Tweaky Posted May 28, 2013 Posted May 28, 2013 Software for Photography/ VIDEO/GRAPHIC ART has become similar to cables for HiFi. Some swear that you can get the same result/job -done using OLDER CS3 etc stuff. Others say "Try the NEW stuff - It's better". I suppose both are correct actually, but in their own way, it comes down to usage. Are You a Power user? Do You know a old version of a current program so well that you feel that you don't need to upgrade? Has that program knowledge come about solely by personal usage over time? OR Have you ever taken a Training Course? , be it Work Trained by a Person, or some version of a Video Tutorial? Has that Training course helped out? Would you know a fraction of the things taught in even the briefest training course if left to your own devices? I'm interested in why people want to upgrade a product that usually they don't have a full functioning knowledge of HOW it WORKS in the first place.
Al Leece Posted May 29, 2013 Posted May 29, 2013 I had an old copy of Photoshop 6 for a while and used it for really basic stuff. This continued until I did an informal photography course (two Saturdays) that gave photo taking hints and tips, details on digital cameras and also post-processing basics in Photoshop. After that I used PS for batch handling numbers of photographs, more advanced tweaks (colour balance and contrast, etc.) and a lot of experimenting. I later took a TAFE Digital Media course that introduced features of more of the Adobe suite. I also splashed out on the student edition of CS4. That course pointed me at even more PS features, including layers and masking, and I learned a lot more how to configure Adobe products and menus to get the best out of how I use them. Courses definitely give you a great insight into what other possibly useful things your program can do for you. Couple that with the sheer amount of tutorial stuff out there on YouTube and similar and you can really get a feel for your program. As a result, I don't feel the need to upgrade my software - it certainly does all that I need it to. One of the big features of Photoshop in CS4 over V6 was the "healing" feature to touch up photo's - that was not present in V6 and it is much quicker to tweak pixels using that than just the clone stamp tool. For professionals, though, there could well be good reasons to upgrade just from making workflows several seconds or minutes quicker; when manipulating large quantities of shots that makes a heck of a difference. For the average Joe, though, probably worth staying with an earlier version if it is already bought and paid for.
hired goon Posted May 29, 2013 Posted May 29, 2013 I've got LR4 and CS6 and gotta admit that I am still a n00b. My tweaks are limited to a bit of exposure and contrast fiddling, and using content-aware fill to remove unwanted elements. I had PS Elements and it was much easier to do stuff like remove distortion, etc. Maybe I should look at some of these online tutorials ... --Geoff
Keith Anderson Posted May 30, 2013 Posted May 30, 2013 I been using PS for as long as I remember and Lightroom since it's inception as well, I teach both LR and PS classes and use the latest of both programs. I use Lightroom for a lot of work but when it comes to high end portrait retouching I'll alway use PS, much more control over. Learning both now days is easier than when I first started, you can search the net to find answer to things like Luminosity Masks, Porcelain Skin Techniques etc.
Addicted to music Posted June 1, 2013 Posted June 1, 2013 My son loves and constantly use LIght Room, nice for quick exposure corrections!
Keith Anderson Posted June 1, 2013 Posted June 1, 2013 Ha then he might need some lessons on proper exposure control, I learnt on a 4x5 camera shooting Slide film and with a Pentax Spot meter. no such thing back then as fixing exposure, if you got it wrong it cost you $10 in film and processing. Not having a go at him though, I do think digital has made people lazy in getting correct exposure with the idea of I'll fit it later
Iano Posted June 1, 2013 Posted June 1, 2013 Yep - I've done about 15 hours worth of Lightroom and Adobe CS5 training by a seasoned pro. Unless you're a serious amateur and/or semi-pro, this is overkill. And to add my personal spice to "can you get by with an older version" No. Absolutely not! Lightroom is now so ridiculously powerful, and phenomenal value for money. With each release, the Adobe boffins constantly tweak and improve the algorithms, and if you shoot in RAW versus standard JPEG, the latest version just keeps digging out more and more detail. Photoshop 6 (released in 1998) compared to the latest version of Lightroom is like putting a Leyland P76 next to Lexus IS250. Chalk.And.Cheese.Folks.
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