advice for a newbie learning post processing

[Exhaust]

hi guys I was wondering whether am I takin the correct approach in post processing. this is how I've done my post processing this far on lightroom3.

for the typical group shots, street shots etc. I would:
1. crop the picture to my liking
2. adjust luminance to reduce noise.
3. adjust white balance if required.
4. adjust exposure, blacks, recovery and fill lights to spread out (balance) the histogram.
5. apply a little bit of contrast to make my pictures look for punchy.
this is how I do It for basic processing.

for shots that I feel can add more effect into them, I would play with the filters and saturation.

am I doing it correctly? or have I missed out any important details? help is greatly appreciated thanks!

 

[edutilos-]

It's up to you, everyone has their own workflow.

Not every photo has to have a spread histogram, btw.

 

[shutter-matrix]

hi guys I was wondering whether am I takin the correct approach in post processing. this is how I've done my post processing this far on lightroom3.

for the typical group shots, street shots etc. I would:
1. crop the picture to my liking
2. adjust luminance to reduce noise.
3. adjust white balance if required.
4. adjust exposure, blacks, recovery and fill lights to spread out (balance) the histogram.
5. apply a little bit of contrast to make my pictures look for punchy.
this is how I do It for basic processing.

for shots that I feel can add more effect into them, I would play with the filters and saturation.

am I doing it correctly? or have I missed out any important details? help is greatly appreciated thanks!

its the same as what im doing in Photoshop CS 5. But i do the cropping last.

 

[Exhaust]

its the same as what im doing in Photoshop CS 5. But i do the cropping last.

thanks for the replies

I printed some photos of the events that I took and was very disappointed. on my screen the colors looks okay, but when it was printed out, the colors look dull and like it was taken sometime back where the colors starts to fade. I used those instant print machines from photo stores.

also, my photos do not seem to be that sharp as well despite me using F8 to take the photos... could it be because I bought a 2nd hand lens and havnt calibrated it to my DSLR yet?

 

[edutilos-]

thanks for the replies

I printed some photos of the events that I took and was very disappointed. on my screen the colors looks okay, but when it was printed out, the colors look dull and like it was taken sometime back where the colors starts to fade. I used those instant print machines from photo stores.

also, my photos do not seem to be that sharp as well despite me using F8 to take the photos... could it be because I bought a 2nd hand lens and havnt calibrated it to my DSLR yet?

Printers also have to be calibrated, that could be an issue.

Did you calibrate your own screen?

 

[sinned79]

my workflow is always very simple cos i dun want to spend too much time doing PP. So i try get it right when i shoot the photos and reshoot till i get it right.

Some simple things i do :
- cropping only when needed
- Apply slight S curve to boost the colors
- sharpening when needed (for landscape photos)
- desaturate colors then adjust tonality, noise reduction (or add noise) - this is for black and white photos
- skin softening (for portraits)

 

[Exhaust]

Printers also have to be calibrated, that could be an issue.

Did you calibrate your own screen?

The Printer i used was the one at most camera shops (Fujifilm). How do i calibrate my screen? As in my laptop screen?

 

[Exhaust]

my workflow is always very simple cos i dun want to spend too much time doing PP. So i try get it right when i shoot the photos and reshoot till i get it right.

Some simple things i do :
- cropping only when needed
- Apply slight S curve to boost the colors
- sharpening when needed (for landscape photos)
- desaturate colors then adjust tonality, noise reduction (or add noise) - this is for black and white photos
- skin softening (for portraits)

Do you play with the exposures, blacks and fill lights? Cause i tend to adjust them for almost every photo i took.

 

[sinned79]

Do you play with the exposures, blacks and fill lights? Cause i tend to adjust them for almost every photo i took.

only when needed.

 

[Octarine]

The Printer i used was the one at most camera shops (Fujifilm). How do i calibrate my screen? As in my laptop screen?

