Help For Beginners

[PapaBob]

Dee has requested that I start writing a tutorial oriented toward those members that are new to Photoshop. I assume that most new users start with Photoshop Elements since it is more economical, but there may be some of you who have jumped to full version (like PS7 or PSCS) and are trying to learn the new ropes. Dee has made some suggestions like starting a glossary and basic work area setup. So let me know what you need to know and I will try to make the new tutorial subforum "beginner friendly" Experienced Photoshoppers out there, if you want to help just pitch in.

---Bob

 

[baitedstorm]

Fantastic!!!!!

 

[Dee]

Some things that confused me at first...and sometime still do!.....

What are layers, why would I use them and how do I add a new layer.

What's a good workflow for saving photos. Do I just save them all in JPG? What if I want to come back to one and tweak it some more?

What's EXIF? Why did it disappear after I saved my picture?

 

[diversteve]

Some things that confused me at first...and sometime still do!.....

What are layers, why would I use them and how do I add a new layer?

Layers is a subject for a tutorial. Maybe if Bob has time? I'm not a great one for writing tutorials. Simply put the idea behind layers is that by creating a layer each time you add or modify an element in an image, the changes are visible without committing them to the original until you combine the layers for the final save or even selectively pick only some of the changes by merging just those layers.

It allows you to make changes without permanently adding them to the original until you're happy with them. That way if you're not happy with a change later on, you don't have to step through multiple undos to restore back to a previous point. You can create style layers, adjustment layers and fill layers.

Then there's Layer Masking....another tutorial?

Creating a new layer is easy, just pick the Layer menu, all the options are there.

What's a good workflow for saving photos. Do I just save them all in JPG? What if I want to come back to one and tweak it some more?

I try to save everything in a lossless format for future editing purposes initially. Usually this means a .tif file. I then work with the .tif file always saving it at a very high quality resolution. I usually don't work with .jpg's at all unless the image is going on the web or being e-mailed to a non-broadband user. If it's being printed it stays as a .tif. In my case, my camera saves as .tifs and since there's a microdrive in the camera, storage space is not a problem. So I try to work in .tif format whenever possible.

The reason you don't want to work in .jpg format is that it uses a lossy compression method. What this means is that the file is compressed more each time you save it. The pixels are actually altered each time based on how much compression you select when you save the image.

Try this sometime: Open an original file and save it as a copy. Now open the copy and save it as a .jpg several times using a medium setting without doing anything else to the file. Then reopen your original and compare them closely, you should see a difference. So try not to save the same file as a .jpg more than once.

You can even save your original .jpg's as .tif's and then work from the .tif. That way you're not degrading the original image any further.

What's EXIF? Why did it disappear after I saved my picture?

EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format, and is a standard for storing interchange information in image files, especially those using JPEG compression.

In simple terms it's a way of storing the camera settings at the time the shot was taken for use in further processing. I don't know why your EXIF settings are disappearing, mine don't.

Not all programs can read EXIF data though, I use Acdsee for this.

 

[PapaBob]

Dee:

I sent you a PM with a concept for the new thread in the tutorial sub. I can add your questions to the initial subjects.

Sjspeck:

You have the idea. You write em and I will start a thread to post em, or send em to me and I will post them for you. Beginner topics, short and sweet. Although Photography and Photoshop are hobbies of mine, I have zip experience when it comes to web stuff. I know Dee has some questions about saving separate files for posting to the web. When I get this up and running and you see what we are trying to do, maybe you could post a tip or two.

---Bob

 

[diversteve]

Sjspeck:

You have the idea. You write em and I will start a thread to post em, or send em to me and I will post them for you. Beginner topics, short and sweet. Although Photography and Photoshop are hobbies of mine, I have zip experience when it comes to web stuff. I know Dee has some questions about saving separate files for posting to the web. When I get this up and running and you see what we are trying to do, maybe you could post a tip or two.

---Bob

Bob,

I'm not an u/w photographer, I shoot video. My u/w experience is limited to fixing prints taken by my buddy with a p/s film camera in a housing. So I have a basic understanding of how to fix problems like backscatter, color shift etc. as applied to u/w work.

I am a web developer and do a lot of work with Photoshop and digital images. A lot of web workflow probably also applies to u/w work, the processes are the same. So I'll post solutions to questions here when I can. I've never seen/used PS Elements except in Adobe e-mails so I can't be of much help there.

Steve

 

[RiverRat]

Hey this info would be great! My problem is finding enough time to practice in PS and these lessons would help speed up the learning curve. I'm shooting in RAW mode now. I'm getting better at "auto" correcting photos, adjusting contrast, color, cleaning backscatter, cropping etc. but I'm slow at learning when it comes to layers and such. I'm going back to basics (the math stuff) and getting a handle on resolution, pixels, image size etc. I read an article on creating BW images using layers versus desaturation etc. and have been messing around with that. I would like some info on layers and what you can do with them (separating the background from the foreground image etc.) from the ground up. I'll help in any way I can but I've got a lot to learn. Some of my friends that do web design just blow me away.......

 

[PapaBob]

I have started a Photoshop 101 thread in the tutorial subforum. Experienced Photoshoppers are encourage to lend their knowledge.

---Bob

 

[jpomerantz]

I have started a Photoshop 101 thread in the tutorial subforum. Experienced Photoshoppers are encourage to lend their knowledge.

---Bob

I have been using Jasco Photo Shop for a while - have you ever compared it with PS? Thanks.

 

[fpoole]

Here's a copy I posted on a previous theread that might help in the processing of photos. There some great ideas and thoughts so I went back to find it for you..

Link is:
http://www.scubaboard.com/t58883-how-do-you-keep-your-images-organized.html
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My contribution so you don't have to seach back through it:

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Wheww... let's get organized eh?

I do the following, but will change parts after looking at the details above:
-PS Batch Download, Save As .psd, Rename, into Named Location folder ex:
Edmonds Underwater Park for June 2, 2004 would be:
eupk040602_xx
(1st letter of each word and last letter of last word - date by yymmdd to allowing sorting by years first.

I set up an "Auto batch process" in Photoshop to transfer from camera to hard disk folder. For multiple day's disk, I add a letter to the number sequence like xxxx_axx next _bxx to keep them separate.

I then pic the ones I want to work with, do a Sava As keep the same file name (again to stay next to each other) but add an "m" to the end to identify it as "modified". Work the magic, get it ready for final copy. Once ready or done processing, I'll do another Save As in .jpg and replace the "m" (for modified) to an "s" for small - .jpg

I will then create a gallery using PS which generates my thumbnails, pictures all sized in .jpg format (copyrighted stamp) and put them in a folder WITHIN the location named "Gallery" I can then just upload the gallery to the web sites as needed. It already has the thumbnails to ID the pic if needed.

The file naming I used allows me to keep them all together and show what's been modified or not.
I now have the
- orginal in .psd format
- Modified copy in .psd format
- Simple/small copy in .jpg format to send out e-mail etc...

Backed up on an external drive and working on the CD back up too... believe I'll keep in "Location" ID for each disk and add to is as I go along, subject to change.

Probably left something out, but that's how it is for now..
I do have the Cumulus Organizer, but have yet to really figure out how to work it...

Till the next batch...
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Hope this helps???