Fix It In LR

On FaceBook a new photographer posted an image of a young woman and she asked for advice. As I’ve said before this is a bad thing to do as you open your artwork up to the confusing, conflicting and often just dead wrong comments from thousands of random strangers.

And that’s what she got.

The comments I found really confounding were those who suggested that our new photographer could use photo editors like Lightroom or PhotoShop to save her photograph.

But photo editing while useful wasn’t what was needed here. What our new photographer really needed was a better understanding of how to see the light was affecting her image and how to use her camera.

What I am saying is our photographer didn’t get the image right in her camera. In fact she wasn’t even close with bad backlighting, deep shadows on her subject and a distracting background there was a lot she could do before turning on the photo editor.

Photo editors can do a lot to enhance a photo but the very best images shot by competent photographers can come right out of the camera without needing any heroic efforts to save the day.

So what did I suggest?

Lessons! Night school courses or retail store basic lessons for beginners or weekend workshops with professional photography experts would do wonders for this photographer’s growth.

When I retired after almost 60 years of professional shooting I took a series of professional level photography weekend and one-day workshops that came to my city. Best investment I’ve ever made in my professional development and amateur photographers are just as welcome. Check out Google for a workshop near you.