What the heck--coming out of the closet

[michael_elenko]

<blockquote>

<p>So to ME, I couldn't afford a seat – I'm heckling whilst standing at the back.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>No way John, you grabbed a mitt, picked up the bat, and entered the field. Playing beats heckling every time.</p>

<p>Nice warm and soft tones on the picture. Adds a nostalgic touch.</p>

<p>ME</p>

[julie_luther]

<p>Hey John M.--Thanks for wading in. Did my using a spice-in-the-cupboard analogy lead you to use all those cooking references? When you cook, do you use Photoshop references? ;-)</p>

<p>My very first thought when I saw your version was "orange!!" But now, when I got back to my original, I see just how much blue cast there was. Amazing. I keep flipping between the 3 versions of the photos to take in the significance of each. Lots to learn....</p>

<p>I will indeed follow your suggestion to bump up my camera's image tone setting. I already own PS (and know how to use about 3% of what it does). Might break down and get Lightroom or Aperture (or maybe learn PS and put my money towards a longer lens, a better tripod, etc.). But I *am* looking forward to tweaking my photos, feeling like I now have a better clue of options to play with.</p>

<p>Biggest photographic worry now: How am I gonna top this? ;-) Thanks again, guys, for your support, info and encouragement. -Julie</p>

<p> </p>

[johan_ingles_le_nobel]

<p>Just goes to show there's no "right" answer.</p>

<p>Enjoy the digital ride. Photography is all the more fun for it :)</p>

[jgredline]

<p>Let the flames begin :)<br>

<a title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting" href="http://img85.imageshack.us/i/88869306.jpg/" target="_blank" title="ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting"><img src="http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/823/88869306.jpg" border="0" alt="" /> </a></p>

<p>black and white conversion in CS3<br>

Added grain and contrast, adjusted curves and raised exposer by 1 stop.</p>

[pbarnes]

<p>Sorry Javier - this one is definitely overcooked, the boy has almost disappeared. And what happened to the colours? :-). </p>

<p>Julie, I developed some confidence with Photoshop by taking up the offer that came with the software for a free month on Lynda.com which provides online video training on all sorts of software - their Photoshop stuff I find to be excellent. Even without the free offer, for $25 a month I think it is great value. </p>

<p>Learn Photoshop - there is still a lot of stuff you can do with it that you still can't with Lightroom or Aperture - and you would still need to learn the same image adjustment concepts whichever way you go. If later you find you need something like Lightroom because you have to wrangle the 1,000s of photos you take each week, then your Photoshop skills are transferrable, and you won't hit the brick walls that many Lightroom only people hit if they can't use Photoshop as well.</p>

<p>I didn't think I would like online video training as much as I did - but it's great, at your own pace, whenever you want, you can pause to try out something on your own photos, or to deal with the rat that the cat has just brought in. Lynda is all you can eat - you pay for access for a period, and can use as much as want in that time, so pick a time when you have some time, and go for it.</p>

<p>And there is another great forum on Photo.net - Digital Darkroom - it's less of a community than this one is, but there are no such things as stupid questions there, all levels of expertise are welcome.</p>

[jgredline]

<p>Peter, no worries. I agree with you. This is what happens when you are bored at lunch time ;-)</p>

[julie_luther]

<p>Thank you, Javier. You really shouldn't have. ;-)</p>

<p>Peter, thank you for your suggestion to stick with learning PS, and Lynda.com. I have one of her older HTML books and it's excellent. And I've been meaning to learn CSS, so maybe before I get caught up in spring....</p>

[johan_ingles_le_nobel]

<p>CSS is a different skillset entirely - it is just web design. If you're in the mood for a tome, and depending on which photoshop version you have, try a used copy of "CS3 for photographers". 100s of pages, if you know that back to front then you're doing pretty well :)</p>

[julie_luther]

<p>Johan, Thanks for your excellent suggestion of CS3 for Photographers, sounds perfect for me. Yes, I realize that CSS is web design only, I only meant that signing on with lynda.com might be advantageous for me in more than one way. I co-own a small business that needs to be brought into the 20th century. ;-) </p>

[brendonmeyer]

<p>If you have a gmail account, then you already have access to Picasa's web albums. But for organizing and very basic post-processing there's a download version of Picasa. For quick touch-ups to upload to the web it's hard to beat, especially since it's free.</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10670853-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="455" /></p>

<p>Your original.</p>

<p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/s8nSI.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="455" /></p>

<p>Auto-contrast, tad of glow (unnecessary here, just for kicks), smidgen of saturation. The glow and saturation overcooked it a little, but the auto-contrast alone brightened it up nicely.</p>

<p>You can configure it for RAW files but you'll be better off in the long run with PS or some other RAW editor. I mostly just use it for organizing and uploading to the web albums. Cheers.</p>

[julie_luther]

<p>Thanks, Brendon. Didn't know about Picasa--another handy thing for me to check out. I'll try and save the Glow setting for self-portraits.... -Julie</p>