typical color workflow in PS Elements

[NativeCraft]

Hi,
Can some of y'all share your typical color workflow in Photoshop Elements? I don't really know what to do first (eg. sharpen, enhance color, etc.).
I feel like I've seen some sort of "tutorial" on this subject here before, but I can't seem to find it again.

Thanks.

[Scottes]

The workflow in PSE is no different from the workflow in any graphics editing program. Often you'll find that you have to do something differently, but the process is the same.

Here's my PS CS Workflow For The Insane (aka, Workflow With Too Many Steps, aka, Workflow For The Anal Retentive, aka...)

1)Shoot pic with camera
2)Upload pic to computer
3)Open and edit with Photoshop
3a) RAW Conversion
3b) Crop
3c) Remove Noise
3d) Convert to 16-bit
3e) Convert to AdobeRGB
3f) Capture Sharpen
3g) Clone Tool/Blemish Removal etcetera
3h) Color Correct
3i) Contrast Correct
3j) Creative Sharpen
3k) Save Corrected Copy
3l) Resize
3m) Output Sharpen
3n) Soft Proof
3o) Re-saturate/Fix out-of-gamut
3p) Convert to printer profile
3q) Save Print Copy
4)Print in photo printer

Skip the steps that aren't necessary for the image, or the ones that you don't think are worthwhile, or the ones that are just too dificult to do for every image....

And some steps are dependent on what you use. For instance you have to convert RAW using something else, then open in PSE. Or you may shoot JPG and skip the RAW conversion.

Note that I don't do this to every image - this is the extreme.

Your Mileage May Vary...

[scottbergerphoto]

Many of those steps are not available in PSE2. You need to convert your image to 8 bitt tiff in a Raw converter first. PSE2 has no Raw converter and will not work with 16 bitt files. Then in PSE2 in File>color settings, check off color management.Then you can edit your photo and it will recognize the color profile. When it's time to print:
File>Print with Preview>Show more Options>Color Management, you can choose to let the printer driver color manage by selecting Printer Color Management from the Output/Print pull down menu or if you have ICC profiles for your paper and printer, select that and in the printer driver select No Color Adjustment.

When you save a file in PSE2 that has a color profile like Adobe RGB, make sure to check the box that asks if you want to save the profile.
Regards,
Scott

[Scottes]

Many of those steps are not available in PSE2.

I mentioned the RAW part but didn't realize that PSE2 didn't support 16-bit. Those two steps will be different for just about any editing program besides Photoshop.


And to add to Scott's points, when saving a file for Web you should convert the color profile to sRGB, but you don't really need to save the profile info for that file since almost every browser ignores it anyway.


PS: Does PSE support Soft Proof or some form of detecting Out of Gamut colors?

[scottbergerphoto]

Many of those steps are not available in PSE2.

PS: Does PSE support Soft Proof or some form of detecting Out of Gamut colors?
No.
Regards,
Scott

[ejwebb]

Not as complicated as the previous responses but it works for me for now. As with most things you have to start somewhere and develop your own flow incorporating what you read along the way. I am sure my flow will continue to evolve as I learn more.

First, I set camera parameters to -0- for saturation, hue, contrast and sharpening. I also shoot in JPEG (ducking the blows from RAW proponents :shock: ) mainly due to memory limitations and to simplify the flow. I know RAW is better but for my purposes I don't think it justifies the additional work involved - having to use Zoombrowser doesn't help.

1. open photo in PSE2
2. clone tool if needed
3. color correct (usually not much - auto white balance is usually close)
4. increase saturation (typically 5-15 to punch up color if needed)
5. adjust contrast (using levels or curves - curves is available in PSE2 if you have Richard Lynch's book/cd)
6. save as .psd file (maybe I should use .tiff here?)
7. open .psd file and flatten layers
8. crop (if needed for printing or desired for web use)
9. resize (for printing (usually at 300dpi) or web purposes (72 dpi))
10. unsharp mask (as needed - settings vary to avoid halos/grain)
11. save as JPEG (print - level 12 (highest quality) compression or web - level 6 (medium quality) compression)

I welcome constructive critisism concerning my flow keeping in mind I just do this as a hobby - not as a job like the pros/semi-pros who have more complicated flows, along with more expensive software/equipment. I am sure my satisfaction level would be different in their shoes :D .

[NativeCraft]

Thanks to all of you for the responses! I've found the info. very helpful.

ejwebb,
Why do you do steps 6 and 7 in the middle of the workflow, rather than waiting until you're all done?
(I'm a newbie to PS, so I'm sure it's clear as day to an experienced user) :oops:

[Scottes]

I would say that Step 7 is unnecessary - unless some time passes between 6 and 7. If you do File... Save As... then you don't need to re-open. (Minor point.)

The reason for 6 is to save a good copy. The steps after that are destructive (like crop) and are meant to be output-specific - that is, you'd resize one way for the web, another way for print. So Step 6 now becomes your "base" image - open, do stuff, save for web, close. Open again, do different stuff, save for print.

[ejwebb]

Exactly, Scottes. Thanks.

[NativeCraft]

Scottes/ejwebb,
Ahah! I see - makes perfectly good sense to me now.

Thanks.

[ejwebb]

Scottes - what do you mean by "capture sharpen" "creative sharpen" and "output sharpen"? As you can see from my flow, I have been doing a sharpening routine only one time at the end although I may run the USM action several times at lower settings if the image can handle it. Does it not damage the image to sharpen in several stages? I understand that more sharpening is needed after resizing and before printing so I combined it all into one routine - is there a benefit to your method?

Thanks :?

[Scottes]

Scottes - what do you mean by "capture sharpen" "creative sharpen" and "output sharpen"?

This 3-phase sharpening process was brought about by Bruce Fraser, co-author of Real World Photoshop among others. Capture Sharpening is that mild and immediate sharpening of the midtones to combat digital cameras' anti-aliasing filters and will help an image "behave" better throughout the rest of the processing. Creative Sharpening is localized sharpening to highlight particular areas - like a person's eyes for example. Finally, Output Sharpening is done on the final image and is very specific to the output - web of inkjet or dye-sub.

It's a rather intensive process utilizing layers on full-sized images, so I don't believe that it is applicable to every image unless you're a processing maniac. However, it does make a lot of sense and probably should be used for every image. It's just too memory- and time-intensive.

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/20357.html

His PhotoKit Sharpener is a plugin made to do this. They've got a 7-day trial and can be interesting to try on a few choice image. http://www.pixelgenius.com/sharpener/

[ejwebb]

Always something new to try...Thanks :) !