Processing Pictures

platypus

platypus

platypus

Caporegime
Joined
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As I'm new to a dslr, I'm wanting some advice on processing of pictures. Should I be capturing most stuff in RAW, or will JPG suffice? And what software do you guys use? I have Adobe's Creative Suite 2 Professional, but other then for graphic design (at which I'm pretty rubbish), I've never used it for photography.

Just some beginners tips for cleaning photo's, some cool tricks etc would be appreciated - and some links to useful guides if anyone has any :).
 
Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS3 are my weapons of choice. I shoot in RAW (Straight out the camera the pictures will look flat and boring, but it also gives you more flexibility when it comes to processing). Then I import the shots into lightroom. I sort out any exposure setting needed as well as curves to increase contrast etc. Then colours are tweaked. I then use Lightrooms dust removal tool to clean the image up a bit. I then move into Photoshop and use the clone, dodge and burn tools to selectively tweak the image. Then I go bck into Lightroom and add vignetting. then finally when I export the image it goes through Photoshop again to be sharpened using the high pass method and also a border added. My secret to processing; If it looks right then it is. :)
 
Thanks Alasdair, I sent you a lengthy email a while back, but guess you didn't get it :p

I've not heard/seen of Lightroom before. "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom®" - is it a plugin package then? I'll have a look and see if I can afford it. Thanks, keep the tips coming though :).

Not sure what all those things you mentioned are, but I guess once I jump in and start playing I'll find my feet somewhere. Is there any truth in what I've been told about calibrating your monitor correctly?
 
I'm also a beginner at this and only know how to do the basic processing functions.
I use photoshop CS3, open the Raw image, change any white balance settings or exposure settings to make it look better if required, then I adjust the levels. First I do auto levels and then I undo it and do the levels manually to see which have the best result and stick with that.
Then I use high pass filter sharpening technique, if you do a search for this I posted up a link to a youtube video recently which explains how to do it.
So in the end I'll an image with stronger colours and is sharper. I'll resize it down, add border if I'm bothered and then save as jpeg.
 
platypus said:
Thanks Alasdair, I sent you a lengthy email a while back, but guess you didn't get it :p
Click to expand...

:o Erm, yeah I read it, I just forgot to reply.. oops. Sorry about that. Better if we keep it on here anyway as then other people can contribute and benefit. :) Once you start trying a few processing techniques, things will soon make more sense. Certainly read about various methods a lot, but also don't be afraid of developing your own style based on what you like things to look like. :)
 
Lightroom and PS work great together.

Okay I may aswell try it before I hit Reply :rolleyes:

Yep, really that simple,

Have file. Right click, edit in PS. It creates a Tiff file to open, you edit. Once edited you go Save, close PS and voila its in LR.

I'd do it that way too because I have options set up for things like vigette in LR.
 
Paulus said:
is there any reason to use lightroom instead of photoshop to do the vignetting ?

seems like a lot of moving back and forth between the two programmes..
Click to expand...

Because its much easier to control the vignetting in Lightroom. You simply have two sliders for amount and size. aqlso as Lightroom is non destructive I can always remove the vignette at the click of a button. As Mikharper says, if done in a logical order, Photoshop and Lightroom work very well together. (Although I wish you had the option of 'work on origional with lightroom adjustments' if working on a psd file in Lightroom).
 
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