Sticking My Neck Out

Recently, I have been really sticking my neck out when it comes to my photography hobby.

For one thing, my sweet man bought me, out of the blue, the Canon IS 100mm 2.8 Macro lens that I have been wanting. It allows me to get close, real close to even the smallest objects and capture every detail. But if I get back far enough, I can also get some fabulous shots of regular stuff too.

I have been having a terrific time taking my new lens out to the Living Desert with Luke, and I have taken some great shots.

But where I have really been sticking my neck out, so to speak, is in my photo organizing and editing. I have always used iPhoto by default, since that is what came on my computer. But I have found that the editing abilities are extremely limited, and unfortunately, it is almost impossible to use those photos in almost any other program, like Photoshop (which I own, just can't figure out - perhaps because I can't get my photos in there without a lengthy process.)

Anyway, I have decided to make the jump and change my entire "workflow"(as they say in the photography biz). I now load all my photos into Lightroom, which is a bit more complicated to organize and import initially, but once the photos are in there, I can do SO much more with them, and easily move them in and out of Photoshop, etc. It is a good move for me, just a time consuming one, and there is still a ton of stuff I need to learn!

But for me, the most exciting thing about switching over to Lightroom, are the fantastic editing capabilities that are now at my disposal, the most exciting being "presets" - editing combinations that someone else created that I can apply to my own photos with a click of the button. I had a grand time this week downloading some fun presets I found, then applying them to this batch of photos from the Living Desert - just for the fun of it. I did some other fun editing as well, just to try a few things out.

I am thrilled with how some of them turned out!

I had such fun sticking my neck out and trying new things. I am learning that having the right tools, and then taking the time to get out and practice using them are really paying off. I might just get the hang of this photography thing after all!

Which are your favorites?