I have a great interest in photography, I don't have a career in photography but I treat it more as a hobby. Ive taken it a lot more serious in a sense that I want to better and step up my photography game. I own a canon 60D and a few prime lenses, I've taken the leap into shooting in RAW and have really seen the benefits in post editing my shots. My question to any professionals or anyone actually working in the photography field, how should I go about finalizing my edits, the steps I should be taking to finalize my photos (file formats I should be saving etc)? I use Adobe Lightroom and dabble a little bit in Aperture and Capture One.
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To finalise your photos, print them!
It kind of depends what you want to do with your images. I shoot in RAW and then edit with the software that best fits my end goal. I keep all my images in LR and probably do 90% of my editing in there. Personally I find it easier to become proficient at one editing package than use all of the ones I have (DXO, OnOne, Nik, Macphun, Pixelmater).
If you are sharing online, export as JPEG. Otherwise print them and enjoy them.
I agree with this comment. Specifically around the plugins. I too use light room and have a collection of add ins from NIK, macPhun and VSCO. To be honest, LR does all you need.
What you want to learn is the style of image you like, do you like bright and bold or muted and vintage for example. Then learn the sliders and curves so you know how to reproduce those looks.
After this it is a case of see I an image and learning to spot the signs of post e.g. increased contrast, dropped blacks, grain added.
Different images have different workflows but basically in LR, I have idea of what each slider does, and I don't use them all, then I go top to bottom and tweak each one in turn to apply settings.
Unfortunately you have to experiment. Failing that, if for example you like a particular look as I do with Fuji Velvia film, then something like VSCO can help but i encourage you to experiment and like Apple Fanboy has said, print your pictures, enjoy them. That is something I don't do enough of. I never print my images but I know I should.
What you want to learn is the style of image you like, do you like bright and bold or muted and vintage for example. Then learn the sliders and curves so you know how to reproduce those looks.
After this it is a case of see I an image and learning to spot the signs of post e.g. increased contrast, dropped blacks, grain added.
Different images have different workflows but basically in LR, I have idea of what each slider does, and I don't use them all, then I go top to bottom and tweak each one in turn to apply settings.
Unfortunately you have to experiment. Failing that, if for example you like a particular look as I do with Fuji Velvia film, then something like VSCO can help but i encourage you to experiment and like Apple Fanboy has said, print your pictures, enjoy them. That is something I don't do enough of. I never print my images but I know I should.
The most important thing is figuring out what you are going to do with the photos.
I would recommend getting a Flickr and updating it regularly. Much simpler and easier than a traditional website.
So if online portfolio is your goal then get the shot to the point where you are happy with it and export it for online.
If you don't have a goal like this you would probably import the shots, tinker a bit and never really complete them.
Leave the raws as is in your photo editor and always export JPEG.
Make sure you've got a few backups and you should be sweet! Incidentally, the reason I have Flickr is that if everything did go down the pan in a freak accident I still have reasonable large files of the last few years of shots.
I would recommend getting a Flickr and updating it regularly. Much simpler and easier than a traditional website.
So if online portfolio is your goal then get the shot to the point where you are happy with it and export it for online.
If you don't have a goal like this you would probably import the shots, tinker a bit and never really complete them.
Leave the raws as is in your photo editor and always export JPEG.
Make sure you've got a few backups and you should be sweet! Incidentally, the reason I have Flickr is that if everything did go down the pan in a freak accident I still have reasonable large files of the last few years of shots.
Printing and continued education
I agree with others who say printing. It's a final step, showing that the photo is complete and you're done with it. I just took a 10 week digital photo class where we had a weekly assignment and a final project. I REALLY like having a weekly assignment to focus on. I have a style, but the assignments really branched me out of my comfort zone and made me explore new things. Even if you don't take a class maybe hold yourself accountable for a weekly or bi-monthly assignment with a goal of learning something new from the assignment. For our final project, we had to print and mat at least 5 of our images. It's incredibly satisfying to see those final prints matted and I even framed a couple of them. It's just such a nice sense of accomplishment and pride.
I agree with others who say printing. It's a final step, showing that the photo is complete and you're done with it. I just took a 10 week digital photo class where we had a weekly assignment and a final project. I REALLY like having a weekly assignment to focus on. I have a style, but the assignments really branched me out of my comfort zone and made me explore new things. Even if you don't take a class maybe hold yourself accountable for a weekly or bi-monthly assignment with a goal of learning something new from the assignment. For our final project, we had to print and mat at least 5 of our images. It's incredibly satisfying to see those final prints matted and I even framed a couple of them. It's just such a nice sense of accomplishment and pride.
Where would I go to let's say make a huge prints of some photos I've taken. I don't own a large scale printer for prints I want to achieve...
Just google quality photo printing for your area. Here in Seattle we have several professional places that do printing. I'm a member of the Photo Center NW and they do amazing printing for reasonable prices.