Over the past six months though I have been very lucky to have access to free trials and beta softwear. I started out with Lightroom and really liked it but all too soon the beta closed down because they released Lightroom 3 (The beta is a freeware working copy of the program so they can get feedback and make changes before releasing it)
Still nickle and diming my way along I found that I could sign up for a free trial of photoshop CS5 itself....(Angels singing). Wow. Thats all I have to say - what an awesome program. Until the trial runs out and you go to see how much it costs and wake up to find that you passed out on the floor from the pure shock of it all. Photoshop CS5 - $1200. Ouch that doesn't really fit into my financial planning right now.
So I was feeling a little lost - no beta - no photoshop trial...and after tasting such creative freedom I questioned if I could chain myself to the cumbersome GIMP again. Then a small window of hope....another trial for the now completed Lightroom 3 - and so for the next 30 days I am happy. I honestly don't want to think beyond that...
Although at around $400 Lightroom leaves a little more air in your lungs.
And I was really happy to find that some of the bigger issues I had with lightroom have been resolved. Here's a before and after I was playing around with today...its a crappy picture I quickly snapped while setting things up for my brothers passport photos. It was kind of a worse case senario test. The before of Gabe not only has exposure issues but it is quite grainy (especially when zoomed) Not to mention all the dried grossness all over his face. This edit was done in about 5 min...simple, practical and quite effective for all the basics. I cringe at the day when I will have to dish out for softwear but for now at least I have Lightroom!
Before After
3 comments:
I need to know... Is it very, very dummy proof?
It is very very dummy proof....they even have a whole selection of of one click edits that do everything from cool black and whites to old vintage...I'll show ya when we come down :)
I can't believe photoshop is so much! I have a couple snapshots that I would love to edit a bit but I find if it takes too long to figure out I give up or I have to do it every time because I don't do it often enough. Have you started a fund to save for photoshop by taking a percentage of every photoshoot and putting it towards it?
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