HELP!

[chewiebakka]

ok so i purshased a d60
. wow toatally amazing camera! the images look wonderul, totally wicked!
But after i began doing all the editing in ps7 a whole new world opened. I started look for inormation on the net and found millions of right ways and wrong ways. hmmm.... so how can i know where to start? Then i found pekkas actions and i decided to go for the info and actions i got from this. I have fare knowledge about computers so thats no prob.
Ive started to calculate my own work flow and right now it looks something like this.

1. shoot raw

2. Use raw image converter 2 to convert to 16bit TIFF linear(is the way for using pekkas action?)

3. Open in ps7 and apply pekkas actions.

4. save


the problems:

at nr3:
ive read that shapening is the last thing u should do beore saving he picture, so how can i do all my other actions like crop, b&w etc when im using 16bit tiff linear i mean the pictures are so dark when preview in ps7 that its not fare to work with them.
and then witch of pekkas actions will make what to what kind of image? i mean like what is "run HQ noise once" do?(i know i can try all o them but it takes ages on my old fart computer) and so on. would be cool to c some feedback on what the diffrent actions do to the pictures(to make newbies like me understand what the hell we are doin). and what actions are suiteble or what kind of pictures?
Or are u applying this actions on all ur pictures?

at nr4:
how to save i dont know yet. Im shooting all around photos and im not printing big things, just maybe sometimes when i got a really cool shot.
now im using the biggest jpg file, what are u guys using?, how do u do when u have a nice image in ps, like 16bit TIFF rgb. do u convert to 8bit? lab? what is the difrent types useful or?

im sorry if i repeat questions allready answered in this forum the thing is that if i would take answers from all those threads it would be like pussel togheter info from hundreads of sources and that would create a even bigger mess...

I would really love to bugg u with this, i mean this is my life interest.

-a young newbie with million ides.

[robertwgross]

If you live near a large urban area, often there will be a community college where they teach modern topics such as digital photography, or Photoshop, or similarly related courses. That would be a good place to get started.

Sometimes there are graphics service bureaus that teach some of these classes also, but they tend to be very short and cost much more than at the community college.

---Bob Gross---

[Brettpp]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735712409/qid=1044952449/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-6612220-6047028

Try reading this book.. it has all the information you would need....

[Yavor75]

Chewie-
You can do crops and B&W desaturations after you sharpen, but the other processes that effect changes to the pixels in the shot- should be done prior to the sharpening. Pekka's next release of his action will have more selections with conversion and sharpening (you may be able to separate them).
IF you are just shooting general shots, shoot in Large size JPG (best quality) and then just use Photoshop's USM filter at about 100-200 amount, .4 radius, and 0 threshold. Try the Image/Adjust/Auto levels and see if this helps too (first!). If you want to manual correction, open Image/adjust/levels and slide the sliders under the histogram data to where the data is...(cut out any blank space at top and bottom) -then to color correct, select the middle eyedropper and pick a grey part of the pix..keep selecting until you get the color balance you like.
Remember, compose your pix to use all the image space- don't crop later...you are just loosing resolution.
Fred Miranda makes a great Custom Sharpening Action you might try. Also, Qimage is THE utility to print with. Get it.
With the above technique, you will create images that only an expert would be able to tell were not linear Tiffs that took 15 minutes each to process. In fact, I find that applying a general USM filter to a JPG sharpens everything at one- and produces an excellent effect over-all. Take well lit pictures (evenly lit) and expose them correctly- and JPG's will suffice nicely. Several people on this forum shoot JPG's at wedding and blow them up to 11x14's and the clients are happy.

Main thing is - go take pix! Give yourself assignments...go shoot textures, buildings, shapes, macros, still-lifes, people (my fav)..but shoot and archive.. One I like is to go to a dance performance and shoot without flash..getting all the movement.

Have fun-
Bob