I wanted to step up my photography and I received lots of advice on how to do that. Besides some valuable tips for composing and shooting, I was strongly advised to use good editing software. I thought that my experience using vector graphic software at work would give me some insight into the robust Photoshop software, so I downloaded the free trial of Photoshop and spent a month doing the tutorials and trying to learn the program. What I learned is that Photoshop is definitely more of a tool than an amateur like me needs, but Lightroom is perfect. It took another month of free online tutorials before I felt like I had a slight handle on Lightroom, but it was worth my time.
Normally, I create a calendar for Stormy each year with I think are my best photos and this year with Lightroom I was thrilled with how they turned out. When I went to pick up the test run of the calendar from my local Walgreen’s photo center, the young woman there accused me of stealing my pictures off of the internet and would not print the calendars until I signed an affidavit swearing that I had taken the photos. She claimed they were too “professional” looking. I don’t know what her qualifications are for making that determination, but I suggested that in the future she tell all of her customers that as she had made my day!
So without further ado, here are the Lightroom edited photos that I chose for Stormy’s 2014 calendar:
