By popular request....workflow tutorial.

schmoelzel · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Hello to all!! While I do not consider myself an expert with PSCS or photography in general, I have been asked many times (since I began posting pictures of my daughter Julia) if I could describe my workflow. I don't think I do anything extreme or different than many of you but I know from my own learning experience that one can often glean a small trick or step that maybe was overlooked or forgotten. Here is a step-by-step explanation as to how I processed the following shot and made it ready for the web. Hope this helps and if you have any questions or see that I have omitted something, just let me know!! Thanks for looking........and reading!

The shot.

I use either BreezeBrowser or PhotoMechanic to sort through my images. I constantly switch back and forth between the two programs. Presently I am back to using BreezeBrowser. I liked this shot of Julia because she came ever-so-close to grabbing the lens and it was one of the few that turned out. The slant was total coincidence and was not done by design..........The shot was taken with my Canon 1D and a Sigma 15f.28 Fisheye lens.

Shutter speed: 1/1500 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Spot
Drive mode: Single frame shooting
ISO: 250
Lens: 15.0 mm
Focal length: 15.0mm

The Conversion.

I shoot everything in RAW. I am so used to it now that JPEG seems almost 'boring'!! I actually have my 1D set to record RAW+smJPEG......that way BreezeBrowser has a JPEG to display. The downside to this is that I still have to look at the 100% version in the PSCS converter to make sure that the shot is acceptable as far as focus and sharpness. Once I have decided on the shot, I click on EDIT and PSCS boots up and I see this:

As you can tell, I didn't have my white balance set correctly. Not a problem since I shot in RAW. You can also see that Julia was standing in the shade so a quick click and voila........WB is correct and already makes the shot look more natural. Here are the details to what I did within the PSCS RAW converter:
There are 4 tabs where you can make changes.

ADJUST

white balance: Shade
exposure: 0
Shadows: 5
Brightness: 50
Contrast: +25
Saturation: 0

Detail

Sharp: 25
Lum. smoothing: 0
Color Noise reduc.: 25

Lens:

C/A r/c: 0
C/A b/y: 0
Vignetting Amt: +61
Vignetting Midpoint:+50

Calibrate

Shadow tint: 0
Red Hue: 0
Red saturation: +14
Green hue: 0
Green saturation: +21
Blue hue: -9
Blue saturation: +36

In addition, I also have the followings settings on the bottom-left:

Space: sRGBIEC69166-1
Depth: 16 Bits/Channel
Size: 2464 by 1648
Resolution: 240 pixels/inch

Looking at the shot after these settings you can see that the blue-ish tone is gone and I have boosted some of the colours that I felt were there but needed a little life. I am happy at this point with how this shot looks...........I am going to use this shot for the web hence the use of the sRGB colour-space. If I knew I wanted to print this shot, I would probably use Adobe RGB colour-space. Native resolution from my 1D is 2464 X 1648.........I could upsize if I was going to go for a larger print. Resolution of 240 is plenty for a web-based shot.........I would probably use 300 pixels/inch if I were to print a hard-copy. Oh yes, I also rotate the shot so it is in a vertical position. Click OK and now I have TIFF file ready for a little more post-processing. I always save it at this point.

The Post Processing.

First thing I do is to check for focus by looking at the shot in 100% mode. I always try to focus on the eyes so this is where I want to make sure I have hit the focus. This shot looks good in that respect. Next step is to make a copy of the layer (in case something goes awry and I can always start from fresh!!). I notice in this shot that there is some shadow info that the shadow/highlight tool can probably fix. You have to tread lightly with this tool though since you can make humans look like aliens in short order!

