Photoshop for Photographers Work Flow: A Syllabus of sorts...
Rule
#4: Never Assume you can fix it in Photoshop --Photograph, photograph, photograph!
Recommended Software
Adobe has a 30-day Free Trial Period For ALL of their software. It is the Full version without any encumbrances...
Photoshop CS5 (Mac and PC)
I Absolutely recommend the upgrade to
Photoshop CS5
Purchase $699
The upgrade is $199.00 plus Tax if you
have Photoshop CS through CS4
The Free Adobe plug-in Camera Raw is a
must have and needs to be kept up to date: The last version for CS5 Mac is Camera
Raw 6.2 For Macintosh
The last version for CS5 Windows is Camera
Raw 6.2 For Windows
The last version for CS4 Mac is Camera
Raw 5.7 For Macintosh
The last version for CS4 Windows is Camera
Raw 5.7 For Windows
The last version for CS3 Mac is Camera
Raw 4.6 For Macintosh
The last version for CS3 Windows is Camera
Raw 4.6 For Windows
For CS2 Mac the
latest version is Camera
Raw 3.7
For CS2 PC the
latest version is Camera
Raw 3.7
For CS (Mac & PC) the latest version is Camera
Raw 2.4
For CS PC the latest version is Camera
Raw 2.4
I also recommend the
installation of the Adobe DNG File converter.
(It is usually attached to the
the Camera Raw plug-in download)
Photoshop
Elements 8.0
(Mac and PC)
The upgrade is $79 for owners of previous versions and $119.99 new with
Plus membership
The Free Adobe plug-in Camera Raw + DNG Converter is a must have
- The latest version for PSE 8 Mac is Camera
Raw 6.1 For Macintosh
- The latest version for PSE 8 Windows is Camera
Raw 6.1 For Windows
- The latest version for Photoshop Elements 7.0 (Windows) is Camera Raw 5.6
- 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 if you shoot .jpg's.
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: Never assume you can fix it in Photoshop!
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)
- Earlier versions of Photoshop installed a program called Adobe Gamma, Macs have a monitor calibration tool called "Display Calibrator Assistant. See the following details on how to calibrate your monitor
- Software and manual monitor settings isn't the best way to calibrate your monitor, but it is better than doing 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
Rating your photos is way harder than you think
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.
Camera Raw, LightRoom and Aperture automatically use a non-destructive editing process...
Rule
#6: Save, Save, Save --Save early and save often.
Some of the Photoshop tools you need to learn...
Healing Brush Tool, Clone Tool, The Quick Selection Tool, Masking, Adjustment Layers.
Photoshop's Camera Raw...
You will do 95% of your enhancing with Camera Raw.
- Analyze the Photo. Use the histogram and the Highlight and Shadow clipping indicators.
Eliminate highlight clipping
Set white balance first, then Exposure...
Recovery: Recover details in the highlights
Fill Light: Recover shadow details
Blacks: Eliminate black clipping levels
Brightness-Contrast: redistribute mid-tones around mid-gray
Add Presence
Fine tune the toning
Target and Fine tune hue, saturation and Luminance
Sharpen and remove noise
Crop to straighten horizons and eliminate distractions.
Retouch, dodge and burn, lens correction, and add gradients if necessary.
Move to Photoshop to merge with other photos, remove or add compositions.
Print it! in Photoshop!
Share
3rd party Plug-ins worth considering for Noise
Reduction, Sharpening and Black &
White conversion
Publishing! Sharing Your Photos
Printing
tips and techniques
- Use Ink and paper made by
the manufacturer of the
printer for best results
- Profiled papers for artistic
effects
- e-mailing photos
- Web Pages
- SlideShows
- DVD videos
- Albums
Archiving the Keepers
- Rule #7: Always make 2 backup copies on CD / DVD
- Rule #9 Always verify the integrity of the
backup/copy/transfer...
- It is still easier to drag and drop to CD/DVD Burning
Software...
Key Board Differences
