Photos > General Photos
Photography/Photoshop tips and tricks?
cincyimages:
--- Quote from: Cincy-Rise on December 21, 2005, 02:04:02 AM ---Grasscat, here is what I would do:
Open you photo in PS.
Open a new project window and set your desired dimensions. (2400 x 1720, 72 dpi, etc...)
"Drag" your photo over to the blank page.
Control, "T".
While holding the "shift key" shrink your image to the palette size. Start off with your mouse in one of the corners (I use the lower-right)
Crop the original palette size, and press the enter key. You're done.
Sounds like a lot, but this only takes 30 seconds.
--- End quote ---
Makes perfect sense now that you break it down and that is how a graphic designer would do it. Check out how Picasa does it, I wish more editing software did it that way. It makes so much sense when printing out 5x7's or 8x10's.
Robert Pence:
Disclaimer: Sometimes I'm full of crap, and I don't always admit it. :wink: I do appreciate being shown the error of my ways, so long as it's done kindly.
Although I have good intentions :-), I haven't worked very hard at mastering the intricacies of Photoshop. I've picked up some things from magazine articles, experimenting and word-of-mouth. This seems to work for me, so far. The same workflow applies to scanned negatives and slides.
Nominally, I go for 800 x 600 @ 150 ppi for web posting, but I don't really adhere to a specific aspect ratio. I generally work toward a long dimension of 800 whether horizontal or vertical, and may crop out extraneous sky or foreground if I think it helps the overall picture.
Here's what I do:
First I adjust the tonal values of the camera RAW image (shadow, highlight, contrast, color balance).
Next, resize to 800 x 600 @ 150 ppi. Actually, this comes out more like 800 x 532 for D70 RAW files.
Open a new RGB window at 150 ppi and drag the photo onto it.
Use CTRL + ' to overlay a grid on the image.
Use Edit > Transform > Rotate to rotate the image and correct the horizontal/vertical orientation.
Use CTRL + ' again to turn off the grid.
Use Layer > Flatten Image
Use the crop tool to square up the image.
If sharpening is needed (this method purports to avoid the shifts in color and contrast that Unsharp Mask can introduce):
Use Image > Mode > LAB and select the "lightness" layer
Use Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask as needed to sharpen the image.
Use Image > Mode > RGB to return the image to RGB mode.
Use the Text tool to apply caption & copyright notice, and then flatten image
Save as JPG.
You can use the grid to crop a photo to a specific size. Set the grid for 1-inch divisions, with 4 subidivisions, and each line will be 1/4 inch. When you overlay a photo, the origin of the grid will be in the upper left corner. If you go into View and turn on Snap, the crop tool margins will snap to the nearest grid lines. It's highly accurate.
buildingcincinnati:
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I've tried Photoshop on a couple of recent photos and it looks so much better. Even though my photos are no longer brown, some still suffer from color issues.
I used to use Picasa. The problem was that there were some elements of it I didn't like. Then I realized I was using 4 different photo editing programs per photo.
Hopefully with this problem solved I can now do it all on one program.
PigBoy:
(Sorry if this ought to go in the General Photos section, but I figured this one gets more traffic and might produce better results.)
There are many excellent photographers here on the UrbanOhio forum, and I wondered if everyone might share tips and tricks they have for photography in general or for Photoshop, the latter since obviously most photos here are digital and often have been tweaked in Photoshop or something similar. Give us your secrets!
Although I'm sure many people are quite familiar with this if they have a new enough version of Photoshop, my little contribution to get the ball rolling is this:
Photoshop- The shadow/highlight tool is your new god! (Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight)
If you don't know, basically it can be used to brighten dark areas of a photo without messing with the light areas. It really comes in handy for situations when there is a lot of contrast between bright and dark areas of the scene you're photographing. I count on this tool for pictures of shady things on bright, sunny days.
For example, I exposed for the sky, not for the buildings, knowing that they will turn out dark. Exposing for the buildings would have washed out the sky, probably making it white.
Then, after the shadow/highlight Photoshop magic: Yay!
And then some fiddling with colors and stuff is often required, but the awesomeness is done.
Just one word of warning: it does cause some graininess which increases the more you brighten it, so don't put your life entirely in its hands.
Now it's everyone else's turn. Share your wisdom, even the simplest tips!
C-Dawg:
I rarely use that tool, mainly because of the increased graininess (and other ill effects) and the fact I shoot negative film which gives me a lot of exposure latitude to work with.
But in images where the exposure is not ideal, either from a screw-up when originally taking the picture or in a highly contrasted scene, it can save some images, but there is no substitute for taking the picture the way you want it to begin with.
I always stick to the old saying- "sh!t in, sh!t out." But with Photoshop, some not-so-hot images can be made usable.
Unfortunately with digicams (excluding $10,000 pro cameras), there is very limited exposure latitude, and some images are impossible to expose "perfectly." I run into this all the time with digital video, which is horrendous with blown highlights and shadows, and Final Cut filters do help a lot, but can't really recover that lost shadow/highlight detail.
If there's one Photoshop tool I use religiously, it's the levels tool. It helps add punch and adding saturation can also help, though keep it minimal. I never add more than 25% saturation for images on the web, and for printing, even less is needed. Also, I've found that you should always save an unaltered original of each image you archive, because the adjustments needed for printing aren't always the same as what's needed for screen use.
The unsharp mask filter is great for those of us who scan film, but less is more with this filter.
Also, when adjusting the black or white point of an image using levels, hold down "alt" to see what detail you are losing.
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