Go to IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT... and you will be at this screen:

The changes I made had to do with getting a little pop from the shadow detail of Julia's face. My settings were as follows:

Shadows:
Amount: 26%
Tonal width: 88%
Radius: 155px

Highlights:
Amount: 25%
Tonal width: 4%
Radius: 137px

Adjustments:
Colour Correction: +20
Midtone contrast: 0
Black clip: 0.01%
White clip: 0.01%

I boosted the shadows as you can tell; you really have to play around until you get something that is pleasing to your eye. I find this tool great but also very subjective. What works for me may be over-done and unnatural for you. Experimentation is the name of the game. I boosted the colour correction as well just to pop the red a touch more. Works for me!! Click ok and I'm ready to crop!

I generally like to use a 6 X 6 crop for portraits but in this case that would cut away Julia's arm (which I like in this shot!). What I find distracting is the telephone pole at the upper right. I will crop to get rid of this but retain the red hat against the blue sky which I feel is a real focus point. After the crop, here is what I have!

Ok.......liking this more and more!! Next, I zoom to 100% because now I will do the first USM or unsharp mask. For the web, I use Fred Miranda's Intellisharpen II plug-in. I won't go into the details of this because not everyone will have this or use it. I find it does a great job for web work. Here's the way the screen looks when you enable the plug-in:

I use an intellisharpen level of 75. That is generally my starting point. The nice thing about this plug-in is that you can undo if things seem to harsh. I press apply and let the plug-in do it's thing!
Now I better resize this for posting on the web. I take the longest side and reduce to 800 px. I constrain the proportions and the end result is a picture that is 631 Px wide and 800 Px high.

One thing that you will notice by the screenshots is that the duplicate layer is gone. The intellisharpen plug-in will only work on a single layer, so it does warn you that it will be merging the layers. Remember to save before this if you ever want to go back a step or two. I like the shot and am ready to add the 2nd pass of USM. This time I use PSCS USM filter. Like this:

I normally am not too aggressive here and have used the following setting:
Amount: 150%
Radius: 0.3 pixels
Threshold 0

Now I save the shot as a Jpeg and carry it over to a stand alone program called Extensis Framemaker. I use a stock frame from within the program and end up with my final result, ready to post to the web.

Well, that's it!! Of course every shot is different but this is essentially what I do with my pictures of Julia. I am sure there are many wasteful things I might be doing but this has become habit and since I do this as a hobby, I find it is efficient for me! Hope this answers a few questions which have come my way via email and PM. I am flattered that some of you think that highly of my photography. It is really a matter of pure enjoyment for me and being able to watch my daughter grow up and chronicle it through pictures.

Nabil-A · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

In a nutshell..Thank you so much. I picked up a new thing... that is actually using the raw converter detail and colour sections... usually i just do the first tab adjustments ie sat, cont, exp... etc... but i think i might have my hand on raw adjustments to sharpness etc also.. makes sense to do in in raw and not to the imported file.

HAHA Drisley, didnt even realise i did that

drisley · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Excellent post schmoelzel!!!!
Thanks for sharing. Many of the top photogs don't like sharing your secrets.
The before and after difference is amazing. And, when did you get the fisheye lens?

Thanks Nabil for removing the quote. Much better

ryno4youth · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Great post. You should make a nice PDF for download. Great work and what a cute little girl.

Prox · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Excellent simply exellent!
Thanks you very much for sharing this with us, Im gonna save this for sure.

Blue Deuce · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

schmoelzel · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryno4youth

Great post. You should make a nice PDF for download. Great work and what a cute little girl.

Yeah, that might be an idea!! Thanks for looking!

schmoelzel · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Quote:

Originally Posted by drisley

Excellent post schmoelzel!!!!
Thanks for sharing. Many of the top photogs don't like sharing your secrets.
The before and after difference is amazing. And, when did you get the fisheye lens?

