Tips v.Post processing

[Euro-Man]

I've been promising to type this one up for a long time, and today seems just the right type of slow-day to do this. I will try to update this thread with all the stuff I know, find out, or learn along the way. I also think that this will take me several days to get to look at least somewhat as I intend it to. People who feel they want to contribute - please drop me a PM with the content you want added and I will do so.

Questions regarding techniques or samples and attempts at using the techniques can also be posted in this thread. Discussions will also be allowed, however keep from posting retarded smilies. I will delete your posts.

There are two parts to this informal tutorial.

I. Art of Photography
II. Photoshop Techniques


Part I. The Art of Photography

Part II. Photoshop Techniques
1) Levels
2) Color correction
3) Saturation
4) Sharpening
5) Framing
6) Overlay layers
7) Burn / Dodge
8) Blending





Part I. The Art of Photography

Great photography is simple.
It is merely to discover, collect, arrange, create, anticipate or provoke
exquisite subject matter;

and then to choose, invent, or patiently wait for
that properly illuminating and perfectly enhancing light,
in order to utilize the proper electronic and mechanical equipment,
and the optical and chemical principles and processes,
which will isolate, immobilize, and capture the combination forever
in a visually meaningful and aesthetically interesting way.
It takes only a camera and film.
It is almost as simple as writing, which needs only pen and paper;
as sculpting, which requires only chisel and mallet;
or as orchestra conducting, which demands only a thin stick and an evening coat.
--unknown source, with additions

My own answer to the question of "Why Do it?" is very similar and very simple. I take pictures because first of all it defines me in time. I leave a mark, even if only for myself. Obviously, there are other reasons, such as training one's mind and eye, developing discipline and character, or simply creating a memory on paper.

For each - his own. I don't expect everyone to follow the same reasoning, but it will greatly help if you will understand what it is you are trying to capture and show. Perhaps the restlessness and freedom of youth, or the serenity and wisdom of age. You decide.

If you are really interested in improving your technique, please go to www.photo.net. They have a TON of tutorials about light, portrait photography, landscape photography, etc. etc. I am not going to retype everything that has been said thousands of times by different people with way more skill than me.

Here's the direct link: http://www.photo.net/learn/







Part II. Photoshop Techniques






Both paper and the monitor can produce a certain range of light. From certain "darkness" to certain "lightness". Paper is not so friendly (it is visible to us by reflecting light off it's surface), and to our benefit the monitor produces images much more similar to the ones our eye sees.

When you take a picture - your film (or digital) also has a "range" it can capture. Hopefully your equipment and your senses are tweaked and the exposure will be proper, resulting in a picture that captures the esential information in the available "range". This range can be viewed via the Layers panel.

This adjustment can be found under Image->Adjustments->Levels....



This little "curve" or bar collection shows how much data is captured in each tone, from dark to bright (left to right). You see the pure blacks on the left, and the pure whites on the right.

No curve is "correct" or "wrong". It all depends on the type of scene you shoot. If it's night photography - most likely you will see all the "data" stored on the left side of the graph.

If it's a bright winter day with snow all over - all the data will be to the right side of the graph.





Now we are going to take a picture and adjust the levels. The picture below has a normal exposure, however ALL digital cameras tend to take slightly dull and under-saturated pictures. When you open up the levels panel, you will find out that there's a spot on the right of the graph where no data is present.



We drag the little triangle left - and the levels graph gets "stretched" to utilize the whole range available on our monitor. (This, in turn, brightens up the picture.)

The whole thing can be done to the dark range of data, for example, in a scene where you overexposed and have no dark shadows left. All you would do is pull the black triangle to the right untill it touched the "data". Feel free to experiment.



I could go on and on about this, but hopefully this is understandable. If others want to add - feel free to pm me and I'll incorporate it into this post.






This is for the times you screw up to adjust your "white balance" setting on your digital camera, or for the times your camera decides to screw you over on the "automatic" setting.

First, check the levels curve, adjust if necessary. If you see a spot on the pictures which SHOULD be mid-gray or pure-white (but isn't), click on the "color-picker" tool on the layers panel, and then click on the "should-be-white" or "should-be-gray" location on the pic. Here:



However, in this image, we don't have a good "reference" point for either gray or pure white. We will have to use the color correction panel you see in the picture above.

It can be found under Image->Adjust-> Color Balance....

This will take some practice and play... since the color adjustment here is used for various "tones" of the picture. You can adjust the highlights, the midtones, and the shadows all separately.

I adjusted both the midtones and the highlights, and basically tried to "warm it up", steer away from the greens and to the reds... since the picture was taken under the flourescent bulb and it gave it the greenish cast.



The result is much more life-like. After the color correction I also went in and changed up the levels to brighten up the picture. (Moved the right white slider a little to the left).







Nothing complex here, folks. Some pictures just lack color! They seem dull and washed out. Well, all you have to do is go to Image->Adjust->Hue/Saturation...




