Screencast

88 Secrets of Photoshop — Mini Bridge

Posted by Richard Harrington on March 7, 2013
Posted in: Screencast, Tips. Tagged: , , , , , .

Mini Bridge

By Rich Harrington — Follow Rich on Twitter

Inside of Photoshop you’ll find an extension called Mini Bridge.  This essentially gives you  the most useful tools of Bridge within Photoshop. This useful panel helps you with tasks related to browsing and opening your files. Mini Bridge lets you visually browse your files.  Mini Bridge can  make it easier to manage files by ranking, sorting, and renaming them.

  1. In order to use Mini Bridge, you must have already launched Bridge.
  2. Choose File > Browse in Mini Bridge to open the panel. The panel is likely docked at the bottom of your screen.
  3. Use the Favorites list and navigation controls to locate your images.

Mini Bridge gives you many of the same benefits of Bridge without having to leave Photoshop.

This post is a sneak peak of our new Photoshop book which will be released this Spring.

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88 Secrets of Photoshop — Workflow Options in Adobe Camera Raw

Posted by Richard Harrington on February 26, 2013
Posted in: Screencast, Tips. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Workflow

By Rich Harrington — Follow Rich on Twitter

At the bottom of the Camera Raw window is an often overlooked bit of text.  Look closely and you’ll see some blue hyperlinked text that declares the color space, bit depth, and resolution settings for the image. Click this bit of text to open up the Workflow Options dialog box and take control of how the image will be opened into Photoshop.

  • Space. Adobe RGB (1998) is the most common choice, but many are using ProPhoto RGB for its broader gamut which can recreate more natural color.
  • Depth. Always work in 16-bit mode in Photoshop for as long as possible! Do the math. An 8-bit image offers 256 possible values per pixel. 16-bit images offer 24 million values per pixel. In other words, you start with more information in 16-bit mode and that ensures smoother prints. This reduces banding, and allows multiple edits without quality loss.
  • Size. Is your camera’s native size not quite right for your needs? Click the size pop-up to change the megapixel count when opening.  You can even upsample in Adobe Camera Raw mode. Just select the next larger pair of values in the Size pop- up menu; the first set with a (+) after them. You can make the image larger and retain the sharp edges. In our tests, the results are a bit better in RAW than in Photoshop. Mathematically, upsampling in Adobe Camera Raw is a better technique than any other available with Photoshop.
  • Resolution. This option specifies how the pixels in an image are displayed.  The number of pixels per printed inch is referred to as resolution.  For use in print, it’s common to set this between 150 and 450 pixels per inch.
  • Sharpen For. Photoshop controls how the images are sharpened when opening from Camera Raw.  Choose the desired target including Screen, Glossy Paper, or Matte Paper    
Upsample

Sizes with a plus symbol (+) next to them indicate the image will be upsizes when its opened. While upsampling is not ideal, Photoshop does an effective job at it ,

Take advantage of the Workflow Options dialog to specify how the raw file should open.

This post is a sneak peak of our new Photoshop book which will be released this Spring.

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88 Secrets of Photoshop — Clipping Warnings

Posted by Richard Harrington on February 21, 2013
Posted in: Screencast, Tips. Tagged: , , , , , .

Clipping warnings show in blue and red. Photo ©Scott Bourne

By Rich Harrington — Follow Rich on Twitter

When working with a raw image, it’s very easy to clip data.  This happens when you push too many details into a pure white or black state (causing a loss of detail).  Locate in the Camera Raw dialog you’ll see a Histogram display in the upper right corner.

Click on one or both of the small triangles. The one on the left is for shadows and the one on the right for highlights. Once enabled, clipped shadows appear blue, and clipped highlights appear red. Make adjustments as needed, but be wary of clipping too much information.


Taking effort to avoid clipping will lead to a better print and free the image of muddy or blown details.

This post is a sneak peak from the new Photoshop book I’m writing with Scott. The book is a remake of his original best-seller “88 Secrets to Photoshop for Photographers. It will be available as iBook later this Spring.

