Photoshop CS4 (Mac and PC)
I highly recommend the upgrade to
Photoshop CS4
Purchase $699
The upgrade is $199.00 plus Tax if you
have Photoshop CS through CS3
The latest version for Photoshop Elements 6.0 (Windows) is Camera Raw 5.5
The latest version Photoshop Elements 5.0 (Windows) is Camera Raw 4.5.
For Photoshop Elements 4.0 The last version of
Camera Raw is 3.7
For Photoshop Elements
3.0 The last version of Camera Raw is 3.6
Recommended References
The books listed below are available for all versions of Photoshop CS*
The Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby (Also
Available for Photoshop Elements, CS2 and CS)
Photoshop Studio Techniques CS 2 or CS3 Author: Ben Willmore
How to Wow: Photoshop for Photographers CS 2 or CS 3 Author: Ben
Willmore
Real World Camera Raw With Adobe Photoshop CS 4 Authors Fraser, Bruce/
Schewe, Jeff
Acquiring your photos
Rule
#1: Never throw away data. Your Camera Settings 1. Setting the camera's
color space
Most
cameras have a menu setting for color space
1.
ProPhoto RGB (Largest Color Gamut)
2. Adobe
RGB
3. sRGB
(Color gamut matches
CRT monitors)
Choose the largest color gamut available for your camera,
however some cameras use sRGB as a pre-set
You
can determine what color space is preserved in your photos by looking
at your cameras EXIF data, In Photoshop the menu item is
File
> File Info... Camera Data 2 You can also look at the EXIF Meta
data
in the Adobe Browser or Bridge under the Meta data Tab.
2. Setting File format
Jpg? Tiff? or Raw? (See
rule #1)
Shoot in raw format, however sometimes intended use determines file
format.
If you are just shooting for the web or 'small' prints .jpg
format will suffice. 3. Resolution (See Rule #1)
Record your photos with the largest pixel size available, unless ease
of use and final output dictates otherwise.
Exposure
The Key to
Digital Darkroom Photography
Use the Cameras Histogram and Rule
#8: Bracket, Bracket, Bracket and Rule
#2: Photograph, Photograph, Photograph inotherwords Rule #2 is:
Practice, Practice, Practice
Equipment Calibration
Monitor, Camera, printer,
and Scanner
Or, how do you know that the color you see on the screen
is what the camera captured and
why doesn't my printed colors match what I see on my computer screen???
Simple Calibration (You have to start somewhere)
Photoshop installs a program called Adobe Gamma
It isn't the best way to calibrate your monitor, but it
is better than nothing.
--- On a Mac the calibration program is part of the OS
Look in the Utilities Drawer for ColorSync Utility.app
Better yet Purchase a monitor calibration tool like Huey or
Spider and use the manufacturers paper
(Printer Manufactures calibrate their printers
for optimum output to their own brand of paper and ink).
Or, use specialty papers with color profiles for
your printer
Have someone else make your profiles
Even Better yet Calibrate everything!
Do it yourself.
The Monitor, the Camera, the scanner, and the printer
Caveat, this is a expensive and very, very time
consuming process
Transfer to Computer
Rule
#5: Backup, Backup, Backup
Using the Bridge or, Using a dedicated catalogue/database program,
Adding Keywords, and other Meta data
Finding the Keepers
Way harder than you think. Rating your photos
Enhancing Photos --- Non-Destructive Editing
Destructive editing irrevocably change the values of pixels.
Non-Destructive editing allows you to tweek your changes later.
We will focus on NON-Destructive Editing through the use of Layers in
Photoshop and PSE
Rule
#6: Save, Save, Save
Non-destructive Editing
of Jpg and Raw files in Photoshop by using layers
Some of the Photoshop tools you need to learn... This list will evolve,
for now here are
some suggestions
Clone, Eraser, Selection, Crop, Dodge, Burn
