For years my wife has told me that I need a hobby and step away from the computer. I decided that I would take up photography and after a bit of research, as well as speaking to others, I decided on purchasing the Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera and DIGIC 4 Imaging with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
One thing that I am very quickly learning is the fact that photography can become a very expensive hobby. For example, lenses can cost anywhere from $200.00 to $7,000.00 depending upon what type of lens you are looking for. In addition to the cost factor comes the lens specifications and my head is swimming after looking at just a few. Of course, over time I am sure I will pickup the necessary knowledge.
I must say that I have had my camera for just a short time and I am enjoying getting out and taking pictures. What I am finding is that I am better at taking landscape photos rather than photos of people. I suppose this is normal, but like with everything in life to become better all it takes is practice and education. Speaking of education the timing of this hobby could not have come at a better time. I have been in school working toward a dual masters degree from the University of Maryland and in May 0f 2014 I will graduate after what seems three very long years.
Remember that my wife stated I need to step away from the computer? Well to some degree I have, but I purchased Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and now I am back at the computer developing the photos that I take. Not only is digital photography completely new to me, but I have never used Lightroom. For this reason I began to search out others who share their tips and tricks as well as presets. I found a gentleman named Matt Kloskowski who operates a website named Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips and his site has been invaluable for me.
Right now you can grab Perfect Effect 8 which normally costs $99.00 for FREE, but only until January 28th from onOne Software. Here is the poof!
My First Attempt Photography and Lightroom
For those of you who have an eye for photography you may find these photos amateurish and that is okay. This was my first run and processing my photos and I am happy with the starting point. To be honest the presets did most of the work and if you do not think that Ligtroom is robust, then you would be very surprised.
Add Copyright to Photos
For those that need to copyright your photos you can do so easily in Lightroom during the import process. Once you have started the import process on the right hand side you will find an are called “Apply During Import”. Within the Metadata are select the dropdown and select “New…” and enter the desired name for this preset.
Look for the IPTC Copyright and IPTC Creator sections and complete the necessary details. Here is a helpful tip, to add the copyright symbol use the key combination Option-G on a Mac and on Windows use ALT-0169.
Conclusion
This year I am planning on traveling to Mobile Alabama, San Diego California, Las Vegas Nevada, and Washington D.C. so hopefully I will be able to take some time to take my camera out and capture life that is happening all around me. I am really interested in photos of people in their natural environment because the beauty and simplicity of the photo speaks volumes about the scene differently to each person viewing the photo. Just take a look at the array of photos that I captured from Flickr. They are both beautiful and soothing!
If your hobby is digital photography and use Lightroom, why not leave a comment concerning your tips and tricks as well as what presets you find the most useful.