poppin' tute-

[gefillmore]

I'm going to go thru this very simply-

if you have ps, you probably want to do this on about every photo you create-

now you can make it harder with the eyedropper, etc. (and it helps if you need some white or color balance correction)-

but I'll do the following on every photo I take and it does not take long at all-



go to image>adjustments>levels-

bring your output levels white triangle down to 244-

with the white and black triangles for input levels, slide those in until you reach the end of the histogram on either side-

slide the middle gray one for your midtones 'to taste' (what suits you)-

click ok and then on to curves- image>adjustments>curves-

click in the middle of the diagonal line (this anchors the spot and you might be moving the line at each anchor point you put down)-

now you have the line split in two; split these two halves into 1/4 lines by clicking midway between each half-

usually, you can make an 's' curve with your line by moving the bottom anchor point to your right and down and the upper anchor point to your left and up-- be careful, it usually doesn't take much-

you can improve the contrast of your midtones by moving the middle anchor point, but again, move it very slightly, if at all-

then click ok-


that's it!-

this isn't always all there is to it, but usually these steps will really help your photo-


hopefully, I haven't made any mistakes in these instructions, but with me, who knows-

just let me know if it doesn't work for you-

[Bindii]

Hey...thats cool!

Thanks! :)

[gefillmore]

welcome!-

[tonymidd]

I've made this thread a sticky, hopefully people will add good tutorial sites to it and those with problems will find the answers here.

One thing should be made very clear, there is no right or wrong way in PS, just the one that works for you.

To get the ball rolling here are a couple of sites, both by forum members.

http://www.digital-monochrome.com (http://www.digital-monochrome.com/)

This is Martin-images site.

http://www.creativephoto.org.uk/my%20way%20of%20working/text_intro.htm

This takes you to a series of workshop notes that I use for talks etc.

[gefillmore]

thanks tony-

in the near future I'll try to clean it up a bit and add some examples-

it's definitely true about so many different ways to address an issue with photoshop-