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One question that pops up very regularly is what post-processing software to use. It’s a tough one to answer, considering that we all have different styles and skill levels, along with the fact that one piece of software is usually not always going to be enough. However, when it comes down to it, I almost always recommend that photographers give Lightroom a try before diving head-first into other programs. It’s great for almost everything … a good place to edit RAW files, as well as other cool things (printing, syncing, etc.).

The thing about Lightroom (which could also be said of Aperture, btw) is that it is not only good as a RAW processing tool. This software shines as an organizational tool, and in my opinion is the main reason why it is one of the best tools out there for photographers. Lightroom is a database, a place to store, file, sort, collect and organize image files. Trust me. If you saw the long list of images I have organized into collections for all of the books & eBooks, portfolios, presets, and other projects I have on my to-do list, you would totally understand. Sometimes it feels like the majority of writing an educational photography book consists of searching for the right photograph to use as an example image, and Lightroom is the best tool on the market to do just that.

That’s where the photo above comes into play. I was searching through my old images in Lightroom, just looking around, saw this beauty and decided to process it and share it online. It’s a three-frame HDR image that I photographed over two years ago while still living in Utah. I have a few other images I had processed from the same spot, but overlooked this one for some strange reason. I guess I just got too wrapped up the in the images I had already processed, and then stopped looking right after that. I’m really glad I stumbled across it, and I think I’ll continue searching for other older images I had missed the first time around.

One question that pops up very regularly is what post-processing software to use. It’s a tough one to answer, considering that we all have different styles and skill levels, along with the fact that one piece of software is usually not always going to be enough. However, when it comes down to it, I almost always recommend that photographers give Lightroom a try before diving head-first into other programs. It’s great for almost everything … a good place to edit RAW files, as well as other cool things (printing, syncing, etc.).

The thing about Lightroom (which could also be said of Aperture, btw) is that it is not only good as a RAW processing tool. This software shines as an organizational tool, and in my opinion is the main reason why it is one of the best tools out there for photographers. Lightroom is a database, a place to store, file, sort, collect and organize image files. Trust me. If you saw the long list of images I have organized into collections for all of the books & eBooks, portfolios, presets, and other projects I have on my to-do list, you would totally understand. Sometimes it feels like the majority of writing an educational photography book consists of searching for the right photograph to use as an example image, and Lightroom is the best tool on the market to do just that.

That’s where the photo above comes into play. I was searching through my old images in Lightroom, just looking around, saw this beauty and decided to process it and share it online. It’s a three-frame HDR image that I photographed over two years ago while still living in Utah. I have a few other images I had processed from the same spot, but overlooked this one for some strange reason. I guess I just got too wrapped up the in the images I had already processed, and then stopped looking right after that. I’m really glad I stumbled across it, and I think I’ll continue searching for other older images I had missed the first time around.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

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