| Author | Thread |
|
|
09/23/2005 03:21:40 PM · #26 |
Originally posted by jrtodd:
Robert,
Trying to stay in the confines of the thread, how do you, or do you calibrate your monitor and printer as you are working with Photoshop.
Thanks,
John |
Yes, it is calibrated. There's a number of monitor calibration threads here, including one that's currently active with a link to a decent online calibration site. It's another issue I was going to maybe address later. In one sense calibration IS basic, but it's also complex and variable and confuses the heck out of people so....
R.
|
|
|
|
09/23/2005 03:24:48 PM · #27 |
| Wonderful and very informative. Thank you :) |
|
|
|
09/24/2005 01:16:41 AM · #28 |
|
|
|
09/24/2005 12:21:49 PM · #29 |
Basic Photoshop Workflow — Continued, Part III
In Part I we uploaded an image from the camera into an organized file structure on our hard drive. We then saved the image as a .psd file so that we could work on it in a format that allowed us to keep layers and so forth intact in the saved version. We learned that we will NEVER do any work on our original file, but instead will clone off new copies of this file as needed to experiment with. We learned that our basic workflow is Open/save as .psd/adjust image/save final version at full size with layers intact/resize and adjust/publish to web. We looked at the concept of saving more than one version of an image, and why we'd do that.
In Part II we discussed what the Photoshop tool IS from a basic, photographic point of view, and how we would be using it as a part of our basic workflow for presenting images. We touched on what might best be done in-camera and what might best be left "neutral" so we could fine-tune it in Photoshop. We listed 7 basic things that Photoshop is used for by photographers. Finally, we promised the next section of this tutorial would discuss actual Photoshop workflow, the order in which we do things.
I'm going to modify that a little now: for Part III I am going to take a diversion and introduce you to "layers", then post up several examples of the same image and encourage you to work from the original to duplicate the modified versions.
Photoshop Layers: the Basics
The one thing I keep hearing over and over again from those who are new to Photoshop is "I don't understand layers. What are they, how do they work, why should I use them, HOW do I use them?"
Since layers are fundamental to a logical Photoshop workflow, I thought this would be a good time to answer that extended series of questions.
Perhaps the easiest way to get your brain around "layers" is to forget about digital for a minute and consider the world of "analog", pre-digital, art. Imagine that you had a work of art, a sketch say, that you wanted to do more work on. But you don't want to "risk" the original by doing something you can't undo. You want to add some more lines to it, and you want to add some watercolor to it, say. But you're not sure how much you want to change, how subtle you want to be with the colors, or even what colors you want to use.
One possible approach would be to Xerox off a bunch of full-size copies of the original and work directly on them until you get something you like. This seems like a good plan to you, so you do that, and on one of the copies you start adding lines to the sketch. But you go too far. So you toss that copy and start with a fresh copy and get the lines the way you want them.
Now, if you're smart, you'll Xerox off some more copies of this new version before you start messing with color. Otherwise, if you screw up the color you'll have to do another lines-added version from scratch, right? So work with a new copy of the altered sketch, and play with different color combinations on different copies until you make one you like.
When you have it figured out, you go back to the original sketch, add your new lines to it, add your chosen colors to it, and you have an original, finished work of art.
This is analogous to what people do when they do Photoshop work on the base layer of an image file.
Alternatively, you can get some sheets of tracing paper and overlay them on your original sketch. You can add lines, discard the "layer" if you need to and start with a new overlay, add more layers for colors, and so forth, shuffling the order in which you view them etc, until you have an acceptable version. Then you can proceed to alter the original according to what you've determined works best.
This is analogous to working with layers in Photoshop, except that in Photoshop you can merge the final layers into the original without having to rework the base image at the end.
Photoshop layers are transparent overlays on top of the base image that contain information that alters the image in any of countless ways. A layer can be opened and worked on at any time during the workflow, as many (or as few) times as you wish. If you decide it's a "mistake", or you don't need it, you can throw it away without affecting any of the other layers/adjustments you have made to the image.
This last is very important: if you work without layers directly on the base image, the only way to undo your work is to go back into your "history" palette to a state prior to having made the change you now wish to jettison. Sometimes this isn't a problem, but sometimes it is. Suppose the FIRST thing I did to my image was to adjust the levels for more contrast. Suppose further that later, after adjusting hue/saturation and cropping the image, I decide my levels adjustment was not-so-good after all. Now I only have too choices; I can do a NEW levels adjustment to take contrast back out, but this isn't always a good idea as it tends to rob quality from the tonal range. Alternatively I can revert in history to before I made the levels adjustment, but when I do that I lose both my hue/saturation adjustment and my cropping, neither of which I wish to change but both of which will need to be redone.
