I suck with Photoshopping

[nuke]

I have officially come to the conclusion that the biggest thing I am lacking in my photography right now are my PP skills. Seems like even when I have something framed so well, with a correct exposure, I still can't get a decent picture. Seems like my colors are always flat, and never brilliant like some of the people's pictures on here. I have no idea how to get a certain 'look' for my photos, so they always end up looking very lame.

Would anyone like to shed some light? I have seen so many photos on the internet that look so unique and different, but I have no idea how they got that look.

I am attaching a picture, just one of the many different kinds I have seen. *Note: This is not my picture, its copyright belongs to DJ Tiesto.* How did they get this look?!

Anyways...heck, I can't even figure out what I did to my own photo in my avatar! Jeez, if someone could figure that one out, that'd be amazing!

Always appreciating the help,
Mike

[cnoise]

keep it simple. Know levels and curves inside and out. Go from there. This is how I learned it 10 years ago. It's just a progression, like anything else.

[a2rob]

Also, there are a lot of free tutorials out there, just google, follow along and take notes. Attend some of the seminars offered here to speed up your workflow....

[nuke]

Ya. I know I could be using Curves to a whole to standard, instead of the normal 'set white point, set black point'


I am attaching a photo that I took yesterday. Nothing special, just snapped it away in my house, with a flash. (I'm definitely not saying that its a good photo) I have tried different editing on it, and just can't get much from it. I know to get a good result, you must start with a quality product. This photo's white balance isn't correct, the exposure is close, but not perfect, this is a normal snapshot for a lot of people. How, in photoshop, would you guys, the experts, go about this one. Please post your results! :)

Thanks,
Mike

[HFMarshburnJR]

I took a crack with some curves and levels adjustments, a little brightening of his eyes, and some quick sharpening. I hope this is what you were trying to achieve.

HFM

[Clint_Smith]

ARGH!...you went from ok to yuck in one post. He is purple in your second image. Is your monitor calibrated and what color space are you using?

Your colors may be flat because you are shooting in Adobe RGB and not converting your files to sRGB when you post to the web or sent them to your lab. Many labs, including big name pro labs like Millers (who I use) require we send them sRGB files.

[JohnT]

Here's a quick edit I did in about five minutes:

1. Curves Adjustment
2. Ran "Velvia" action (something new I've been playing with)
3. Lab USM 150, 1, 10
4. Added black stroke

Could be tweaked a little more to neutralize the WB (unless you like warm).

Before


After

[Arnor]

Mike,

I don't think I qualify as a Photoshop expert<g> but here is my attempt. I do two simple things to all photos: Levels and Curves. First levels then curves. I use the Levels to adjust the colors (I'm better at that in Levels than in Curves) and then I use the Curves to adjust the contrast.



I start by adding Levels layer and Curves layer.

In the levels I changed the midpoint in the RGB to 1.18 to lighten the image. I then changed the Red channel to 25, 0.84, 255 to tone down the red.

At this point the color tones of the image look about right, so I move on to the curves. In this case I just applied a gentle S curve. I created two points on the curves, one with input of 64 and output of 50 and the other one with input of 176 and output of 203. That may be a bit too much contrast, in which case you simply strighten out the curve a bit so it gets closer to a stright line.

There is a LOT of very good tutorials on the web. You might want to take a look at www.lynda.com. They have subscriptions that run $25/month if I remember correctly and you have access to all their video tutorials for that for one month. Last time I checked, they had a lot of good ones. Total Training also has good stuff, but there you buy a DVD that are more expensive, but then you own the tutorial, where as with Lynda you buy subscription. Different process, but from what I've seen both provide excellent tutorials.

There is also a lot of books on the subject. Check your local bookstore and library. Check amazon.com - you can sometimes find great deals on new or used books there.

Hope this helps:)

Best regards,

[HFMarshburnJR]

Clint -

That was my work, not the OP's. I saw the red cast when I brought in the picture. I actually tweaked the hue in the red channel to warm up the skin and I went too far. I am using a calibrated monitor...and I know it went too far. But thanks for the flame anyway. I was doing a quick edit...wasn't intended as a final product.

[nuke]

Alright, lets not make this a who's better at PS thread.

JohnT - I like the edit, could you send me that action? And what is 'black stroke'?

Thanks everyone for the help, looks like I'll be reading a lot!

[Clint_Smith]

Originally Posted by HFMarshburnJR

Clint -

That was my work, not the OP's. I saw the red cast when I brought in the picture. I actually tweaked the hue in the red channel to warm up the skin and I went too far. I am using a calibrated monitor...and I know it went too far. But thanks for the flame anyway. I was doing a quick edit...wasn't intended as a final product.

sorry you think I flamed you ....I didn't pay close enough attention to avatar, so I guess we both made a mistake.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by nuke

JohnT - I like the edit, could you send me that action? And what is 'black stroke'?

You can download the action at http://atncentral.com/download.htm

"Black stroke" refers to the one-pixel black line around the image. It's purely for aesthetic purposes.

[nuke]

Oh, heh, I didn't even notice that until I went back to look at it. Ha! Thanks a lot!

[nuke]

John - I just tried that. Ugh. Did minor curves to get the skin tone close and the exposure better, then ran the velvia part of that action, with the opacity at 70%, then converted to LAB, and ran the USM at 150,1,10, then back to RGB, and this is what I got

[HutchPhoto]

All very nice edit jobs guy's but I like the B&W for this one and here is my stab at it..