Photoshop processing

Derek W

Derek W

Derek W

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Joined
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Simple question really we've all seen other peoples photographs who have used varying degrees of post processing to give their image that wow factor be it a fashion / portrait shot , a rolling landscape at dawn or whatever.

My question is, where did you learn your post processing techniques? I've had a look online for photoshop processing styles and come up with some decent tutorial sites but none which deal with photography specifically. Usually its a mixture of photography / graphic art photoshop techniques normally weighted on the latter.

Can anyone recommend a site / book / dvd to help with mine (and probably others) photoshopping abilities :(
 
p0ss3s3d said:
This &

experiment, experiment, experiment.


(Honestly, I have no idea, I don't have to do much in PP other than auto-tone levels and hue/saturation ;))

But I'd like to work on my PP anyway at some point.
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I'm at this stage as well, and although I've found a couple of new styles to work with (and by accident can see other styles when working through things) its really the part of getting my hands dirty finding out what exactly different things do and can achieve.

E.g I'd maybe like to try to recreate style x I've seen on photo y but without understanding how to get there the evolution of processing cant begin without going down a blind alley as it were. At least if i get shown how to do the basics I'll have a better starting point. :)

Nice link that olv :)
 
Spending literally hundreds of hours in Photoshop. Always searching the net for new tutorials, running through them, trying to do them without the tutorial there, similar to learning a language really! However the biggest thing, and something I emphasise above all else when teaching someone about PS, is the tecnhnical tips and tricks are really only half the battle. Taste is the largest barrier to improving your work. You may know how to drop a chicks dress size, or change the colour of the sky 16 different ways, but if you don't know when and how much to utilise those skills it's all for nothing.

Fortunately I was taken under the wing of a professional retoucher and learnt all the things from him the Internet simply will not teach you (And some good hard no **** critique about my work - One of the biggest benefits of having someone much better than you pull it to bits). Now I'm lucky enough to put my skills to financial gain.

www.retouchpro.com is a great resource for all things PS related. Some incredibly knowledgable folk on there, many of whom are full time retouchers themselves.
 
tbs said:
Practice, practice, practice
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This!

A book can only teach you how to use each tool (the book above is very good at that though); the key is learning how to use the tools to suit your purpose and more importantly using them to develop your own style. Exact processing workflow I feel is a personal thing and should not be shared. There are a few techniques which are worth sharing but I think that processing a whole shot should be more than following a single technique.

I think its also really important not to reach that stage where you use processing to rescue a photo as you can become really lazy. All the tonemappers out there who grab Photomatrix for the sake of it, kinda ruins photography for me. Yes, tonemapping can add impact, but expose a shot well and get your composition right and you will need just the basic processing.

I personally have found it essential to learn how to use Layers (pre days of ND grads as would bracket and blend exposures but very handy from time to time), Clone/Heal, Dodge/Burn and Curves/Levels and a Sharpen (oh and occasionally Masks, but not that often). Only other processing may be some small RAW file adjustments in Bridge.

The only plugin I use is Nik SilverEfx (may have mispelt that) which is a really good B&W plugin and offers a lots more than the basic set of tools for B&W conversions. It also has some presets which can give you an idea, but again, I would recommend using the tool and developing your own to suit your needs.

:)
 
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Just had a thought, would be cool to have a 'Photoshop Processing' thread, where people can post their before and after photos, showing what they did to achieve the look, even if it is just a few quick bullets like "Increase contrast, vibrancy, etc", or it could be detailed right down to skin smoothing technique etc.. Could be a really useful resource for information and inspiration.

I might do one this weekend and start a thread if no one else beats me to it. Of course it will be of Helen, just to warn you all :p
 
ScarySquirrel said:
Just had a thought, would be cool to have a 'Photoshop Processing' thread, where people can post their before and after photos, showing what they did to achieve the look, even if it is just a few quick bullets like "Increase contrast, vibrancy, etc", or it could be detailed right down to skin smoothing technique etc.. Could be a really useful resource for information and inspiration.

I might do one this weekend and start a thread if no one else beats me to it. Of course it will be of Helen, just to warn you all :p
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Good plan. :)

Looking forward to that!
 
ScarySquirrel said:
Just had a thought, would be cool to have a 'Photoshop Processing' thread, where people can post their before and after photos, showing what they did to achieve the look, even if it is just a few quick bullets like "Increase contrast, vibrancy, etc", or it could be detailed right down to skin smoothing technique etc.. Could be a really useful resource for information and inspiration.

I might do one this weekend and start a thread if no one else beats me to it. Of course it will be of Helen, just to warn you all :p
Click to expand...

Would be pretty cool to have around to give people tips and stuff and show off work :)

As for learning pp, practice and experiment is what I did
 
Adrianr said:
Spending literally hundreds of hours in Photoshop. Always searching the net for new tutorials, running through them, trying to do them without the tutorial there, similar to learning a language really! However the biggest thing, and something I emphasise above all else when teaching someone about PS, is the tecnhnical tips and tricks are really only half the battle. Taste is the largest barrier to improving your work. You may know how to drop a chicks dress size, or change the colour of the sky 16 different ways, but if you don't know when and how much to utilise those skills it's all for nothing.
Click to expand...

I haven't spent too much time with PP so i dont have the option of choosing when to try one technique over another to give my photo a bit more life!
Fortunately I was taken under the wing of a professional retoucher and learnt all the things from him the Internet simply will not teach you (And some good hard no **** critique about my work - One of the biggest benefits of having someone much better than you pull it to bits). Now I'm lucky enough to put my skills to financial gain.

www.retouchpro.com is a great resource for all things PS related. Some incredibly knowledgable folk on there, many of whom are full time retouchers themselves.
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I found the bit in bold funny :p

martinturner said:
This!

A book can only teach you how to use each tool (the book above is very good at that though); the key is learning how to use the tools to suit your purpose and more importantly using them to develop your own style.
Click to expand...

Its this really why i was asking about it. As stated I've found some decent tutorials and only really just started using a bit more PP (out of forum pics) to see how things turn out but without knowing what each tool does i find things quite restricted on the PP front.

ScarySquirrel said:
Just had a thought, would be cool to have a 'Photoshop Processing' thread, where people can post their before and after photos, showing what they did to achieve the look, even if it is just a few quick bullets like "Increase contrast, vibrancy, etc", or it could be detailed right down to skin smoothing technique etc.. Could be a really useful resource for information and inspiration.
Click to expand...

I did have this thought when i started this topic but thought it would be a bit cheeky asking it and not being able to contribute ;)
 
Yeah, get that book. I recommended it to a mate and he has loved it. I also own the CS3 one and for reference has been pretty good. Once you learn the tools the rest is soooo much easier! Am always happy to help with PS stuff if you drop me a message on Flickr.
 
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