Adventures in Photoshop, Part __ ?

[red_satin_doll]

Trying to teach myself PS CC is sometimes fun and sometimes sends me screaming into the night. As in last night, trying to correct a photograph of a rose I wanted to have printed and just muffing it up horribly. *le sigh

Comments

[teragramm]

You did a great job with the coloring on this. Coloring is very hard master, especially if you are using Selective coloring. I'm still learning and experimenting with color. And as I have said before coloring that is acceptable for fan art isn't always acceptable on RL images.

For sharpening I use two different methods...1st way----- In filters, under sharpen, I use the unsharp mask. I adjust the mask to my liking, without getting the image too pixelated. 2nd way-----Duplicate the image, go to filters, then down to other, then click on high pass. I adjust high pass until it looks like there is a slight film over the image. Then I set the top image (the one with the film) to soft light. Then I adjust the opacity to my liking and merge the two layers.

In the photo studio (before the days of PS) I was taught this mnemonic for coloring.
My - Great (Magenta - Green)
Big - Yellow (Blue - Yellow)
Cadillac - Runs (Cyan - Red)
Which really isn't necessary now with photoshop but it still is fun.

[red_satin_doll]

Wow, thank you so much for the compliment! As I said to rbvfid, I photographed the cooler one in a shadow and was trying to get it to match the daylight look of the other photos I took that day - and now I like the edited result better than the other ones shot in actual daylight, the tone is much warmer.

Color is HARD though because there are so many variables. What we call color includes hue and tone, saturation, temperature, light and shadow. It's a lot more complicated than a box of crayolas.

What is selective coloring?

coloring that is acceptable for fan art isn't always acceptable on RL images

Very true.

Thank you for the sharpening tips! I want to watch some tutorials on the unsharp mask because a lot of people seem to rely on it and recommend that tool. Comlodge and chasingdemons for example. Your second method - I'll have to walk myself through that one before it makes sense then come back with questions. So much of this is learn as I go (and then hope I don't forget what I just did!)

In the photo studio (before

[teragramm]

What is selective coloring? Selective color is the way most people adjust color in photo shop The mnemonic I mention tells you how to correct color.
Green is used to tone down Magenta, Blue is used to tone down Yellow and Cyan is used to tone down Red. ( And vise versa)

Here is a screen capture of how to find selective color. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/teragramm4/Textures%20and%20stock/selective%20color.jpg
If you notice on the right is the sliding scale of Red......Cyan, Magenta.....Green, Blue......Yellow and white.....black

You can use Color Balance too but I feel Selective coloring is more precise. Plus Color balance doesn't have black and white. Selective coloring is great for brightening up dark BtVS caps.

[red_satin_doll]

The mnemonic I mention tells you how to correct color.
Green is used to tone down Magenta, Blue is used to tone down Yellow and Cyan is used to tone down Red. ( And vise versa)

Ok thank you that makes total sense! The screencap doesn't look like my mac setup but I found selective color in the new adjustment layer menu and this tutorial seems like it might be helpful: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/selective-coloring/

A friend gave me a little walk-through on creating a new adjustment layer last night and gave me a 5-minute workshop and taught me how to use Curves to adjust contrast, and I'd never done that before. I'll have to try selective color next.

for brightening up dark BtVS caps.
And conversely I'd imagine it would come in handy to add contrast and definition to some of the late seasons caps that look weirdly flat because of the more "naturalist" lighting?

[rbfvid]

You did really great job here, turning night into morning)

And, as a semi-offtopic... Did you know that google turned their Nik Collection photoshop filters into freeware? They could come very handy, especially noise reduction and sharpening filters (cough - early season buffy screencaps - cough).
If you are unfamiliar with Nik Collection, here is a video introduction, explaining them.

[red_satin_doll]

Thank you! It was actually late afternoon but I apparently moved into a shadow because the other shots of the flowers I took in partial sunlight didn't look this cold and blue, so I was trying to get this one to match the other photos in the set. I think I did an okay job. (the original does look like nighttime doesn't it?)

Now I should try to see if I can do the reverse effect.

Did you know that google turned their Nik Collection photoshop filters into freeware?

A friend of mine just told me about that the other day! I had never even heard of Nik before but I'm starting to download them. He mentioned it and I was like, "for all the supposed sophistication of Photoshop and all the tools and toys I still need to download stuff just to do the basics I want to do?" But thank you very much - and I haven't watched the video intro yet, I'll do so right now.

(cough - early season buffy screencaps - cough)

I FEEL ya, hon. :D

[rbfvid]

"for all the supposed sophistication of Photoshop and all the tools and toys I still need to download stuff just to do the basics I want to do?"
Hee, I know the feeling.
Well, you can do all that stuff without Nik Collection, but it would take more time (and browsing through the premade filters occasionally gives you new ideas). So, as it's free now, there is no reason not to use it )

[red_satin_doll]

I'm actually looking forward to playing around with them. And I am now trying to resist using spicy but hey, sometimes I just have to get stuff done. I'm sure I'll come running to you when I have questions about the Nik collection (you don't mind do you? *lol*)

[double_dutchess]

Wow, great job on that picture.

I have been working with Photoshop (Elements) for a couple of years now, but much of the time I don't really know what I'm doing -- it's mostly just trial & error for me.

Good luck with your future Photoshop endeavours!

[red_satin_doll]

Thank you very much!

You probably already know I started to try to learn PSE but my sweetie switched to PS CC. I don't know how the two compare but I'm actually having an easier time diving into PS than PSE. But then again I've also forced myself to actually just do projects and muck around in it.

[velvetwhip]

It will come. I like what you're already doing very, very much! Looks like some PS vets are giving you excellent advice here.

Gabrielle

[red_satin_doll]

THank you so much for the encouragement and compliments! I know I've been kind of MIA lately and I do want to get back into artwork.

I got the print a friend did of the pink rose photo I showed you a while back, and it's very pretty but I can see that the contrast could have used a little adjusting. I'm going to have a photo on canvas printed next to see how that comes out.

[red_satin_doll]

Thank you so much!

It seems like I have landed in the right place! (I've occasionally checked out PS forums but the conversations tend to be way over my head from the get-go. I like it just fine here, thank you.)