I Need Some SERIOUS Photography Help!!!

Pachimac

Pachimac

Active member
I used to take pictures all the time with my Canon Rebel. They were really good, clear, nice pictures. Now every single picture I take look like a snapshot. A blurry iPhone shot is about what I have for a year of our lives. How do I fix pictures that are terribly bad in the past, and how do I make pictures from here on in be better?

I just got asked to be a guest CT for a wonderful designer and I want my pictures to be as beautiful as her kits!!

Here's what my pictures used to look like:
carousel_fun.jpg


Now they're like this:
mixitupchallenge_pachimac.jpg


ACK!!
 
What program are you using to scrap? I've had some luck with some actions for photoshop and, even better, radlab for photoshop. If a photo is bad, I just make it black and white or obviously adjusted with radlab.
 
gethane said:
What program are you using to scrap? I've had some luck with some actions for photoshop and, even better, radlab for photoshop. If a photo is bad, I just make it black and white or obviously adjusted with radlab.
Click to expand...

I use Photoshop CS 6. I just hate that I seem to have to do more clean up work than ever before. UGH.

What is radlab?
 
I'll see if I can find some before and after. Probably tomorrow though. Watching a bad zombie show with hubbie. Only buy rad lab on sale. That's a rule ;). Might have to be a birthday present or something.
 
I totally agree with RadLab. It changed my scrappy life. I have the PSE version. It always goes on sale the day after Thanksgiving for a few days. Sign up for their email if you're interested and they'll email you codes when they have sales. Pioneer Woman has some nice free actions. I used to use those all the time before I bought RadLab
 
gethane said:
I'll see if I can find some before and after. Probably tomorrow though. Watching a bad zombie show with hubbie. Only buy rad lab on sale. That's a rule ;). Might have to be a birthday present or something.
Click to expand...

hclappy said:
I totally agree with RadLab. It changed my scrappy life. I have the PSE version. It always goes on sale the day after Thanksgiving for a few days. Sign up for their email if you're interested and they'll email you codes when they have sales. Pioneer Woman has some nice free actions. I used to use those all the time before I bought RadLab
Click to expand...

That makes it sound scarily expensive! LOL
 
I promised examples and here are two. I did this soon after I got rad lab so my pictures are usually a little more subtle now, though not always.

No rad lab, mobile phone picture

example%20no%20rad%20lab.jpg


With rad lab editing (this is a little over sharpened but that can be fixed)

example%20with%20rad%20lab.jpg
 
oh, how great but sadly this is nothing I can afford :-(
 
I've never heard of RadLab but it seems as though its just doing a few things you can easily do in Photoshop (maybe not Elements, I don't know, never used it). Adjust your levels, bump up the saturation and sharpen your image.
 
I've had RadLab on my wishlist for a long time...I'm going to watch for their Black Friday sale, cuz my pictures need serious help, too! Especially because I'm trying to work on older, non-digital photos to catch up the kids' albums!
Pioneer Woman's actions have helped me a lot. Also CoffeeShopBlog has TONS of free actions that work in PSE.
 
Oh yes, I forgot about Coffeeshop, hers are nice too.

The things in Radlad are totally doable in PS, and PSE. But you need to know your program, and not all of us do. For me personally, editing photos is not my favorite part of scrapping. I love that I can spend 30 seconds in Radlab and get the same results that I would have spent five minutes on with PSE. I like that I can get different kinds of photo effects very quickly and easily.
 
Is Redlab sort of automated? It looks like you used either curves or levels in Photoshop in this. I do know Photoshop pretty well, so maybe I just need to remember and practice those parts of the program? I like the way redlab brightened the vibrancy!

gethane said:
I promised examples and here are two. I did this soon after I got rad lab so my pictures are usually a little more subtle now, though not always.

No rad lab, mobile phone picture

example%20no%20rad%20lab.jpg


With rad lab editing (this is a little over sharpened but that can be fixed)

example%20with%20rad%20lab.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Lisa said:
I've never heard of RadLab but it seems as though its just doing a few things you can easily do in Photoshop (maybe not Elements, I don't know, never used it). Adjust your levels, bump up the saturation and sharpen your image.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am wondering now. I'll go look when I get on the desktop and see what it offers and how it's used. I was trained on Photoshop and took a class way back when. One of my friends wrote a book on DigiScrapping with PSE and she actually used m husband's drop shadow trick in the book. I'll have to take that one out again.

