I have joined our local camera club and having a view night of all entries that had won awards I found that the majority, if not all had been edited in some way, usually with Photoshop. My thoughts are that unless you have sufficient knowledge of Photoshop or any other editing software then you are unlikely to get a look in. I am finding it difficult to understand Photoshop Elements 12 so I think it is fair to say that my photography, in the camera club, at least is not going to get a look in. Does anybody know of any manuals that are easy to understand to help me find my way round this piece of software. I would like to hear other people's views on this subject. Is photography now all about editing, having said the above I wish I could do more than just sharpen, crop etc.,
Unfortunately there isn't a "Hail Mary" pass for understanding Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop (or any other major editing package for that matter) isn't a solution - I think the best way to describe it is that it is a tool box full of exotic tools. Even if you get to know what the tools are called and how they work, it is then a case of knowing how to use them to get what you want out of your photographs. It's all about trying it out and trying to make sense of it. Over the years I have understood more and more of it including the inevitable light bulb moment but it has been a struggle at times. As a beginner, if you are in the UK, I can recommend that you buy "Digital Photo Magazine" (monthly) which comes with a CDRom containing clear and concise tutorials. There are also plenty of Youtube tutorials galore that can point you in the right direction.
I don't live in the UK but like Paul @steampowered I did learn a lot from Digital Photo Magazine. Youtube is also a good resource and as mentioned before....its free. I like free. I also learned much of what I know about Photoshop from applying actions to photos. Although these are a mini program that run all by themselves you can see what is happening and know what has been done to alter the image. I would consider myself very proficient in Photoshop but still by no means know everything there is to know. I think once you get in to it you will learn things as you need them. It's not something that is going to happen over night. You will be learning a little at a time. You have to start with what you have learned already - the basics. It just sounds like now you are ready to move to the next level. Another suggestion for learning is asking people on this site what it is that they did to their image. Go through albums of the people you follow or when you spot something that you are interested in leave a comment asking what they did. I find most people on this site VERY helpful and willing to share their knowledge. Good luck.
@silverhorn Thank you Rose I will take a look at Utube @jantan - Thank you Jan I have now ordered the two books, they look very good @siotedelapena - Thank you Siote, I will certainly look into the tutorials @steampowered - Thank you Paul,I am going to take a look at the Digital Photo Magazine and thank you for your comments @k1w1 - Thank you for your comments, I will certainly ask in future, I have just taken a look at your photos, if I am not mistaken the flower has been edited. I would love to have mine come out like that, it is lovely.
@oopsadaisy I just watched this guy yesterday ~ he uses a more current version of photoshop than I have, but the techniques are the same and his explanations are in laymans terms which was great for me ~ wish I had discovered this a long time ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqKHo1Q7OMc
That was done using these little lights I got from a floral section in a craft store. I have 8 lights and they go through a cycle of colour from white to purple. They were placed around the area where I was taking the photo. As I turned them on they all ended up at different stages in their cycle giving the image a gradient looking effect. The edge blur is a piece of white paper with a hole ripped in the middle and placed over the front on the lens. The same effect can be achieved in Photoshop though. I have been trying for more images that are SOOC.
Open your image
Duplicate the layer
Add a Gaussian blur set to around 50 to that layer
Create a layer mask on that layer
Ensure your colours are set to black and white
Black as the foreground colour
Make sure you are on the mask and using a large soft brush with an opacity of around 10 or 15 start brushing away the blur until you get the image where you want it. It is much easier to use a lower opacity on your brush and brush over it more often than it is to use a higher opacity. If you take away too much then switch to a white brush and that will add back in part of what you have taken away
Next you would create a gradient adjustment layer
Add your gradient over your image and then adjust the opacity of the layer until it looks the way you want it.
If you wanted muted tones then you could lower the opacity of your background layer to give pastel type colours.
Another way to get the soft pastel look is using an action. I have Photoshop CS6 and not elements so the actions I have for that would not work for you but I have some actions that I purchased from the Photoshop section of this site: http://paintthemoon.net/blog/buy-pse-compatible-actions/picture-perfect-mega-set-for-pse/
They are expensive but I have found that I have used them a lot. I may have some Elements actions from way back when I used that more than Photoshop so I will have a look and can direct you to them :)
I hope this was of some help.
Good luck!
Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions. I am happy to help if I can!!
@luvmynynix Thank you for your comments, it just seems to take so long learning everything about the software, maybe I should just try one edit at a time and master each one before I go onto the next!
Editing images is not new. Editing images has been part of photography since the beginning. Darkroom processes often called dodging and burning have been used by all great photogs of the past. Today, more people are using camera and the price of editing software makes it available.
PS/PSE produce some good things. However, it is not necessary to understand everything it can do. Learn a couple of things that help most of your images and then increase your knowledge as needed.
@chapjohn Thank you for your advice, I think that is where I am going wrong, I am not concentrating on learning one new skill with editing. I am not against editing at all, almost every photo that has the WOW factor has been edited, I would just like to have the skills to produce such photographs, very frustrating to say the least!
@oopsadaisy Actually that is pretty much how I did it...sometimes I know what I want to do but not how, or I might know what tool to use, but can't do the fine tuning well enough...it does take forever and that can be frustrating. I have had it for just under a year now and I have just scratched the surface! I often "pin" technique tutorials to my photography board on Pinterest so they are all in one place.
@luvmynynix That's a really good idea, I will have to try that. I was trying to do something last night for 2 hours and gave up in the end. I have watched Utube tutorials, they make it look so easy, yeah right!
@oopsadaisy LOL I know...sometimes they will mention a menu...get this brush from the blah blah blah menu and I'm like ...really, how about for the Photoshop impaired you tell me exactly where that is!!! What were you trying to do last night?
Lol! Sorry I haven't replied earlier, have just been to my local camera club taking pictures of still objects, hoping I have got one for my pic of the day, if I haven't I'm in trouble.
I was trying to remove my grandson from a picture to put him onto a different background, his picture was of him doing tricks on a scooter in mid air, in focus but rubbish background, then I thought just change the background on the picture, another hour getting nowhere so I gave in. Tired and frustrated are two words that spring to mind!
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I use Elements 8, and found the PSE8 version of this book very useful.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photoshop-Elements-Digital-Photographers-Voices/dp/0321947800/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392194936&sr=1-1&keywords=scott+kelby+photoshop+elements+12
I also use the PSE8 version of this book which is good
http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Cheat-Photoshop-Elements-Imagination/dp/0415724678/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392195079&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+cheat+in+photoshop+elements+12
@jantan - Thank you Jan I have now ordered the two books, they look very good
@siotedelapena - Thank you Siote, I will certainly look into the tutorials
@steampowered - Thank you Paul,I am going to take a look at the Digital Photo Magazine and thank you for your comments
@k1w1 - Thank you for your comments, I will certainly ask in future, I have just taken a look at your photos, if I am not mistaken the flower has been edited. I would love to have mine come out like that, it is lovely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqKHo1Q7OMc
Another vote for you-tube!
The one taken on 10th February
Open your image
Duplicate the layer
Add a Gaussian blur set to around 50 to that layer
Create a layer mask on that layer
Ensure your colours are set to black and white
Black as the foreground colour
Make sure you are on the mask and using a large soft brush with an opacity of around 10 or 15 start brushing away the blur until you get the image where you want it. It is much easier to use a lower opacity on your brush and brush over it more often than it is to use a higher opacity. If you take away too much then switch to a white brush and that will add back in part of what you have taken away
Next you would create a gradient adjustment layer
Add your gradient over your image and then adjust the opacity of the layer until it looks the way you want it.
If you wanted muted tones then you could lower the opacity of your background layer to give pastel type colours.
Another way to get the soft pastel look is using an action. I have Photoshop CS6 and not elements so the actions I have for that would not work for you but I have some actions that I purchased from the Photoshop section of this site: http://paintthemoon.net/blog/buy-pse-compatible-actions/picture-perfect-mega-set-for-pse/
They are expensive but I have found that I have used them a lot. I may have some Elements actions from way back when I used that more than Photoshop so I will have a look and can direct you to them :)
I hope this was of some help.
Good luck!
Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions. I am happy to help if I can!!
PS/PSE produce some good things. However, it is not necessary to understand everything it can do. Learn a couple of things that help most of your images and then increase your knowledge as needed.
I was trying to remove my grandson from a picture to put him onto a different background, his picture was of him doing tricks on a scooter in mid air, in focus but rubbish background, then I thought just change the background on the picture, another hour getting nowhere so I gave in. Tired and frustrated are two words that spring to mind!