kja

bec - too funny! The first one rocks! We can't teach MatildaLily how to use the pool. She just doesn't get it for some reason. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, we know. Dora doesn't bother, she knows where the down-currents from the air conditioner are strongest Justice - well spotted & captured Snap - he does look sooky lwc - hot here, too...again. flying - pretty kitty sleepin tlc - looks like a great beach romp, we didn't get out for ours this morning fluffy - wowzers colour

I really like the colours on 3 and 6. Like that you're experimenting with tones and black & white. Oh and while you're moving out of centre, might as well vary your angle of attack too - looks like you are almost straight on for every frame. Get low, get high, get funky, Girl

Congrats on the new toy! The 50mm is such a nice focal range really tlc - the first thing that springs to my mind is that all of them are very centred. Try using some negative space, different framing and different areas of the frame for your main focus. Check out grotty-rotty's #2 and #3 on this page (anniek's also has some nice negative space). It's a pretty extreme example that might not 100% suit you, but it might help move your subject out of the middle. hth

hehehe - same Totally Rad as post 1

Another piece of sage advice from persephone. I actually do keep some stuff that isn't the best or even good - I mark them in Lightroom (with yellow) so I can quickly go back to them. I use them to learn how to approach things differently and better next time and/or to teach what is "wrong" and "right" on my courses. But culling is an essential part of the process and one that I am constantly getting better at. From all the people I know who shoot a lot, this is a never ending process - you can be a great culler now and in five years you'll be so much better you look back and think you were a hoarder. As we evolve, our style, interests and perceptions also evolve - as does our sense of "yup, that's something I want to keep" and "nope, that's not cluttering up my hard drive"

lightroom is the bees knees and is currently free for the Beta 3 version which I'm only hearing good things about. As for "only editing in camera", it's not evil. It's all about controlling your images. If you are happy for some random algorithm to make your choices for you, fantastic - use the controls in your camera. Some cameras have some really good options and can be tailored to your needs. But if you actually want to thoroughly control your output, you're going to edit in an external editor (and you're going to most likely want to shoot RAW, too). It doesn't mean you aren't nailing exposure, composition and the like. And it doesn't mean you aren't "getting it right" in camera. Think of it like your darkroom from film days (or the romantic vision of that you may have if you don't remember the film days) - you didn't nail the image in camera in film days and leave it on the film. You developed those negatives and printed the images. And that meant making choices on the actual film you used, the labs you chose to print with, chemicals, papers, developing times, dodging/burning, combining exposures and on and on. Or you went to a quickie lab, dropped it off and hoped for the best. In digital, your computer becomes your darkroom where the files (negatives) are prepped for the appropriate outcome and you can choose to choose everything, nothing, or some things. Editing on your computer is not evil. It is not unnecessary. It isn't all about cloning, textures, OOT alternative processing. It doesn't mean you can't nail and exposure or composition. It does not mean that you are cheating or screwing up your images in the first place. It doesn't have to be time intensive. I'm sorry, I just don't get the rabid and often not a little condescending "I prefer to get it right in camera" mentality. peresphone made a really great point - learn how to get the best raw material (ie in camera) you can coz it makes the rest of getting images ready to share so much easier!

Day 10 - totally not what I was going to shoot, but it made me laugh so hard I just had to share. I come back to my office this morning and happily work away. I've got the NFL playoffs on. I glance up to check on a play and think "hmmm, something's very different" ... hubby's been in my office and hung a calendar where I usually hang my camera bags LOL Canon 1DIII, Canon 24L 1.4 II, ISO 400, 1/30, f2, Lightroom edit

Same thing has happened to me and for now I've given Flickr the flick - too hard basket on many levels.

www.mcpactions.com

Rocco - how long do you reckon it took you to find the textures and processing techniques you use in many of your photos and get them working the way you like so you can see the finished image before you shoot it? Do you use premade actions/presets or have you designed all of your own? I think lots of folks here would be very interested in how you developed your style.

