funkyl
New Forum Member
Posts: 16
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by funkyl on Jan 25, 2019 18:48:46 GMT
Shortly after the holidays I decided it was time to upgrade from PSE 11 to PSE 19 before the learning curve between versions got any steeper. At the same time, I decided it was also time to learn to shoot and edit raw images, so I could form my own opinion as to when and if raw or jpg was better for me. I've attached 2 jpgs made from 2 original raw photos, edited to the best of my current ability, following the order suggested by the placement of the sliders and tabs in the edits pane. When editing the tonal parts, I switched the view to B&W to not be distracted by the colors. Both were shot with a Nikon D5100, using the 18-55 kit lens. Unless I'm trying for some sort of special effect, I prefer colors that look natural rather than over saturated. I also find myself obsessing over how much sharpening and noise reduction looks best. I'd love to get your input and suggestions on where my post processing could be improved, and how. Christmas tree: ISO 800, 0.30 sec, f/4, used tripod. I've always enjoyed sitting with my morning coffee in a room lit only by the christmas tree. Regarding my comment about over saturation above, those tiny LEDs really are intensely colored, and toning them down just looked dull & muddy.... Carroll Creek Park: ISO 400, 1/2000, f/8, handheld, with our dog pulling at the leash attached to my belt.   |
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Post by Bailey on Jan 27, 2019 23:37:07 GMT
Hi funkyl,
I photograph mainly landscapes and events and I too aim to produce natural looking images that represent as close as I can get to what I saw when I took the shot.
Regarding post processing, I try to minimise the time I spend post processing photos. If I am taking more than 2-3 minutes max. to process a photo, then I didn't capture the scene properly in the first place.
I always shoot raw format, on rare occasions raw + jpeg.
This is the general workflow I use to process an image.
1. Open in ACR
2. Adjust white balance. This is one huge advantage of many raw has over jpeg. If you got the white balance wrong in the field for some reason, you can easily set it in the raw editor to what it should have been.
3. Adjust the various sliders in ACR with the aim to fine tune the colour tones and exposure using the histogram as my guide. I use the histogram to determine if I have the full tonal range of the scene in the image. Bear in mind there is no one-shape-fits-all for the histogram that will apply to every image. I take each image on its merits.
4. I remove any sharpening applied by default by ACR.
5. I remove any noise in ACR. I find the noise reduction in ACR absolutely amazing and powerful.
6. I then open the image in the PSE Editor.
7. I straighten and crop the image to suit.
8. I then use Levels Adjustment Layer(s), with or without masking, to fine tune the tonal range of each individual RGB channel if required.
9. I then use various combinations of other adjustment layers (Hue/Saturation etc) with or without masking to fine tune the image.
10. The very last step I do is sharpening using the Unsharp Mask 99% of the time. I sometimes use a High Pass Filter for sharpening.
Sharpening should always be your last processing step. The reason being that no sharpening tool/method actually sharpens an image. They all basically increase the contrast along edges in the scene thus creating an illusion of sharpening.
If you do further processing after sharpening, it is likely it will affect the increased edge contrast created by the sharpening process.
hth 
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Post by Sepiana on Jan 28, 2019 0:04:16 GMT
Shortly after the holidays I decided it was time to upgrade from PSE 11 to PSE 19 before the learning curve between versions got any steeper. I'd love to get your input and suggestions on where my post processing could be improved, and how. Hi funkyl,
The Raw Converter in PSE 2019 has a feature you may want to look into -- profiles support -- which allows you to render your Raw files with camera-specific styles as well as to render them with artistic effects. There are seven Raw profiles. Adobe Color is the default profile for color images and Adobe Monochrome is the default for B&W images; they are both great starting points. The other five profiles are designed as starting points for specific types of images. Ex.: Adobe Landscape, Adobe Portrait.
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Post by PeteB on Jan 28, 2019 4:43:28 GMT
Hi Funky I have a question —- are you satisfied with your results, if not, what would you like to change or improve? BTW, on the forum's Creative Effect Challenge, a raw image has been posted for members to “play” with. Members can download the image and work on it and (if they want) post their results. They also post their workflow, ask questions and comment. It is an opportunity to practice and see what others have done…great chance for learning and having fun. The link .... photoshopelementsandmore.com/thread/5494/creative-effect-challenge-night-scene |
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funkyl
New Forum Member
Posts: 16
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by funkyl on Jan 28, 2019 14:34:03 GMT
Hi funkyl,
I photograph mainly landscapes and events and I too aim to produce natural looking images that represent as close as I can get to what I saw when I took the shot.
Regarding post processing, I try to minimise the time I spend post processing photos. If I am taking more than 2-3 minutes max. to process a photo, then I didn't capture the scene properly in the first place.
