Photoshop Elements Test

In my search for the best post production software, I have used Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture, Apple iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop CS5, and Adobe Photoshop Elements.  The photos below were edited using Photoshop Elements.  One thing I noticed about Elements was the sluggishness of the program.  I have one of the latest models of the 15-inch Macbook Pro, with a high-speed graphics card, and the program was still a little much.  Not that it affected the quality of the finished product, but it was a little frustrating to deal with.

Other than that, Elements makes the whole process pretty easy, even for beginners.  They have options that will guide you through the process of editing your photo, and if you would like to undo something you've done, it's easy.  I found myself messing around with the contrast, colors, and saturation until I reached my desired level.

The photo was taken just outside of Athens, GA (just south of The University of Georgia), in a town called Watkinsville.  It's a small town and has lots of photo opportunities.  I took advantage of the golden hour to get the lighting just right on this water tower.

RAW

Edited

Southern Fields

Body: Nikon D90
Lens: AF-S DX 18-105mm
Shutter: 1/400 sec
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 38mm
ISO: 160

I recently set out to take some photographs during the "golden hour".  Living in Athens, GA has its benefits for sure, one of them being the quantity of locations available for shooting.  Between the barns, trees, ponds, lakes, rivers, etc. that surround the city, finding the location is never the hard part, it's finding the time to go out.  I took this shot in a field on the west side of town, and focused on the vegetation in the foreground while blurring the trees in the distance.  The natural lighting in the shot was great, and no post-production work was done.  Overall, it turned out to be a pretty fun shoot.