Lightroom

I finally decided to give Lightroom a try. Currently, I am taking advantage of the free trial period. I edited a photo of the same Anna's hummingbird, which you have already seen in my posts about photo editing with Pixlr and PicMonkey. I will say that I did not achieve the results I was looking for (besides for the fact that I am still figuring out how to use this new cool tool) but I am pleased with it.

Spotted Sandpiper

PicMonkey

Here's the same photo of the Anna's Hummingbird edited with PicMonkey. No doubt the results are better; at least, to my eye. However, this was still not what I was aiming for. I will have to try to edit this same photo with Lightroom and compare all 3 softwares.

What do you think?

 A second version of the edit with PicMonkey. Still not quite doing it for me. Those oranges are so distracting and bright. *urgh*

I think the time has come to get new photo editing software. I have been using Pixlr (it's free, easy to use, and super cool), which is great but it is now limited to what I need to achieve when editing my photos. I am not very satisfied with the results on this one; to make the subject stand out, I ended up with these deep and weird oranges :/ Also, I'd have liked to be able to brighten the reds on the subject's face. I have heard of Lightroom and seems like a good investment, but I think I'll try PicMonkey before making that investment.

PicMonkey is also free and easy to use but it. Is. Just. So. Sloooooooow...

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna), adult male
Nikon D3200
70-300mm lens

Spring = Birds :)

I found this little guy eating and drinking in this beautiful garden in my neighborhood. The light wasn't so good but the colors and the garden set up were perfect and I couldn't pass this opportunity.

Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla), male
Nikon D3200
70-300mm lens

Centennial Trail

Beautiful trail in Skagit County.