See my point? Layers make sense. They allow us to fiddle with impunity, secure in the knowledge that we can just toss the offending layer altogether and it will be as if it had not happened. This is called "non-destructive editing" and it is by far the single most important thing for you to learn about Photoshop workflow. And it gets even better, believe it or not: you can adjust the opacity/transparency of layers to fade the effect. You can adjust the "blending mode" of any layer to change how it relates to the layer/s beneath. You can move layers around so they "stack" in a different sequence. You can link layers so they move as a group. If you have two copies of the same image open (or even two different images), you can DRAG a layer from one to the other and a copy of the layer will drop onto the second image. So if you have, for example, 3 shots taken in quick succession of your child blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, after editing the first one for color and contrast with layers you can drag the layers to the other two images and they will be instantly edited exactly the same wayâ€Â¦
Everything you do in Photoshop ideally will be done on a layer of its own
Now, this is a "basic" Photoshop workshop, so we are not going to go overboard on this stuff. One reason for that is that we want everything we learn in this tutorial to be legal for basic editing rules in DPC challenges. Basic Editing rules allow "adjustment" layers but NOT layers that "contain pixels", so let's discuss what that means:
When you open an image in Photoshop it consists of a single layer, the "base" or "background" layer. Obviously, this base layer contains all the pixels that comprise your image. Now, you can go to the menu at the top of your screen and choose "Layers/New" and opt to create a "layer from background"; this layer will totally duplicate the base layer; it is a pixel-containing layer that has a complete copy of the entire image. If I wanted to do some cloning out of dust spots or telephone poles, say, that's exactly how I'd go about it; I'd create a duplicate layer from BG and do my "destructive" editing on that layer. If I screwed it up, I could toss the layer and start over. Ditto for dodging and burning, all sorts of things. But none of these destructive edits are legal in DPC basic editing rules and we won't be discussing them at this point. So we won't be using copied layers containing pixel information at this point.
The other basic layer type in Photoshop is an "adjustment layer", and these are legal in basic editing. Adjustment layers do not contain any pixels at all; rather, they contain instructions that are applied to the layers beneath them in the stack. We create adjustment layers by going to "layers/new adjustment layer" and selecting one from the list that drops down. In this tutorial we will use hue/saturation, selective color, color balance and levels adjustment layers, at least for now. Other adjustment layers include curves, brightness/contrast, and channel mixer, to name three. All "adjustment layers" are legal in basic editing as long as they are used in the normal, default blending mode. We will not be discussing blending modes at this time, and the default blending mode is legal in basic editing (it's called "normal") so you don't need to worry about it.
Okay, there you have it. If you want to mess with the colors of your image, go to "layers/new adjustment layer/hue-saturation" and create an adjustment layer. You'll get a dialogue box that allows you to adjust the saturation/hue/brightness of the entire spectrum at once ("master" in the drop-down list) or of any individual color channel (blue, cyan, yellow, magenta, green, red) separately and individually. You can make the yellows more saturated and more reddish, the blues less saturated and more purplish and darker, whatever you like basically. You can also mess with colors by using a selective color adjustment layer, which lets you fine-tune the color components of any individual color channel (add more red and take out some yellow in the cyan channel, for example) and also do the same for the whites, neutrals, and blacks in the image. A color balance adjustment layer allows you to throw color shifts across the bright areas separately from the dark areas and the mid-tones, and so forth and so on.If you want to make the image lighter/darker or more/less contrasty, make a levels adjustment layer and play with that by adjusting the three sliders under the histogram.
We'll discuss all this in more detail later; for now the goal is to get you actually creating layers and using them. Once the concept is clear to you, we can work on how to use these different tools effectively and efficiently.
*************
I've attached 3 copies of a fairly nondescript, recent image of mine here; the first is as it came out of the camera. In the second I've used some sharpening, a levels adjustment layer, and a hue/saturation adjustment layer. I've deliberately exaggerated these effects; I'm not saying the second is "better" — it's just visibly different. In the third I have added another adjustment layer for selective color and thrown the yellow range towards green, again just to illustrate a point.
I'd like y'all to download the original and have a try at duplicating my results as show in the other two. Feel free to add your own interpretations as well. Next lesson will go back to workflow (the order in which we do things) and from there we'll move to discussions of the individual tools.
  
Robt.
Message edited by author 2005-09-26 14:53:43.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:06:45 PM · #30 |
bump? Where's our 'shoppers?
R.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:23:35 PM · #31 |
Still wait'n for the good stuff.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:26:49 PM · #32 |
Originally posted by strangeghost:
Still wait'n for the good stuff.
|
I got EIGHT HOURS in it so far and it ain't good enough for you? Sheesh...
R.
:-)
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:28:40 PM · #33 |
Here's my take: It's oversharpened a little - I realized too late I was working on a 640 pix pic (it's late Robert!).
Try 2 (much less sharpening)
Message edited by author 2005-09-24 22:34:00. |
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:33:03 PM · #34 |
ow oww owwww! The green is killing my eyes with the razor-sharp icicles of your USM!
jejejeâ„¢
R.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:34:45 PM · #35 |
| Check out the greens on my second attempt. Not as sharp but oh, so GREEN! |
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:38:06 PM · #36 |
"and the leaf's choice
is only knowing when to turn
the bright, bright green,
the blazing day...."
