Photoshop workflow advice please (1 Viewer)

Hi there,

I'm fairly new to processing images using Photoshop and would appreciate some advice on the best workflow to use, starting with the image as taken by the camera through to the final printing stage.

I have been told that it is best to print at 300dpi, is this the same as resizing the image from the default 72pixels/inch to 300pixels/inch? When is the resizing carried out, first function or later on?

Sharpening is also the last function to use prior to printing as I understand it, with any other changes (whatever they may be) having already been made.

While I have some limited knowledge already, I would appreciate a 'step-by-step' guide as to how other people reach their excellent results.

My apologies if this has been covered in a previous thread, and if so a link would be very useful.

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Get hold of a copy of David Tipling's excellent book 'RSPB Guide to Digital Wildlife Photography'. He describes a good example of workflow and what to do in Photoshop and in what order. Priceless for the beginner shooting in JPEG or RAW.

Adrian

Don't get mixed-up with resolution and lines per inch.

300 pixel\inch is your frequency (a line screen for offset litho printing), usually set at a resolution of 2400 (dpi).

72 pixel\inch is your viewing screen for images on the www.

Unless you have a top-notch printer with a postscript RIP, most inkjets or laser will give you perfectly good results at low pixel\inch, (72–120 is fine). If you decide to print at 300 line per inch @ 2400, you could be waiting around for hours for the print to emerge. Your printer will throw out most of the data.

If you have bought Photoshop, there should be a step-by-step tutorial guide on the CD, you will find these more helpful than the books.

Adrian D said:

I'm fairly new to processing images using Photoshop and would appreciate some advice on the best workflow to use, starting with the image as taken by the camera through to the final printing stage.

Click to expand...

Peronsally I am shooting in RAW so much of my processing is done there, but the order is much the same as when shooting in JPG and only using photoshop.

To start with I don't delete image on the camera unless the subject is clearly not in frame, the lcd on the camera doesn't always give an acurate indication of how good or bad a shot is.

I download all of a days images into a temp file on my desktop, I then use a slideshow to go through and weed out all the obvious trash (often loose 50-70% of shots here). I then open the shots for editing - at this stage I will make adjustments to levels, but not do any cropping of sharpening. I then rename all the images I am keeping, with species name and date (shooting RAW it's at this point that I then convert my images).

I will then move all of the keepers onto my hard drive, I keep an unaltered RAW file and also a low(ish) res jpg of all of them (I should probably get out of this habit and just keep RAW files). When I want to use images (posting on the web or printing) I open them in photoshop crop as needed, then resize and finally sharpen. The if needed I will use Neat Image to deal with any noisy images.

Personally I keep images for printing as large and high res as possible. I don't do any printing in house now and send it all out either to local shops or internet sites.

The simple workflow I first used to learn the basics of Photoshop on is:

1. Open file
2. Levels (to set black point, white point and mid point)
3. Curves (pull into a shallow "S" curve for contrast adjustment)
4. Image size (300 pixels per inch for printing; 75 for screen viewing)
5. Unsharp Mask (try 100:1:1 to start)

Most of all, experiment/play. If you have been a bit heavy on any of the adjustments, you can always Edit then Fade to reduce the effect (it's often easier to reduce, say, a slightly heavy handed curves adjustment than to get it spot on first time).

Thank you all for your information and advice, there is a lot there to get to grips with and it is certainly appreciated.

So far I have been sorting my shots but only deleting those that are blurred, but I have been reluctant to delete too many others until I know what I can do with them. I am sure that once I can get to grips with the processing I will get to know what is possible and end up deleting a whole lot more.
The trouble is the longer it goes on the more photos there are to work on and it could become even more daunting, but then they do say you have to suffer for your art.

Best I get started then and have a play. Thanks again for the advice.

Just want to mention - when you resize to change the dpi, make sure to NOT use "resample." You do NOT want to change the image dimensions (height and width), you only want to change the size it prints at, which requires changing the dpi without affecting the image size. Resampling will modify the image size.

Also, I don't think you'd want to go much below say about 175 dpi for inkjet printing. 200 is the general rule of thumb, but you can sometimes go somewhat lower.

I shoot RAW, so there are a few differences as a result, but my workflow looks like this:

Download from card into Capture1 LE
View RAW files, checking composition and exposure. Ditch any obvious rubbish.
Correct exposure of the keepers if necessary, also crop where necessary.
Convert to TIFF, save these on hard disc and separate hard drive.
Save RAW files to hard drive and DVD
Open TIFFs in photoshop. Resize, sharpen for printing (using unsharp mask usually), save as JPEG on hard drive
Print from photoshop. I use an epsom 2100, and usually print at 1400dpi (it will do 2400, but I find it very slow at this setting, and sometimes the paper seems to clog with ink, especially in shadow areas.) When resizing, I will set the dimensions to the desired size, then change the resolution of the file to 300 pixels/inch. I do resample at this stage - uing bicubic gives me the best results. I find in fact that for smaller images you will need higher resolutions than for larger prints - this is down to the normal viewing distances for different size images. You will find that a 6*4 image is viewed much closer than an A3+, where you might get away with 200-250 ppi resolution.

Can I just add that if you need to go back to your original image with say the Levels tool box open, pressing and holding Alt will change the Cancel button to Reset, so you can restore your image to it's orignial form. This also works with most of the image altering tools if not all.

Thanks again for all of your input.

It appears that although there are some 'rules' that need to be followed, there is also an almost endless supply of options which may suit some but not others, such as whether to resample or not.

I am guessing that you first need to know what you 'must do' to set yourself a benchmark, before you can then start trying other options to find out what suits you as an individual.

I am looking forward to getting to grips with the info that you have all given while at the same time still feeling a little daunted by all of the new software functions to be used.
But hey, there's nothing like meeting a challenge to experience that sense of achievement.