Thanks Nabil for removing the quote. Much better

Thanks Drisley! Well, since I don't consider myself a 'top photog'

, I don't mind sharing this since I don't think anything here qualifies as secret. The hardest part is getting shot in the first place!! I bought the Sigma Fisheye last week (used of course) and am initially impressed! I wanted something ultra-wide for my upcoming trip to Germany; many interesting streetshots are to be had in my wife's hometown of Lueneburg. Will have more to write about this little lens in a few weeks when I am back.

schmoelzel · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nabil-A

In a nutshell..Thank you so much. I picked up a new thing... that is actually using the raw converter detail and colour sections... usually i just do the first tab adjustments ie sat, cont, exp... etc... but i think i might have my hand on raw adjustments to sharpness etc also.. makes sense to do in in raw and not to the imported file.

HAHA Drisley, didnt even realise i did that

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post.......maybe I should include a 56K warning...........glad you got something out of it.

schmoelzel · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prox

Excellent simply exellent!
Thanks you very much for sharing this with us, Im gonna save this for sure.

Thanks a lot!! Glad you found time to read it!!

judyg · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Thank you.

HJMinard · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Wow ... the before/after comparison is incredible ... gives me hope for images that I thought were mediocre, but perhaps can be greatly improved. Mostly, I've learned that I need to learn much more about post processing. Thanks, Schmoelzel!

martook · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Wow, this guide is excellent! I can't believe the difference between the two shots, I really have to improve my Photoshop skills. Fortunatly, this will help a lot... Thanks!!!

Nightcrawler · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Thanks for the post. That was truly enjoyable to see your workflow. The end result is amazing. The thing that I picked up from this was your use of the shadow/highlight tool. I have never thought to use it on my portraits.

BottomBracket · 31st of August 2005 (Wed)

Schmoelzel, Let me pipe in with my gratitude. Great work!

