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VITAL SKILLS GUIDE
 
VITAL SKILLS GUIDE

Deciding on a workflow

There are many ways in which you can enhance an image in Photoshop once you’ve taken it, but each one can have an impact on the adjustments you need to make in other respects. For example, Levels and Curves adjustments can also affect the colour balance and saturation. And sharpening can introduce digital artefacts which can then be made worse by other, subsequent adjustments. So is there a specific order in which you ought to carry out these processes? To a degree, this will depend on your camera, your style of photography and your own preferences, but here’s a suggested workflow that cuts down on duplicated effort and should produce optimum-quality images.


1. Rotate and crop

The larger the image, the more work the processor has to do and the slower the adjustments. If you rotate and crop the image (if necessary) first, you’re minimising the file size for the subsequent processes.

5. Saturation

Poor saturation is often the result of a low tonal range, and fixing the Levels can also fix the saturation. If not, increasing the slope of the curve in Photoshop will increase contrast and saturation at the same time. Failing that, increase the saturation in the Hue/Saturation dialog.

2. Levels

The Levels dialog will tell you if the image has a full tonal range or not. By adjusting the levels to give solid blacks and brilliant highlights, you may also solve contrast and saturation problems.

6. Image size

If you need to print the image at a specific size or resolution, now’s the time to change it. (As a rule, though, you’re better off keeping the image at its current size and leaving the printer to do any necessary scaling.)

3. Brightness

Don’t use the Brightness/Contrast command to make changes. Instead, move the midpoint slider in the Levels dialog (Elements and Photoshop) or drag the image curve up or down (Photoshop only) to change the brightness

7. Sharpening

Sharpening is best applied right at the end because (a) the amount required depends on the image size and (b) it can produce edge effects and noise that the other processes would exaggerate.

4. Colour balance

Photoshop and Elements have a number of tools for making colour corrections. If there’s still a colour problem after your Levels adjustments, try the Variations dialog, Color Balance dialog or use the Set Gray Point eyedropper in the Levels dialog to fix it.

8. Repairs and blemishes

That’s why it’s best to leave the repair of blemishes and other faults right to the end. Few repairs are perfect, and the other adjustment processes can bring out the flaws all too readily – flaws which might otherwise be below the visibility threshold.
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