Anyone have a good post-production tutorial?

[Geniusdog254]

I have really started to pick up on taking good shots, but I am a spontaneous photographer. I rarely, if ever, control the lighting & that usually ends up a problem for me.

Are there any good tutorials for Photoshop that you can share? I don't have Aperture or Lightroom, just Photoshop, so please don't tell me to use them or give me tutorials for them lol, I just need a basic Photoshop tutorial to increase lighting, improve colors, things like that.

Thanks in advance all!

 

[spinnerlys]

The range of post-modification also depends what kind of images you shoot. Do you use RAW or just simple JPEG?
With RAW you can modify much more than with a simple JPEG, as it gives your more freedom to change the white balance, exposure, black/white levels, ..... . With JPEG you have no such information left in your images and just rely on the filters and image adjustment tools.

via http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=photoshop+image+adjustments&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

For tutorials:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=photoshop+tutorials&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[Phrasikleia]

I rarely, if ever, control the lighting & that usually ends up a problem for me.

Photoshop will get you the last 10 percent, but the first 90 percent needs to happen at the moment of capture. If you're shooting outdoors, try to favor the "golden hours" that occur just after sunrise and just before sunset. That's when the sun is low and its light is passing through more atmosphere, making the light warmer in temperature, softer, and more revealing.

I also recommend you shoot raw format and then use Photoshop's raw controls to fine tune exposure and fill light. Try playing with the curves in the raw controls too; tweak the sliders that give you more or less light in the lights and darks in an image to bring out the effect you want.

 

[Geniusdog254]

Photoshop will get you the last 10 percent, but the first 90 percent needs to happen at the moment of capture. If you're shooting outdoors, try to favor the "golden hours" that occur just after sunrise and just before sunset. That's when the sun is low and its light is passing through more atmosphere, making the light warmer in temperature, softer, and more revealing.

I also recommend you shoot raw format and then use Photoshop's raw controls to fine tune exposure and fill light. Try playing with the curves in the raw controls too; tweak the sliders that give you more or less light in the lights and darks in an image to bring out the effect you want.

Thanks, I will definitely start using RAW format. I just don't like using it typically because on my Kodak camera it captures in Kodak's RAW format, which I have to convert for Photoshop. If there is an easier way please tell me but I haven't found it yet. Also, thanks for the tip on the lighting, I will try to remember that.

 

[spinnerlys]

Is any of the following cameras the model you use?

Kodak
DCS 14n
DCS Pro 14nx
DCS760
DCS Pro SLR/n
EasyShare P712
EasyShare P850
EasyShare P880
EasyShare Z980
EasyShare Z1015 IS
DCS720x

If so, you can use the Camera RAW 5 plug-in from Adobe to open your RAW files.

 

[Doylem]

I rarely, if ever, control the lighting & that usually ends up a problem for me.

If you're outdoors (and you're not using flash), then nobody can control the light...

But you can use the light to help rather than hinder you. And if you get it mostly right in-camera, then PP is a matter of moments (instead of spending hours trying to salvage something from the wreckage)...

 

[ChrisA]

I have really started to pick up on taking good shots, but I am a spontaneous photographer. I rarely, if ever, control the lighting & that usually ends up a problem for me.

Are there any good tutorials for Photoshop that you can share? I don't have Aperture or Lightroom, just Photoshop, so please don't tell me to use them or give me tutorials for them lol, I just need a basic Photoshop tutorial to increase lighting, improve colors, things like that.

Thanks in advance all!

Digital cameras (compared to film) have very limited dynamic range. You have to get the exposure correct in the camera. It is asymmetrical. You can correct for under exposure but not blown highlights.

The best way to go with digital is toset the exposure so that you expose as much as you can but with no blown highlights expect in sellf luminus objects (lamps, the sun, ...)

If you shoot raw, you still need to expose the same way but with raw you can pull more information out of the shadows later

 

[jampat]

Digital cameras (compared to film) have very limited dynamic range. You have to get the exposure correct in the camera. It is asymmetrical. You can correct for under exposure but not blown highlights.

The best way to go with digital is toset the exposure so that you expose as much as you can but with no blown highlights expect in sellf luminus objects (lamps, the sun, ...)

If you shoot raw, you still need to expose the same way but with raw you can pull more information out of the shadows later

A friend is taking a photography class at a local college and they told him the exact opposite of this. I have had better luck recovering highlights than shadow detail (aside from things like the sun which are completely blown). As you underexpose you also start picking up a lot of noise. You may be correct though, I wonder if anyone else has an opinion.

To the original OP, think about your shots before you take them. A 2 second correction before you press the button can create better pictures than hours in PP. If you like to shoot without thinking, then set yourself up to win. Sit with the sun in a good direction and setup your exposure, then click away and things should be close. If you are shooting into the sun with jpg and auto, nothing can save the pictures.

 

[Phrasikleia]

A friend is taking a photography class at a local college and they told him the exact opposite of this. I have had better luck recovering highlights than shadow detail (aside from things like the sun which are completely blown). As you underexpose you also start picking up a lot of noise. You may be correct though, I wonder if anyone else has an opinion.

What ChrisA said is right in my experience. He wasn't talking about recovering details that exist; he was talking about making sure the details are there at all. Blown highlights are not recoverable. When I'm shooting outdoors, I almost always underexpose slightly because my camera tends to sacrifice highlights in its attempt to expose the other tones properly.

 

[Geniusdog254]

Is any of the following cameras the model you use?

Kodak
DCS 14n
DCS Pro 14nx
DCS760
DCS Pro SLR/n
EasyShare P712
EasyShare P850
EasyShare P880
EasyShare Z980
EasyShare Z1015 IS
DCS720x

If so, you can use the Camera RAW 5 plug-in from Adobe to open your RAW files.

Yea the Z1015IS is exactly what I use. I'll download that when I get home today.

I've read about preferably setting the exposure low because it still captures the details and they just appear darker, however if you over-expose then you are screwed as they are lost forever. And, yea it is impossible to control the light outside without flash, or when flash it out of range. Thanks a lot for the help guys, I'll post some of my work when I get good, and hopefully I'll get a DSLR soon .

 

[toxic]

to clear up on exposing "properly" whatever that might mean...in the case of RAW, you want to maximize the detail captured. this means exposing to the right (ETTR), meaning you want the histogram as far right as possible without blowing any important highlights. what's important in the photo is for you to decide. specular highlights, like reflections, will always be blown, unless you grossly underexpose.

RAW gives you about 1 stop of highlight recovery and 2 stops of shadow recovery. this is the opposite of negative film, which gives you something like 3 stops of highlight latitude and not much in the shadows. what this means is, in the case of digital, it is better to underexpose than overexpose.