Photoshop Essentials II – Toolbar

Zoom Class – October 24, 2020 – 9:30 a.m.

This will be the second in a series of Zoom seminars on essential Photoshop tools and techniques. The first program was on Preferences, Color settings and Workspaces. On the Learning page of my website are articles that cover these topics and you can access them at any time. They are free of charge.

The upcoming seminar is on the Photoshop Toolbar. I will discuss how to remove non-essential tools from the bar to simplify the interface. I will also talk about the various tool groups and get into details on the most essential tools.

You can register for the class by email if you plan to attend. I will use the most recent Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, but the techniques I will illustrate will apply to any version of Photoshop.

Cost for this class is $20. Payment should be made using PayPal to my email address, or email me for an address to send a check.

Please sign up for the class by Thursday, October 22nd at noon so invitations to the meeting can be emailed in advance.

My thanks to Derry Township and the Hershey Library for hosting these Zoom meetings.

Photoshop Essentials starts Oct. 17th – register now.

Customizing Photoshop

Creating a custom workspace, using screen modes, modifying preferences, minimizing the toolbar and more in a two part Zoom seminar – starting next week.

I will present two Zoom meetings – October 17^th and 24^th – hosted by the Hershey Library. The programs will start at 9:30 a.m. and run about 90 minutes each. This is the start of a series of programs on Photoshop Essentials which will continue in January and February, 2021.

There are nearly 70 tools in Photoshop, but you may only need to use a much more limited set to accomplish your goals. Efficient workflow can also be enhanced by setting up your own personal workspace so things you need are available, and others do not clutter your screen.

Just moving through the Preferences can get you more comfortable with how the program works and what you can ignore. Photoshop was not created specifically for photographers, but for graphic designers, and some of the defaults can be changed to make them better for photo editing.

Sign up now for the first Zoom meeting on Saturday, October 17^th at 9:30 a.m. The $35 fee covers both that meeting and the following meeting on Saturday, October 24^th at 9:30 a.m. This is designed for beginning to intermediate users.

Register by emailing me [mail@brysonleidich.com]. Payment can be by PayPal to my email address or by letting me know you would prefer to send a check. Please register by Thursday noon October 15^th as the library would like to have a list to send out the Zoom link on Friday.

Simplifying Photoshop ! ?

Moving into Photoshop you can stop using certain tools in ACR and Lightroom, like the adjustment brush, spot removal tool and even the crop tool in favor of what Photoshop does best, local refinements to your images. Lightroom and ACR didn’t even have most of those tools in the beginning, they were added to allow you to do minor fixes to your images without resorting to Photoshop. But …

Photoshop remains the best program for modifying, retouching, and massaging your images into the artistic interpretations you want them to be. It is also one of the most complex and overwhelming pieces of software you can use. It can also be one of the most rewarding artistic tools available to the photographer. One way to make it work better for you is to customize it so that you only see the tools you really need, along with understanding what is possible.

I am beginning a series of classes on Photoshop designed to move you step by step into managing image refinement by learning various aspects of the program and of the tools and adjustment options that can make your images better. First in the series is a two part class on making Photoshop easier to use. To start we will examine Preferences, Color Settings, Toolbar and Menu settings to make sense of the interface. Later we will examine various adjustments and compare their benefits and possibilities. Many of the tools and adjustments that are available are not specifically for photographers, so knowing what will work better will save you the frustration of trying to use the wrong approach.

Most of the classes with be $20 per session using the Zoom platform hosted by the https://www.hersheylibrary.org/home/ Hershey Public Library. The kickoff meeting will be a two part meeting for a combined price of $35. These will occur on Saturdays, October 17th and 24th, at 9:30 a.m. Each class will last approximately 60-90 minutes.

Signing up for the classes is with Payment by PayPal to mail@brysonleidich.com, or a check to me. If you email me I will respond to you with an address if you are paying by check.

Lightroom Zoom Meeting – the Develop Module

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Only ten days left to sign up for the Lightroom Zoom meeting. The topic is the Lightroom Develop Module and will cover all the tabs in the module and how to best use the options in processing your raw files. Sign up ends at noon on Tuesday August 4th. The price of admission is only $15.00

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 5th, 2020. The meeting is hosted by the Hershey Library. I will be demonstrating raw processing of several files from camera capture to finished. If you only work in Lightroom and do not do finishing work in Photoshop there will be quite a few tips for how to make your images as powerful as possible using only the tools in the Develop Module.

The image above was processed using only Lightroom Develop Module options. The original was shot on a Canon EOS Rebel SL-1 with an 18-55 STM kit lens, at 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO 400.

