Workflow prioritisation

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

I can never seem to get a standardised approach - perhaps it needs to be tailored to individual images.
I usually open the image As Shot in Adobe RAW, I adjust the histogram and check the brightness and usually add a little contrast ( I use a CANON 20D and shoot RAW)
Then I go into CS2 and check the levels Alt clicking to double check highlights and shadows.

Now here comes the rub if I add a little more contrast in highlights shadows or in curves and / or if I add a little saturation and then go back to levels justto check, I often find that I have blown some element of the image.

When sharpening for the Web I usually Sharpen the full sized image and then crop to 750 pixels and then I use SmartSharpen.

Any advice would be welcome please.

Jon

[Doug West]

I'm no expert, but I would think Quick Masking would be your friend.

For example, lets say an image is half black and half white. You want
to work on the black part, but if you do it as a whole, you'll blow the whites.

To get around that, Quick Mask the black and put it on its own layer. Then
work on that layer. Because the black is on its own layer, whatever you do to
it wont effect the whites.

Doug

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Thank you Doug, I am still a raw beginner - hey no pun intended! I think I know what you mean:
I make a layer carefully draw round the particular area - say the dark patches, press Q then make the changes and then merge visible layers. I suspect it would be good to modify the selection by contracting a pixel or two and then feathering to avoid harsh lines at boundaries. Or am I off my trolley here?
Jon

[Roger Clark]

Jon,
I always feather a selection to make any transition smooth.

If this helps, here is my digital work flow:
http://www.clarkvision.com/photoinfo/digitalworkflow

Roger

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Thanks very much Roger, it is much appreciated - you are a gentleman
Jon

[Del Cockroft]

If you use the Quick mask as suggested by Doug, you don't need to feather or contract pixels. Simply hit the Q to come out of Quick mask, then invert (ctrl/shift and I). Marching ants show the area you are working on and there will be no harsh lines. Ctrl J will create a layer should you need it.

[Robert O'Toole]

Thank you Doug, I am still a raw beginner - hey no pun intended! I think I know what you mean:
I make a layer carefully draw round the particular area - say the dark patches, press Q then make the changes and then merge visible layers. I suspect it would be good to modify the selection by contracting a pixel or two and then feathering to avoid harsh lines at boundaries. Or am I off my trolley here?
Jon

If you make a selection correctly and with the right tools there is never a need to feather/contract/blur. You might want to take a look at my APTATS CD for 5 tutorials that cover selection methods using Quick mask and a brush that are all self feathering to save you some time with the learning curve.

http://www.birdsasart.com/aptats.htm

I havent used any feathering in years and years but the amount of feathering needed really depends on the size of the file and the selection you are working on. 2 px might work on a 300x300px file selection but its not going to do anything with a 5000px selection/file.

Robert

[Robert Amoruso]

I can never seem to get a standardised approach - perhaps it needs to be tailored to individual images.
I usually open the image As Shot in Adobe RAW, I adjust the histogram and check the brightness and usually add a little contrast ( I use a CANON 20D and shoot RAW)
Then I go into CS2 and check the levels Alt clicking to double check highlights and shadows.

Now here comes the rub if I add a little more contrast in highlights shadows or in curves and / or if I add a little saturation and then go back to levels justto check, I often find that I have blown some element of the image.

When sharpening for the Web I usually Sharpen the full sized image and then crop to 750 pixels and then I use SmartSharpen.

Any advice would be welcome please.

Jon

Jon,

Robert O'Toole's suggestions are right on regarding his tutorials and using Quick Mask. Once he demonstrated it to me, that is how I make many of my selections. However, for general workflow direction I recommend Artie's Digital Basics PDF. It will jump start your quickly and correctly. See it at http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm.

[David Kennedy]

Jonathan,
The others have touched on the more advanced selections for your workflow. I was struck that you're waiting to make levels adjustments until you are in Photoshop. I would urge you to get a copy of Real World Camera RAW because a lot of the changes you're making can be done right from Camera RAW, minimizing your workload in PS. The exposure slider should come first, folowed by the black point (it is better if the adjustment is no higher than 15; usually I set it between 3 and 8). The brightness slider is how you set your midtones. After those three fundamental sliders, you can add fill light if needed, or move on to the curves tab.
There are lots of other components of Camera RAW that are useful, and you'll find them in Jeff Schewe's book.

[Robert Amoruso]

I second vote for this book. If you use ACR, this is THE book you need.