Photoshopping Photos - Advice PLZ

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,438
Location
West Yorks
ive been having a play with Paint Shop Pro 10 to try and get the hang of improoving my photos

To show me how its done, ive enclosed a recent photo of mine, that is at least focused, but rather drab

Picture%20001-small.jpg


would anybody fancy having a go and seeing what they can do ?


also has anybody get any suggestions as to where to look on the web, google is supposed to be your friend, but all i can find is lots of extensive manuals full of stuff that confuses me :(
 
The best idea is to improve the actual taking of the photos :) Photoshop and similar applications really should only be used to finish a photo, and even then you shouldn't have to spend very long doing so.

Don't start relying on software to make your photos look good!
 
Matt said:
*snip*
Don't start relying on software to make your photos look good!
Click to expand...

But it can help when they don't come out as planned :)

I find that a lot of photo tweaking comes down to personal taste. I've adjusted the shadows/highlights/noise/white balance & sharpness on your shot to suit my tastes/monitor settings. It now looks like this :

tweak.jpg
 
The picture's got too much jpeg compression to be able to do anything with it really.

robertgilbert86, you've turned the poor lad orange :eek: :eek: :p
 
Yeah, the moment you hit it with a sharpen it goes all to pieces.

Often the image itself would benefit from being retaken. Personally I would've used a diffuse flash to help remove the shadow from the face. With the light behind the subject you're always going to get the face in shadow and IMHO as the subject they want to have the most illumination. Also in using a flash you can avoid overexposure of whites caused by a slower shutter speed.

For daytime color photography I almost always use a flash unless I intend to make the image black and white where the shadows become more important.

From a general Photoshop usage aspect I use these tutorials: http://www.adobeevangelists.com/photoshop/index.html

Again, IMHO you'd be better served by applying good photography practice in your shooting rather than attempting to fix it later in PS.
 
Most useful thing I ever read was my camera manual. Someone here told me to do that. Was a good idea. Much better photos. No help with learning photoshop obviously.
 
hmmm i feared it may be just that my photos are crap

i cant seem to get my photos sharp

and whats more, because its only a point and shoot canon A70, ive only got the option of shooting in JPEG

will a different camera take better photos? or am i just pants.
 
MrLOL said:
hmmm i feared it may be just that my photos are crap

i cant seem to get my photos sharp

and whats more, because its only a point and shoot canon A70, ive only got the option of shooting in JPEG

will a different camera take better photos? or am i just pants.
Click to expand...

Shoot in better light and use a tripod if you can.
 
Cuchulain said:
Shoot in better light and use a tripod if you can.
Click to expand...

shot in question was with the camera rested on the kitchen worktop

so it couldnt have been more solid

as for lighting, it was in front of open french windows with the sunlight shining in.

what more can i do ?
 
MrLOL said:
shot in question was with the camera rested on the kitchen worktop

so it couldnt have been more solid

as for lighting, it was in front of open french windows with the sunlight shining in.

what more can i do ?
Click to expand...

FLASH FLASH FLASH - camera has more light to work with and it can operate on a higher shutter speed so there is less over exposure. A well lit subject is a happy subject.
 
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