Hello - from Morris in Louisiana

[mjmcrae]

My name is Morris and I am a recovering photographer.

Seriously, I am here to pick up scraps of information on how to use this wonderful too.

I am 7' years old - a graduate of LSU in 196' with a BS in Electrical Engineering. I spent the first 35 years as an aerospace engineer working from Southern California - St. Louis - Houston. I have the honor of having worked on every manned space program the nation has funded (and some they didn't fund) My 'rocket science' heyday was during the Apollo program where I was involved with procedures development for lunar rendezvous and crew training for those procedures.

During my last 1' years as an aerospace engineer, I started a part-time photography business that soon grew to the point that I had to retire from engineering and devote full time to running my studio in LaPorte, TX. This was before the advent of digital photography. I used Hasselblad equipment exclusively. I think I shall never see the equavilent of images produced on those big negatives by a Carl Zeiss lens.

I sold my studio and retired from photography ten years ago, about the time the digital revolution was beginning, so I never embraced digital imaging.

The reason for retiring was to return to my home town and rescue an historic 1'' year old house that was being allowed to rot to the ground. I spent three years restoring the house and then decided I needed another job, so I am now teaching mathematics at the local high school.

Watching the digital revolution advance, I again became interested in photography - starting with a pocket sized Sony and progressing to a Sony DSLR. People saw my new digital images and looked at my old wedding albums and persuaded me to get back into wedding photography on a part time basis. I don't have the energy to establish a full service studio anymore.

So, I have recently purchased a used Nikon D7' and immediately upgraded to a D8', with an assortment of kit lenses.

I downloaded a trial version of LightRoom from the internet and last week took possesion of my purchased copy.

Having absolutely no background with PhotoShop = or any other digital manipulation software = I come here looking for any shred of useful information that I can pick up to help me with the learning curve.

I keep reading that LightRoom is 'intuitive' - and this may be so for those with digital imaging software experience, but for his newbie, I find nothing at all intuitive about it. That will change as soon as I gain some familiarity with the program I hope.

So far, I have shot two weddings, and managed to apply some histogram-driven exposure compensation to them.

My biggest problem is handling the import/export process without creating a bunch of redundant files.

I will tackle the intricacies of all the image enhancement potential incrementally.

 

[DonRicklin]

Welcome, And you could not have hit a better forum for this kind of intro to LR.

Along with your tag line, could you add all that basic System, OS and LR version plus gear to you Signature so it is there for us when you start asking more specific questions?

Don

 

[Denis Pagé]

...I used Hasselblad equipment exclusively. I think I shall never see the equavilent of images produced on those big negatives by a Carl Zeiss lens.

Welcome to the best place Morris!

With us, you will discover that Lightroom is no rocket science.
Heard of the Seitz cameras?... One can hesitate between a free trip to the Moon or getting one of these! :roll:

EDIT: Start in our Lightroom Tips & Tricks section where are some good ones for starters...

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Welcome Morris, from down here in the South Pacific were it is not so sunny today!! Guess it is heading for winter!! You will find plenty of help here to guide you in your recovery as we learn together on a daily basis!!
What an interesting career you have had!!
To help us help you could you please take a moment to fill in your signature in the "userCP' that is found in the nav-bar at the top left of the page - thanks.

We have a great little aviation industry right here in our valley where they reproduce aircraft like this:

Not quite rocket science though!!

 

[mjmcrae]

Kiwi - That looks like the first model airplane I ever made - back in 1949 - Fokker D7???

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. I have enjoyed a varied career up to now, but have been a photo-enthusiast all my life. I cannot remember a time that I didn't have an interest in taking photographs. I think my older brother influenced me - he was 9 years older and had an Argus C-3.

As soon as I was able, I bought my own C-3 and still proudly display it in a display cabinet along with a few of my other ancient favorites.

I am probably going to lurk for a while and try to get my feet under me before I bother you with sophomoric questions - but I sure got lots of em.

I have found that I retain things better if I work them out for myself - If I get to an absolute impasse, I will come running for help.

thanx again,
morris

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Don't know the model of the Fokkers, they are replicas built right here, I think mainly financed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame - he lives nearby.
How's this :

and this:

Ask questions before you get into a mess!! Most of us have been there and it can be a big hole to get out of (and smelly)!!:lol::lol:

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi Morris, welcome aboard. What a great intro!

Feel free to ask as many questions as you like - there are no stupid questions, and the place is very quiet if everyone is scared to ask. We've all been beginners at some stage.