Basic photo adjustments.

[dean]

<p>I have never gotten into doing much photo adjustment because I don't do much output. Anything that gets printed is for work, and I just send RAW files to prepress. After reading a recent thread about digital work "requiring" PSing, I think I would like to see what can be done to my current stuff. Where should I start? I am basically familiar with sharpening, and a super basic knowledge of curves. Maybe I could get some tips on starting points? Maybe if someone had a few minutes to take a look at my portfolio - and give me a recommendation on a photo you think would be good enough to put some time into? I would be supremely grateful. :) Please don't expect too much from my work!<br>

I see so many amazing photos on here, and thought it was just because everyone was using MF, or had some big secret. How much goes into a lot of the popular landscape work?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

[josephbraun]

<p>Hey Dean,</p>

<p>I don't know what PSing is but I will try to help you. This is all subjective of course but in the flower shot you could go into curves and open up the mids. This would improve your other two pictures as well. I recommend the book Real World Camera RAW - Bruce Fraser and Adobe Photoshop for photographers - Martin Evening </p>

[mauro_acchione]

<p>That is a pretty complicated question Dean and it really depends on you the photographer as to where you should start. What do you want improved in your photos? What do you find lacking in them that you feel post processing may help with? You can learn a great deal about post processing by just experimenting and practising but that can take a very long time (I have been playing with it for 6 years and I consider I am just barely beyond the beginner stage). If you have specific goals and questions then others can provide you with targeted, specific advice. You mentioned sharpening and curves adjustments. People have essentially written entire chapters of books covering just those two aspects. Some people can suggest books, online tutorials, etc. but again it will help you enormously IMO if you have a specific goal or problem you are trying to solve.</p>

<p>But if you are looking for some simple starting points I would suggest 1) Understand how the tools in say a program like Photoshop actually work and not just what they can do. 2) Get a basic understanding of how your digital camera captures an image, how it sees colors, how it performs under different intesities of light and how that effects what you can do in post 3) Find someone whose photos you admire and ask them to provide you with their workflow in postprocessing. In other words what are the basic steps they follow in processing their images. </p>

<p>And if you are truly serious about getting the most out of PSing I would strongly encourage you to learn and fully understand the concept of using layers and masking. It can be difficult to understand and use at first but it will make your life so much easier, especially as your skills improve.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>Dean, this will not directly answer your question but i have to mention it;</p>

<p>For me, each photographer have is own vision of the final result of is images, by providing your raw image to your client without working on them first its like shoothing slide flim and giving them without first having seen a clipping of it to adjust it, providing then a better rendition of your own vision and taste. If you are shoothing raw, you should at least get the basic knowledge to developped them to your standard, and save them as DNG before giving them to your client or commercial printer, that way they have at least a base to start with, and maybe they will keep it that way.</p>

<p>just my 2cent : )</p>

[stsva]

<p>A lot of the popular landscape work on photo.net is arguably beautiful but over-processed (from a purist point of view). If you want to stick with a minimal approach, you'd be looking at basic white balance correction, sharpening, application of curves and/or levels to get better contrast, cropping, and possibly increasing saturation. This would mostly be equivalent to the automatic adjustments the camera would do to create a JPEG. Beyond those minimum adjustments, you can do just about anything you want to within the limits of your imagination.<br>

I liked your portfolio a lot - you have some great images. The best I can suggest is to take the RAW file for one you like and first try the basic adjustments, then maybe experiment with more radical adjustments (e.g., do a more radical curve adjustment rather than just a basic s-curve, add layers and use different blending modes, etc.). Maybe try some digital dodging/burning or "painting with light" - see this thread for more on this : http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00RlNB. This will give you an idea of some of the options you have available.</p>

[dean]

<p>Thanks, guys, for your suggestions. I appreciate your time! I guess it is kind of a broad question. I work pretty hard at getting things "right" at the camera. I've spent the money on solid tripod, and good glass. Currently, I do minor adjustment for white balance, and exposure compensation in Capture NX. I've always thought sharpening was kind of like cheating, but I love really sharp images, and sometimes it seems like they just aren't sharp.<br>

My family owns a printing company, so when I do shoots for customers, it is our prepress people doing the work, and they have a better grasp of what needs done to the images. Otherwise, I just do it for personal enjoyment. I'll check into some books - I learn pretty well that way.<br>

Thanks again!</p>