Addicted to photos, and Photoshop

When I started using Photoshop (in the early ’90’s), I found that a large part of my enjoyment of photography became the editing and enhancing of my photos. Once I switched to a digital camera from film, my love affair with PShop soared even higher. I still use a scanner for some of my old prints, but all of my current photography quickly moves from my memory card to my computer. I was never very accomplished in the wet darkroom, and am content with the digital darkroom.

If you enjoy editing photos, there are lots of related sites and forums on the internet, but I have found RetouchPro.com to be a good choice. RetouchPro is a truly friendly forum — family-safe with rules against obscene language and flaming. There are moderated forums for photography, photo retouching, restoration of old/damaged photos, compositing-montage/collage, photo art, and HDR. Some members make a living in retouching or photography, some members are trying to find a paying job in the field, and a lot of us are hobbyists. It’s easy to spend hours each day working on photos that have been uploaded as practice Challenges or photos submitted by members who ask for help fixing a damaged photo. I wasn’t in favor of the photo-art forum being added at first, but I soon realized the skills required were serious, and the results could be creative and beautiful. Photo art is now one of the most popular forums on the site, and has become a part of professional photographers’ products.

Thanks to dogs, cats, and cameras – I do have to get up and away from the computer for a while each day. Of course the rest of the internet also tempts me to stay longer at the computer when I close down PShop (and now Lightroom) — being a generalist, I can find something of interest any time I open my browser. I am often telling my dog that I know it’s time for another walk – “just let me finish this post. … and check FBook, and the weather, and my email again, and maybe the news for just a second…”

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