NECCC: Basic Photoshop: Where Do I Begin? by Lisa and Tom Cuchara

Join us at NECCC's extensive three-day photography conference held each July at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. The 2009 Conference Detail & Program Schedule are here! July 10-12 2009

Download the 2009 Program Schedule as an Excel file so you can highlight programs and print a personalized schedule. (A PDF version is also available on the Next Conference page.)

Basic Photoshop: Where Do I Begin? by Lisa and Tom Cuchara (CT)

Lisa and Tom will discuss the use of Photoshop as a tool in the ‘digital darkroom’. In this basic Photoshop program they will demonstrate (and take the mystery out of) ‘non-destructive’ editing techniques. They will walk you thru adjustment layers, show you some of the most often used filters (Sharpen, Blur, Artistic) and demonstrate some popular editing tools (Crop, Clone, Patch, Heal, Dodge, Burn). In addition, they will show you how to apply an effect to a selected area of your photograph. This introductory program is designed for people who are computer literate but new to Photoshop. (B)

If you have any questions or want us to put on a program for your group please email us. We have posted some notes to our program here on on my Blog http://lifethrulisaslens.blogspot.com/ which you can even subscribe to (no charge) for almost daily photography advice, information, phot0 ops, etc.

If you attended NECCC and would like the exe to view at your leisure please sign up for our blog and then email us (at TLCBAM [at] comcast.net) that you have subscribed and we will email you a file that you can open and view at your own speed.

Basic Photoshop by Tom and Lisa Cuchara

Introduction

Lisa and Tom will discuss the use of Photoshop as a tool in the “digital darkroom”. In this basic Photoshop program they will demonstrate (and take the mystery out of) “non-destructive” editing techniques. They will walk you thru adjustment layers, show you some of the most often used filters (such as Sharpen, Blur, Artistic) and demonstrate some popular editing tools (such as crop, clone, patch, heal, dodge, burn). The history palette and the layers palette will also be discussed. In addition they will show you how to apply an effect to a selected area of your photograph. This introductory program is designed for people who are computer literate but new to Photoshop and assume that you are familiar with the basic computer skills common to all program such as file open, close, minimize, maximize, etc.

The photographic goal remains the same as with film -- to get the best possible photograph that you can and depict the feeling that you felt at the time of that the image was taken. The camera, the lens and Photoshop are all TOOLS designed to assist you in that capture. I think that everyone agrees that Photoshop should not be a crutch or an excuse for sloppy photography. You should try your best to get it right in the camera, but at the same time you cannot always capture what your mind’s eye saw into the final image without ALL of the proper tools.

There are lots of references about Photoshop shortcuts (and you can even create your own for commonly used tasks). Here are a few shortcuts that we use often. Many shortcuts can also be seen by clicking on something in the menu bar (File, Edit, Image, Layer, etc.) then seeing the keyboard shortcut (if it exists) to the right of the command.

http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/photoshop_cs3_shortcuts_cheatsheet.html
http://morris-photographics.com/photoshop/shortcuts/
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/photoshop-shortcut-commands/

For MAC users please note that the equivalent modifier keys: the Option Key is the Mac equivalent to the PC (Alt) key and the Command Key (also called the Apple key; with its either cloverleaf symbol, the Apple symbol or both). is, more or less, the equivalent of the PC user's Control Key. Cmd = Ctrl and Opt = Alt.

• Ctrl Z = UNDO (a VERY good shortcut to learn)\
• Ctrl 0 (zero) --> maximize the photo
• Ctrl J --> Create a new layer
• C --> Crop tool
• S --> Clone tool
• J --> Patch tool (and healing brush)
• V --> move tool
• The "[" left square-bracket key will decrease brush size
• The "]" right square-bracket key will increase brush size
• Shift and [ or ] will soften/harden the brush edges.
• B --> selects the Brush tool (this is what you will paint with)
• D --> sets the color palette back to Black and White
• X --> switches between Black and White
• Numbers on the keyboard à affects brush opacity (to get shades of gray) i.e. 5 = 50% opacity

Non-destructive Editing -- The background layer can be thought of as the “negative”. The first layer to make is a copy of the background (shortcut = Ctrl J). All editing is done on a layer, so as to keep the original pixels intact.

· Layers are the key to good image editing. Just think of a layer as an “overhead transparecy”, each layer on top of the previous one, yielding the end final image.

· Each layer can be edited independently, deleted or hidden.

· Layers allow the original image pixels to not be destroyed during the editing process.

· You can easily adjust image effects or adjustments, even weeks or months later.

Some Photoshop techniques that we will show you.

1. Adjustment Layers

Some adjustments layers that are available in Photoshop are listed to the right. We will demonstrate levels, hue/saturation, Black & White. There is more than one way to create an adjustment layer. To create one via the menu, go to Layer >> New Adjustment Layer and select the type of adjustment you wish to make. Or, to save a mouse click, you can create a new adjustment layer by clicking on the small half-black/half-white circle icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and select the desired type from the pop-up list.

To see the magic of adjustment layers, double-click on the black and white circle icon of what you just created in the Layers palette. The original editing dialog will re-open just as you left it with all your settings still intact. If you created a Levels adjustment layer, the black point, white point and all other sliders and settings will still be set the same when you re-open the layer. The benefit to using adjustment layers is that no edit is permanent until you flatten the image. You can even save the image with all of its adjustment layers as .psd or TIFF, and when you reopen it, all the changes you made to the adjustment layers will still be there for you to change back, remove, or alter.

