Rated P - for Photography

Well, I have a lot of people ask me questions about photography, so I thought that I would start sharing some of the answers here on my blog, and maybe I can help more people get familiar with their camera and learn to take awesome pictures! (even though I'm sure most of you already are). So I'm just going to do one question a week, probably always on Tuesday because I have free time on Tuesdays. Hey, maybe I could call it Tip Tuesday or something cutesy like that.

I'm starting with the question I get asked most often.

Q. What program do you use to edit your photos?


A. A multifaceted response:
Straightforward answer:
I use Adobe Lightroom 2.0 for about 95% of what I do - it's a program designed for professional photographers that functions as both a RAW development tool and a cataloguing system. Do I recommend you get this? No, not really, unless you either shoot in RAW or shoot A LOT of photos and need a way to keep them organized.

I also use a program called Corel PaintShopPro to do things like add borders to my images. It has most of the functionality of Adobe PhotoShop for a fraction of the price. Sorry, I'm not sure what fraction. I don't use it for much besides adding borders (like the ones on my blog) to my photos, but it's capable of converting to black and white, touching up blemishes, cropping, and all the little adjustments you may want to make to your photos. I can't compare it to PhotoShop because I've never used PhotoShop, but I've found this program to be more than adequate.

The whole answer:
I chose to answer this question first because I wanted to get it out of the way, so that I could talk about photography. Because as much as a bit of editing can take your good photos to great, or help you create something really cool, you need to start with good photos. The processing (editing, developing, converting, whatever you want to call it) is definitely an important part of photography, but the MOST important part is getting the shot in the first place.

I don't expect to be sharing anything earth-shattering here, but if you were going to read my blog anyway, then hey, maybe you can pick up a tip or two here while you're at it. After all, it is Tip Tuesday. (Maybe not?)

If anyone has questions about photography, photo biz, or picture stuff in general, please let me know! You can email me at TipTuesday@livingproofphotography.ca.

I don't pretend to be an expert on any of it, but I've invested a lot of time and a bit of money into learning what I do know, and I would love to share it. A lot of people have helped me, so it's time to pay it forward :)