I floated this by the Bird Image Forum and got semi-mixed reviews, so I would like your help, if you would.
The idea behind what I would like to see happen is this, for those that think they may need help in Photoshop and LightRoom, to make their images better looking, to learn about what is the best way to make your images to look better, and so on.
This will NOT be a place that is just teaches , but a place for learning, in other words, I for one won't be teaching how to do Photoshop, but I know some stuff, so I may know a way for you to find a way that benefits you and your images. I will not be doing any lessons on how to do this, or that, (maybe we will occasionally) but we will post links to YouTube and possibly help with suggestions.
Personally, as of right now I would like to see a LONE THREAD about each of the subjects that we need to brush up on. For instance, a thread about Saturation, to learn how much is too much.
A thread about Masking, so that your sharpening is not in places that you don't want it, that kind of thing.
One that is about Halos, a lot of people don't realize that they have GIANT halos around their images, mostly that is due to their monitors are not calibrated, because what you see, and we see, are two completely different things sometimes. (I know at work we would calibrate out machines weekly, it's that critical in places that correct images as their business, and still, none of the monitors were all identical, but they were close)
We can't do this in the Bird Image Forum because it disrupts the flow of things, so we come here to TALK about it, you can post images that you have questions on though, when necessary.
Right now in this particular thread I would like for you ALL to talk about it, suggest what you would like to see, after a short period of time I will make a list of what topics you would like to concentrate on, or whatever it is that you want to do.
I don't want to just have ONE THREAD about it all, it will get so convoluted that we would not get anywhere at all. That is why I would prefer that we have one thread (for now) until we know what it is that we are doing, then go form there.
If someone here doesn't like the way I am going about this I will step aside and they can take it from there, I don't care at all, I just think that some out there need this.
For instance, I was helping a woman last month with a picture of a moon shot, she was wondering why it it didn't look like all of the other people. I asked her if she would like to see the picture that I made some correction to, She said, "Yes", so I sent it and she liked it what I showed her. She didn't think that she could do it, after a couple of days this woman was using Curves and made a moon picture of hers look as good as I could ever do, she was a newbie too. She is making headway and she says that she still doesn't know what she is doing half the time, and I said that I usually don't either. 
So may point is, if you want to improve your shots, come into the thread (or whatever thread we will have) and we can talk about it.
It would be REALLY helpful if the person that asks for help lets us know what camera/lens/settings they used in the shot in question, we need to know what we are looking at. This shouldn't be a place where one asks what kind of bird this is, it's all about how you get to where you got, and how to improve in that same image.
One thing I think would help, it might not work, but it sounds like it could, we would have ONLY ONE PERSON per day, or until that person's question has been fulfilled, that way we won't have too many people asking all kinds of questions.
If this seems like it would work, let me know, if you don't think that this will work, PLEASE state why and be helpful, just saying, "It won't work", without explaining the why is not helpful.
There will have to be RULES, not hard and fast ones, but there has to be some sort of structure so we can keep this together.
The RULES would be the kind like the above, ONLY ONE PERSON per day/or, type stuff, not if you aren't tall enough you can't play!
So, if you will, PLEASE tell me what you want in as short of a post as you can, so we can get this going, explain in detail the WHAT, the WHY, the HOW, and so on.
CRITIQUE (This is VERY important, if you only want to have people say, "I like it!", that is fine, but if you want to know WHY they like it, we can do that too. If we critique it only helps you to realize what might need improving)
Monitors (Maybe someone here is a master at calibrating monitors, they can let us all know how they go about it and we can go from there)
Halos (Halos are caused by a lot of things, but mostly from what I have seen is people overdo a certain setting in LightRoom, using too much Sharpness over the entire image, and of course, their monitor may be needing calibrating)
Masks (Masks can help you localize your sharpness, meaning, instead of having a halo around your entire image, now you wouldn't, learning Masks is a good way to make your image a lot better looking, and it's not hard)
Over-saturation (This is pretty common too, some people love that look, and I see some that I love too, but mostly it could be their monitors not calibrated or they just don't realize that the images looks too far gone. I am guilty myself, I don't overdo it to a point that people laugh, [Do they?]but I like to make colorful images just like most of us do)
Blown-out Whites (This is where the weather being too bright out or overexposure can blow your whites so they are completely white, no information left in that area to make the details come back. Usually, if it's not too bad that can be remedied, there are ways that you can bring back that affected area and it can be saved)
Sharpening (Selective sharpening is a good thing, there are ways that you can do it without buying a third party filter, but I would suggest that you do buy one, they are REALLY good now days, this still involves Masks though)
Rule of Thirds (Some believe in this, some don't, I do. If you want your shot to be its best, this is (IMO) one of the easiest ways to do that. There are reasons that professional photographers and painters use this rule, it's not a must, but it can make a difference)
When replying to someone on this, please use the QUOTE option to your bottom RIGHT of the person you want to reply to, that will help keep things in order.
Yeah, I am always too wordy, I can't help that, but maybe we can help you with stuff, in an informal way, and go as far as you want to take this, I am not in this to get famous, gets LIKES, or anything negative at all, I am a helper-type person, I can't help it, it gets me into a lot of trouble sometimes helping those that abuse it, but I still try. If at any time someone wants to take over, everyone will have a say, this is for you, not me, and that's about all I have to say on all of this, at least for now.
Help me start this and we can make it up as we go along, I sure don't have an answer for everything, although my wife will disagree!
Thanks for getting this far!
Randy