I always shoot raw format, on rare occasions raw + jpeg.
This is the general workflow I use to process an image.
1. Open in ACR
2. Adjust white balance. This is one huge advantage of many raw has over jpeg. If you got the white balance wrong in the field for some reason, you can easily set it in the raw editor to what it should have been.
3. Adjust the various sliders in ACR with the aim to fine tune the colour tones and exposure using the histogram as my guide. I use the histogram to determine if I have the full tonal range of the scene in the image. Bear in mind there is no one-shape-fits-all for the histogram that will apply to every image. I take each image on its merits.
4. I remove any sharpening applied by default by ACR.
5. I remove any noise in ACR. I find the noise reduction in ACR absolutely amazing and powerful.
6. I then open the image in the PSE Editor.
7. I straighten and crop the image to suit.
8. I then use Levels Adjustment Layer(s), with or without masking, to fine tune the tonal range of each individual RGB channel if required.
9. I then use various combinations of other adjustment layers (Hue/Saturation etc) with or without masking to fine tune the image.
10. The very last step I do is sharpening using the Unsharp Mask 99% of the time. I sometimes use a High Pass Filter for sharpening.
Sharpening should always be your last processing step. The reason being that no sharpening tool/method actually sharpens an image. They all basically increase the contrast along edges in the scene thus creating an illusion of sharpening.
If you do further processing after sharpening, it is likely it will affect the increased edge contrast created by the sharpening process.
hth
Thank you for sharing your workflow, Bailey. I also prefer to minimize time spent in PP, though at the moment I'm interested in learning what I can about processing raw images, and that means spending more time than I otherwise might. It's good to learn what works for others, and why, in order to get a sense of how the process works in general, and what may work well for me. |
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funkyl
New Forum Member
Posts: 16
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by funkyl on Jan 28, 2019 14:36:26 GMT
Shortly after the holidays I decided it was time to upgrade from PSE 11 to PSE 19 before the learning curve between versions got any steeper. I'd love to get your input and suggestions on where my post processing could be improved, and how. Hi funkyl,
The Raw Converter in PSE 2019 has a feature you may want to look into -- profiles support -- which allows you to render your Raw files with camera-specific styles as well as to render them with artistic effects. There are seven Raw profiles. Adobe Color is the default profile for color images and Adobe Monochrome is the default for B&W images; they are both great starting points. The other five profiles are designed as starting points for specific types of images. Ex.: Adobe Landscape, Adobe Portrait.
Thanks, Sepiana, I'll check it out! Lisa |
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funkyl
New Forum Member
Posts: 16
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by funkyl on Jan 28, 2019 15:45:05 GMT
Hi Funky I have a question —- are you satisfied with your results, if not, what would you like to change or improve? BTW, on the forum's Creative Effect Challenge, a raw image has been posted for members to “play” with. Members can download the image and work on it and (if they want) post their results. They also post their workflow, ask questions and comment. It is an opportunity to practice and see what others have done…great chance for learning and having fun. The link .... photoshopelementsandmore.com/thread/5494/creative-effect-challenge-night-scene Good question, Pete. What satisfied me 5 years ago often does not satisfy me now, hence my foray into editing raw images.... I'm more satisfied with the Xmas tree than with any I've done previously in this sort of nostalgic holiday shot. If I could change anything further, I'd tone down the intensity/saturation in the immediate vicinity of each individual LED, without changing it on the walls, hats, or even the ornaments or branches outside of the areas not immediately adjacent to the individual lights. That said, if doing that were to involve making many individual adjustments to tiny areas of the photo, I'd probably decide that small improvement was not worth the time spent. Those LED lights actually are very bright and intense, much more so than the tiny incandescent bulbs they replaced a few years ago. I purposely took the creek shot under conditions I thought would be challenging to edit: very dark shadows, very bright white snow, bright midday light. Since posting it, I've worked on it some, based on suggestions from some of the folks on the Ugly Hedgehogs forum, and am more satisfied with the newer version. I reduced the exposure a bit, which returned more detail to the bright white parts of the snow. That left the shadowed stone wall on the right darker, but I could still lighten the shadows enough to return some color and definition to the individual stones. I warmed the white balance a bit, adding more yellow and red; enough to improve the color of the red brick buildings without making the sky or shadows too purple. I don't know what I don't know. As I learn what can be done to improve a photo, I get better at seeing what would make me happier with it, and vice versa. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for directing me to the creative challenge thread, I'll check it out. Lisa |
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Post by Bailey on Jan 29, 2019 20:24:41 GMT
Thank you for sharing your workflow, Bailey. I also prefer to minimize time spent in PP, though at the moment I'm interested in learning what I can about processing raw images, and that means spending more time than I otherwise might. No problem funkyl. To minimise time in post processing you need to get the exposure correct when taking the shot. Since all digital cameras try to convert everything to 18% grey, when I have time to set up a shot, I put the camera in manual mode and spot meter a neutral grey in the scene to set the exposure. If I need to point and shoot in aperture or shutter priority then I use evaluative metering mode. The in camera histogram is the best way I know to determine if my exposure is correct. I'd rather spend a couple of extra minutes tweaking the exposure when taking the shot than an extra 15-20 minutes in post processing trying to fix exposure and colour issues. |
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Post by Sepiana on Jan 29, 2019 21:12:22 GMT
The Raw Converter in PSE 2019 has a feature you may want to look into -- profiles support -- which allows you to render your Raw files with camera-specific styles as well as to render them with artistic effects. There are seven Raw profiles. Adobe Color is the default profile for color images and Adobe Monochrome is the default for B&W images; they are both great starting points. The other five profiles are designed as starting points for specific types of images. Ex.: Adobe Landscape, Adobe Portrait.
