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Advice needed for next purchase

Started Nov 17, 2013 | Questions thread
JBurnett Contributing Member • Posts: 835
Your hardware is fine, how 'bout a little software & training?

Best bang for your buck...

I suggest Lightroom (and shooting in RAW), and really spend some time to learn it. Learning how to post-process well can take your pictures from out-of-camera snapshots, to images that truly show what you saw, or what you want to convey to the viewer.

In addition to Lightroom, I use Photoshop Elements, primarily for its layers capabilities. There are certain things for which I find layers to be better or more efficient than LR4. You could also consider OnOne's software suite, which has layers capabilities, a number of other post-processing aids, and lots of helpful "pre-sets". Many photographers rely on the NIK software suite, as an alternative.

In terms of hard dollars, the cost will be less than a new lens. And the software (and the effort you put into learning it) will benefit ALL of your images -- not only in improving them post-shot, but, long-term, in helping you to "visualize" images before you make them.

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 JBurnett's gear list:JBurnett's gear list
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm F2.8 ASPH OIS Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm 1:2 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm F1.8 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm F1.8 +4 more
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