots - original is HDR merge in lightroom (5 shot AEB) and 2nd is with a few minor curve adjustments.....

As was pointed out on another forum, composition doesn't follow the rule of 3rds, but I think I like it anyway.

Thoughts??

Like the man said rules are made to be broken and second on the dehaze filter. nice pictures

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

Hello all,
In a past life, I used Photoshop for post processing. I shot weddings, senior pictures, family outings, etc. I did Okay if I do say so myself. Now.... quite a few years later, I'm learning the ins and outs of drone photography, strictly hobby and for fun. Phototshop is out of reach financially, so I'm trying to learn Lightroom. VERY DIFFERENT from what I remember Photoshop being, and the combination of drone and learning a new software is.... well let's just say, it's going to take a while. Here are a couple shots - original is HDR merge in lightroom (5 shot AEB) and 2nd is with a few minor curve adjustments.....

As was pointed out on another forum, composition doesn't follow the rule of 3rds, but I think I like it anyway.

Thoughts??

I've had really good luck with Skylum's Aurora HDR 2018. I like the HDR results I get better from Aurora over PhotoShop and Lightoom. Aurora hands down beats out Photomatix and EasyHDR too. Nice shots!

 

[sleebus.jones]

Lightroom is a great tool, been using it for years. Have tried a few others, but they all seem to come up short. I'm using v5.7.1, I'm debating on upgrading to the last "paid" version. Their subscription model is just to dang pricey for something I don't use all the time. Sad they've decided to go that route.

 

[RickMC]

Lightroom is a great tool, been using it for years. Have tried a few others, but they all seem to come up short. I'm using v5.7.1, I'm debating on upgrading to the last "paid" version. Their subscription model is just to dang pricey for something I don't use all the time. Sad they've decided to go that route.

Am I missing something? Is there a free version of Lightroom?

 

[sleebus.jones]

Am I missing something? Is there a free version of Lightroom?

No, I wasn't being very clear. V5 you could purchase outright, and V6 you could purchase, but it was the last one that you could actually buy. All subsequent versions are only available via cloud based subscription fees, at the princely sum of $120/yr. I bought Lightroom back in 2014. With the subscription model, I would have paid $480 (!) so far, which is far more than the $140 one time purchase I made. It still works just fine with my 5D3 RAW, my Note 8 RAW and now my Mavic Pro RAW files. Actually, I think V6 can still be bought, might not be a bad idea to think about it, because after 1 year, you're making money against the subscription plan. Obviously you won't have the latest features, but I don't feel limited by my 4 year old copy!

 

[308Shooter]

Thanks all. I'd love to buy Photoshop actually, but it's just too pricey. I'm sticking with Lightroom and will just have a new learning curve. I guess I've got a lot of reading and tutorial videos coming my way. I haven't tried any raw files yet. Glad to hear it handles them without any issue.

 

[sleebus.jones]

Well, there is one other option that I know of: RawTherapee. That is a RAW image file editing program that is free. I used it about 4 years ago, and it wasn't quite up to lightroom standards, but I'm sure it's progressed a LOT since then. With it being free, not much to lose to try it out.