What software and how to learn?

Hey Folks,

Sorry for the rookie question.

I am ready to buy my first photo processing software but I don’t know what to buy. I’m thinking that the choices are few and it will probably be a foundation of Photoshop with a few plug-ins. As you may imagine I will be looking to lean HDR, blending for DOF, TK’s goodies and other widely used techniques. Soon I will be shooting weddings as well.

Also as a computer challenged, or should I say attention span challenged person I am looking for some form of learning that can quickly give me a strong framework of knowledge to build on. Anybody know of good tutorial CD’s or the like that hand hold the beginner through the basics, or even the more advanced stuff?

Here is my flickr link. So far most of my shots have been JPG’s with only the latest few shot in RAW and processed in DDP for WB, saturation and sharpness.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinchflat/

Thanks in advance for any help….

Richard

Rookies are welcome here! If I were in your shoes, I'd start with Adobe Lightroom. Everything you need in one tidy little program.

Good luck,

Richard:
If you are thinking ADOBE (Lightroom, Photoshop, etc) you might want to check out <http://tv.adobe.com/> for tutorials. There are plenty there of all levels and subjects.

Good luck,
Don

I would also recommend Lightroom but for your comments about using TK's masks, blending for DOF, and a couple of other things that Lightroom really can't do. For those, you need CS4. The good thing is that CS4 comes with Adobe Camera Raw, which contains many of the same features as Lightroom with a similar, user-friendly interface. I still prefer Lightroom and try to avoid CS4 for most everyday images (basically, shots of my daughter, etc.), but there are times when the full functionality of CS4 really helps with a landscape image.

For HDR, take a look at Photomatix. You've probably heard that before, but it's the leading HDR program for a good reason. That said, I often find that it doesn't quite do a satisfactory job, and I end up blending the HDR image with other non-HDR images to get an end product I can live with. Again, for that, CS4 is very helpful.

I've yet to find a single book or other learning tool that really does it all for me. I'm always appalled by how expensive PS books and videos are . . . there should be a discussion thread that offers the opportunity to rant about that. As if CS4 and Lightroom aren't expensive enough. Scott Kelby's books are helpful and will give you a good set of tools to work with, but not quite enough to really make you self-sufficient. There's a lot of free stuff on the web if you have many hours to sift through websites. In particular, I have occasionally watched (free) instructional videos on the web that have been quite helpful, and I think that subscribing to "Kelbytraining" might be something to consider . . . even though only a small portion of the videos will really target your areas of interest. I'm interested to see what others have to say on this portion of your question as well.

If money were no object, you should have Lightroom and Photoshop. That said, they are expensive. If you can only have one, my choice would be Photoshop. Since Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Bridge come packaged with Photoshop, you have all the tools you'll need from cataloging images, processing raw images and performing all the wonderful things that Photoshop brings to the table. The learning curve is long and steep if you've never used Photoshop. Lightroom is a wonderful product and I wouldn't be without it. I MUCH prefer Lightroom to Bridge for cataloging images and the interface to Raw processing is nicer in Lightroom than ACR. Of course Lightroom adds other features such as web presentation and slideshows as well as printing. For me printing still takes place from Photoshop because that is where the real work after raw processing happens on images. It is easier to just print from Photoshop once the image is prepared, rather than going back to Lightroom. As noted earlier, you mentioned Tony Kuyper's masking tools. That requires Photoshop. If you are on a budget and want to start down this path, take a look at Photoshop Elements. While not the same power as Photoshop, at least you're going down a growth path that will lead you to Photoshop eventually.

As you may imagine I will be looking to lean HDR, blending for DOF, TK’s goodies and other widely used techniques.

Why do you need any of these? Especially if you are a rookie?

Consider starting with Photoshop Elements. It has a lot of the capabilities of the full program, with a lot less expense. There will be fewer distractions while you learn the basics of post processing: levels, saturation, etc. via layers. I would strongly recommend staying away from plugin and HDR and blending for DOF etc. until you have mastered the basics. If you don't learn the fundamentals - what to do and why then you will never know what is wrong with your images that have been through so many modifications and canned routines of someone else's plugins.

When you are comfortable with Elements then there is a cheap route to upgrading to the full photoshop and everything you learned with Elements will apply.

Richard,

I like Richard D's suggestion, considering your apparent situation.

I started out with Elements and for me it was the perfect way to go. It has many of the same basic tools as PS and you can get it much, much cheaper. I used it for almost two years, then got CS3 relatively cheaply through an upgrade deal from Adobe.

I also strongly agree that it would be best to hone your basic processing skills first, before moving up to the more advanced techniques.

I would go with PhotoShop Elements. Elements 8 was just released and now includes such things as HRD blending. For $100 it is hard to beat, and will do 99.9% of everything you need. The rest is too complicated, so don't worry about itanyway. There are also FREE third party plug-ins that greatly enhance its abilities.

I also strongly agree that it would be best to hone your basic processing skills first, before moving up to the more advanced techniques

I couldn't agree more. Give the new PS Elements 8 a go. It may be all you need to optimize your images.
Your images at Flickr look great! I certainly don't see anything that requires HDR/luminosity mask treatment.

Next month there will be an updated version of Scott Kelby's 'PS Elements Book for Digital Photographers', which is one of the better books around to get you up to speed.

Thanks everybody.

It’s nice to come home from work and sees all of your thoughtful and insightful replies.

Although in the long run I will probably use Lightroom and all of the other programs, I think I’ll start with Elements 8 for the foundation and flexibility.

Thanks again everybody for the informative replies. I like this site. I look forward to processing some pictures to share.

John, thanks for the complements.