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#1
schmoelzel Lord of the Holy Trinity Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: London (Canada) Posts: 1,815 IMAGE EDITING OK	By popular request....workflow tutorial. Hello to all!! While I do not consider myself an expert with PSCS or photography in general, I have been asked many times (since I began posting pictures of my daughter Julia) if I could describe my workflow. I don't think I do anything extreme or different than many of you but I know from my own learning experience that one can often glean a small trick or step that maybe was overlooked or forgotten. Here is a step-by-step explanation as to how I processed the following shot and made it ready for the web. Hope this helps and if you have any questions or see that I have omitted something, just let me know!! Thanks for looking........and reading! The shot. I use either BreezeBrowser or PhotoMechanic to sort through my images. I constantly switch back and forth between the two programs. Presently I am back to using BreezeBrowser. I liked this shot of Julia because she came ever-so-close to grabbing the lens and it was one of the few that turned out. The slant was total coincidence and was not done by design..........The shot was taken with my Canon 1D and a Sigma 15f.28 Fisheye lens. Shutter speed: 1/1500 sec Aperture: 2.8 Exposure mode: Manual Flash: Off Metering mode: Spot Drive mode: Single frame shooting ISO: 250 Lens: 15.0 mm Focal length: 15.0mm *The Conversion. I shoot everything in RAW. I am so used to it now that JPEG seems almost 'boring'!! I actually have my 1D set to record RAW+smJPEG......that way BreezeBrowser has a JPEG to display. The downside to this is that I still have to look at the 100% version in the PSCS converter to make sure that the shot is acceptable as far as focus and sharpness. Once I have decided on the shot, I click on EDIT and PSCS boots up and I see this: As you can tell, I didn't have my white balance set correctly. Not a problem since I shot in RAW. You can also see that Julia was standing in the shade so a quick click and voila........WB is correct and already makes the shot look more natural. Here are the details to what I did within the PSCS RAW converter: There are 4 tabs where you can make changes. ADJUST* white balance: Shade exposure: 0 Shadows: 5 Brightness: 50 Contrast: +25 Saturation: 0 Detail Sharp: 25 Lum. smoothing: 0 Color Noise reduc.: 25 Lens: C/A r/c: 0 C/A b/y: 0 Vignetting Amt: +61 Vignetting Midpoint:+50 Calibrate Shadow tint: 0 Red Hue: 0 Red saturation: +14 Green hue: 0 Green saturation: +21 Blue hue: -9 Blue saturation: +36 In addition, I also have the followings settings on the bottom-left: Space: sRGBIEC69166-1 Depth: 16 Bits/Channel Size: 2464 by 1648 Resolution: 240 pixels/inch Looking at the shot after these settings you can see that the blue-ish tone is gone and I have boosted some of the colours that I felt were there but needed a little life. I am happy at this point with how this shot looks...........I am going to use this shot for the web hence the use of the sRGB colour-space. If I knew I wanted to print this shot, I would probably use Adobe RGB colour-space. Native resolution from my 1D is 2464 X 1648.........I could upsize if I was going to go for a larger print. Resolution of 240 is plenty for a web-based shot.........I would probably use 300 pixels/inch if I were to print a hard-copy. Oh yes, I also rotate the shot so it is in a vertical position. Click OK and now I have TIFF file ready for a little more post-processing. I always save it at this point. The Post Processing. First thing I do is to check for focus by looking at the shot in 100% mode. I always try to focus on the eyes so this is where I want to make sure I have hit the focus. This shot looks good in that respect. Next step is to make a copy of the layer (in case something goes awry and I can always start from fresh!!). I notice in this shot that there is some shadow info that the shadow/highlight tool can probably fix. You have to tread lightly with this tool though since you can make humans look like aliens in short order! Go to IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT... and you will be at this screen: The changes I made had to do with getting a little pop from the shadow detail of Julia's face. My settings were as follows: Shadows: Amount: 26% Tonal width: 88% Radius: 155px Highlights: Amount: 25% Tonal width: 4% Radius: 137px Adjustments: Colour Correction: +20 Midtone contrast: 0 Black clip: 0.01% White clip: 0.01% I boosted the shadows as you can tell; you really have to play around until you get something that is pleasing to your eye. I find this tool great but also very subjective. What works for me may be over-done and unnatural for you. Experimentation is the name of the game. I boosted the colour correction as well just to pop the red a touch more. Works for me!! Click ok and I'm ready to crop! I generally like to use a 6 X 6 crop for portraits but in this case that would cut away Julia's arm (which I like in this shot!). What I find distracting is the telephone pole at the upper right. I will crop to get rid of this but retain the red hat against the blue sky which I feel is a real focus point. After the crop, here is what I have! Ok.......liking this more and more!! Next, I zoom to 100% because now I will do the first USM or unsharp mask. For the web, I use Fred Miranda's Intellisharpen II plug-in. I won't go into the details of this because not everyone will have this or use it. I find it does a great job for web work. Here's the way the screen looks when you enable the plug-in: I use an intellisharpen level of 75. That is generally my starting point. The nice thing about this plug-in is that you can undo if things seem to harsh. I press apply and let the plug-in do it's thing! Now I better resize this for posting on the web. I take the longest side and reduce to 800 px. I constrain the proportions and the end result is a picture that is 631 Px wide and 800 Px high. One thing that you will notice by the screenshots is that the duplicate layer is gone. The intellisharpen plug-in will only work on a single layer, so it does warn you that it will be merging the layers. Remember to save before this if you ever want to go back a step or two. I like the shot and am ready to add the 2nd pass of USM. This time I use PSCS USM filter. Like this: I normally am not too aggressive here and have used the following setting: Amount: 150% Radius: 0.3 pixels Threshold 0 Now I save the shot as a Jpeg and carry it over to a stand alone program called Extensis Framemaker. I use a stock frame from within the program and end up with my final result, ready to post to the web. Well, that's it!! Of course every shot is different but this is essentially what I do with my pictures of Julia. I am sure there are many wasteful things I might be doing but this has become habit and since I do this as a hobby, I find it is efficient for me! Hope this answers a few questions which have come my way via email and PM. I am flattered that some of you think that highly of my photography. It is really a matter of pure enjoyment for me and being able to watch my daughter grow up and chronicle it through pictures. Last edited by CyberDyneSystems : 31st of August 2005 (Wed) at 15:02.