The adjustment layer called “Levels” allows you to
adjust the whitepoint and blackpoint (levels at which brightness values reach their extremes).
When holding Alt while moving the black or white sliders, preview will show which values have maxed out. Good way of checking to see if you've lost all detail on either end of light spectrum.

The “eyeball” is used to turn on/off the visibility of any layer in the stack (you may have lots of layers). Many people do not use the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer correctly. You should almost never adjust these while on “Master” but rather you should take each color one at a time using the drop down box thereby adjusting the saturation of each color individually.

2. Sharpen (Unsharp mask)

The eye is naturally drawn to sharpness. When deciding what to selectively sharpen, think about what you want the viewer to notice in your image. Limit your sharpening to just those areas that really need it. ALL digital images need to be sharpened! But sharpening does not improve focus. Digital cameras also soften the image slightly in the process of converting the scene to digital format and the scanning process also involves a loss of sharpening to some degree in the conversion from “analog” film to digital file.

The Unsharp Mask (USM) gets its name from FILM days when a piece of glass was placed between the original negative and a positive mask to exaggerate contrast along dark/light junctions; the glass put the positive mask slightly out of focus from the negative (in other words, an unsharp positive mask was used to "sharpen" an underlying image). The software variant attempts to reproduce that effect. In areas where there isn't a lot of detail, there wouldn't be much difference versus in areas where there was detail, the original data and the blurred data would be significantly different, and thus the function senses there is detail or an edge there.

We will demonstrate how to sharpen using the USM (unsharp mask) and also how to sharpen just the edges by using the luminosity blending mode. Changing the blending mode to Luminosity mode for sharpening, has a big advantage because it sharpene the lightness values and not the color values of the image.

3. Blur (Gaussian, Dust and scratches)

Another thing we really like about editing our own photos is the ability to blur the background, thereby making it less distracting and allowing the viewer to concentrate on the subject.

· This essentially gives you the sharpness of an image taken at f 22 with the background of an image taken at f2.8.

· To blur the background first select the background. You can also select the “subject” if it is easier, and then invert the selection (PC shortcut = Ctrl/Shift “I”). You can copy the background, paste it to its own new layer and then apply the a blur filter (Gaussian or dust and scratches) to that layer. Alternatively you can create a mask and selectively apply this filter.

· Then apply the unsharp mask to a separate layer containing your subject. Again, the eye is naturally drawn to sharpness. When deciding what to selectively sharpen, think about what you want the viewer to notice in your image and limit your sharpening to just those areas.

4. Crop

The “crop tool” is one of our most used tools, it allows us to crop exactly to size (4x6, 11x14, etc) exactly where we want for the best image composition.

Aspect Ratio --> For 35mm – the ratio is 1:1.5

• This means that you can get a full frame 4x6 or a full frame 8x12, 12x 18, 16x24 etc.
• But NOT an 8x10.
• For an 8x10 you HAVE to crop the image
• Who gets to decide where to crop?? --> In the digital darkroom YOU do!

5. Clone, Patch, Heal

The “healing brush”, “patch tool” and “clone stamp” are three very useful tools, they allow you to get rid of unsightly “blemishes” on people, landscapes, etc. The Clone Stamp and Healing Brush tools are best used on a separate layer.

The Clone tool takes the pixel of the sample area onto the “flaw” that you are correcting. It is a wonderful tool (can’t climb down the waterfall to remove the beer can, then use the clone tool!). The Clone tool, however, has a drawback because the cloned area is easy to spot (because, sometimes, the color of the sample area and the area around the flaw does not match). This is why Adobe created the Healing Brush, which is a better tool because because it applies color and texture and it applies the tonal characteristic around the flaw. The Healing Brush identifies the flaw, the area near the flaw and the sample area. The Patch tool is just like the Healing Brush as it uses the same technique only for removing large flaws.

6. Dodge, Burn, Saturate

Non-destructive Dodging and Burning: Create a new layer (Shift Ctrl N), name it “dodge&burn” and change the mode of the new layer to Overlay (make sure that Fill with Overlay-neutral color is checked). In overlay mode 50% gray has no effect. Set your foreground color to black, use a soft-edged brush (opacity in the 5-50% range) and paint to burn the areas that need darkening (don’t forget the edges, lots of photographers vignette or burn the edges to keep your eye on your subject). Press X to change the foreground color to white and paint to dodge the areas of the image that need to be dodged (lightened). There is a lot of control when dodging/burning this way and it is completely re-editable too! Some people prefer to have TWO layers like this, one for dodging and one for burning, this allows them to change the opacity of each independently.

Photoshop can be quite daunting if taken all at once. Just learn one tool at a time. If you master one tool every week in a year you will have mastered 52 tools! The undo shortcut Ctrl Z is easily my most used tool (actually I use Ctrl Alt Z which allows for multiple undos).

There are lots of good books, videos, blogs and websites out there. I would highly recommend Scott Kelby. In fact, if you want one inexpensive but VERY simple and VERY good book I would recommend Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop (ISBN-13: 978-0321501929) http://www.scottkelby.com/

If you want to see our own photographs then you can visit our Blog http://www.breaphotos.blogspot.com/ or our website at http://www.tlc.smugmug.com/