How do I love thee, dear DSLR?   Let me count the many ways. Currently and more precisely two BIG ways. Photoshop and LightRoom. My favorite photo editing software and half the fun of producing nice looking shots. The other half, of course, is composing the photography.

For this post, I’m going to focus on editing in LightRoom.  You’ll want to keep coming back to this site because we will be featuring some of the amazing photographs from our resident pro(s) ME and we I will give you tips on how to take great photos.  If I can do it, YOU CAN TOO!!

It’s been less than two years since  I escaped GREEN AUTO MODE and gave away my trusted Point and Shoot camera.  A leap of faith after being encouraged by a friend I had made on Twitter.   I picked up my dusty Canon xTI and learned how to shoot in RAW digital negative format, in AV mode first – and then in Manual mode. The first book recommended to me was Understanding Exposure, an excellent handy guide that I still use as reference. I very quickly advanced to a Canon 50D and then my current 7D (love of my life). The more I discover, learn and practice editing and all it’s possibilities, the more I’m encouraged to experiment.  It’s really a lot of fun.

Although I’ve graduated from Photography for Dummies, I think I’ll  always ALWAYS be learning.  I have professionals on our team who I look up to and can tap as a resource.  For the most part, however,  I’m self taught.

Truth is, most professional photographers do edit their pictures. It is always best to get the shot right the first time you take it. Editing may then just require a simple boost or making the photo come alive by playing around with hue and saturation. Other times you may need to remove some noise to make the picture much clearer, playing around with contrast and shadows. It takes a lot of practice but if you do it often enough, you find yourself much more comfortable as time goes by.

Here’s my FIRST shot.  I was so happy I posted it on Facebook.

My First Bokeh

From a show yesterday

My ‘tutor’  and Twitter friend commented back and said “nice bokeh“! Cool, I thought! Then I asked myself “what the heck is bokeh“. I figured it had something to do with the flower (bouquet??). However, refusing to admit I didn’t know what it was, I turned to my trusted know-it-all, Google and his first cousin Wikipedia. Then I got excited.

These days, I’m armed with much better tools, some new lenses and two youngsters  who have learned to adapt to a camera following their every move.  Want to see what a different a little tweak makes? See for yourself!

Straight out of Camera (SOOC)

Bright Light - from Pretty Presets

Bronzer

Some of my favorite sets are from Pretty Presets!  NOTE: all photos come alive on SmugMug. As I  feature more photographs, I’ll  let you know  where you can find cool linky loves including Actions for PhotoShop (another whole post by itself). LightRoom3 controls look like this below.  Simple sliders. It’s really very elementary easy to learn.

Presets on Lightroom

I simply choose from these PreSets which I purchased or make my own. There is a preview window so you can see what the photograph will look like.

Adjustment sliders on Lightroom