Post-processing tweaks

[psiglx]

btw - the evo looks great after the edit

[SeanDub]

^^ ya good work.

I roll with a stock lens'd Rebel XT. Bottom of the barrel

I heart post processing

I've wanted to pick one up, ever since my friend Steven had one, I just am havin a hard time justifying droppin the cash.

[Stan Marsh]

rebel xt are cheap. or go for the original rebel they can be had for $150. they are a little slower but they get the job done.

[Travis]

The evo shot looks good Casey. The only thing i would suggest is to watch your saturation/color balance. The first shot seems to have a little cyan color shift, and then the edited shot has a green shift. Notice the color change in the pavement.

[dinanm3atl]

OP,

What are you trying to do? Just saying "What do you do" is not the easiest question to answer. Your photo posted looks 'real'. It looks like what the scene looked like when you pressed the shutter release.

There are too many PP options and opinions to say "What is your normal". Everyone has their 'feel' or 'style' that they eventually find themselves in. That will develop over time.

In RAW I mess with Clarity, blacks, fill light and the temp(depending on how it looks). Get it into CS2 and I have a couple different things I try. I try all the auto features and see what it thinks is right. Sometimes it looks damn good to me and sometimes it looks terrible. Depending on the photo and when shot I use noise ninja. I also, depending on the photo, use the shadow/highlight tool. Never passed 5 though as it starts trying to HDR itself! roflmao

Sharpen and save.

[Exorcist]

Thanks for the input.

I guess what I'm really trying to get out of the photos is the color depth like in your sig. My photos are missing that 'richness'. I know your gear is more up to par but is that something that can be helped with post-process. If so how?

E: Stating the obvious: RAW will help a lot in this..

[Stan Marsh]

I shoot an oldschool 300D and I can get it done. RAW helps a ton, making sure you have your camera setup properly for the shot helps too. Correct ISO, WB, shutter speed and F-Stop have a lot to do with it too. Do you take multiple of the same photo? up a stop and down a stop? I will usually shoot about 5 of the same photo with different settings so I have as much as I can to work with in PS.

[Digitalwave]

My workflow is pretty basic.

Levels
curves
color balance
hue/saturation
burn/dodge
clone
sharpen

For a photo that started out "good", the above is my basic workflow. Although I don't burn/dodge or clone all that often.

I use Photoshop CS3 Extended and I use macros for a lot of my workflow, and then tweak each photo individually followed by a batch save.

If the photo isn't so "good" to start with, there might be a lot more involved including duplicate layers, clipping paths, more cloning, dodging, and burning than I normally do, etc.

[SeanDub]

Damn, if I buy a camera, I have a lot to learn lol

[87e30]

Figured out how to open raw. Sweeeeet.

[B Rod]

Figured out how to open raw. Sweeeeet.

This is the first Ive heard of RAW. What do you do???

[87e30]

This is the first Ive heard of RAW. What do you do???

This might be sarcasm... but:

If you have a DSRL you just set picture quality to raw. Then open in photoshop. I hadn't installed the camera raw feature before was my only problem. Or something, I'm not sure what. but it works now.

[B Rod]

This might be sarcasm... but:

If you have a DSRL you just set picture quality to raw. Then open in photoshop. I hadn't installed the camera raw feature before was my only problem. Or something, I'm not sure what. but it works now.

Haha, no sarcasm, just learning. Thanks!

[Stan Marsh]

RAW format allows for many more options with your post process editing. Also the photo quality is much higher in RAW over JPEG.

[SeanDub]

I'm gonna have to buy a camera. God dammit.