I guess I was looking for a lazy way out. I need to pony up and just do it, eh?

(I am also angling to get a new camera...that will help! My poor rebel is one of the first ones! Very old)
 
craftytam said:
I've had RadLab on my wishlist for a long time...I'm going to watch for their Black Friday sale, cuz my pictures need serious help, too! Especially because I'm trying to work on older, non-digital photos to catch up the kids' albums!
Pioneer Woman's actions have helped me a lot. Also CoffeeShopBlog has TONS of free actions that work in PSE.
Click to expand...

I will check both of those out as well. Thank you.
 
hclappy said:
Oh yes, I forgot about Coffeeshop, hers are nice too.

The things in Radlad are totally doable in PS, and PSE. But you need to know your program, and not all of us do. For me personally, editing photos is not my favorite part of scrapping. I love that I can spend 30 seconds in Radlab and get the same results that I would have spent five minutes on with PSE. I like that I can get different kinds of photo effects very quickly and easily.
Click to expand...

I do know Photoshop pretty well...I just don't know that particular part really well. I guess, like learning how to make my drop shadows pop, I need to take time to fix my own pictures.

I'm also toying with shooting in RAW again and getting Aperture or Light Room. Is Aperture still around? I liked that a LOT!!!!
 
Aperature is around, but no longer supported. Apple is concentrating on their (very underpowered) Photos app now. I'll probably be switching from Aperture to Lightroom this year, though I'm not looking forward to it! (RadLab also has LR actions that work really well from what I've heard)
 
Pachimac said:
Is Redlab sort of automated? It looks like you used either curves or levels in Photoshop in this. I do know Photoshop pretty well, so maybe I just need to remember and practice those parts of the program? I like the way redlab brightened the vibrancy!
Click to expand...

Yes, it can be very automated. There's a bunch of free "recipes" that apply a mix of the options to a photo (you can adjust levels). You can also create your own look by clicking and stacking up the effects on the photo. You can then save those recipes. Which I love for those times when you have several photos with the same flaw (dark shadows or something). Then you can get them to look the same with the saved recipe.
 
Impressed with rad lab results. I've always edited my own photos. I'm not a great photographer but ( I think) a pretty good photo editor.
kelby books are God.
so is Lightroom.
M
 
Do you follow Becky Higgins from Project Life on Facebook? A while back she did a post explaining that all her pics were taken and edited on her iPhone! I think she said she used PicTapGo. I bought and and can tell a difference. Not a RadLab kind of difference, but hey it was like $2! :)
 
hclappy said:
Aperature is around, but no longer supported. Apple is concentrating on their (very underpowered) Photos app now. I'll probably be switching from Aperture to Lightroom this year, though I'm not looking forward to it! (RadLab also has LR actions that work really well from what I've heard)
Click to expand...

My husband has Abode Creative Cloud 2015, so I am pretty sure we have Lightroom.
 
So RadLab does work with PSE? I really don't want to learn a new program right now!
 
Exactly what Lisa said! I just use photoshop CS5 to edit my photos!
Lisa said:
I've never heard of RadLab but it seems as though its just doing a few things you can easily do in Photoshop (maybe not Elements, I don't know, never used it). Adjust your levels, bump up the saturation and sharpen your image.
Click to expand...
 
I might need to look into this, too. My husband takes incredible photos, but I rarely get a hold of them. Me, not so much. I definitely need help. I'm not even very good at editing them!!!
 
I was using Pioneer Woman actions, but I have a bunch of negatives I scanned where the color is really off. I've had to really adjust them in PSE. It's not hard, but I tend to take longer with them then I should! Anything to streamline the process is probably a good thing!
 
What version of PSE do you have, Tammy? And have you looked at this program yet? I looked the other day, but I've already forgotten how much it costs. Not that I have the money. Oh, wait ... I have Survivor money!!! I might know how to spend it!
 
Oh, dear heavens ... it's $149! I think I might need to get some more of those Pioneer Woman's actions for now!
 
I'm using PSE11, Bekki. Yes, RadLab is pretty pricey. I have seen it on sale, so maybe I'll watch for that! :)
Also look at CoffeeShopBlog. She has tons of free actions-all the way from just basic to artsy.
 
I have a bunch of actions, but I forget they're there, you know? Or I forget which one does what ... I should figure out a better system. As of right now, I only use them when a challenge "makes" me. It's really a shame, because my photos really could use the help every time.
 
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