How much Photoshop on good images?

Hi All,

I am very interested to know which basic Photoshop commands everyone uses, as a rule, on images that appear to be fine - images that are sharp, no backscatter, colours fine, composition fine, exposure fine, etc.

Regards

Nigel

If you're shooting JPEGs and you're happy then there's nothing to do. If you're shooting raw, probably the only thing you should consider to possibly improve the image beyond what you see is some sharpening. with Unsharp Mask or Smart Sharpen.

I shoot RAW.

Shadows and Highlights to push data toward the center. Curves to push them back out, which adds contrast and bumps the color. Selective sharpen or blur areas uses Photokit Sharpener plug-in.

Done.

Generally RAW files are flatter than JPGs and generally benefit from some extra constrast as detailed above, up-rezzing and sharpening. Few people have time to do any more.

I'd also include this extract from a recent article I wrote called the Photoshop Cycle. This is more of a general comment, than specific to your question, but I felt it worth including here.

It is a common belief by a lot of new underwater photographers that Photoshop has had a big hand in all the stunning underwater images they see. The truth, as most experienced photographers know, is almost exactly the opposite.

Every time I am lucky enough to dive with really talented underwater photographers I see this for myself. I was recently diving with Tony Wu and Eric Cheng in the Bahamas and their images look the same on their camera’s LCD screen, as you see them on their websites and in books and magazines. Ironically other photographers on the boat would be spending hours on their computers trying and often failing to get the same “right look†in the balance of colour, contrast and impact by post processing.

I guess the take home message from the Photoshop Cycle is that any photographer who relies on Photoshop will never push on to develop their in water techniques adequately to regularly produce stunners. Photoshop is a powerful tool and ally, but if you believe it is an essential ingredient of underwater photography then you are holding your photography back.

Alex

Thanks for the feedback.

Alex, I agree completely with the comments from your article, and would love to read the rest of it.

I was originially going to post the topic as 'Too much Photoshop' but decided to tone it down. For someone like me that has been shooting film for over twenty years and digital for only two years, I am amazed at how much Photoshop processing some people seem to be doing. I just thought I may have been a bit old school, keeping my Photoshop work to a bare minimum, as I truely belief that if you don't capture the image you want in camera, don't try to capture it in Photoshop. Instead go back and reshoot until you get that image you pictured. Any excuse to go diving rather than spending hours on a computer.

Regards

Nigel