Processing jpeg
My basic work flow for processing .jpeg consists of few adjustments in Photoshop. Technique is very simple and basic, but you will find tips overall very useful.
Un-sharp Mask (USM)
Un-sharp mask, aka USM, is very useful tool available in any version of photoshop. It allows sharpening of the images without sacrificing much of the details. Remember sharpening increases noise, and amplifies digital artifacts, so you will have to learn how to use it in an optimal way.
Now you might be asking why you need this, when any DSLR allows in house sharpening. Well answer to this is simple, in camera processing doesn’t always give you the optimal results.
Filters > Sharpen > Un-sharp mask
For canon shooters, there is recommended setting: 300%/0.3/0, but this is just a start, different photos and different subject materials will need different settings. You will have to experiment and learn this yourself.
Shadow/Highlights
Now this is single most used tool for my car photography. Modern digital cameras only allow up to 5 stops of dynamic range, this means that some detail in shadows and highlights will be lost when you are shooting high contrast scenes. This tool allows some degree of versatility to bring up details in both shadows and highlights.
Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight
Levels
The levels tool can move and stretch brightness levels in a histogram using three main components: a black point, white point and midtone slider. Try to extend histogram to fill the entire tonal range by adjusting the levels sliders as shown on the example.
Image > Adjustments > Levels
That’s all for now, I will be writing more articles to cover other Photoshop tools.
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Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feednice tips, helped a lot, thanks