Photoshop Tone Control and Black and White Conversion – Zoom Seminar 2/6/2021

The tools for managing tone and color in Photoshop are more intensive and elaborate than what is available in Lightroom. The seminar in Photoshop will explore fine tuning of image color and how it can influence Black and White conversion. This is a Zoom seminar and will occur on Saturday, February 6th at 9:30 a.m.

In Photoshop you should start with a well processed image, including good white balance and removal of any unwanted color casts. This is usually done in either ACR or Lightroom, not simply by choosing the light source but using the white balance tool. This removes tint issues and neutralizes the image colors. Even if you want a color shift such as warming the overall image, you should start with a neutral image and then impose whatever look or feel you want to the image. This is called Color Grading. Once this is done it is easier to move to a black and white rendering of the image and additional color shifts can be employed if needed to get the black and white rendering you desire. If you do not understand how color affects a B&W image, this seminar is for you.

Rainstorm over Angel’s Peak, NM.

Modifications to the original image color can now be imposed as desired using a number of different tools in Photoshop. In ACR and Lightroom there is Color Grading which lays a color tint over the image or modifies the color in a specific range of the image. Other methods of modifying the color involve mapping colors to different hues and/or levels of saturation. This can be used to modify the mood of an image, but also can be used to influence how an image gets rendered in B&W conversion.

Registration is now open. You can register for the class by email if you plan to attend. Cost for this class is only $20. Payment should be made using PayPal to my email address, or email me for an address to send a check. If you sign up with PayPal be sure to leave a note as to which seminar you are signing up for and your email address for notification.

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

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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 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.

Digital Photography II – October 26th

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Upcoming seminar – basic to intermediate digital photography. Some from the first seminar have requested the conversation continue.

Understanding digital photography is a bit more complex than you might think. Among other things you may be in charge of your images in ways you never considered. Knowing how to use the camera settings and tools is a step in the right direction.

Primary among good digital capture is understanding the difference between raw and jpg capture. Do you know how the jpg style settings in your camera can influence how you expose a raw file? What does the histogram actually represent and how can you use it to get the best capture in terms of exposure?

Essentials – Photography and Processing

The Hershey Library program on Digital Photography and Processing Essentials is this coming Saturday, April 6th starting at 9:30 a.m. You can sign up at the library or simply come to the door.

Essentials includes setting up your camera for the best capture, setting up Lightroom and ACR for best processing, and more.

Digital Photography and Processing Essentials

If you are reading this in an email, please click on the title to read the full blog entry online.

Two weeks remain for you to sign up for the April 6^th program on “Digital Photography and Processing Essentials” at the Hershey Library. The program will start at 9:30 a.m. Please sign up at the library if you can, but you will be welcome at the door as well.

The program will take you through fundamental photography information such as camera settings and understanding how digital photography captures images. We will look at differences in shooting in raw vs jpg, Adobe vs sRGB color spaces, determining exposure, reading the histogram and other essential first steps to good captures.

F/11 magazine downloads

Starting in 2011 a New Zealand base photography magazine was published 11 times a year. That ended with issue 66 in 2017. Rather unfortunate as the magazine was well done and featured portfolios of excellent photographers.

Their site is still active at f11magazine and all 66 issues are archived. They are pdf files and can be downloaded for free. In addition to the photographs themselves there are a lot of articles on photography that are worth reading.

My suggestion is simple. Go get ’em. At some point they will simply cease to exist and a good resource will disappear forever.

Many good photography magazines appear on line every year, and most fail to get enough support to remain in existence for long. Such is the plus and minus of the internet. One place to search for photo magazines and portfolios is Issue, which allows self publishing as well as being an outlet for publishers. There you can search for any subject matter and find free resources.

 

 

Beyond Global – Refining YOUR Images

I will be offering a class at the Hershey Library on Saturday morning October 13th. Rather than the usual demonstrations of how I made a particular image or used a special technique, this will be a class where your images are the source material. Requirements for participation are that you bring at least three images on a jump drive, including brackets if available, and be willing to have your images used for demonstration. You will be given the final result as a psd on your drive so you can study what was done after the class.

Processing YOUR Images

Photography starts with seeing something interesting. Then we capture it with our cameras and either preserve it as a personal memory or share it with others. Anything is fair game when it is a personal memory. Sharing images can be casual, but more often than not it is to make an impression on others, either as an artistic statement, or possibly in a competition.

Digital capture is pretty straight forward and today’s cameras do a pretty good job of making a good image. Moving a good image to something better is where craft enters and the end game is your personal art.

Post Processing in Photoshop

Intermediate to Advanced Post processing in Photoshop

“Great artists don’t just happen, any more than writers, or singers, or other creators,” … “They have to be trained, and in the hard school of experience.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Digital photography has made making a decent image pretty easy. Using ACR or especially Lightroom allows you to render the basic color and contrast of an image very well. But, the primary purpose for which they were created was preliminary global adjustments. Global adjustments are those which address the overall image in terms of color and contrast, but do nothing to address specific issues in smaller local areas. Yes, many of the tools added to ACR and Lightroom were put there to make some of these modifications possible, but the real tool for image polishing is still Photoshop.

Many photographers are satisfied with what they can accomplish with basic raw processing. In some cases it is all that is needed. But the refinements to an image that can push it over the top still require more work. What we are finding when we shoot is the “raw” material (pun intentional) needed to produce a good photograph.

The good news is that Photoshop post processing is really not complicated. The bad news is that Photoshop post processing is really complicated. It is not complicated in terms of the mechanics, but it is complicated in that many of the processes are simply not intuitive. They need to be learned, and that learning is a curve that can be rather steep. That is experience. Like any craft, it requires time to get to know what can be done.

Like anything worth the effort you first need to learn to think in Photoshop. If you take piano lessons you learn scales first, you do not sit down and learn to play a complicated piece of music. In Photoshop you need to learn the scales too. Layers and masks are really not that difficult – the second time. Blend modes and other more exotic tools require more time, just like playing the piano with both hands. Some of the ways to use Photoshop tools, like making selections, are a never ending learning process.

The advantage of knowing how to use the tools and options in Photoshop is the ability to mold an image into something better than what the camera handed you. Some of the techniques are actually pretty simple to use, but first you need to know they are there. Blend modes are like that, and I guarantee you that I can show you in a very short time – like 15 minutes – ways to use them that you will love and use immediately in your processing workflow. Others require deeper thought to apply to your work, but you have to start somewhere. If you don’t know it is out there, you can’t use it.

I will give a presentation to the Hershey Camera Club on May 3rd. The primary topic will be selections, but any presentation in Photoshop always covers larger ground. No technique stands alone. The program is open to the public.

I will present a workshop/seminar on Intermediate to Advanced Photoshop Post Processing on Saturday, May 19th from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Hershey Library. Cost for the program is just $45. The program will include Layers and Masks, Curves, Selections, Blend Modes and much more. I will address controlling the image while avoiding bad practices. There are tools in Photoshop (eraser, burn, dodge) which are simply not worth using as they are not modifiable. Imagine being able to get better results without the pain of backing up in history.

Please email me if you wish to attend so I can inform the library and make appropriate plans for the seminar. Locals can sign up and pay in advance at the library. Learning Photoshop is an adventure, and I hope you will join the experience.