Camera Labs

Another thing you could do is to shoot in RAW. It's okay if you slightly underexpose it since you can recover more later with whatever program you use.

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Hello, my name is Jay.
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It's definitely a good start!

As far as photo editing goes....Lightroom is a great program for managing AND editing your photos, and it's cheaper than photoshop

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Lightroom is not photoshop, and are complementary to each other. If you want to edit photos, photoshop has the most capability. Lightroom is more for minor tweaks as far as editing is concerned, but its main selling point is on the organisation side.

I've found the cheap Photoshop Elements adequate for my needs for the 18 months or so since I got a DSLR.

Adobe do demo versions of their software so you can try all of them before deciding.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I know the difference Popo, and I have both. But truth be told I use lightroom for all my pictures, and photoshop for...maybe 2 percent.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Agreed... I have corel photopaint as well as photoshop CS4... since I have gotten lightroom about 9 months ago I rarely open the other 2. Get a student version through the nearest university and it only costs about $125.00 canadian up here.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

My Photosuite can not do as well as you did.. So I suppose software is in order. I read that there is software that will also correct some of the "fisheye" effect. I plan on getting a Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED AF DX Fisheye Nikkor Lens "in the distant future" so that will be a consideration as well. Again, thanks for your input & encouragement !

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BILLFO OMAHA NE.
D5000
35mm AF-S f/1.8G / 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF / 18-55 f/3.5-5.6G / Gorillapod w/Remote / Slingshot 200 AW "Red"

I think DxO optics is the best program for correcting distortion (including the fisheye effect) It also does a lot of edits, so look into that, they have a trial available for free.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Citruspers, that wasn't targeted at you, just a general statement.

Looking again at the above I think it might be time for me to give the Lightroom trial another go. The last time I looked at it, I don't recall editing going much beyond raw conversion which is where PS comes in.

On the distortion correction, DxO will automatically do it if the lens and camera are both supported. But if you only need to go to 10mm wide angle or so, why not get a rectilinear (not fisheye) lens to start with as they do go to 10mm.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Misunderstood that Popo, my bad
Lightroom is really powerful once you look further than just "camera raw+ bridge".

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

RAW is something I know nothing about.. But will check into it. So as the name inplies- that is the initial state of the photos after I have presssed the shutter ? Enhancements should be done at this RAW state ?

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BILLFO OMAHA NE.
D5000
35mm AF-S f/1.8G / 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF / 18-55 f/3.5-5.6G / Gorillapod w/Remote / Slingshot 200 AW "Red"

you can shoot in jpeg or raw and you can also shoot both modes at once with some cameras...

this is a touchy subject as ppl feel different about which to shoot in and if raw is really nessessary.

If you shoot in raw your image sizes will be huge.... 15+ megabytes per image file depending on the camera. Jpeg your image file size will be between 3 to 6 megabytes depending on camera.

Simply put when you shoot in jpeg the file is compressed by the camera loosing some of the base info about the shot allowing for less manipulation to the image later on... when you shoot in raw all data is saved allowing you more abilities when editing your image later on...

there are several threads here on camera labs already dedicated to the raw vs jpeg discussion... one very recent one.

again... opinions vary on this and discussions get heated.

I personally shoot in jpeg mode 99% of the time but that is what I think I need to photograph wildlife as I am constantly shooting in continuous mode at the fastest speed. I also feel that if you know your equipment well and know how to use it when it comes to light and other variables raw is not needed.. but.. that is just my opinion.. many will disagree with me on this and many will agree.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

Wolfsong, think you meant megabytes not megapixels up there. jpeg and raw at least generally keep the same spatial dimension.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

yup.. thanks popo

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

Thanks for the intro to RAW.. I will read thru the other posts about Raw & JPEG so I wont ask duplicate questions.. This DSLR stuff is really getting interesting !!! Thanks again

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BILLFO OMAHA NE.
D5000
35mm AF-S f/1.8G / 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF / 18-55 f/3.5-5.6G / Gorillapod w/Remote / Slingshot 200 AW "Red"