The more I use Lightroom the more I like it. I’m not an expert user but I’m learning, and it seems like my vision is changing in sync with my processing skills. What I thought was perfectly processed a year ago needs re-processing now.

When I was working on Monday’s zoo pictures, LR really proved its worth. I’m totally in love with this tiger at the moment, maybe I’ll grow tired of the picture soon but right now I’m just patting myself at the back for a job well done. I don’t often get to feel like this about my pictures, if I get one such every year I’m happy.

I think what attracts me about the picture is the intensity. At first it’s of course the intense look, but then as I started processing the image to get rid of the grey film that the fence created, I also started to intensify the colours and the tiger’s stripes. Everything has to ”pop” – the look in the eye, the colours, and the pattern. All the while trying to minimise the effect of the fence, which is still visible in the background, at least if you know to look for it.

When I was finished with the processing and looked at the before/after comparison, I was impressed that it could all be done in Lightroom with what really amounts to basic adjustments (just quite a few of them). I didn’t even use the clone/heal tool! And like I said, I’m not an advanced user, I haven’t explored the full potential of LR and I don’t know any fancy processing tricks. But I’m learning and maybe a year from now I will come back to this picture and find that it needs to be re-processed because my vision has been re(de)fined along with my LR skills!