Lightroom Here I Come

Picasa has always been my photo editing software of choice.  Some of you may remember Rick Doyle of the blogging world.  While his political views and the way he expressed his views were outside my comfort level he did offer such good advice on Picasa and photo management.  I’ve used his instructions for years without a hitch until lately when Picasa has started to import my photos into odd places.  My yesterday photos went into a folder labeled January 14, 2014.  That’s weird enough but when I go to find those photos in Picasa so I can edit, that folder is nowhere to be found.  So–Lightroom here I come.

When Sue and Mo were here Sue gave me a quick tutorial of the photo editing software program, Lightroom.  In addition Sue loaned me a DVD tutorial with multiple videos detailing how Lightroom works.  The Cowboy and I don’t like subscription programs–pay per month/year for extra cloud storage, pay per month/year for software such as Microsoft Office.  So, I purchased an actual DVD of Lightroom–version 6, the last to be released on disk.  From this release forward Adobe will only sell Lightroom as a subscription program.

I’ve watched several of the how to videos and understand the storage system which is similar to Picasa.  Yesterday I decided to jump in and just try it.  I all ready LOVE some of the features and I LOVE the crispness of my photos.  Picasa made importing and then deleting photos from your camera card very easy.  Lightroom does NOT delete photos from your camera card–that’s the only glitch I’ve discovered so far that I don’t particularly like.  I just made myself go find the manual for my camera–stored on my iPad–and figure out how to delete multiple photos at once with the camera. Problem solved.  The following photos were taken while the gang was visiting–one chilly morning walk.

Wednesday went by in a blur, the Cowboy is learning a new technique for him–“knockdown drywall finishing”–that’s our builder friend Terry’s term for rough, make it look like plaster drywall finishing.  Louanne and Dan have the textured walls in their house and the Cowboy has been practicing on two of our walls–I’m thinking he’s got the technique down pat!

Here’s one of the kind of photos I love–good friends having fun–Tom was in charge of grilling but all the other guys were certainly giving him advice! Our friend Sandy took this photo.

Thursday we took a drive to Tucson and purchased steel for the porch roof supports and for supports for the evaporative cooler.  Of course we did the Walmart and Costco thing too.  As you know we are big fans of Walmart’s grocery app–order and pay for your groceries online, chose a pickup day/time, get a text when your order is ready, text back that you are on your way and Walmart starts tracking you.  As you drive into the parking lot for grocery pickup someone is opening the door and bringing your groceries out to your car.  This didn’t happen yesterday.  There were six vehicles parked waiting for grocery pickup–usually there is no one waiting.  One lady said they only brought out one half her order.  Walmart always sends an email asking for feedback about the pickup process.  I nicely explained on the survey that our pickup experience was not up to the usual par.  I received a very nice email in response along with a $10 coupon to be used on our next pickup order–nice!

Friday the Cowboy started pouring concrete for the support footings.  Saturday we set one of the supports for the evaporative cooler–

I even dug one of the holes!!

Friday evening we enjoyed another fabulous dinner with Louanne and Dan.  Saturday evening we are heading over to Joe and Sue’s–our nearest neighbors–for a cookout.  Two nights not having to make dinner is a wonderful thing!

In trying to become familiar with Lightroom I’ve made some mistakes–obviously!  My photos are too small now and I’ve struggled with it for over an hour–so they are what they are for tonight!