Answering a recent question about photo-editing

Here's a question that was emailed to me recently. I thought I'd share my response with you in case you're also interested in photo-editing and have ever wondered a similar thing.

'Can you answer me one quick question pretty please?, Do you need the full blown Photoshop CS6 version with the kind of work you do or would elements 11 cover it?'

My answer:

Hi there - I actually use Adobe Lightroom on a daily basis to process my digital photographs and very rarely use Photoshop at all.

 

Years ago before photography was my main income source I used to spend AGES on Photoshop fiddling with photos because I was dealing with one or two photos at a time and could do that for fun. 

 

But now, regularly having to process a something like a whole wedding of  a thousand-plus photos that I might be fine-tuning to my favourite few hundred you really need to use something that is designed to work with those numbers.

 

This is where Lightroom comes in.

 

Lightroom gives me a very smooth workflow - I can import all of my photographs, quick select the ones you want to keep in a collection, if you shoot in RAW (which I recommend) you can easily batch change white balance/contrast/exposure/cropping/ or create a signature preset effect (plus more). I can export direct to my online galleries, create back ups ... everything I need to keep the workflow running smoothly which is important when you're dealing with many GBs of digital files.

 

Having said all of the above, these days if you're doing digital photography you really need to know how to use Photoshop so getting a copy is handy. To be honest, I use it more for designing my marketing materials than actually digitally manipulating the photos themselves apart from in exceptional circumstances.

 

If you're totally new to Photoshop I would get elements, learn how to drive it, and when you start making money with your photography you might invest in the full version if you found it was going to benefit you. If you're dealing with many photographs and want a great piece of software to process them I would consider Lightroom (get a free trial download from adobe to check it out).

 

Lightroom and Photoshop free download 30-day trials can be found here: http://www.adobe.com/nz/downloads/

 

Hope this helps, good luck :)

 

Warm regards

Cat

 

The room of treasures

I was terribly honoured this week to capture a photograph like I have never captured before.

The goal - a single photograph of the entire group of residents at one of my city's elderly nursing homes.

The daughter of one 100 year-old resident, who had been visiting her mother for over nine years, said she had never seen everyone all together in one room - ever.

It took the group over one and half hours to assemble, slowly inch-by-inch, carefully, sometimes painfully and always stoically zimmerframing into position all gently guided by a team of almost eight amazing staff, family and helpers!

I had my own challenges, but only technical ones: 44 people, a small and difficult space, trying to get everyone's face from a tricky angle.

This was a once only attempt, it had never happened before - it may never happen again.

And finally - over 3500 THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED years of life and love, pain and joy,  all brought together in this one moment!

I tell you, it makes my heart melt.

If you've got a special elderly person in your life, give them an extra snuggle today from me :)

Thank you to Wendy, Nick, Ali and the whole team who made this happen.

Such an incredibly special moment (click the pic to make it bigger)                                ©catbrownphotography 2013

A fishy family montage!

Say hello to Lisa, Simon, Alex and Toby who invited me to photograph them recently at their (and when I say their, I'm pretty sure I mean mainly the boys') regular fishing spot near Evans Bay in Wellington.

After our super relaxed and fun shoot, the family chose to take advantage of our new montage service and selected their favourite shots from the day which were carefully designed into a modern montage...this one was 28 inchs long and printed on luscious cold-press paper to create a super cool one-of-a-kind signed print.

And, in the spirit of DIY I believe Simon will be doing the framing to create the finished artwork.
I can't wait to see how it looks on the wall!

xx Cat

PS although no fish were caught on the line, Alex rather spectacularly caught a tiny one in his hands ... !!! Impressive.

375 Great reasons to have a family portrait this Easter

LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE. BOOK NOW: catbrownphoto@xtra.co.nz

Shelly & Glen's Wedding, Gisborne. NZ

I want to start off by saying that Shelly is my hairdresser. And, as we all know, a good hairdresser (and Shelly is an exceptionally good hairdresser) is very hard to find.
SO, I was feeling an awful lot of pressure to photograph her wedding just right...you know, sharp scissors, near head.
A lot of pressure.

Through snipping and blowdrying over the last year or so Shelly's kept me updated about her wedding dress and her fabulous find with the bridesmaids' dresses, the cars that had been lovingly restored by the boys, the citrus-themed bouquet and table decorations (to match the citrus orchard that Glen worked at and his family owned), the carefully crafted bar and restored vintage stereogram (which had been brought back to life with a new electronic interior), the gardens that were being carefully groomed, and the incredible construction work that had been down turning an old sideless shed into a gorgeous tropical bure-style reception and party area.

In fact it wasn't until a short time before the wedding that I actually met Glen, and boy, he's a keeper.
And he LOVEs Shelly to pieces. I mean, really, truly dotes on her.

What made their day extra special was that it was also Glen's parent's wedding anniversary.
30 years to the day, on exactly the same spot. True story. Sigh.

Here are some images from their day. Enjoy.

Could Shelly look any happier??!!

Love the juxtaposition of the star on the jeep and our star-crossed lovers! And how handsome is Glen!

Couldn't resist this silhouette shot as Shelly and Glen snuck a quick kiss.

I LOVE Shelly's lucky horse shoe tattoo - looks like it worked a charm~! ;)

Shelly and Glen and their amazing bridal party had a ball at the Museum of Technology making for some fun wedding  photographs. Here the girls got all domestic with a special 'tea' party.

Glen and the boys were right in their element

This is definitely one of my favourite photos of the day.

Glen and Shelly + patient guests + a cherry picker hydralada = this fabulous memory

A big thank you to everybody at the wedding for helping with our special group photograph and to Glen and Shelly for inviting us to capture their amazing wedding, and to Ali for being the best second shooter and parasol carrier ever. x Cat

'High Kicks' A new limited-edition fine art print by Cat Brown

Big shoes to fill, these.

A big future too. 

You'll go far, lad, you'll go far

'High Kicks' by Cat Brown
Limited-edition fine art print

(Signed and numbered prints on delicious thick cold-press fine art paper - edition limited to 10)

Free delivery worldwide.

Select your size

A3 $150.00 NZD A2 $175.00 NZD A1 $225.00 NZD A0 $299.00 NZD

Postcards from Venice

Eating gelato, strolling across the pont di Rialto, a fresh breeze rolling along the canal.
Venice, magic.

And, beautiful backwaters.
Venice-style.