Order of Work when Editing

blackstone

Established Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2003
Messages
127
Reaction score
4
Points
60
Location
Glasgow
Hello, back again with a follow up question as to where to start when editing whether it be for the web or printing. ( I would be using PS 7 )

1. Rotate if unlevel.
2. Check levels / hue / saturation
3. Adjust brightness / contrast
4. Crop if req'd
5. Resize if req'd for web etc
6. Clone tool.
7. Unsharp mask.

Thanks to Johndm for advice and would appreciate other comments :lease:
 
Something like this.............

ACQUISITION
Save your images in RAW mode through the software provided with the camera or a third party program 16-bit TIFF. Use JPEG (which is a lossey compression) only for the web or e-mail.
Open the image in Photoshop and convert to your working space (e.g. Adobe RGB 1998).
Rotate image to vertical if needed (Image>Rotate Canvas).
Adjust minor rotational error of horizon or verticals
Perspective Correction
Histogram: review histogram (Image>Histogram) to see if it is reflective of the image without excessive highlight or shadow clipping; if graph is excessively bunched right or left, rescan unless this is a high-key (light tone) or low-key image.

CROP AND CLEAN
Initial Crop
Initial Cleanup and Spotting
Eliminate unwanted elements with the healing brush or clone tool then paint changes with history tool into previous state (to avoid mishaps) or open Image>Duplicate; Alt-Z to undo/redo.

TONAL ADJUSTMENTS / WHITE BALANCE
Various Methods of Adjustments

SELECTIVE CONTRAST AND EXPOSURE CORRECTION
Blending Modes for Tone and Contrast
In the event further minor adjustment is needed, Blending is a method of correcting tone or contrast of images without the problems of selection techniques. (8 bit Mode only)

EXPAND DYNAMIC RANGE
If Levels is not open, then (Image>Adjust>Levels) (or Levels>Adjustment Layer>Levels in 8-bit); move the left then the right sliders to where they just meet the histogram.

COLOR BALANCE
Various methods of adjustment

ADJUST CONTRAST AND SATURATION
Contrast Adjustment- Curves gives greater control than Brightness/Contrast
Saturation adjustment if necessary

EDGE SHARPEN AND CLEANUP (2 Steps)
Edge Sharpen in Lab L Channel
Unsharp Mask; set amount to 100-150, radius at 1.0-1.5, threshold at 0-1; adjust as necessary for moderate edge
sharpening, with amount as final choice

SAVE AND CONVERT
Save and Convert to 8-bit
When done with overall corrections, save file to “Hi Res Images” directory in PSD format
In 8-bit mode all selection tools can be used (Magnetic Lasso, Paintbrush, Eraser, Color Range, etc. are not available in 16-bit). Adjustments of this kind are best done in layers (not available in 16-bit mode) so they can be edited at a later time.

Note. Sharpening is the last method before saving in ALL Workflows.

Intensive, isnt it.
 
Intensive, isnt it.
especially the 'rescan' bit, does this mean reshoot? Could be really intensive if it involves a return trip to the serengeti for example.
If this is not practical would bringing the drifting slider in to the edge, shifting the middle tone slider til you can see the detail and then a bit of fudging with a hue and saturation layer till it looks as good as you can get it, do instead.
 
i've taken to using actions assigned to function keys to speed up my work flow. Works a treat - did 100 odd images in a couple of hours last night.

The most common ones i use - working with files from a 350d that are going to be printed, I assign:
f1 as basic colour correction (colour balance and increased saturation)
f2 B&W pro (think it's a Fred Miranda action)
f5 Noiseware Pro (used on ISO 800 & 1600 images - set to Weak noise so can do 2 passes at a push)

I then crop as needed, tweak the saturation if it's an indoor shot, up the contrast if it's a B&W shot and then apply USM (100/0.5/0 if i remember correctly - tis quite subtle so can do 2 passes on the better shots)

RAW conversion is all done with Bridge/CS2 - convert RAW to PSD with a few tweaks depending on the shoot, then finals (after all the above) are saved out as high jpegs and ftp'd to the photo lab or burned to cd if it's urgent.
 
blackstone said:
Hello, back again with a follow up question as to where to start when editing whether it be for the web or printing. ( I would be using PS 7 )

1. Rotate if unlevel.
2. Check levels / hue / saturation
3. Adjust brightness / contrast
4. Crop if req'd
5. Resize if req'd for web etc
6. Clone tool.
7. Unsharp mask.

Thanks to Johndm for advice and would appreciate other comments :lease:

Just one thing. I would suggest doing 6+7 before 5. You dont want to be cloning areas of a small image. Best to fix image (remove lampposts etc) then save big image. Then resize and save a small version (for web/email).

