Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Trial

I recently downloaded the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 30-Day Free Trial. You can find it here if you're interested in trying it out. There are so many payment options and bundles available on the website that it's kind of overwhelming. Adobe seems to really want to charge you $9.99/month which I am not into. I like to purchase things outright, and I had to do some navigating to find the page to do so. If you're like me and like to make one single payment and call it done the link is here. It will cost you $149 plus tax of course. If I end up liking my free trial, this is the route that I will go. Be sure to check out the deals they offer for teachers and students!

So back to my free trial. Let me begin by saying I am new to the DSLR world as well as any form of photoshop out there. I am a newb through and through. I will in no way pretend to have a full understanding of all of the features my camera has, much less Lightroom. I simply have not had enough time to explore everything and play. So since you're reading this I assume that you are a newb as well. Welcome. I hope we learn something.

So far the thing that I have found the most awesome on Lightroom is the capability to spot enhance. You can enhance eye color and clarity without affecting the rest of the photo. You can fix blemishes on skin ridiculously easily. Along with that you can get rid of out-of-place objects or spots in the photo. AMAZINGLY easy, even for me the newb.

One of the first things I do when I edit a photo is play with the exposure. If the picture is too dark you may need to increase the exposure and vice-versa. This is super easy to do and can make a huge difference, but it's not the right move for every photo. This shot of my son on a snow day was a little dark, so I increased the exposure and called it a day. Beautiful.

The photo below has been darkened (decreased exposure) and the sun spots have been edited out using the "Spot Removal" feature. That feature is going to be amazing for close-up portraits, especially with an active 3 year-old who is always sporting a new bruise, scrape, or bug bite.

Like I mentioned, one of the most awesome things (so far) is that I can enhance part of a photo without touching the parts I like. Two features that make this possible are the gradual and radial filters. The gradual filter was tricky at first, but basically it lets you split your photo down a straight line in any direction and then edit just one side. The radial filter allows you to encompass a round section of your photo and either enhance the inside or outside of the selected section. A perfect use of this feature might be to brighten a face or eyes. Below is a photo that I used the gradual filter on to even out the light in the photo. I also used the spot removal feature to fix imperfections on the skin. 

All in all I am pretty satisfied with Lightroom so far. I think it is relatively user friendly once you have spent some time on it. As of now I will probably purchase the download for permanent use. Which will likely lead to feature specific tutorials, so stay tuned! 

Until next time,

Elizabeth