Read the many other posts here and in other parts of the forum, the Search function is upper right hand. Help yourself

 

[fadhli]

Hi,
let me share with you my post production workflow.

- Duplicate base image on new layer
- Do clean ups like skin touch ups and removing unwanted objects on a new blank layer (so that process is reversible)
- Color corrections and enhqncements (mostly curves, levels, selective colour, colour range selection, brighten eyes etc)
- Stretch image 2-3% height for portraits
- Flatten, crop and export

These are the basics but I have slightly different approach on different subject matter.

You can view some of my post production work at fadhlijaffar.daportfolio.com

 

[benjamingan]

Lens correction

 

[shutter-matrix]

Can you share what screen your talking about? I have one old LCD screen laptop (5years old), i experimented on it. I noticed that when I edit pictures there, all colors seems correct. But when I printed it, it looks very different.

That being said, i go and get my new laptop and compare the image side by side, the color in my new laptop is much more closer to the print out. Maybe my old laptop cannot display the tones and colors correctly thats why I thought it looks okay already but when printed out is very different.

This is based on my experience only.

 

[niceboyatsg]

I also do the adjustments first and finalise the results, then followed by cropping.
Then, compressed the pics atleast 1100X700 then put some canvass on it.
Then finally it's now ready to upload on facebook.

 

[Octarine]

Can you share what screen your talking about? I have one old LCD screen laptop (5years old), i experimented on it. I noticed that when I edit pictures there, all colors seems correct. But when I printed it, it looks very different.

That being said, i go and get my new laptop and compare the image side by side, the color in my new laptop is much more closer to the print out. Maybe my old laptop cannot display the tones and colors correctly thats why I thought it looks okay already but when printed out is very different.

Again the magic question: was any of your screens calibrated? If not .. well .. that explains the big differences. Even though your new screen appears to be closer to the print results does not mean it's accurate. Purely coincidence.

 

[tsumetiv]

Can you share what screen your talking about? I have one old LCD screen laptop (5years old), i experimented on it. I noticed that when I edit pictures there, all colors seems correct. But when I printed it, it looks very different.

That being said, i go and get my new laptop and compare the image side by side, the color in my new laptop is much more closer to the print out. Maybe my old laptop cannot display the tones and colors correctly thats why I thought it looks okay already but when printed out is very different.

This is based on my experience only.

A quick calibration method would be to go to your usual print out place.
Take a printed copy of that photo (wait a few hours for the colour to settle), put it up beside your monitor.
From there adjust the colour settings on your monitor till it matches the photo.
I know this may not be a very accurate method, but I personally tried this.

Maybe someone else can offer you better advise too

 

[edutilos-]

The Printer i used was the one at most camera shops (Fujifilm). How do i calibrate my screen? As in my laptop screen?

Laptop screens are usually not that great for accuracy... Got limited brightness range... At least from my experience, of course I never buy very expensive laptop.

But if you want to calibrate, can get a calibration device... A lot of people have, can borrow also. Spyder, etc.

 

[edutilos-]

A quick calibration method would be to go to your usual print out place.
Take a printed copy of that photo (wait a few hours for the colour to settle), put it up beside your monitor.
From there adjust the colour settings on your monitor till it matches the photo.
I know this may not be a very accurate method, but I personally tried this.

Maybe someone else can offer you better advise too

By eye is not so good, better to trust machine. :bsmilie:

 

[tsumetiv]

By eye is not so good, better to trust machine. :bsmilie:

I no choice have to use budget method for now, blow too much on photography stuff lately :bsmilie: Anyway most of my shots are for friends to enjoy, and I doubt many of them calibrate their screens. So not that big of an issue for me

 

[sfoto100]

Hi TS

If u are asking about pp workflow because you suspect it is causing the problem u experienced at printing, then u should make sure u learn about color management first, else it is like building a house without the foundation.

short answer:
calibrate monitor
make sure u are using a color managed workflow
i am not sure how u can check if those printer shops calibrate their printers or not... but printer need to be calibrated also.