An extra advantage of doing this is that the resize (down) will mean you lose any slight imperfections from the clone-work too.
 
Geordie Jester said:
Just one thing. I would suggest doing 6+7 before 5. You dont want to be cloning areas of a small image. Best to fix image (remove lampposts etc) then save big image. Then resize and save a small version (for web/email).

An extra advantage of doing this is that the resize (down) will mean you lose any slight imperfections from the clone-work too.

Good point....but USM ALWAYS should be last.. :smashin:
 
longleyc said:
Something like this.............

ACQUISITION

CROP AND CLEAN
TONAL ADJUSTMENTS / WHITE BALANCE
SELECTIVE CONTRAST AND EXPOSURE CORRECTION
EXPAND DYNAMIC RANGE
COLOR BALANCE
ADJUST CONTRAST AND SATURATION
EDGE SHARPEN AND CLEANUP (2 Steps)
Unsharp Mask; set amount to 100-150, radius at 1.0-1.5, threshold at 0-1; adjust cessary for moderate edge
sharpening, with amount as final choice
SAVE AND CONVERT

Note. Sharpening is the last method before saving in ALL Workflows.

Intensive, isnt it.

... not to mention extensive and time comsuming;what if you had 100 pics to go through? phew!! :suicide: .rather you than me!
Surely some pictures require little or no editing?
 
senu said:
... not to mention extensive and time comsuming;what if you had 100 pics to go through? phew!! :suicide: .rather you than me!
Surely some pictures require little or no editing?

I guess that depends on how good you want your pictures to look. He asked, I answered. :)

*Rescan is for film users. The media used 100 odd years before digital! I hope to do it right first time than return to the Serengeti.

I agree with tomson, action can be useful, in situations. The thing with actions is no image is the same. Try loading the same action on 10 different images? Yuk.
I think theyre fine for batch resizing, cropping etc. No good for sorting out any specific areas that may need attention, such like skies, if shooting in jpg (Arctifacting).
 
I used Freds article to save time in typing a rather long explaination for an answer for blackstones original post.

I dont need Freds permission to reproduce the article, as I already had it!
Technically I missed the © for copywrite for which I am sorry in upsetting sorbierunner for that omission.

In fact this article is slightly out of date and have recieved tha latest update from Fred.

But as unlike a lot of you, I make my living from Photoshop and Web Media. So I dont have to be lectured on Copywrite Law thank you very much.
 
I dont have to be lectured on Copywrite Law thank you very much.

How about a lecture in plagiarism then?

I was actually giving you a bit of leeway thinking you might be ignorant of the concept of copyright (note that's copyright and not copywrite, so a short lecture in the name of thing might be in order) but since you claim to know all about it (except, obviously, whether it's right or write) your flouting of it is all the worse.
 
Anyone who has taken the time to read the rules of the forum will have read the following;

Content Copyright
By registering with the AV Forums you consent that all the content you create on the AV Forums is free of copyright at the point of submission to the AV Forums and becomes property of the AV Forums upon submission to the AV Forums.
 
Hey Guys....cool down a minute
I have actually also contacted Fred for an updated workflow for Photoshop cs2 . ( which he has sent).
The tone of His correspondence suggests he not unhappy for dissemination of the article ( Without express reference to himself) .
I am sure the purpose of these forums is to share knowledge and where existing articles have been modified for clarity ,It may not amount to express plagiarsm if the original author is not intentionally unacknowledged, especially with direct questioning. Freds income, reputation have not anyway been affected by the use of his workflow idea which is modifyable anyway.
I am rather puzzled as to what seems to be the intensity of Sorbiegunners displeasure after the original reply. Am I missing something??
Im sure we can keep the forums on an even keel if we dont get dug into such contentious issues
 
I just don't like people coming across as know alls.
example
*Rescan is for film users. The media used 100 odd years before digital! I hope to do it right first time than return to the Serengeti.
The media used for 100 odd years before digital no! really, I never knew that.
When what he really meant was 'sorry should've changed that bit so it fitted with 'save your images in raw mode'

When I pointed this out a perfect opportunity was given to acknowledge the original source, this was not taken up and a sarcastic 'what would you know' tone was adopted instead.

No matter what way you look at it forum rules were breached
in (what I think was) an attempt to look clever.
 
No senu you arent missing anything. Its that sorbierunner is obviously "missing" something, somewhere?. In my experience, people who tend to have issues with others, generally have unresolved issues personally.

As you appreciate there was no plagiarism intended. I was answering a post with an modified article for which I had permission to use anyway. As they say a lot nowadays, End Of!

There is no point in taking this thread further. I`m too busy making lots of money out of Photoshop.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom