Select Photoshop Techniques
1. Photoshop - wet/digital room -- both are tools - Ansel Adams / early vs. later
2. Digital Storage - Delkin Archival Gold CD - DVD's - hard drive
3. Linear Capture - Raw vs. jpeg - The Rule: expose for the highlights (expose to the right), develop for the shadows
4. Preferences/General/_________.
File/Automate/Picture Package // File/Automate/Contact Sheet II
Edit/Color Settings/Adobe RGB (1998) if working in RGB
5. Adobe Bridge - copying - screen options
6. Adobe Camera Raw - Bottom Left Panel - suggested workflow:
6.1 ADJUST/exposure/shadows (alt/slider-button) - brightness - contrast (S-curve control)
6.2 DETAIL/ luminance smoothing/color noise (200%) - no/minimal sharpening (bridge preferences)
6.3 LENS/chromatic aberration - vignetting
6.4 CURVES - check out the tone-curves menu of presets
6.5 White Balance Tool - look for light gray with detail - Slider: temperature/tint
Digital Blending: How to Achieve an Expanded Tonal Range
tripod / one shot / multiple shots w/o tripod (vanishing point)
One Shot: Fells Point Noir:
1. expose your image twice (or more) in Adobe Raw for the desired fields - and send to the Browser
2. combine the images into one file as separate layers (move-tool - shift-drag)
3. pick global layer - add layer mask in layer palette (hit icon at bottom)
4. click global layer & isolate desired field of layer below (lasso, wand, etc.) by creating a selection -
5. click mask and paint over selection (e.g., burning hole through mask) --
Selections: Smart Feathering/Smoothing/Expanding/Contracting
softening a selection: Create Selection / Quick Mask (QM) / Filter / Blur / Gaussian Blur
smoothing rough edges: Create Selection / QM/Filter/ Noise/Median
expand and contracting: Create Selection / QM / Filter / Other / Minimum or Maximum
Miscellaneous points
Quick Mask Toggling: Q toggles between marching ants and quick-mask-mode
Layer Blending: move the opacity or fill sliders
Increasing a layer effect: duplicate the layer and play with the slider until happy
Selective curving/toning: isolate fields within your image
Test Layer: Levels/ turn up highlights / put at top of document / toggle on when needed
Transform options: edit/transform or right-click
Changing Color to Black & White (Russell Brown Technique)
1. layer/new-adjustment-layer/hue-saturation/change name ("desaturate")/Okay/move saturation slider to zero
2. layer/new-adjustment-layer/hue-saturation/change name ("filter")/change mode to color/Okay/
3. play with the hue slider in the Filter layer / hit edit menu to repeat with colors / play with saturation strength
Sharpening - one choice: the Focal Blade plug-in
FocalBlade - a $50 option - if interested, simply google FocalBlade
another option: nik sharpener Pro 2.0 ($169)
Extracting "Fine Hair" Objects - using Image/Calculations
George Clinton
1. go to channels - determine the two highest contrast channels
2. go back to layers - image/calculations - in source 1 put one channel - in source 2 put the other channel
3. check both invert boxes - go to blending and watch as you hit each mode - look for highest contrast
4. check only top invert box - repeat step 3
5. check only bottom invert box - repeat step 4
6. choose best contrast position from steps 3-6
7. play with opacity % to increase contrast
8. hit okay - go to your new alpha channel in channels - name it with positions you used - duplicate channel
9. zoom in on fine hairs
10. use image/levels to increase contrast while still retaining the fine hairs
11. use image/curves to increase contrast while still retaining the fine hairs
12. hit dodge tool & choose highlights and/or burn tool/shadows - apply where needed for continued high-contrast work
13. hit paintbrush - blacken those areas of the object that you can
14. hit RGB - this puts you in QM mode - do QM work to continue filling in object -
15. toggle in and out of RGB to continue your work
16. hit left icon at bottom (load channel as selection)
17. check to see if the fine hairs are selected - toggling between RGB and the alpha might help view
16. if the fine hairs are not selected, repeat any of the above steps to better refine your contrast levels
17. repeat step 17 - check to assure the selection is of the object - if it isn't, invert it (shift/cntrl/I)
17. hit RGB - turn off your alpha channel
18. go to layers - hit cntrl/J or layer/new/layer-via-copy
19. duplicate the new layer 3 or 4 times! - it will refine missing hairs - merge the new layers
Contrast Control
1. layers/new-adjustment-level/curves -- create an S curve
2. Local Enhancement Contrast for "pop"
filter/sharpen/unsharp-filter
start at: amount: 20% Radius: 50% Threshold: 0%
move the amount slider between 0 and 20% as desired - do not go above 20%
-- if you want more, hit okay and repeat the process
Quick Color Management Options
instead of: image/adjustments/[auto levels] [auto contrast] [auto color]
try: layer/new-adjustment-layer/curves/OK/options
menu choices: Find dark & light colors = auto color (usually the best choice - seeks to color correct)
try this reset: shad RGB 20/20/20 - midtones RGB 133 each - highlights 244 each
Enhance per channel contrast = auto levels
Enhance Monochromatic Contrast = auto contrast
Snap Neutral Midtones // clipping .01 - .1 %
Gradient Tool - Filter/Render/Lighting-Effects
Lafayette Gilchrist
1. Gradient tool - toolbar, right column, 6 down (with paint bucket)
2. Filter/Render/Lighting-Effects (must be in 8-bit - image/mode/8-bits)
Liquify Tool - How to Shed a few pounds using Pucker
Nola Gal
Filter/Liquify/Pucker tool
Brush Density - Low: small circle effect - High: large circle effect
Brush Rate - rate of change while stationary only
Show Mesh - grid shows changes
Drop Shadow - Layer/Layer-Style/Blending-Options
Euclid's Retreat
Soft-Proofing for Black-and-White
Try the paper ICC profile first. If this doesn't work:
1. print your image
2. view/proof-setup/custom/spin the device-to-simulate choices and try to match screen with print
3. if you can't match, an adjustment curve may be necessary
Resizing Your Image in the Browser
sizing down: use resample image (bicubic sharp)
sizing up: don't use resample image (bicubic smooth) - check resolution after picking a size (240-360 ppi range)
Scott Kelby's Rule-Breaker suggestion for Upsizing to Large prints: 360 ppi + bicubic sharper
Some Default Shortcuts
cntrl-Z - undo last selection
alt-cntr-Z - undoing previous selections
Q - Quick Mask
cntrl-H - hide selections
Tab - hides/reveals palettes
S - clone tool
L - lasso
J - healing brush
E - eraser
B - paintbrush (x as a toggle between foreground and background color)
z - zoom tool alt-z reduces size shift-z increase size
W - magic want
V - move tool
spacebar moves the image when it exceeds your screen
cntrl-S - save