which photoshop version

For wedding photography I'm mainly using Photoshop CS4. I know that a lot of people like Lightroom. I have the program, but it

seems complicated. Is the learning curve difficult? It's also an earlier version and it won't open Raw files from the new Canon 5D Mark 3.

 

I also have Photoshop CS 6. I'm having issues with learning this program, mainly RAW. I actually have a new 5D Mark 3 but

you can't use RAW in Photoshop CS4. CS4, the program doesn't support the 5D Mark3. The camera is new, I've only shot 2

weddings with it. It seems to sit at home as I still carry with me 2, 1Ds Mk 3 cameras.

 

So is the Canon software better to use for converting Raw wedding images? Maybe Capture One software? Will the Capture

One software work with the 5D Mark3?

 

I'm actually so frustrated that I'm considering selling the 5d Mark 3 and buying another 1Ds Mark 3.

 

Long story short. Can all of you editing wizards give me some advice? A book? A DVD that can teach you Photoshop 6? Or

should I try other programs. Or simply spend several hours learning the program?

 

I just bought a wicked camera system. PhaseOne. It came with a bunch of lenses, it's medium format, with an 80 megapixel

back. I'm getting more and more into Product photography. It uses both, Photoshop and CaptureOne, however it comes with

the CaptureOne software. I haven't used the camera yet.

 

I have to keep this short. I'm fine with Photoshop CS4. I can edit a wedding, the RAW images in a few hours. However, just

trying to crop an image in PS CS6 is so different and it takes me at least 10 plus hours. Am I being too impatient?

 

Any and all advice, good and bad is welcomed. I've been a member of this site for several years and I think this may be the first

time at showing frustration! Mainly frustration at Adobe Photoshop for not allowing updates for the newer cameras that come out

every year. Angry at the new versions of Cloud, requiring monthly payments.

 

Thank you!

 

Have a great weekend folks! If you are into Easter I hope all of you and your families have a blast! My best, Bob

<p>Bob--regarding the inability to use CS4 to read your newer camera's RAW files, you can always download Adobe's free Adobe's Camera RAW (ACR) and DNG Converter (here's the Windows link -- MAC is in the same neighborhood) <a href="http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=106&platform=Windows">http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=106&platform=Windows</a>. This will allow your older version of Photoshop to read the newer camera files. Having said that though, I would certainly be taking advantage of the CS6 version of the application -- much improved over CS4--and if you are comfortable with CS4, the learning curve isn't that great. There are lots of free YouTube videos that can help walk you through the newer features. If you are a member of NAPP or read/subscribe to magazines like Advanced Photoshop they have supporting sites with lots of videos. Adobe has plenty on line as well. If there's one thing there is not a shortage of in this world it's information on using Photoshop.</p>

<p>LR is a slightly different beast and is pretty much aimed entirely at photographers where PS is used in all sorts of digital imaging realms. You can download a free trial and play with it to see what you think. Personally, I use LR and PS together, but with photos I typically start in LR and then if an image requires additional treatment or other effects I'll jump from within LR to open PS.</p>

<p>Also, Adobe is still updating PS CS6 even though PS CC is the latest version, so you would be able to open your new Camera files with CS6. I believe Adobe committed to keep updating CS6 at least until the next operating systems were released for Macs and PCs.</p>

 

<p>I use Photoshop Elements 13 (will do the raw for 5D III and is cheap) and Canon DPP. Like you I have Lightroom (5) but haven't gotten used to it. I think a few bucks hiring someone who knows Lightroom may be money well spent. I just haven't found someone I can work with yet. Last one I talked too was a little too twitchy. I just need someone to get me set up and going, stupid stuff like adapting to the files I have to let me import and export and some initial settings. I believe Lightroom may be the best all around wedding software for speed and versatility once you get going. Use Lightroom to bring the files in and you're good to go. Good luck!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Lightroom... it seems complicated. Is the learning curve difficult?</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

It's a lot easier than it seems at first. The most difficult part is grasping the concepts of Library, Catalog, Import and Export. I found it confusing until I actually had to sit down and use it, then it was very quick to figure it out. It's simpler than Photoshop for most things a photographer wants to do. Also, you don't need the latest raw converter in PS if you have LR.</p>

<p>and once you get comfortable with Lightroom, correcting hundreds of files from a wedding will be much faster... t</p>

I couldn't imagine processing a wedding's worth of images without Lightroom. It's much easier than it looks, and it didn't

take long to get proficient with it. Give the new version a try with Adobe's free trial.

<p>As others said, gettings grips with a program like Lightroom will make larger volumes of work easier - except my choice would be CaptureOne. First, because you already have it (so it won't cost extra), second because it will work better with your PhaseOne system, and last but not least I think it delivers better quality raw conversions than Adobe's raw conversion engine does. At least with my Nikon files, and I am quite sure it will do so with PhaseOne files - for Canon, give it a try. But skin tones and the way it sharpens for me do set it apart. Reports say the tethering works very good as well, but I never shot a camera tethered so I can't tell first hand. But again, being made by PhaseOne, this is one area where it is made to give optimum support to your PhaseOne camera.<br>

It does, however, have a bit steeper learning curve than Lightroom, and the catalog part isn't as well-done as the one in Lightroom, however, with CaptureOne you can choose not to use a Catalog, but 'sessions' instead (which might be a more suitable set-up for your kind of work anyway!). For me, I much prefer the user interface of CaptureOne over Lightroom, it's more austere but more to-the-point too, and version 8 has been very stable for me, and fast. Given you have it, I'd sure try it to see how it works for you.</p>

<p>Neither of these two substitute Photoshop completely, so keeping a copy of Photoshop around will still be useful. CS6 has more competencies than CS4, so getting grips with it sooner or later will be worth the effort, but as long as you're fine with CS4, it's lower priority.</p>

<p>Bob,</p>

<p>I'm now using Lightroom for simple edits and for DAM. Everything gets imported into Lightroom first, and there I do keyboarding, captioning, etc. But I'm doing more and more editing in other apps. For black and white conversions I'm likely to go to Google/Nik Silver Efex Pro, and since I have all the Google/Nik apps, I use the others occasionally. And for some photos — especially landscapes and photos needing lens and/or perspectival correction — I'll go to DxO Optics Pro 10. I use DxO OP10 also to convert if I really want to get rid of noise in a noisy high-ISO shot. But my main processing app now is Perfect Photo Suite 9, which can do nearly everything with photos that Photoshop does, but it's aimed exclusively at editing photos, and I personally find it MUCH MUCH easier to understand and use than Photoshop. Perfect Photo Suite does layers very well so it's pretty easy to remove distracting backgrounds, swap in a faux studio backdrop in a portrait, etc.</p>

<p>Is Lightroom easy to use? Yes, I think so. Ease of use is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But once you grasp that Lightroom's controls are really very logically organized, it starts to feel like child's play. For basic adjustments to exposure, color, definition (i.e. clarity and sharpness), I find Lightroom easier to use than Picasa. And it's also very good for brushing in adjustments, like brightening a bride's dress, removing some garbage in the background (sometimes), etc. I'm especially fond of the fact that LR has so many keyboard shortcuts. But Lightroom doesn't support layers or copy and paste.</p>

<p>I do all my printing from Lightroom, too. </p>

<p>Congratulations on the Phase One and have fun with all those megapixels!</p>

<p>Will</p>

Thank you everyone for your excellent help and knowledge! I really appreciate your time, efforts, and your

professionalism to help me out!

<p>You mentioned cropping - Lightroom is the way to go. It is so easy and it is non-destructive, which means you can always go back to adjust, or make several versions of it. As someone posted, I can't imagine editing a wedding or event without Lightroom. Among the advantages, it is especially invaluable for mass photo selection, and mass adjustment. For image selection, one of the easiest ways to do this is to first rate all the photos with one star. Then set the filter on, and hit "0" (unrate) on the ones to discard. Very quickly, I would be looking at only the selected photos, while not losing the unrated ones, which can eventually be recovered, removed from the catalog, or deleted. Good luck.</p>