*****
"And I shall reap the jade
of the first, fire-green blade..."
*****
Robt.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 10:55:34 PM · #37 |
OK, first lesson done.
Q: Selective color - Absolute or Relative? (...or later in a tool discussion?) |
|
|
|
09/24/2005 11:26:04 PM · #38 |
oops thought we were doing our own.
Message edited by author 2005-09-25 14:54:29.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 11:40:09 PM · #39 |
Bear:
I've been an infrequent visitor to DPC lately & so have only now managed to locate and read this entire thread. Bravo! What you're doing here is great! I have three books on Photoshop & I can't follow any of 'em. Your stuff is clear and memorable. I will be a keen participant & I thank you for the tremendous effort you are putting into this group. Cheers! |
|
|
|
09/24/2005 11:50:21 PM · #40 |
Originally posted by C_Steve_G:
Q: Selective color - Absolute or Relative? (...or later in a tool discussion?) |
It's all relative, jejejeâ„¢... Seriously, I generally use selective color in absolute mode. It works better that way for how I use it. But to be honest I've never really made a study of it...
R.
And thanks, Ubique. Good to see you around.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 11:56:04 PM · #41 |
I'm not gonna be a "bear" about this, but "bear" in mind that the main component of the exercise is to try to DUPLICATE my results. You learn a little more if you try to match an established example...
I realize my results are arbitrary, but even so they are assignment-tailored; the first edited version requires work in red, yellow, cyan, blue AND green channels in hue/saturation; the second version (the green one) only alters the other by throwing the yellow to green by adding cyan in to the yellow channel in selective color.
R.
|
|
|
|
09/24/2005 11:59:42 PM · #42 |
I know I'm not a member of this, but I just wanted to say thanks to you, Bear for your in depth and just completely thorough writing. If you wirte this well for a mentor group, I don't doubt you could actually write your own book. I'd read it :0)
What I read in your layers post really changed my ideas about how layers should be used and when. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
09/25/2005 12:01:14 AM · #43 |
Supposed to match bear_music's more yellow image. Doesn't seem to have the intensity of bear's, but the workflow exercise was sure worthwhile - first time I've appreciated the proper use (and power) of layers!
 |
|
|
|
09/25/2005 12:01:22 AM · #44 |
Originally posted by wavelength:
I know I'm not a member of this, but I just wanted to say thanks to you, Bear for your in depth and just completely thorough writing. If you wirte this well for a mentor group, I don't doubt you could actually write your own book. I'd read it :0)
What I read in your layers post really changed my ideas about how layers should be used and when. Thanks. |
This group is currently open to all participants.
R.
|
|
|
|
09/25/2005 12:18:34 AM · #45 |
I think I got pretty close on the first example but I couldn't match the blue you achieved.
 |
|
|
|
09/25/2005 12:25:07 AM · #46 |
Originally posted by zapgrafx:
I think I got pretty close on the first example but I couldn't match the blue you achieved.
|
Looks like you're working with the blue channel but not the cyan channel. Most of the time you have to work them in tandem. Also, did you shift the HUE in blue/cyan? Move the slider right a tad and get more purplish...
R.
|
|
|
|
09/25/2005 12:27:16 AM · #47 |
| ahhh so that's how [light bulb going off in head] will have to try other tomorrow to night all. |
|
|
|
09/25/2005 04:06:42 AM · #48 |
| Just discovered new addition. Will have time to have a crack at it in a few hours time. Looking forward to having a play :) |
|
|
|
09/25/2005 07:20:11 AM · #49 |
OK here's my effort this is supposed to be like bears green one.
 this is my best effort so far for the yellow
 and another that I played with |
|
|
|
09/26/2005 12:02:49 AM · #50 |
Originally posted by pawdrix:
Hey Robert- How do you keep an entire History of your work flow?
I find that as I'm doing things, the earlier steps in my process dissapear and I can't go back to the beginning.
For example, if I perform 30 actions I sometimes realize that an earlier action, made a latter one impossible to execute...but when I go to correct it...it ain't there anymore. I might lose the first ten out of the thiry with no explanation. No saving either, that I'm aware of.
I haven't seen anything in History Prefs or anywhere else, to fix it. |
[Edit Menu/Preferences/General] is where the number of history states is set (defaults to 20). Increasing this number will allow more history states, but at the expense of greatly increasing the memory used. Since you are probably not wanting to save all history states it may not be worth the hit in performance caused by more memory usage.
Snapshots are Photoshops answer to this issue. By making snapshots of each important state you can go back to it at any time -- and snapshots don't fade away like history states do, they are there for the duration of the editing session. It is worth noting that, like history states, snapshots are not saved with the image. To have a permanent record of specific edited states an individual save to disk (with unique filename) is required -- as Robert mentioned doing in his discussion of file handling.
David
|
|