Thanks, Sepiana, I'll check it out! Lisa
Lisa, you are most welcome!
Here is some more information on the Raw/Creative profiles. Hope it helps! Just keep in mind that ACR in Elements doesn't have all the bells and whistles as its counterpart in Photoshop and Lightroom.
PSE 2019 – Camera Raw Treatments and Profiles The Power of Profiles in Adobe Camera Raw Adobe Camera Raw April Update – Raw and Creative Profiles |
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Post by Bailey on Jan 29, 2019 21:34:49 GMT
At the same time, I decided it was also time to learn to shoot and edit raw images, so I could form my own opinion as to when and if raw or jpg was better for me. An important consideration in making this decision is the intended purpose of your edited outputs. Will your final outputs be used for mainly publishing on the Internet, printing or both? Also, if colour matching/management is important to you, for screen and/or printing, have you properly calibrated your monitor? A properly calibrated screen greatly helps extracting detail in shadows like in your high contrast creek scene. |
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Post by PeteB on Jan 30, 2019 1:34:47 GMT
Funky You could try the following on the Christmas tree. Open the image in Elements. Using the Spot Healing Brush, remove the white spots that are present in each LED light. Then open the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and adjust each color (red, green, blue) by moving the Lightness slider to the left. When the colors are adjusted, do a Stamp Visible and then add a Levels adjustment layer or a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. Adjust and hopefully that will help. |
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Post by Bailey on Jan 30, 2019 1:49:58 GMT
... Then open the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and adjust each color (red, green, blue) by moving the Lightness slider to the left. When the colors are adjusted, do a Stamp Visible and then add a Levels adjustment layer or a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. ... I don't see the point in doing a Stamp Visible. It will give you more flexibility to tweak the hue/saturation later on if you left the adjustment layer there and just add the subsequent adjustment layers on top of it. Adjustment layers are non-destructive adjustments. |
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Post by hmca on Jan 30, 2019 2:16:23 GMT
Just my two cents but I always like to do a stamp visible as I go along......sometimes more than once......it gives me the option to compare what I've done to the original.
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funkyl
New Forum Member
Posts: 16
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by funkyl on Jan 30, 2019 12:15:26 GMT
Hi all! Thanks for your suggestions. I work a weird schedule, and probably won't have much time for the next 7 days to try them out. You are using a term I've not heard or noticed in PSE before: "stamp visible". Hate to show off my ignorance, but what is that?
Lisa
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Post by Sepiana on Jan 30, 2019 14:57:31 GMT
You are using a term I've not heard or noticed in PSE before: "stamp visible". Lisa The Stamp Visible command creates a Composite layer, i.e., a layer which is a combination of all your visible layers. When you run this command, PSE creates a new layer at the top of the stack and fills it with the contents of the other layers. The advantage of creating such a layer is that you can work on it without affecting the other layers.
To run this command, . . .
1. Make sure the top layer is selected.
2. Press Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E (Shift-Option-Cmmd-E on a Mac).
OR
1. Make sure the top layer is selected. 2. Hold down the Alt key (Option on a Mac). 3. Go to the Layer menu on the top bar. 4. Slide your cursor down the menu options until you get to Merge Visible. Then, let the mouse go.
NOTE:
You can also get to the Merge Visible option from the Layers panel. Click on the four-lined square to bring up the menu.
If you don't slide your cursor down, the drop-down menu will just disappear (close) when you click on Merge Visible.
Flattened Layers with out actually flattening the layers
Stamp Visible To Run An Effect On A Multi-layered Document
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