Roger A. Dallman Jr. Roger started in photography in 1979, as a secondary job in the Army. He shot "grip and grins" and Army events. He began shooting portraits and weddings on the side for extra camera gear money. He won several photo contests and an Army journalism award. After career assignment changes, he put the cameras aside and sold his darkroom equipment. In 2006, he bought his first digital camera before a trip to Europe and was hooked again.
Today he is a dedicated Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop user-advocate and NAPP member. He is active in photography groups and teaches digital darkroom techniques. He prefers to shoot portaits away from seamless paper and static lighting. He is also a photo retoucher and restores old photos - a handy skill when working on his genealogy hobby.
Mark B. Segal. Mark started shooting when he was 13 and has done it off and on since then. As a Navy brat and then Naval Officer, I got to go to interesting places. I wish I had taken my camera more often. I love the way the camera allows you to dissect the world and shape what people see of it. Photoshop and Lightroom are great tools to help capture what you thought you saw from behind the lens.
I love helping people salvage and restore their photographic memories as links to their past. The patience and dedication needed are usually far beyond what the images are worth, except to the person who owns the picture. Seeing the smile or tears from when you've brought back an image from the cracked, torn and faded pile is a reward in and of itself.
The new Lightroom 4 beta is looking pretty good. It has many new features that are useful, and you can bet we’ll highlight them when the final version is released. One of the features I like most is the improved Adjustment Brush. For the first time, all of the basic adjustments can now be applied to specific parts of the image.
I wouldn’t trade my Nikons for the Droid camera, but being caught with only the Droid is not a reason to despair. You can do just fine with your camera phone.
If you want to give your photos a different look than the casual snapshooter, you need approach a scene differently than them.
The next time you’re out walking with your camera, try taking images of folks out doing whatever they’re doing. You might be surprised at the variety of photos you can get.
Using big glass is a different experience. It takes a little practice getting used to it.