Again, more great answers Love to see ppl adding their ideas. This thread isn't about getting it "right" this is about doing "special" editing type things. Everyone I've ever talked to or met tries to get it right in camera but that doesn't mean that even the most rightest in camera image doesn't need something. See various threads here and elsewhere for exhaustive, repetitive and mostly boring discussions on that whole issue care - You are going to love when you have a more intensive editing program - not only will you be able to futz with selective colour (the bw with one thing in colour you love) but you'll be able to minutely control those black and white images to make every detail of the image the way you want it. I adore black and white editing!

More great answers The more I read them the more I think maybe I'm not asking really the right question. I don't have a problem finding the time (usually) to deal with my personal images when I'm just doing the basics. I do have more of a problem finding time to experiment with different processing options or working on an image to include a ton of processing. There are several DOLers who clearly do a lot of editing - textures, masks, cloning, etc that all take time to do well - and I know the more you do it, the faster you get, but I was hoping that those who do heavy editing could share how they developed a workflow that made sense for their lives. Not a workflow like "I download, then cull, then rate etc ..." Part of my problem is that once I start playing around, I tend to KEEP playing around "ooo, let me try this other thing!" "oo, I wonder what would happen if I try this?" "ooo, this looks good, I'll bet if I do X and Y it'll be super neat" "ooo, maybe I should do this in a colour tone (and then try 1, 983, 298 different ones)" LOL For myself, I squish experimenting into my "breaks" - either from mundane office stuff or when I am editing client images. Rarely do I sit down with the aim of having a play.

Grrr...living in the country sucks sometimes. Evidently no one actually cares about doggie or what we do with him. Nice. update: well, he's quick. We finally got him out of the hot trailer and put him under a tree with shade, a nice place to relax and a big bowl of water. I walked across to the dive shop, answered the phone, looked out, he's gone. Chewed through one of our good leashes and is now out and about with one of our collars on, too. <sigh> hopefully he'll be like our two and wander home.

Day 9 - Story here Canon 1DIII, Canon 24L 1.4 II, Lightroom edit

Great answers - anyone who actually DOES have or find time consistently?

Day 8 - don't hate me, I'm playing Canon 1DIII, Canon 135L f2.0, ISO 200, 1/5000, f2 - Lightroom for selective colour with a colour wash in the background coz I've never done that before. Photoshop CS3 for a little Grainstorm by Totally Rad Actions Total editing time under three minutes - pretty rough & ready but I'm OK with it! Snap - love #1 & #3 Anniek - just a tad spoiled Piper - cute! and my two do exactly the same thing! bec - fabulous, love everything!!

Hehehe - super cute!! Dog tongue-ies...blech!

lillylover - pretty flower Do you mean it's one you shot a while ago? If so, grab that camera, Girl, and take some new ones each day!

becandcharch - sorry, thought I'd typed how cute that action shot is! You're right about the feet

ROFL

redangel - yup, not too bad of a place, really flyingduster - love the one of the leaf (?) on his head & the action shot after it! Here's my Day 7 Canon 1DIII, Canon 135L f2.0, ISO 200, f2.0, 1/2500, edit in Lightroom then to Photoshop CS3 for Totally Rad lovin

Lunch spot is in a place called Turtle Bay at the Muiron Islands, most northerly bits of the Ningaloo reef where I live. I was out on the boat guiding divers and this is where we had lunch and played with some turtles, sharks, rays & fishies during our lunchtime snorkel. huga - those eyelashes! Jealous, totally! pixie - pretty flowers! Kirislin - really like that shot...very cool subject and I love the way you've done it.

Day 6 - where I had lunch Olympus 720SW p.o.s. - the more I use you, the more I hate you

Open your History Window, click back to the state you want to revert to My History window is always open on my desktop. Oh yeah, make sure to go to preferences and up the number of states it remembers!

How cutie is that baby blue tongue??