Personal

Hitting the Photoshop books

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Photo adjusted with my previously limited Photoshop knowledge

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Photo adjusted after reading a couple of chapters of a Photoshop book

I don’t think I could ever just stick my CF card into a printer and push “PRINT”. There’s always something you can do to improve the quality of the photo. That’s what darkrooms are for, after all. You don’t (or the photo “professionals” don’t) just stick the film in the dryer and print from the same setting each time. You create a contact sheet and pick the best exposure from the range. And I know enough about PS to understand that it’s the same kind of tool.

The problem is, I also understand enough about PS to create some major damage. I learned it back in the mid-90s when I had to create slides and overheads at my job and needed to scan and manipulate photos. But I only learned the very, very basic functions of the software. I’ve fiddled around with it a lot since then. Yet I’ve never really had any logic behind the adjustments I was making. I just kept adjusting, hoping to get the result I wanted.

Now that I’m taking this photography thing a lot more seriously, I’ve been feeling frustrated at my results — both with the camera itself and with the post-processing of my photos. I should probably read my book about exposure BEFORE reading my book about Photoshop, but what the hey.

In just two nights of reading, I’ve already found a way to improve several of my underexposed photos. I have to say that my flash (also used without enough knowledge) can create both shadows and blow-outs across the spectrum. The photo above suffered from underexposure. My previous method was to hit Auto Contrast, which often did improve it in a way. But I’m learning about layers and how they can be applied to lighten things up. I even used a technique to soften the grain that was appearing in his skin.

I love the way the second adjustment turned out. Although his hands are a bit too light. But, still, it’s progress. Hooray for higher education!

(In retrospect, I think I lightened the second version a tad too much. Kev, I know you’re going to have an opinion about this, so please do share!)