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What Everybody Ought To Know About Photo Editing
February 2009
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Dear :
Hello! I hope everyone is back into the swing of things. We have had a difficult month but are thankful for so much. Lots of sickness at our house and some worries about one child's education. We are working hard to get the latter figured out.
Don't forget about my ongoing referral program. There are three large prizes which include sitting fees and free photographs. There are a few details, so e-mail me and I will send them to you if you missed them the first time.
February is fun because I have the privilege of photographing at two father/daughter banquets, one through Girl Scouts, who have been wonderful to me the last few years and the other at Lifetime Fitness in Garland. It's great to watch the little girls dress up and feel like princesses for a night. The Dad's have a lot of fun, too. I thoroughly enjoy it, myself. So if I don't know you and you happen to attend one of these, I'd love to meet you! Make a point to tell me you get my newsletter. It would make my day!
I wanted to show you a collage I did in Photoshop for a great family recently:
Have a great month and a Happy Valentine's Day!
Dawn Attebery
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What Everyone Ought to Know about Photo Editing Software
Every time I get a new CD, I look at the photos in the liner notes (you know all the folded paper in the CD case (jewel case, as it's called) containing credits, lyrics, photos, and other stuff). Boy, would I like to do some of that work! Know any famous singers?
Anyway, we own a CD of a band called "The Wreckers". They opened for the Keith Urban concert and they sounded pretty good (for country) so we bought their CD. (Before you judge me on my musical taste, I am very open to different kinds of music, from The Beatles to Sarah McLachlin so don't give me any grief.) There is this one photograph on the cover of "The Wreckers" CD that make me cringe, however. It's a close-up of the two lovely singers, but the whites of their eyes are SO WHITE. It looks ridiculous. Either they used some funky eyedrops before the shoot or someone did way too much Photoshop work on the picture. I'm guessing the latter.
Photoshop is a wonderful tool. In today's digital world, most photographers do their own re-touching (i.e., correcting of photos) in a photo-editing software program like Photoshop. Used to be, photographers would hire other people to "airbrush" photos. Now, most of us do it on our own computers. I don't know a lot about other software packages; Photoshop is pretty much considered the standard. I use Photoshop CS3, but Photoshop Elements has most of the same functions and is considerably less expensive and a great place to start.
When I decided to get serious about taking pictures, I knew I needed some help in a lot of areas, but especially Photoshop. Even though I had an extensive background in software and did not have manualphobia (the little known fear of reading the instructions), I decided that, to jump start the whole process, I'd hire a tutor. So I went to my first tutoring session and drove home in tears. Don't get me wrong, she was a great instructor. But there was just so much information and I wasn't sure I really got it all. Thankfully, I stuck with her and in a couple of sessions, I knew enough to be dangerous. And I knew enough to be able to look up anything I didn't quite understand. As a real bonus, I got a great new friend out of the deal, too.
Everyone has to find his/her own way. Some will self-teach, some will go to classes, some will do on-line classes or participate in forums. But one thing is certain - if you are serious about photography, you need to learn how to use a good photo editing software package because good re-touching work can make or break your photograph.
The most important concept in Photoshop work is the concept of layers. To use my tutor's/friend's analogy, a layer is like a transparency on top of your image. Remember those overhead projectors with transparencies? What I'm talking about is having your photo be the layer on the glass and each subsequent layer is a different transparency, one on top of the next. Effects are added on each transparency which change the image.
First, in Photoshop, make sure the Layers Palette is displaying; to do this, under Window on the top menu bar, make sure Layers has a checkmark next to it. Here's what the Photoshop screen looks like before a new layer is added:
To make a new layer in Photoshop, look on the bottom of the Layers Palette, and find the icon that, when you roll your mouse over it, says "create a new layer" and click on it. If you have a different photo editing program, it is also likely to have layers so find out how to create a new layer. Here's what the Photoshop screen looks like after you've created a new layer called "Erase headlight" and erased the headlight with the clone tool or healing brush:
It is important to do everything in separate layers. The reason is that when you look at the image later and wonder where you brain was when you made certain changes to a particular image, you can delete your layer and then you are back to where the image was before you made that particular change. For example, have at least one layer for skin re-touching, have a layer for levels adjustments (which brighten up or darken all or a part of an image), have a layer for that removes a distracting element from your photo. Some of my images have 10 layers or more. Layers are your friends!
Whatever you do, don't do everything on the Background layer (the default layer when you look at the Layers Palette) because you won't be able to undo the changes later and will have to start from scratch. Save your layered file as a .psd file and make sure the layers are preserved (by not flattening your layers) so you can update them later. Yes, they are large files, but it is worth it.
Another nice thing about layers is that you can change the opacity. Opacity is some made-up word that comes from the word "opaque". As you know, when something is opaque, light doesn't shine through it. In Photoshop, you can diminish an effect by lowering its opacity.
By "effect", I mean whatever changes you are making in a particular layer, whether lightening, darkening, using a healing brush to remove scars, etc. A lower opacity causes the effect shine through less; a higher opacity lets the effect shine through more. 100% opacity means the effect is showing completely. 0% opacity means the effect is not showing at all. Here is the missing headlight image with the opacity of the layer that removed the headlight ("Erase headlight" layer) set at 60%. See how the headlight partially comes back?
To illustrate opacity further, say you wanted Grandma's teeth to be whiter (or she did). Instead of wrapping up a box of teeth whitener for her birthday and re-doing the picture, you decide to fix it in Photoshop. You make a separate layer and call it whatever you want - something meaningful will be most helpful - like "whiten teeth". You whiten Grandma's teeth using your favorite method. Then you look at the picture and notice that Grandma's white teeth are indeed a stand-out white, but decide that looks sort of creepy. So you lower the opacity to something that looks better than it did originally, something which brightens up her smile just a bit but not enough for anyone to notice. Her whitened teeth now just brighten up her face a bit and she looks fabulous.
The key to good re-touching is that the person photographed should not notice all that you did. They might think they look better but they shouldn't think, "Hey, I'm 80 years old but in my photo I have Barbie doll skin". Most people do appreciate your getting rid of blemishes, however.
That's a quick lesson in what is the most important concept Photoshop and I'm happy to give you more in future issues. We've got many months ahead. Please stick around.
If you'd like a particular topic covered in this newsletter, feel free to e-mail me questions. I'd love that!
Dawn
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