Show Us Your RAW Conversions, BEFORE And AFTER

Downloaded LR about an hour ago, this is what I came up with.

You guys (and gals) really depress me. How do you learn this stuff? Is there a Lightroom Step By Step book that you are following? I have CS2 but lost the ability to manage RAW files because I have a 50D and those RAW files won't open in CS2. I'm using the trial version of Lightroom now and need to decide in the next 17 days if I should buy it. Seeing what you are doing is selling it for sure. I'm serious when I ask - is there a good book or DVD on learning this stuff?

EternalLife wrote in post #7822489
You guys (and gals) really depress me. How do you learn this stuff? Is there a Lightroom Step By Step book that you are following? I have CS2 but lost the ability to manage RAW files because I have a 50D and those RAW files won't open in CS2. I'm using the trial version of Lightroom now and need to decide in the next 17 days if I should buy it. Seeing what you are doing is selling it for sure. I'm serious when I ask - is there a good book or DVD on learning this stuff?

There are a ton of tutorials out there, some free, some not. There is a sticky about LR that likely has some links, but check out places like Lightroom Killer Tips for some good ideas.

I have no idea what I am doing I just moved the sliders until it looked cool

I've seen a lot of the videos on the Adobe site. The don't really address the typical - lets fix this picture - approach. They seem to be more of - hey try this really cool trick.

EternalLife wrote in post #7822577
I've seen a lot of the videos on the Adobe site. The don't really address the typical - lets fix this picture - approach. They seem to be more of - hey try this really cool trick.

If you need help on "what to do" not "how to do" that is much more difficult as not everyone sees the same things and makes the same changes. One tutorial that helped me get started was this one:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=95468

It is based on an older version of ACR but should work for all the new versions as well for at least a starting point.

Other than that, my recommendation would be to find a type or genre that you like and search for tutorials based on that type or genre.

EternalLife wrote in post #7822577
I've seen a lot of the videos on the Adobe site. The don't really address the typical - lets fix this picture - approach. They seem to be more of - hey try this really cool trick.

Probably because the idea is that you have the camera part down and need help with giving photos ooomph, not "fixing" them. You really shouldn't be spending much time fixing images. There's something wrong with your in-camera technique/skill if you are.

One feature of Lightroom and ACR is that the developers tried to set up the Development module so you could step through things from top to bottom: "gross" adjustments at the top, more fine-tuning and specialty adjustments as you work your way down. You don't even have to access a menu until you want to do a special task, and a lot of those have "Hot Key" combinations that you can just remember. My most common is Ctrl-Shft-E for Export, 'cause I typically send my stuff right out of LR for the Web.

EternalLife wrote in post #7822489
You guys (and gals) really depress me. How do you learn this stuff? Is there a Lightroom Step By Step book that you are following? I have CS2 but lost the ability to manage RAW files because I have a 50D and those RAW files won't open in CS2. I'm using the trial version of Lightroom now and need to decide in the next 17 days if I should buy it. Seeing what you are doing is selling it for sure. I'm serious when I ask - is there a good book or DVD on learning this stuff?

Like cdifoto said below, you shouldn't be trying to fix this but rather improving what you already have.

cdifoto wrote in post #7822625
Probably because the idea is that you have the camera part down and need help with giving photos ooomph, not "fixing" them. You really shouldn't be spending much time fixing images. There's something wrong with your in-camera technique/skill if you are.

Totally agree

EternalLife wrote in post #7822489
You guys (and gals) really depress me. How do you learn this stuff? Is there a Lightroom Step By Step book that you are following? I have CS2 but lost the ability to manage RAW files because I have a 50D and those RAW files won't open in CS2. I'm using the trial version of Lightroom now and need to decide in the next 17 days if I should buy it. Seeing what you are doing is selling it for sure. I'm serious when I ask - is there a good book or DVD on learning this stuff?

Learned from:

Martin Evening - LR2
Covers each module. good stuff.

tutorial from www.photowalkthrough.c​om by john arnold
He does not cover everything - just the big tools.

There is a work flow that is easy to pick up and you hone the workflow over several months.....

Yeah, I guess 'fix' was the wrong word. My pictures come out fine. They need that 'oomph' that you reference.

Here's a recent shot that was taken through a blue tinted hotel window. Initially I thought it was a throw away, but I was able to get a decent recovery. The after shot was achieved using DPP alone, and I only played with the settings in the Raw tab. Great Idea for a thread by the way...

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Funny thing I just noticed on the shots in my post above. I saw what looked to be really faint mountains even further in the distance that I hadn't noticed before, but oddly they seemed to be very similar to the ones in the front "range". I just realized they are probably just a reflection of a second pane of glass in the window...

Hey, Jim, pretty striking "rescue" from that blue tint!

Was this taken in Colorado by chance?

tonylong wrote in post #7825620
Was this taken in Colorado by chance?

No, this was taken from THE Hotel at Mandalay in Vegas (facing away from the strip). That's funny though, I've been to Colorado and that was the first thing I was reminded of when I looked out the window...