Working with digital images

[fairways]

I've been mainly a Picasa photo-editor;have recently ventured into Elements 4- (3.5 manuals on latter), with limited success. Photo file system is disorganized, and I'm a wee bit technophobic ( British understatement).

In-house gurus have variously suggested switching to Lightroom (2 votes) and avoiding it as far too complex (1 vote).

I would like to -most of the time -keep photo-editing simple e.g. "crop/use levels/unsharp mask only"...as suggested by Gail.
I do need better organization of my files-which I'm told Lightroom offers. Ease of printing-and flexible printing choices- are also important.

Should I learn to master Elements 4, and stay away from Lightroom...at least for now?

Love to shoot with D50/ TZ3 and have CANON photo printer. Do not love to post-process, though. Yikes.

Thanks for any suggestions !!!!

Freddie

[Mike54]

Lightroom is probably a very nice package but considering that Elements 5 can be had for under $100 as can Paint Shop Pro I know I wouldn't be springing for it (and for what you want to do Elements 4 should be fine). Edit your photos there and continue to use Picassa for organization.
That said I should say that for some reason I've always been a bit put off by the Adobe layout/work flow. I'm much more comfortable with Paint Shop Pro (and it does all I need it to do).

$.02

[ShutterbugGail]

I totally agree with Mike. I keep my photos organized with Picasa and edit with Photoshop 7. My workflow is so basic that my current editing program does just fine. Elements probably has more features and tools that you'll ever use. You can always upgrade later if your editing needs go from simple to complex.

Save the money and use it to buy some accessories for your TZ3.  

[Deb]

Here's my 2 cents worth. I use Portfolio for organizing and as a launch point. From there I convert my RAW images in either DxO or PS, then process in PS if necessary. The trick is to find a workflow that works for you; the way you think. Elements gives you a lot of photo editing potential. Just use the functions you're comfortable with and grow into the rest as your needs and interest evolve.    Use Picasa for organizing since you're used to it and like it. Lightroom does combine an organizer with a launch point, a converter as well as editor. You may not need all that. You can always download the demo and play with it for a while. Then see what "feels" good to you. Stick with what fits.  

[fairways]

You've been very helpful. I will stay with Picasa, and likely learn more about using Photoshop Elements...for the time being.

BTW, when you save an image that you've edited in Photoshop, which format should you use? PSD or other?
Can where you save lead to disorganization of your file storage or external HD back-up...which I think I managed somehow !!

[ShutterbugGail]

BTW, when you save an image that you've edited in Photoshop, which format should you use? PSD or other?
Can where you save lead to disorganization of your file storage or external HD back-up

Sometimes I save both. The PSD file is the native Photoshop/Elements file. If you use layers* when editing, it will save all those layers that you can go back and tweak later if you wish. I also do a Save As and save the file as a jpeg, which I display in an online gallery. These files are kept in the My Folders directory.

Everyone has their own workflow but I generally have a number of directories where I save my files. For example, when preparing graphics for this site, I have a folder within the Digicamhelp folder for PSD and image files. For general photo taking, I save jpegs and and PSD file in an appropriately named file, eg. Grandson's Birthday.

There is no right or wrong way to store photos, just do it in a way that is intuitive to you so you can find an image or file type when you need to.

I burn my images into a CD as a back up put I also recently bought a small, portable 80 GB hard drive.

Moderator Deb wrote an article about her method or organizing and archiving photos:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/processing-photos/organize-archive/

*btw, if you're not familiar with layers, here's a very, VERY basic tutorial:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/processing-photos/advanced-editing/layers.php


RELATED READING: Preserving EXIF data when saving an image
http://www.digicamhelp.com/processing-photos/basic-editing/preserve-exif.php

[Deb]

BTW, when you save an image that you've edited in Photoshop, which format should you use? PSD or other?
Can where you save lead to disorganization of your file storage or external HD back-up...which I think I managed somehow !!

The key here is to save your file in an uncompressed format whether it be as a PSD or TIFF (with layers preserved). This will serve as your "master" file from which you can print, resize for electronic viewing or emailing, etc. These additional versions you'll want to "save as" so as NOT to overwrite your master file.

As to where to save your files, use whatever folder hierarchy makes sense to you.    For instance, my hierarchy is based on "shoots" and I've designated specific drives for photos only. Inside of each "shoot" folder are the original images (sorted by date shot), then one folder for "masters", one folder for resized "JPGs 5x7 at 96ppi" for emailing, etc. I keyword them so that if I want to find every frame I've ever shot of say a bear (or more generally, mammal), I can find them quickly. I also fill in data fields such as location, copyright, among other things. Adding notes to a shoot or to individual photo files are very helpful as well, for instance "this pupfish population is genetically isolated".

Using your organizing software with a hierachy that works for you will make reviewing and later, finding a specific image(s), easier and more enjoyable.  

The neat thing too is that you can always revise your folder scheme so don't feel like it's got to be perfect from the get go. You can always fine tune it as you go.