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#2
Nabil-A Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 1,000	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. In a nutshell..Thank you so much. I picked up a new thing... that is actually using the raw converter detail and colour sections... usually i just do the first tab adjustments ie sat, cont, exp... etc... but i think i might have my hand on raw adjustments to sharpness etc also.. makes sense to do in in raw and not to the imported file. HAHA Drisley, didnt even realise i did that __________________ ____________________________ http://www.photographybynabil.com http://www.designerportraits.com.au http://www.lovestoriesphotography.com.au Last edited by Nabil-A : 31st of August 2005 (Wed) at 02:05.

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#3
drisley "What a Tool I am" Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 8,371	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Excellent post schmoelzel!!!! Thanks for sharing. Many of the top photogs don't like sharing your secrets. The before and after difference is amazing. And, when did you get the fisheye lens? Thanks Nabil for removing the quote. Much better __________________ *Click here for Pixmantra's FlexNR-Professional Noise Reduction for EOS 1D3* Last edited by drisley : 31st of August 2005 (Wed) at 02:15.

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#4
ryno4youth Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lincoln, NE (Deep in Husker country) Posts: 734 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Great post. You should make a nice PDF for download. Great work and what a cute little girl. __________________ Keep Lookin' Up! 20D (w/ Grip), DRebel (w/ Grip), Sigma 70-200mm f2.8, Canon 17-85mm IS USM, Canon 17-40 f4L, Sigma 28-105mm, Kit Lens, Nifty Fifty, Canon 75-300mm, 4GB Sandisk Ultra CF, 2GB Sandisk CF, 1GB Extreme CF, Hakuba HG-504MX Carbon Fiber Tripod, Slik Pistol Grip Head, Carbon Fiber Monopod, Sigma EF Super DG External Flash, Kata Backpack, POTN Neck Strap, etc. Company Website: http://www.lindbeckphoto.com Capturing Memories, a thousand words at a time...

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#5
Prox Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 123 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Excellent simply exellent! Thanks you very much for sharing this with us, Im gonna save this for sure.

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#6
Blue Deuce "I don't say anything witty" Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Orl., Fl. & S.E. of Reed Point Mt. (pop. 99) Posts: 3,665	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. __________________ Mike

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#11
judyg Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 127	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Thank you.

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#12
HJMinard Goldmember Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Port Huron, Michigan, U.S.A. Posts: 2,321	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Wow ... the before/after comparison is incredible ... gives me hope for images that I thought were mediocre, but perhaps can be greatly improved. Mostly, I've learned that I need to learn much more about post processing. Thanks, Schmoelzel! __________________ ~ Jay ~ Canon EOS 20D ... lenses and stuff Without the Way, there is no going; Without the Truth, there is no knowing; Without the Life, there is no living. <>< Help remove children from poverty: Compassion

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#13
martook Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Sweden Posts: 396	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Wow, this guide is excellent! I can't believe the difference between the two shots, I really have to improve my Photoshop skills. Fortunatly, this will help a lot... Thanks!!! __________________ ./Martin A 20D with katzeye screen, tons of lenses, a couple of pods, a flash and some bags. Also some MF cameras, like a RZ67, Moskva 5 and Agfa Isolette I, II, III

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#14
Nightcrawler Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Omaha, NE Posts: 650 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Thanks for the post. That was truly enjoyable to see your workflow. The end result is amazing. The thing that I picked up from this was your use of the shadow/highlight tool. I have never thought to use it on my portraits. __________________ Jason - Gear

31st of August 2005 (Wed)	#15
BottomBracket Cream of the Crop Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NYC Posts: 6,399	Re: By popular request....workflow tutorial. Schmoelzel, Let me pipe in with my gratitude. Great work! __________________ Pio Veni, Vidi, Canoni - I Came, I Saw, I Took A Picture With My Canon Fotopio.com - Gallery of the Meandering Eye I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.

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