As you can see in the drop-down box called Edit in the panel - you can select what color you want to saturate, too. So, for example, if you have a scene where a red ball is REALLY RED, but the surrounding people and grass are really pale and undersaturated - you can select individual colors and bump them up individually.






One of my favourite tricks in photoshop that a LOT of people don't know about. All my friends who don't work with photoshop ask me why my pictures are so crystal crisp, ask me about my tools, lenses, and other equipment... While it does depend on your original shot, you can improve TONS by simply using the unsharpen mask!

Click on Filter->Sharpen->Unsharp mask....

Here's our original image we are starting with:



I will not go into the mechanics of the unsharp mask. You can run a search on it and find the details on your own. Basically, you want to keep the settings as they are.

Set the threshold to 0 levels.
Set the radius to either 0.5 or 0.7 pixels. This is for an image the size of a screen. (up to... 1200x900 or so) For larger images (like the 6mp output of some digicams - bump this number up to 3 or 5 pixels. BUT REMEMBER - do this ONLY if you are planning to PRINT the original file! If you are resizing for the web - FIRST RESIZE, then SHARPEN with the 0.5 setting.

After you have those settings in, adjust the amount to what you desire. Usually 130%-150% is a good range.

And here's our result:









Sometimes a border is necessary for the picture. It isolates the subject, provides a cage that our eyes should not escape. I cannot stand pictures that don't have the simplest of borders, so that's what I'm going to write about here.

I am a strong believer that one should use black borders for darker scenes as to not detract from the view, and light borders for light images. Sometimes a dark border can be used on a light image to create a "view from a window" or some similar feeling. You be the judge.

A thing to stay away from - do NOT create overkill borders. They will make the viewer look AWAY from your picture. Dropping a shadow on the border is OK only if you can't really tell the shadow is being dropped... any type of "glow" effects should be stayed away from, too.

The easiest way to put some borders on a picture is to click on Image->Canvas Size...
Before you do this, however, make sure the background color is what you want the frame to be!



The result will have a black border just like this image above does.

Now let's try something fancy. We will create a frame that will immitate a real fancy frame that has multiple sheets of paper used.

First, take your image and set the background color on the toolbar to white.



Then create a small white frame around the picture (say 12x12 pixels increase).



Paste the copied image into the new layer.

Now click on Image -> Canvas Size , and increase the canvas by... 40x40 pixels.

Then right click on your new layer with the image pasted into it, and click "Blending Properties".



And here's out result:




Play around with the settings, there are many acceptable framing options for your pictures. Just remember - don't overdo it, and don't make it look completely unrealistic. (Like dropping pink shadows...)

__________________________________________________ __________

This is it for this edition, I will update with new stuff as I get a chance. I need to go to gym now.


Enjoy!

[Euro-Man]

Resource websites:

http://www.photo.net/
Photography reviews, tutorials, contests, forum, galleries. Best online photo resource, IMHO.

http://www.dpreview.com/
Digital photo camera reviews.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pa...ure/phototips/
National Geographic photography tips

http://www.cobracountry.com/fototips/
Car photography guide - very nice, since they even talk about various colors and how to approach 'em

[Euro-Man]

Please refrain from posting in this thread if it's not topic related - I'll try to add more stuff here for stuff like car photography, etc. If we post too much junk it will just get lost in the pages.

If you want to contribute something, feel free.

[Euro-Man]

[spyder57]

Way to just copy the thread from AW odie

Still a great write up though.

For those of you that have Photoshop CS2 - Instead of using USM, try using smart sharpen. Select Lens Blur and use the same settings as Odie suggests for USM. Smart sharpen has fewer sharpening artifacts.

[Euro-Man]

Way to just copy the thread from AW odie

Still a great write up though.

For those of you that have Photoshop CS2 - Instead of using USM, try using smart sharpen. Select Lens Blur and use the same settings as Odie suggests for USM. Smart sharpen has fewer sharpening artifacts.

Well I did write it....

[Sarlacc]

And if people want to try and figure out to do in camera techniques feel free to ask me.

[Sarlacc]

Interesting:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

[Euro-Man]

More specifically?

Are you a bokeh expert?

What specifically do you want to know?

[spyder57]

Odie - I was joking..now quick update this thread with more advanced CS2 workflows =P

[Masshole]

so uh, if someone didn't accidentally PM me for a copy of Photoshop, how much does it cost and which one is decent - don't they have a few different versions?

[Thunder Dump]

I still like Photoshop 1.0 the best:

[spyder57]

Photoshop elements does pretty much all you need and is reasonable. Otherwise, you're looking at spending some pretty money for CS2 with all the bells and whistles.

[Euro-Man]

ACDC has a new program that's ok priced and is for working with photos.. allows 16 bit raw stuff, too.

[Adam_Schwartz]

any fresh tips you can share?