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lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/​Photofocus.

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88 Secrets of Photoshop — Add Detail in Camera Raw

Posted by Richard Harrington on February 19, 2013
Posted in: Screencast, Tips. Tagged: , , , , , , .

5B

 

By Rich Harrington — Follow Rich on Twitter

When working with the Camera Raw dialog, you should always take the time to switch over to the Detail tab.  Here you can take precise control over both sharpening and reducing noise.

All raw images need sharpening. By default a value may be applied to the raw file based on a camera present.  Noise, on the other hand, may not appear unless the image was shot with a high ISO setting.  This is typically a problem when shooting under low light.

  1. To start, open an image into Camera Raw dialog.
  2. Click the Detail tab.
  3. Double-click the Zoom tool to see the image at 100% magnification. This makes it easiest to judge both sharpening and noise in the image.
  4. Use the controls in the Detail tab to adjust sharpening and bring out fine image details:
    • Amount. Increases definition at the edges of an image. Try a lower value for a cleaner image. The initial value is set when you open the file by the Camera Raw plug-in, based on camera model, ISO, and exposure compensation.
    • Radius. Be sure to use a low number for fine detail.  If the photo lacks much detail, you can try increasing it.
    • Detail. Takes control of how much high-frequency information is sharpened in the image. This also affects how the edge details  are emphasized.
    • Masking. Using a value of zero means that everything receives the same amount of sharpening in the image. A higher number is often desired as it limits the sharpening to those areas near the strongest edges.
Determine how much masking to use, by holding down the Option (Alt) key while dragging a slider. Find a proper balance between the detailed and flat areas of the image.

Determine how much masking to use, by holding down the Option (Alt) key while dragging a slider. Find a proper balance between the detailed and flat areas of the image.

  1. Noise reduction controls can be used to remove extra grain from the image:
    • Luminance. Reduces luminance noise.
    • Luminance Detail. Sets an overall threshold for the noise reduction. Higher values preserve overall detail but can produce noise. Lower values tend to produce cleaner results but likely remove some details you want to keep.
    • Luminance Contrast. Works best for very noisy photos.
    • Color. Reduces color noise in the image.
    • Color Detail. Higher values protect detailed edges. A lower value preserves more color but can cause bleeding.
  2. Toggle the check box for Preview to see the before and after states.

The Detail tab can really bring out the finer elements in a shot and improve noise.

This post is a sneak peak from the new Photoshop book I’m writing with Scott. The book is a remake of his original best-seller “88 Secrets to Photoshop for Photographers. It will be available as iBook later this Spring.

_______
This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/​Photofocus.

Skip Cohen University Professional photo education for wedding & portrait photographers. Sign up for SCU THRIVE in Vegas, March 8, 9 – 2013

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Removing Distortion From Your Photos In Photoshop

Posted by Richard Harrington on February 2, 2013
Posted in: Screencast. Tagged: , , , .

Learn how to remove unwanted bending from a photo using the new Adaptive Wide Angle command in Photoshop CS6.  With just a few clicks your photo will look dramatically better.

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ShootProof – Use code BOURNE20 to save 20% off the first year of any level plan – even monthly

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Amazon

How To Get Cleaner HDR Photos

Posted by Richard Harrington on January 27, 2013
Posted in: Screencast. Tagged: , , , , , .

In this tutorial I show you how to get cleaner HDR photographs. In this example I am merging three exposures shot from a bouncing and moving platform (aka a boat). The correction tools in Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 did an excellent job of removing unwanted distortion and poor overlap.

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Using Photomerge In Photoshop To Make Wide Angle Photos

Posted by Richard Harrington on January 22, 2013
Posted in: Screencast. Tagged: , , .

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to merge two raw photos to capture a wide photo in a tight space.  You’ll also learn how to match settings between RAW files as well as remove unwanted distortion from the image.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/​Photofocus.

Epson get rebates of up to $1000 on select Epson printers.

ShootProof – Use code BOURNE20 to save 20% off the first year of any level plan – even monthly

Drobo – Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.