Photoshop and Editing Images - Week 10 [Workshop Notes]

Editing Your Photographs

Using Photoshop

An image is a set of RGB values (Red, Green, Blue). Each pixel in your photo has a different tone a colour in are valued and labelled in the form of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) between 0-256.
We can convert them to CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black)

Photoshop allows us to adjust these numbers in order to change the exposure, contrasts etc.

Be sure to shoot in RAW. files as well as jpeg. jpegs is a condensed image in comparison to RAW. By condensing the files, making contain less data reduces the image quality. Also, the limited range (8-bit file), RAW files are 16-bit so it can capture brighter and darker bits which a jpeg image could not. 

Shooting RAW. has a lot more tonal quality.

We need to launch 'Camera RAW' before launching photoshop. Non-creative work is done with Camera RAW before doing the creative treatment on Photoshop. Once all tweaks are done, we then export the files as jpeg.

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Using Adobe Bridge

When using Adobe Bridge

Film Strip - For those more comfortable with Microsoft users, you can used it to compare images.

Metadata - Shows you how the camera was set for the images.

Output - Create a PDF contact sheets and we can edit all captions.

You can label images with star ratings and then we can easily pick and chose images, reducing you collection of quality images.

Double click an image you want to edit, this will automatically launch photoshop an import the image to it. However, with RAW images, it will launch Camera RAW as photoshop wants to change the images from 16-bit to 8-bit.

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Editing your Images in Camera RAW

Using the image's histogram graph, 

X-axis = shadows to highlights
Y-axis = pixel strength

You want to get the best tonal range of the image. You want to reduce and enhance the values so they are within the boundaries of the histogram.

Black triangles shows you where on your image you have gone out of the tonal range.

Icons

White Balance - These alters the colour temperature of the image. Even if you preset your camera to a 'daylight' filter, Camera RAW will get rid of this. 
You can alter the tint and colour temperature too.

Highlights and Shadows - Top and low end tones will be alter, this can add a lot more detail to your photographs. 

Lens Correction - Lens gives you a round image, but your camera takes a square format. This helps alter light dispersion through the lens. Lens correction loses the vignette of the image, this can be re-added.

XMP files are changes to an image. They do not read or burn over the original file.

Once all corrections are done, select open image to open them in photoshop.

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Editing your Images in Photoshop

Change your tool options to photography, this will bring back the histogram.

Photoshop works through layering images. They're a non-destructive way of image manipulation.

Your cursor becomes you tool. Learn keyboard shortcuts to save yourself some time.

As you flattened your image in camera RAW, you now want to give your image some depth and contrast.

First thing you do when you start to edit the image is to duplicate the layer and add an adjustment layer.

Curves Layer - Make a characteristic curve, you can add film themes and various other edits to adjust your image. 

Black and White - You monochrome the image and you select the relevant colours and alter them. 

Clone stamp tool is really good for getting rid of reflections and blemishes from an image.

Dodge tool - Makes values brighter
Burn tool - Makes values darker

These subtle retouches are really effective for your images in terms of it's lightning.

Shape and size. Make sure you [Crop tool, fourth icon down] crop your images before you touch it up

You want your images to be in these format
A4 - find these presets online 210 x 297 (double the small number for landscape)
ppi - 300 (print resolution - find out)


Save your image as a either a photoshop file (when you haven't quite finished editing) or a TIFF for when you print your images (full resolution with no compression) or a jpeg for when you hand them in. jpeg is when you images are FULLY EDITED.