So at the encouragement of some friends, I decided to try the free 7-day trial of Adobe Lightroom. It seems to have many of the adjustment characteristics of Camera Raw in Photoshop, but the interface feels much cleaner than at least my CS6 version. Additionally, I like how it helps to select photos upon upload as well as organize and sort photos within the program.

I’m realizing that there are a whole host of settings to learn, but for the moment I’m using the ‘I have no idea what I’m doing in Street Fighter so I’ll just smash buttons’ approach. Or at least the ‘try moving all the sliders and see how it affects the image’ equivalent.

I’ve also come across some YouTube videos and Adobe has a whole host of tutorials as well.

Overall I’m enjoying the experience. I will pay for at least one month as I’m figuring out my process to continue testing. Happy to hear any thoughts or tips and tricks from regular Lightroom users.

Tripod came in today, so tomorrow I think I’ll take it out for a spin.