Opening photo in Photoshop

What is the best procedure to follow when opening photos in Photoshop? For instance after opening a photo, I lower the image size(Photos were huge) to something manageable. Then increase the resolution(beginning res 72px/in) to 350px/in. Then move on to what needs to be done next. Any suggestions?

Why don't you just zoom out using the magnifying glass button?

What am I missing?

truecolors wrote in post #16927733
What is the best procedure to follow when opening photos in Photoshop? For instance after opening a photo, I lower the image size(Photos were huge) to something manageable. Then increase the resolution(beginning res 72px/in) to 350px/in. Then move on to what needs to be done next. Any suggestions?

right click the image in Lr, select "open in Ps". Simple really. There really is no need to change the image resolution. You can use CTRL + and CTRL - to zoom in and zoom out as needed.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #16927760
right click the image in Lr, select "open in Ps". Simple really. There really is no need to change the image resolution. You can use CTRL + and CTRL - to zoom in and zoom out as needed.

Or if it works like PS Elements, set it up in Preferences to zoom with the mouse wheel. Changing resolution makes no sense to me until you are sending it to a point of use which requires it.

truecolors wrote in post #16927733
What is the best procedure to follow when opening photos in Photoshop? For instance after opening a photo, I lower the image size(Photos were huge) to something manageable.

This is totally not necessary unless (as mentioned above) the recipient of the image needs a specific pixel count size.

truecolors wrote in post #16927733
Then increase the resolution(beginning res 72px/in) to 350px/in.

The "72 DPI" number means absolutely NOTHING. It's simply a number that was jammed into the EXIF data as a place holder. The only time such a number makes any sense is when you have a pixel count in the image and intend to print to a specific size. If you have an image from a 7D that is 5184x3456 pixels, for example, and you want to print it at 8x12 inches then the resolution is 432 pixels per inch. There is absolutely no reason on earth to reduce the resolution.

If you actual reduce the file sizE, EXAMPLE lets say the file is 12X8 at 300 PPI and you downsize it to 12X8 at 72 then bring it back up larger the info has been removed and the image quality will not return unless you use a program like genuine fractals/onone perfect resize. Better to work and save as large as you can and then downsize if needed.

I open CS6 and go to file open. Thats how I open files.

Maybe I was not very clear but it is not about zooming in or out but more about your routine. Have you found something that works for you when perfecting your photos during editing in Photoshop or any other imaging editing software.

Well, I told you exactly what I do to open an image in Ps. It's not rocket science. I think you might be over-thinking this a wee bit.
There's no need to resize the image, no need to change the DPI, no need for any special procedure really.

Thank you all. I did not know that changing the resolution was not necessary. I had been
told to do that by someone that was taking a photography class at college. I figured he knew what he was talking about and never questioned it. Thanks for the info.

truecolors wrote in post #16927733
For instance after opening a photo, I lower the image size(Photos were huge) to something manageable. Then increase the resolution(beginning res 72px/in) to 350px/in. Then move on to what needs to be done next. Any suggestions?

Can you explain exactly what you mean by "lower the image size"?
Do you mean that you select Resize Image and reduce the number of pixels? Or do you mean that you zoom out so that it looks smaller on screen?

If the former that is a really bad idea because you are destroying image data prior to post processing. You should keep the high res file as is until you finish post processing and only resize (a separate copy) when you want to output a file.

truecolors wrote in post #16927923
Maybe I was not very clear but it is not about zooming in or out but more about your routine. Have you found something that works for you when perfecting your photos during editing in Photoshop or any other imaging editing software.

Hello Sheron - well, I shoot RAW so I do my initial viewing of the image in ACR where I will first adjust color temperature, and then use the brightness/darkness/sh​adow sliders if I feel the exposure needs some tweaking. If it was a little too under/overexposed I may start with the exposure slider.

Once I am satisfied with the global RAW adjustments (while still in ACR) I will double click the image to have it opened in CS5. From that point on I will make fine tuned adjustments in layers like exposure level adjustments, perhaps saturation, more levels/brightness, and finally as the second last step, sharpening. The LAST step will be to save the file as a TIFF.

I don't touch DPI or screen resolution unless I am SAVING FOR WEB in which case it will save for that at the dimensions I choose. I do a lot of printing for exhibition though I will size the final output for the paper: eg - 13" x 19". I hope this helps. Do I understand the question you were asking? - Stu

truecolors wrote in post #16927938
Thank you all. I did not know that changing the resolution was not necessary. I had been
told to do that by someone that was taking a photography class at college. I figured he knew what he was talking about and never questioned it. Thanks for the info.

OK, Sheron, there are two things you mentioned in your original post, first being to resize the image to get the file size smaller, then to change the ppi resolution.

I believe that both of those points have been addressed here, first that when you resize the image you are "throwing away" pixels and so image resolution, and for most of us that's not how we prefer to work with our digital images, and second as to changing the ppi value that is meaningless when processing your digital photos, and unless you are preparing it for some very specific uses then you don't need to bother.

A couple things:

As to resizing the image to get the file size down, well, that's typically in the last stage of your processing where you are putting out an image to be "shared", such as posting to a Web site (such as POTN) or emailing/giving it to someone to view on a computer, or, alternatively, if you are preparing to print the image at a given size and you might want to resize it at a specific size (where you may in fact want to set a ppi value such as 300ppi (pixels for inch) for a specific prints size, so in the Resize dialog you specify your image size as, for example, 12 inches x 18 inches (your planned print size) and set the ppi figure to 300 ppi, say, because that is considered a "high quality" resolution. That produces an image of 3600x5400 pixels, which will be resized from your original

It should be said, though, that when you do something like that you should "preserve" your original. You want to use "Save As" or "Save for Web", creating a separate file from your original, don't use "Save" or your original will be overwritten by the changed image/file.

As to whether it might be "better" to go ahead and resize to create a smaller file, or maybe to lower the Quality of your image for that purpose if your original is a jpeg (not a Raw) well, for some scenarios, sure, it could be feasible, if, for example you are shooting/processing for a very specific "task" where having the best possible image is not wanted/needed, but having a smaller file size is in fact wanted/needed, but for most of us we prefer to work with the highest resolution/image quality until we a ready to output an image at whatever size/resolution and Quality setting we desire for a specific need, and like I said, we will tend to keep the original file/image on hand, whether it be jpeg or the original Raw image.

Then, what your friend who is taking a class mentioned: Did he only advise you to change the ppi "tag" to 350 ppi, or was he advising you to actually resize the image, using 350ppi as the "working" resolution?

I'm asking because there is an old "standard" of having images with a "tag" of around that resolution, the more common value being 300 ppi, but also, as I mentioned, part of your final process if you are preparing to print an image can if you wish be to resize the image with a high ppi working resolution, but I'd do that after your processing is done at the "native" resolution. Then, when done with your basic processing you can resize, and Save As, although some folks like to apply some sharpening, called Output Sharpening, to their images after resizing so that the sharpening will "fit" the resized image.