Workflow

R
Posted By
rdoc2
Nov 9, 2007
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431
Replies
5
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Closed
I like to work on family photos and always scratch my head as what to do first or what to do last. Could someone please give me a good work flow order or even refer me to where I can get it. Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated.

I normally do the following, where needed, but have no set of what order to do them:

Levels
Saturation
Correct Image Color
Skin saturation or color
Image Size (usually enlarge)
Soft Light
Blemishes
Eyes (sharpen and whiten the white area)
Rings under eyes
Sharpen
Blur

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F
fleemo17
Nov 9, 2007
I like to work on family photos and always scratch my head as what to do first or what to do last. Could someone please give me a good work flow order or even refer me to where I can get it.

I usually start by adjusting my image size and resolution if necessary. That way, if you wind up with any artifacts, you can address them in the editing process at the outset. Secondly, I usually adjust the levels so I can bring out detail in the image. Then I’d do any color adjustments. After that, I don’t think it matters much, but I usually start with the biggest issue in the image and work my way down to the minutia. For example, I’ll use the healing tools to clear up the complexion, starting with the most obvious areas that need help and refine from there until I have a relatively smooth complexion. When doing actual touch-up work, I always work on a duplicate of the original image layer so I can A-B them by turning the revised layer on and off. I’d save any blurring or sharpening for the final step.

Keep in mind that most of your general image adjustments can be done in adjustment layers that can be tweaked.

-Ray
R
rdoc2
Nov 10, 2007
wrote:
I like to work on family photos and always scratch my head as what to do first or what to do last. Could someone please give me a good work flow order or even refer me to where I can get it.

I usually start by adjusting my image size and resolution if necessary. That way, if you wind up with any artifacts, you can address them in the editing process at the outset. Secondly, I usually adjust the levels so I can bring out detail in the image. Then I’d do any color adjustments. After that, I don’t think it matters much, but I usually start with the biggest issue in the image and work my way down to the minutia. For example, I’ll use the healing tools to clear up the complexion, starting with the most obvious areas that need help and refine from there until I have a relatively smooth complexion. When doing actual touch-up work, I always work on a duplicate of the original image layer so I can A-B them by turning the revised layer on and off. I’d save any blurring or sharpening for the final step.
Keep in mind that most of your general image adjustments can be done in adjustment layers that can be tweaked.

-Ray
Thanks Ray. One question do you increase the resolution to any special amount to do the fixing up of the image? Finally what resolution do you set to before printing? Thanks
M
macbook
Nov 26, 2007
On 2007-11-09 14:39:56 -0330, "Gary F. Pitel" said:

I like to work on family photos and always scratch my head as what to do first or what to do last. Could someone please give me a good work flow order or even refer me to where I can get it. Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated.

I normally do the following, where needed, but have no set of what order to do them:

Levels
Saturation
Correct Image Color
Skin saturation or color
Image Size (usually enlarge)
Soft Light
Blemishes
Eyes (sharpen and whiten the white area)
Rings under eyes
Sharpen
Blur

Keep original and duplicate,
save the duplicate as .psd and work on that one with the orginal onscreen too for reference.

1. Do not change resolution but do make sure the resolution is high enough.
2. asses the image and each channel, find the neutrals and skin tone
and decide if you’re going to keep any color cast that might have been on purpose or you’re going to neutralize the whites. grays and blacks and remove any color cast. Most family shots are warm so I suggest staying away from removing the color cast red.
3. Levels
4. Curves
5. grdiant map or vignette overlay to focus eye.
6. save .PSD
7. duplicate a 3rd version and flatten, resize to print size and proper resolution, convert to your color mode and then finally sharpen.
8. you should have 3 files on your computer. original, PSD and final
TIFF/JPG from the 3rd one you duplicated.

This is just for basic color correction and i’d say stick with it for 1-7 years,
after 5-10 years you can go into channel blending, enhanced noise reduction, halftone tweaking, eye enhancements, jowel removal, hair color, background and backlight creation. You try any of these too soon and it will blow donkey dong and look fake.



Cheers,
MacBook
B
Brian
Nov 26, 2007
"macbook" <privaty please> wrote in message
On 2007-11-09 14:39:56 -0330, "Gary F. Pitel" said:
I like to work on family photos and always scratch my head as what to do first or what to do last. Could someone please give me a good work flow order or even refer me to where I can get it. Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated.

I normally do the following, where needed, but have no set of what order to do them:

Levels
Saturation
Correct Image Color
Skin saturation or color
Image Size (usually enlarge)
Soft Light
Blemishes
Eyes (sharpen and whiten the white area)
Rings under eyes
Sharpen
Blur

Keep original and duplicate,
save the duplicate as .psd and work on that one with the orginal onscreen too for reference.

1. Do not change resolution but do make sure the resolution is high enough.
2. asses the image and each channel, find the neutrals and skin tone and decide if you’re going to keep any color cast that might have been on purpose or you’re going to neutralize the whites. grays and blacks and remove any color cast. Most family shots are warm so I suggest staying away from removing the color cast red.
3. Levels
4. Curves
5. grdiant map or vignette overlay to focus eye.
6. save .PSD
7. duplicate a 3rd version and flatten, resize to print size and proper resolution, convert to your color mode and then finally sharpen.
8. you should have 3 files on your computer. original, PSD and final
TIFF/JPG from the 3rd one you duplicated.

This is just for basic color correction and i’d say stick with it for 1-7 years,
after 5-10 years you can go into channel blending, enhanced noise reduction, halftone tweaking, eye enhancements, jowel removal, hair color, background and backlight creation. You try any of these too soon and it will blow donkey dong and look fake.



Cheers,
MacBook

I guess some people some people also like wasting time…such as doing levels and then curves. Curves gives more control than levels, so if you know curves, why do the levels step before it? It disappoints me that this newsgroup has so many egotistical people, and generally, more people competing for attention than people genuinely trying to assist others. There are some very knowledgeable people in here and they really do help others, but then…….
D
Dave
Nov 26, 2007
On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:10:00 +1100, "Brian"
wrote:

I guess some people some people also like wasting time…such as doing levels and then curves. Curves gives more control than levels, so if you know curves, why do the levels step before it? It disappoints me that this newsgroup has so many egotistical people, and generally, more people competing for attention than people genuinely trying to assist others. There are some very knowledgeable people in here and they really do help others, but then…….

Katwoman and I spoke about it formerly, Brian.
Doing levels and curves is not only wasting time but it is repeating the same process, because like you said, curves is the same task but only more sophisticated.

Dave

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