9 October 2019 - Practical Evening on Post Processing

[Mike Farley]

On 9 October, our meeting at Croydon Camera Club will be an interactive demonstration of post processing techniques. If you have any questions about aspects of post processing, respond to this thread with your query. We will endeavour to include the topic. While it might be possible to provide ad hoc answers on the night, submitting questions here allows time to prepare a response which has been thought through.

[Bett]

I Mike I am really looking forward to this Practical Evening, but a bit unsure if it will be any help to me as I don't use Lightroom and only use PSE.
I would really like to know how to edit (lighten or darken, change) certain parts of an image.
I will attend anyway, so thanks for arranging.

regards Bett

[Peter Boughton]

I would really like to know how to edit (lighten or darken, change) certain parts of an image.

Lightening & darkening parts of an image is possible in Elements.

"Change" is a bit general - if it refers to cloning/healing then that's possible too, otherwise you might want to extrapolate on what you're after.

[Mike Farley]

Hi Bett

Photoshop CC and PSE are actually very similar. The main difference is that PSE generally has fewer options for any given function. I do have an old version of PSE on my laptop, although the interface might have changed in later editions. Depending on the questions asked I will see if there are options to use it.

Regarding your question, PSE can certainly do the tonal adjustments to which you refer. One of my objectives is to demonstrate that type of manipulation both in Photoshop and Lightroom. For my money, the latter is better as the selections are easily adjustable. However I appreciate that not everyone wants to use software which does not have a perpetual licence.

[Bett]

Thanks Peter I know it is possible to lighten and darken an image in PSE I just don't know how to do it, having tried without success.
Regards Bett

Thanks for the reply Mike
any advice will be welcome, thank you,
Regards Bett

[Mike Farley]

The way I would do it in PSE is to put a feathered selection around the area to be darkened or lightened and then use the Shadows/Highlights* tool to boost the shadows or darken highlights. Levels can also work. The main drawback is that when lightening shadows, some noise might be introduced. The full version of Adobe Camera Raw offers a lot more options, including control of noise, and would be my recommendation but the PSE way works. So long as the adjustment achieves the desired result and is not detectable, the method used does not really matter.

Besides, noise issues are often overrated. The size of the noise "grain" is obvious when viewed at 100% resolution on a screen, but that is not how the eventual image will usually be displayed. It is reduced if the image will be shown as a DPI and printing uses a higher resolution than a monitor, which also has the effect of making the noise less obvious. It can be a problem if only a small portion of the original capture is used for the final image, but that is not down to processing.

* Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Shadows/Highlights in my copy of PSE, which dates to version 9. Adobe might have changed it in later versions.

[abennettphotography]

How to create a lightroom catalogue
How to use:
Layers
Masks
Curves

[Mike Farley]

How to create a lightroom catalogue
How to use:
Layers
Masks
Curves

Thanks, Andy.

My plan, at present, is to demonstrate both Lightroom and Photoshop with the intention of showing how to achieve similar effects in both, where feasible. Lightroom has a large range of options available, but some things are only possible in Photoshop. I will be showing various techniques, such as the tonal adjustments Bett mentions, from which members will get the most benefit. That approach might change depending on further contributions to this thread. However, the Photoshop segment should include elements of layers, masks and curves.

Bearing in mind that only around 90 minutes are available, with the rest of the time being taken up by the preamble, break and finishing up, it will not be possible to cover the types of topics you mention in depth, for example the Lightroom Catalog. If there is asufficient demand for such tuition, our club can investigate other options.

[Canonballer]

Hi Mike,

Regarding tomorrow's post processing presentation, I subscribe to the Adobe Photography plan and now exclusively use Lightroom Classic and Photoshop CC. As such,I'd be interested to learn more about the following features in these two applications if there is time:

Lightroom Classic:
1. What benefits are offered in using the "Tone Curve" feature over and above the various slider- based adjustments available in the initial "Basic" section in the adjustments panel?
2. What benefits does using the "Split Toning" feature offer?
3. Can you explain the relative effects of the "Radius", "Detail" and "Masking" adjustments in the "Sharpening" section of the "Detail" section in the adjustments panel?
4. What benefits does the "Calibration" section in the adjustments panel offer?

Photoshop:
Any general guidance in working with Layers would be appreciated.



Many Thanks.

[Peter Boughton]

What benefits does using the "Split Toning" feature offer?

It's a feature that can be used for artistic effect - the presets for monochrome (Sepia/Cyanotype/Selenium/etc) use it to achieve the toning part of their effect.

3. Can you explain the relative effects of the "Radius", "Detail" and "Masking" adjustments in the "Sharpening" section of the "Detail" section in the adjustments panel?

Check page 10 of the PDF linked in this post: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2615&p=12220#p12220

It doesn't answer the question, but it does give values for Nikon/Canon/Sony/Fuji cameras that provide better sharpening than the Lightroom default - I have the appropriate values saved in a preset and simply apply it for most images.


In general, creating & applying user presets is a very useful feature of Lightroom - so probably a good thing to demonstrate.