PS tutorials

[tonymidd]

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%2...text_intro.htm (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.

and

http://www.geofflawrence.com/index.htm

excelent for basic information

http://www.photography-forum.org/showthread.php?p=29938#post29938

George from east tenessee, usa levels/curves tutorial

http://studio.adobe.com/us/search/google.jsp

The starting point to use Adobe's own tips and tutorials, very indepth site can take a while to find your way around it.

http://www.absolutecross.com/tutorials/

Another site with lots of tutorials and video, again a heck of a lot to go at.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshoptutorials/

Again a lot of info.

One for NIKON users, far more balanced and objective than Ken Rockwell, a site that is a must if you use Nikon gear including Nikon fit lenses from Sigma etc.

http://www.nikonians.org/

Can't find a similar site for Canon users, if you know of one let me know.
I've relocated these links under a more obvious thread title.

If you've any good links on Photoshop please let me know and I'll add them there so they are all in one place.

[martin-images]

One that must be mentioned Tony and what a nice guy Mitch is

http://www.thelightsright.com/digital-darkroom.htm

Martin

[Stemmy]

Good post Tony !!

Loads of good info here.

[David Worthington]

Thanks for postin that up....... who needs mags and seminars !!!

[MalSales]

Also for Lightroom users is;
http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/
Gets you started with some useful tutorials.

[philghost]

Thanks for posting these links Tony, it has really helped me alot over the last couple of weeks and made my work alot faster.

Phil

[tonymidd]

One recommended by Reichert

www.photoshopcontest.com (http://www.photoshopcontest.com/)

[BarryM]

thanks mate, i might have a go at that with my poor ps skills lol.

[england1965]

can anyone recommend a good tutorial on "sharpening" - if possible within CS2?

I feel I don't understand the underlying principles so what I do is a bit hit and miss sometimes.

Cheers

Mark

[BarryM]

dont have a tutorial mate, but a great setting for usm and its fully adjustable is the middle slider to 0.3-0.4 bottom slider on 0 and the top percent slider, crank it up till u think ur fine with no oversharpen.

I watched a video on the web not long ago doing something similar, basically he cranked the top slider up to 500 or whatever, then slowly adjusted the middle slider to suit image. I called it crazy usm, but i was never a fan of usm always used focus magic, until i found those top settings i mentioned.

[england1965]

Thanks for that Barry - it's roughly what I do anyway - but I always have this nagging doubt that I could be doing it "better". Or at least more intelligently.

I'm always worried about over-sharpening - making the hair look a bit too much like straw etc. Especially if I am in the middle of x hundred prints.

Cheers

Mark

[BarryM]

I think sometimes we dont give our eyes enough credit for good judgement and rely on "settings" x = perfect, id stick with your instincts.

Another good one to try if u can mate is focus magic, it costs but so worth it, basically its a plugin for ps, you choose it, it analyses the picture and gives u reading from 1 to 10, generally an good sharp pic of cam only requires a 1 or a 2 at best, 3 at a push, but thats a big push, i found this amazing mate. it also lets u select the area to be analysed so u choose the face, and it gives a 100% crop in a small image to let u see close up of eyes etc, just change the numbers till your happy, Ive used this with some outstanding results, especially on my flower shots with my 50mm lens which is pretty sharp anyway. Just a case of letting run, if only 800px by 600px it rattles though it in seconds, larger images can take a minute or two.

[tonymidd]

can anyone recommend a good tutorial on "sharpening" - if possible within CS2?

I feel I don't understand the underlying principles so what I do is a bit hit and miss sometimes.

Cheers

Mark

I use a faded USM in the lab mode, have an action for it so it's quick and easy to do. It's gentle and 'cos it's acting on the data you don't get artifacts. you can apply it at least two times if required or even three or four times in come cases without any ill effects.
Details here..... it's the second method.

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

[george.monaghan]

Thanks Tony - appreciated.:wave3:

[steveathome]

One I learnt from a book by Scott Kelby was to select the two channels with the least contrast, appply USM then revert back to rgb.

Once two channels have been selected (holding down the shift key) come out of the channels then press shift and ~ simultaneously to show the correct colour image again, whilst sharpening.