The Writing and Photography Blog of Kevin J Sabo

Today was a fairly light day.

I did some general cleanup around the house, met a church member who was returning some borrowed items, and other general odds and ends.

The biggest parts of my day were tied up with a workout and studying. For my workout today, I did just under a mile-and-a-half on the treadmill followed by my weight routine. It’s been feeling good getting back into that routine, and it makes me want to kick myself for falling out of it in the first place.

As for the studying, I started on the next unit of my course, which took a couple of hours in the textbook, then I jumped onto the Adobe website, and started doing some more photo-editing tutorials.

The Deeper I dive into the world of photoshop, the more impressed I get. The capabilities of the software are nothing short of fantastic, and the more of these tutorials I do, the more I realize that I’ve been wielding the software as a blunt instrument, such as a baseball bat, rather than the precision of a surgeons scalpelthat is called for. Don’t get me wrong, what I’ve been doing with photoshop so far has been getting the job done, but it is capable of so much more.

I’m definitely learning a lot as I work through these modules on Adobe, and the more I learn the more I am realizing there is to learn.

About the only disconcerting thing I am learning about photoshop is how easy it is to manipulate photos. It was once said that a photo was worth a thousand words. In my opinion, knowing what I know now, it’s hard to believe a photo. You never know what kind of manipulation has been done, especially photos depicting fantastic scenes.

I do attempt to minimize the editing I do on the photos I take. I prefer the more natural looks, but that said, sometimes lightning and colour correction needs to happen. As for full on manipulation, I tend to leave that for poster design, something else for which photoshop is a great tool.

Between learning the ropes as a fledgling journalist, working on my English courses, and the Photoshop courses, I’ve been learning lot’s in the last few months, and I honestly feel that is a big part of why I have been able to stay somewhat stable, despite the turbulence I’ve had. The fact is, I love learning. Learning helps me mentally by giving me something to focus on.

Kevin