Photoshop Basic Photo Editing Workflow
To introduce a 10 Step Workflow for making your digital photographs look better in Photoshop. The workflow will be reviewed then applied to a variety of images. As you’ll discover, each step can be approached in different ways and some steps are optional. This basic workflow will provide you with a framework for approaching your own photo editing needs. You will have a framework to know “what to do when” in Photoshop to make your images better.
Detailed related sources for each step of the 10 Step Workflow
1. Save Original & Make a Copy to Edit
• Workflow for the Photographer in Photoshop CS – their 9 step process reviewed then details on opening, saving copies, creating new folders and closing files http://www.americanphotomag.com/article.asp?section_id=6&article_id=3357
• Destructive vs. Non-destructive edits http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/filter/filter.htm#nondestruct
2. Create a Plan of Attack
• Digital Darkroom Considerations http://www.lunacore.com/articles/art001_darkroomconsiderations.htm
• Photoshop How-To: Using Adjustment Layers http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/22295.html
3. Crop and Straighten Using the Crop Tool from a Technical Point of View http://www.skeller.ch/ps/crop_tool.php
4. Fix Global Exposure or Color Cast Problems
• Video: Open Up Shadows Using Shadow/Highlight with Colin Smith (please note, the video picture doesn’t appear for a few seconds) http://www.dreamweavercafe.com/photoshopCD/clips/shadowhl.htm
• Video: Introduction to the Variations Color Correction Tool in Photoshop with Deke McClelland http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/12/05/variations-color-correction.html
1. Save Original & Make a Copy to Edit
2. Create a Plan of Attack
3. Crop and Straighten
4. Fix Global Exposure or Color Cast Problems
5. Fix Local Color or Tonal Problem Areas
6. Zoom in for Retouching
7. Save/Archive
8. Resize
9. Sharpen
10. Save As – Choose a Format to Match the Output

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