Care was taken to introduce as much detail as possible while suppressing noise that might have been imposed by poor choices in the Presence options of the Basic tab and the Detail options in Sharpening the image. The warmth of sunset was imposed using Split Toning and balanced with HSL options.

If these things do not mean much to you, you might enjoy getting to know Lightroom better. While Lightroom processing is very powerful, it can be destructive to your image quality if you do not pay attention to the details.

If you process in ACR instead of Lightroom you will find the information equally useful as the ACR engine and Lightroom are the same.

You can sign up for the class below. You can pay by sending $15 to me via PayPal to mail@brysonleidich.com. If you do not have PayPal indicate that in “Other Details” below and I will email you an address to send a check.

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Website Articles Update

WEBSITE UPDATED – NEW ARTICLES!

I have updated my website with all new articles in the Learning section. Most obvious is a replacement for the Lightroom overview pdf with a full set of eight articles. This is aimed at users of the Lightroom Classic desktop program. The Lightroom CC cloud based program has fewer features and uses cloud based image storage for remote access. I don’t address the functionality of the CC version. Other than that, the articles will apply to you regardless of the version you own.

Intermediate Photoshop Rescheduled

The seminar on Intermediate Photoshop techniques at the Hershey Library scheduled for May 16 has been rescheduled for October 24th. Another reminder and outline of the program will be sent in early September.

Stuck at home? Of course you are. With the shut down in place many find themselves surprisingly busy, and others find themselves with free time. If you have free time I suggest you take advantage and learn some things you always told yourself you wanted to know more about.

If you are a photographer you might want to simply reread the instruction manual for your camera, flash or other tool to discover something you didn’t realize it could do. If you are into Photoshop, revisit some older images and see if there are other or better ways you could process them. Maybe just a different crop or a change in the mood or tone. Experiment with a technique you had trouble mastering. Play.

Have as much fun as you can until we can all be together again.

 

Intermediate Photoshop Seminar

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My website has been updated. Most notable is a significant update to the pdf download “Lightroom Overview” which has been expanded. In addition there are two new articles on digital basics, “Light”, and “Aperture, Depth of Field and Diffraction”. Most of my articles are refined and revised on a regular basis. Most of them have been updated recently.

A new seminar has been scheduled for Saturday, May 16^th, 2020 at the Hershey Library. This seminar will target intermediate Photoshop users and will address image modifications using layers and masks.

Photoshop Screen Views – Navigation

Happy 2020. When you open Photoshop the Standard Screen Mode view includes the equivalent to the “consolidate all to tabs” arrangement. If you have multiple images open you can see them as tabs just below the options bar. The icon at the very bottom of the tool bar as well as the “F” key on the keyboard allow you to cycle through three different screen modes. You can also choose screen modes from the View menu. The screen can be less than the full size of the monitor in this mode.

The second screen mode is Full Screen with Menu Bar, and is my favorite working space. Any open images in tabs other than the working image are hidden and the info at the bottom of the screen also disappears. The screen maximizes on the monitor and if the rulers are off, only the menu bar and the tool options appear above the image. This is a nice clean space to work in without distractions.

October 26 Class Cancelled

The Bad News – The class on basic photography (II) has been cancelled. We just did not get a sufficient number of signups to make the class worth the use of the space at the library. Perhaps we will try again.

The Good News – The updated website and new portfolios have been published. The site is now tablet friendly and will even work on your phone if you are into that kind of pain.

Plans for a class in the spring include an intermediate to advanced Lightroom class and an intermediate to advanced Photoshop class. On the Learning Page at the bottom right is a red box for emailing me.  Please let me know if you think you might be interested in one of those classes. The library promotions go out well in advance.

A challenge to all is to learn to see like the camera sees. The camera does not respond to light the way the human eye does. Learning the limitations of the camera as well as the possibilities will help you move your photography to greater success.

While capture is one aspect of photography, post processing is another, and control over the final image is what you should strive for. Letting the camera decide how your pictures will look is not the road to good images.  You can’t buy great images, you need to learn how to see them, and then how to process them to get what you want from the capture.

“The eye should learn to listen before it looks.”
― Robert Frank

Intermediate Digital Photography Seminar – Digital Photography II

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Saturday, October 26^th at 9:30 a.m. at the Hershey Library.

Something as simple as how you have your camera set (read: picture styles, picture control, creative style). While image style settings in the camera will produce a variety of modifications to your jpg files, they do not affect your raw files. This is why that crisp, punchy jpg on the back of the camera doesn’t appear when you open the raw file to process in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw. If you use the camera makers proprietary software it may apply some settings to emulate the image style, and Adobe software can emulate some of that as well, but not to the same degree.