Photoshop Zoom Seminar

Zoom Seminar – Photoshop Tone Control and Black and White Conversion

The Zoom seminar on Tone Control and Black and White conversion is this Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. There is a good group at this time, but this is a reminder if you intended to sign up and haven’t done so. I usually need to know you are coming by Thursday noon so I can notify the Hershey Library and they can begin sending out the invitations to the meeting.

If this is news to you – let me catch you up. The seminar on Saturday is on tone control using Photoshop. The primary intent is to show you several methods for controlling image colors and densities to improve your initial camera capture once you have moved beyond Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw.

Then we will look at Black and White conversion and how control over color influences the results we get in our monochromatic images. Simply eliminating color is easy, but knowing how controlling the color in the image translates to monochrome will get you to better final results.

The Zoom class meets this Saturday morning, February 6th at 9:30 a.m. The class will last about 90 minutes. The techniques do not depend on the version of Photoshop or Elements you may be using. The intention is to manipulate the image in as many ways as possible without using selections or masking.

Sign up for the Zoom class by using my email to send $20 to me at PayPal. Be sure to make note of the class you are signing up for. If you prefer you can send a check to me at 7644 Patterson Circle, Harrisburg, PA 17112. Email me as well to let me know you are signing up.

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

The Website

I just uploaded a major update to the website including fixes to image rollovers. Some articles have been updated, and there are always more updates in the works. As always, if you notice something that doesn’t work properly, or a missing image, please email me referencing the page. There are over 80 pages on my website that need to be massaged as time goes by.

Last week I also uploaded all new image portfolios. The image galleries have been suffering for a while. I write this stuff myself and sometimes it takes me a while to fully understand how certain aspects of the code function. The galleries are created in Lightroom, but then the code is modified to make the portfolios fit the appearance of the website. I think the latest update is a good one. Quite a few new images as well.

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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.

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.

Free Program on Adobe LR, PS, PSE

On Thursday evening February 28, 2019 I will present a program on Adobe Lightroom image processing with a follow up for processing in Photoshop or Elements. This program is free to the public.

The program will be held at the regular meeting of the Hershey Camera Club at Country Meadows Retirement Community, 451 Sand Hill Rd., Hershey, PA 17033 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Members have submitted raw files to me which I will use for examples and analysis of capture, raw processing options, and subsequent refinement in Photoshop or Elements. Lightroom has its strong points and its weak points and I will help you make a decision as to when to move on to a pixel based editor to refine your images. I will also be open to questions.

Resolution

A good resolution for 2018 would be to understand resolution.

I encourage people to deal with images by their pixel dimensions rather than arbitrary definitions. For example, you may be asked for a high res file, but not given a size. You need a size and intended use for the image to make a decision.

1200×1800 pixels = 4×6 inches @ 300 ppi

1200×1800 pixels = 16.667×25 inches at 72 ppi

Layers, Masks, Blend Modes …

Click the title, or the read more prompt below to see the full blog entry. Modification of your images is better, easier, more controllable, and more elegantly done using layers, masks and blend modes. Obviously, selections are important, but you can’t modify a selection after a correction is made if you cannot access the way it was applied.

This is where masking comes into play. What surprises most people is how easy it is once you understand the process. Even more surprising to most people is how easy it is to learn. If you really want to be able to make your images the way you want them to be, and not what the camera hands you, have I got a class for you.

Advanced Elements Processing – Selections, Layers, Masking and Blend Modes.

The Elements Advanced Processing Seminar is Saturday November 11, 2017, at the Hershey Library. Doors open at 9:30 a.m.

When you process an image in Lightroom or Camera Raw you are doing “non-destructive editing.” In Lightroom the “instructions” you are imparting to the file are stored in the database. In ACR they are written to an XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform) file. In either case, the original raw file is not modified until you export the file.

The best workflow for editing a digital image is to maintain the non-destructive concept throughout the process. This means you will be able to modify, update, or delete any instruction you create to change the way the file looks at any time prior to saving the file out to another format.

The most powerful tools available to you in Photoshop or Elements are selections, layers, masks and blend modes. They are also the most unused tools by many, and changing that will make your image editing improve significantly. The good news is that you already know how to do most of this, and learning the rest is easy.

Lightroom Develop Module in Detail

With a few exceptions the Lightroom Develop Module and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) are identical. They share the same processing engine and differ mostly in the visual interface. So, if you understand one, you understand both. While my Lightroom Develop Module Seminar on Saturday October 21 will be of primary interest to Lightroom users, anyone interested in a closer look at raw processing will benefit.

If you are planning to attend I would encourage you to sign up in advance at the Hershey Library. There is a handout involved and having a head count would be very useful. It also helps the library by giving them an idea of how their program offerings are working. In that respect it will help me as well.

Can you explain the difference between the Clarity slider and Dehaze? How many places in processing can you deal with vignetting? Why would you want to add a vignette?

Resolution Resolved

First a reminder that clicking on the title of this post takes you to the full blog site and the full content of the post. What you may be looking at may be an email alert to the post or an incomplete posting.

Second, a reminder that my Lightroom Image Processing Seminar is open for registration at the Hershey Library. The seminar is Saturday, October 21st, 2017 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Read the Image Processing in Lightroom article under the News and Events section on the right side of my Learning page.

A continuing issue with many people is the topic of resolution of your files. This is an aha topic and I find that when someone finally gets it the rest of the work involved in editing files just gets a lot less complicated.

With that in mind I have completely rewritten my Digital Basics article on Resolution including some examples of Photoshop Image Size dialogs to help you understand that pixel dimensions mean more than pixels per inch.

I suggest you read the Digital Basics – Resolution article on my Learning page. It is near the top of the page.

Those of you working in Elements may find my seminar on enhancing images using Elements of value. That seminar is on Saturday, November 11, 2017 at the Hershey Library. I will alert you when registration for that is open.