New to photography!

[stealth]

Well decided to join the photography corner. I just purchased a Canon 80D with a 18-135mm and 55-250mm lenses .

I was wondering what are you guys using for photo processing?

I have heard of light room, but it seems when I go to the Adobe site, it is a monthly subscription? Is Photoshop still the go to program?

Any tips or tricks would be appreciated. I am mostly going to be shooting my kids, and vacations.

[The_Penguin]

As far as I know you can still buy Lightroom outright, it's hard to find on their web.

I have both Lightroom and Photoshop, I pretty much only use Lightroom, unless I need to do something really advanced with layers or such.
Really love the product!

[GingeRRRBeef]

If you're just started out, I would highly recommend checking out some videos on how to use your camera.

Tony & Chelsea Northrup's channel on youtube is very informational.

Beginning Photography Essentials:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwIVS3_dKVpsyZJ-BhsCHwTj8Y6PEAurc

Canon 80D Overview Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFigFMdi58

[GingeRRRBeef]

Also, picking up a 50mm or 35mm (full frame equivalent) is highly recommended

[rage2]

Lightroom outright purchase sucks now. The version updates they block off new features. Only the monthly subscription license gets new features. Such a rip off.

[stealth]

Thanks for the links and info guys.

GingeRRRBeef, I will most likely look at getting some additional lenses once I get some more experience under my belt.

rage2 I guess it might be worth the $10/month then.

[finboy]

I also have an 80d, check out the 10-18mm ef-s lens, really fun for not much money! I would also look on the used market for canon's pancake 24 & 40mm lenses, and the 50mm f1.8 STM. These lenses are cheap but will allow you to work in lower light much better than the kit lens.

For tips, check out back button focusing, really good considering you have kids. Tony and Chelsea Northrup have a good video explaining it.

[ga16i]

I mostly use Adobe Lightroom as well. The Photography package comes with Lightroom and Photoshop for $9.99 USD / month. I use it enough to justify that expenditure. I like Lightroom for the sliders and ease of use. e.g., the cropping feature is much better than what I find in Photoshop for photos. I only open up Photoshop for things like layers and stuff that requires lots of clicking e.g., dodge & burn or cloning out stuff or fancy selection mask

Tips:
Don't buy anything until you actually need it. The photos you actually take will let you know what you need to buy.

Practice and get good on your phone (composition, choosing how bright a photo should be, holding the camera steady, etc) haha, you'll probably have it on you way more than an 80D.

Slow down, think about how you want the final picture to look and think about how you'd achieve that starting with where to put what on the frame. Technique and settings are secondary.

[blitz]

Originally posted by ga16i
Tips:
Don't buy anything until you actually need it. The photos you actually take will let you know what you need to buy

This.

Also, don't go crazy with lightroom. We all start out amazed by our own over saturated, over sharpened, HDR photos, then a few years later we're all embarrassed by them :rofl:

[Mitsu3000gt]

You can use the standalone versions of lightroom/PS if they support your camera. That's often how they get people to eventually sign up to their creative cloud, or with new features. $120 USD/year is pretty reasonable IMHO, and you get Lightroom AND Photoshop. I use Photoshop/ACR almost exclusively though, I find Lightroom very limiting. The exchange rate blows though, so it's $14/mo not $10 for us, but it's still worth it IMO. They have 30 day trials of everything so don't pay until you have at least tried it for a while.

Northrup is only one notch better than Ken Rockwell, saying whatever it takes to get YouTube clicks - I would avoid him personally, lots of bad information mixed in to what is disguised as helpful.

[taemo]

Originally posted by blitz


This.

Also, don't go crazy with lightroom. We all start out amazed by our own over saturated, over sharpened, HDR photos, then a few years later we're all embarrassed by them :rofl:

this +1 :rofl:

also it depends on how much post processing you want to do.
when i first started getting into photography I was shooting only JPEG and not doing any post processing at all.
few years later I started exploring PS but then LR came out and made life easier for organization and quick photo editing.

another way you could go is shoot JPEG, and edit the photos on phone or tablet. I like VSCO and Snapseed.
when travelling, this is how i quickly edit photos to quickly share on social media

[msommers]

Originally posted by blitz


This.

Also, don't go crazy with lightroom. We all start out amazed by our own over saturated, over sharpened, HDR photos, then a few years later we're all embarrassed by them :rofl:

+2 :rofl:

I really like Lightroom as it's easy to organize things and really intuitive.

Features are a plenty in LR6 , especially starting out it might even be a bit overwhelming.