Why I Love Photoshop

This could very well be an utterly boring post for you to read on this cold, dark, barren, snow dusted Monday or it could just perk you up if you have any interests with photography and tweaking pictures. I have to share my love of playing with my Adobe Photoshop Elements program. It is a huge step up from Corel or Dell Paint shop or other picture programs that either came with your computer or one you bought or downloaded from the internet. And there are other free programs out there like Picassa, or Flickr's Picnik, they are pretty basic, no extremely basic in comparison to Photoshop. While they can add contrast or saturation or cute frames or some sharpness to your photo, they have nothing over Photoshop. Nothing I said, nada, zilch! Photoshop is that kick arse.
Now I just have PS(photoshop) Elements 6, not the more elaborate CS3 or Adobe Lightroom program that costs an arm and a leg. However if you are needing something on your Dear Santa list then by all means, break his bank and beg for those. However I am currently quite content with my Elements program. Quite content indeed.
PS is so addicting and fun, once you learn it. And I mean once you learn it, get past how to use it and how to go about tweaking your pictures and make a picture go from good to awesome or as I say to myself "that's much better". When I purchased my program last winter after seeing posts about it over on PW's site , I saved my Staple rebate coupons and made a purchase. I downloaded the program and then sat and looked at the screen and shrieked, shivered, and shook, because I had no idea what I had just bought! How does this program work? How do I make my pictures look like PW's? Then I let the program sit on my computer for a month chewing on my hard drive, taking up space. I would open it, click on some stuff, then close the program in frustration. I tried to mimic some of what I had learned from reading the above mentioned website, and himmed and hawed over what I was trying to accomplish, then I ignored my PS purchase another couple weeks. I even went so far as purchasing the PS missing manual book over on Amazon.com. Big mistake, because unless you like reading a book that is almost 3 inches thick and reminds you of your sociology book from college, you ain't gonna get very far. Thus I renamed that book the BS missing manual. Then, by an act of you know who, I found the answer to my prayers. I found the bible to Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. A book by the imfamous Scott Kelby, a huge photography and photoshop guru, and two books I own and reread at least 3 times a day. "The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers". LLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAA! I sang out loud once I opened that book and suddenly lightbulbs and flashes went off in my head and I was now on my way to understanding my PS program. I was free from duh-ness!
Let me show you how fun PS really is. If you are totally bored with this, then leave now, or if you think I'm just a complete weirdy, that's okay, or if you like looking at pictures of nothing, keep reading.


The above picture is straight from my camera, meaning I've done nothing to it all, no tweaking, meaning, no exposure fixing, no contrast adjusting, no saturation levels moved, nothing.

Here is that same picture tweaked. In case you are at all wondering, yes my camera is set to shoot in RAW format, because(this is the best part) you can open your picture in PS and fix any white balance problems, exposure issues, add contrast, saturation, clarity, vibrance, etc, before you even start tweaking with layers in the program. I added Soft Light to this picture, some contrast and maybe some saturation, and voila, an improvement.

This is actually a tire well or cover on an old, beat up, no kidding trailer we actually still own. I keep telling Yooper to either sell it or ship it off to the recycling center for its steel. So straight out of the camera shot SOOC.

Here's the after. A little art deco no? I added Soft Light again to this, which I just adore using. Adds a bit of sha-zam!

Joys of living on a farm, you can find some interesting things to photograph, especially on this old farm. SOOC shot here........

.......and after in Photoshop. Neato mosquito hey? I used to say that when I was like 9 or 10, sounded cool. Soooooooooo moving on......

Can you guess what this is? Come on, you know what it is, its so obvious!
SOOC shot before....................

..............and after. I used the Soft Light mode twice on this to bring out the rusty sharpness on the, watcha-ma-call-it. Rusty sharpness. Ponder those words for a second. Okay so its a kicker thingy on a manure spreader, you know, kicks the poo out of the spreader. Comprendez vous?

I love this old handle on one of our little barn doors. I'm thinking of removing it and putting it on our laundry room door. That would freak Yooper right out. This thing is old, but so interesting, and such a bland picture. SOOC shot before.............

...........and VOILA, after. How fun is that? Okay you don't have to answer that, I'm sure you are ready to hit the red X on your monitor now and read someone else's more interesting blog or hear how today's stock market opened or find out what type of coat to wear outside through the Weather Channel or read about Shaq's ejection from last night's game against the Pistons(Muuuwwwhhhhaaaa).

So that's my little diddy on Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. I love photography, love PS and I rest my case. Have a great day!