Post-Processing Tips & Tricks

[pixelherder]

For selective focus I find a far more realistic method than just using Guassian Blur (which is a blanket mixing of pixels), is to turn the quick mask on, gradient tool (black to white), click and drag to 'colour in' your areas of focus, then turn off the quick mask and go into Lens Blur.

Make sure you select an aperture shape similar to your camera iris and play with the levels. Because you are blurring into a gradient selection, rather than masking a gradient into a blur layer you tend to avoid the ghosting and soft focus effect of a vaseline-like filter. Much more realistic.

Add a touch of grain afterwards for a consistent level of quality and to tie everything together.

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by pixelherder

For selective focus I find a far more realistic method than just using Guassian Blur (which is a blanket mixing of pixels), is to turn the quick mask on, gradient tool (black to white), click and drag to 'colour in' your areas of focus, then turn off the quick mask and go into Lens Blur.

Make sure you select an aperture shape similar to your camera iris and play with the levels. Because you are blurring into a gradient selection, rather than masking a gradient into a blur layer you tend to avoid the ghosting and soft focus effect of a vaseline-like filter. Much more realistic.

Add a touch of grain afterwards for a consistent level of quality and to tie everything together.

Ooh! I'll have to try this. Great tip!

[EkStrodl]

Dodge & Burn
Make a new blank layer...set the blending mode from Normal to Overlay go to [B]edit [/B..fill]from the drop down menu pick 50% grey
You can now use a brush to paint on the layer to either burn (black colour) or dodge (white colour) use a very low opacity between 5-8 percent to do the process. You can vary the percentage for either subtle or harsh effects

[TrudivanZyl]

Sometimes a photo lack just that little something. I discovered a technique that I recorded as an action and it became one of my favourates.

I use Photoshop CS3

1) Open a photo and duplicate the layer.
2) Go to Filter > sharpen > unsharp mask
3) In the box that open, use the sliders. Amount: 7% Radius: 250 pixels Threshold: 0

If you need a bit more punch, repeat this action. Use the opacity slider on the copied layer to control the look .

Enjoy!

Trudi

[Dagwood]

Originally Posted by TrudivanZyl

Sometimes a photo lack just that little something. I discovered a technique that I recorded as an action and it became one of my favourates.

I use Photoshop CS3

1) Open a photo and duplicate the layer.
2) Go to Filter > sharpen > unsharp mask
3) In the box that open, use the sliders. Amount: 7% Radius: 250 pixels Threshold: 0

If you need a bit more punch, repeat this action. Use the opacity slider on the copied layer to control the look .

Enjoy!

Trudi

Here and in Elements Village I see some amazing figures used in Unsharp Mask , particularly when trying to eliminate a blue haze. I have been trying High Pass lately to add that extra something to pics, I must try the above though.
I have a question relating to the reference to "recorded as an action" - What does this mean? Is it a sequence of commands recorded somehow and can I do that with PSE6?
Great idea for a thread - hope it grows!
Dagwood

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by Dagwood

I have a question relating to the reference to "recorded as an action" - What does this mean? Is it a sequence of commands recorded somehow and can I do that with PSE6?

Yeah, basically it's like recording a macro. It allows you to record a sequence of events and play them back. I use them for frames and watermarks etc. You can use them in Ele 6. More info on doing it is here

[chris-p]

I've been fiddling around with a shot I took of Guildford cathedral and I've managed to make some relatively convincing fake stars...

They're quite hard to see in the small version so it's worth clicking through to see it bigger. Rough details on how to do it below... I did this in Photoshop CS3 but it should be possible in Elements too (I think).



How to:

- Create a blank layer and fill it with black
- Use Filter>Noise>Add Noise. I used about 100%, Gaussian distribution. Also, tick "monochromatic"
- Go Filter>Blur>Gaussian. I found the "stars" a bit sharp. Around 0.2 - 0.5 should be enough
- Hide the stars layer and select the sky on the background layer, then turn the stars layer back on
- With the selection of the sky still active, add a layer mask to the stars layer. You should see the foreground.
- Change the blending mode of the stars layer to either screen or colour dodge (whichever looks better)
- Add a clipping mask levels layer and adjust the sliders until the stars look a bit more "real"
- Add a clipping mask hue/saturation layer and tweak the hue slider

That should just about do it. I'm refining the method at the moment so I'll update this once I've got it better (if I do!)

[KeithT]

One thing I now do is to save important curves or channel mixer settings as actions. I have a whole list of b/w film type settings saved and can recall these at a click of the mouse when converting to mono. I now have my conversions down to less than two minutes from Raw to finished Tiff.

In channel mixer just click on save once you are happy with the settings you have punched in, give it a name and save. When recalling the setting the next time round just click on the presets dropdown menu in channel mixer in CS4 or Load in CS3 and other versions, find your setting and click open. Likewise with curves.

[chris-p]

I must admit that I don't use actions for things like levels or curves as they tend to be different for every image. However, having B&W presets on the channel mixer is a pretty good idea.

[KeithT]

Hi Chris. The eponymous S curve is a good basic start to presetting curves. To have this as an action makes it easy to add to an image. But in general you are right. I now have CS4 and use this method also for my b/w conversions:

In ACR - tweak to satisfaction and desaturate. Open in CS4 and go to <image> add Auto Tone. Then, go to: <image><adjustments>< Levels> use one of the default presets 1, 2, or 3 to set the contrast. It works a treat with little or no further adjustment needed to the final image.

I am sure a similar method can be used in Elements or other CS versions. Just experiment.