Part NINE: Working For Yourself

Photoshopin'

We've done some homework, bought our camera, and learned how to make sure we don't lose our minds and our images with some backup strategies. We've even begun to learn about cataloging, and keywording to understand more about how to find and use our images.

Here's the thing for me:
Photoshop is where I finish the image. I am usually shooting birds, landscapes and nature, so I try to spend as much time getting it right in my camera, while I am outside. I use Photoshop only to fix some small issues, for noise reduction, sharpening, and do some cropping and that's about it.

I have a friend who is an amazing artist and his raw image is merely a starting point. THE vast majority of his art comes from his work in Photoshop. But guess what? That's fine!
That's his style... and my style is not his. His is not mine.

Which leads me to my main point... NONE of this is a how YOU MUST treat your images. it is only and example of how I go through my workflow. See what works for you. AND what doesn't. It is art, and all artists have a different style.

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Now, it's time to see what to do once we've developed our RAW image in Lightroom and moved into Photoshop.

First step is to Open an image in Photoshop.

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For me, I have to fix one common problem I always have. I always try, and yet never do... My horizons are never correct. Yes, I could get a cheap level and put it on my tripod, but I forget to check in camera, and truly can’t believe that I would check the level on my tripod, either!

So, in Photoshop, under VIEW menu, scroll down to Show and then to Grid…

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Once you see the horizon, select the Crop tool on the left and rotate until the horizon is level.

Next up, I go to Filter, scroll down to Viveza2

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Here, I feel most of my images could use a little more crunch… so I add a little structure. NOT a LOT, just a touch.

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After I add some structure, I zoom in to at least 100% and check carefully for any flaws in my lens or sensor. There’s one in my upper right of all images (sensor issue) so I know I need to fix that, always. Usually you are looking for water spots, or dust, etc.

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Depending on the image, I use either clone stamp, or blur, etc. Pick a tool on the left, and then a source for clone stamp, and click away.

Once that’s done, I flatten the image (Viveza and many other Filters create a layer) and proceed to my next step.
If I am outdoors, and I am shooting landscapes, and there are bothersome wires, signs, etc, I will sometimes remove those as well.

After that, it is a bit more of correction usually Noise Related.

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