The Three Adjustments I Always Make

Positively the comment I get the most in my digital photography classes, online and in a Facebook group that I am involved in offering digital photography tips for mothers that love photography is:

I have just started editing photos and I have no idea what I am doing-- I have PSE, but have no idea of how to use it- help!

Not too long ago I was in your shoes.  I knew that I wanted to do more with my images, but it seemed like most of the tutorials and books out there were for the full version of Photoshop, or assumed a certain level of knowledge before you even got to the beginning of the tutorial. 

There are a couple of adjustments that I always find myself making, whether in PSE or Photoshop, and whatever the photo situation.  These adjustments can quickly take away annoyances that you didn't even know you had with your image, and can take an image that you are satisfied with, to one you are proud of showing off to anyone.

When you open your photo in PSE, you will see a series of drop-down menus along the top of the screen.  Amongst these is the Layer drop down menu. (There are other ways to create new layers, but for those of you that are just beginning, this is the easiest way and the method that changes least between different versions of Photoshop.)  You can access all of the following Adjustment Layer by Choosing the Layer drop down and then "New Adjustment Layer."  This will make the side-menu for Adjustment Layers pop out.  This is where you will find these Adjustment Layers as choices.

The three adjustments I always make in PSE:

Layer=> New Adjustment Layer=>

Levels.

                Underneath the histogram, (the thing that looks like a mountain) move the two sliders to toward the middle, and possibly move the middle slider to the right or the left.  As you adjust this subtly, you will see a change in your image. 

All pixels in your image are given a number from 0-255, ranging from completely black to completely white.  Say you move the slider to 3 (or manually change it in the field underneath this slider) Where only the pixels with a value of 0 were completely black before, then all of the pixels with a value of 0,1,2 and 3 will then be black. 

You can also use the eye-drops pictured here to adjust the levels.  Click on the black eye-dropper and move over to your image.  Click again, this time on something in your image that is supposed to be completely black.  I find that this works best with things like walls and furniture, and less well with black clothing, which may or may not be really black if it has been worn and washed multiple times.

Brightness/Contrast

                I tend to like more contrast in my images, so I would move the sliders up about 3-5.  Brightness is one adjustment where subtle is better, and this adjustment should only be done after the Levels Adjustment has been made. 

As your image gets brighter, you may notice a loss of the fine detail in your image, and this is where Contrast comes in to play.  Contrast makes the difference between the light pixels and dark pixels in your image more pronounces, and brings back a lot of the detail to your image.  However, once again- less is more as you can accidentally age someone and make the soft face of a young child look harsh. 

Hue/Saturation

                I try to leave the Hue slider alone and just adjust the saturation to my liking.  If you image has a proper White Balance (which we talk about elsewhere) then hue is not as vital. 

The Saturation slider is one of my favorites, because it allows you to adjust not only the overall saturation of the image, but also the saturation of each color component of the image.  By default, you will have Master selected in the drop down menu at the top of this palette.  You can select other colors to warm up a cool face, or make a background color pop. 

(Next-- changing an Adjustment Layer so that it affects only one area of your image.)

Digital Easter Eggs~Photoshop/PSE Freebie for Design and Scrapbooking

Free to my customers, students and fans, eight digital Ester Eggs- perfect for your photo creations, digital scrapbooking and design projects.

You can find the zipped file here to download the eight separate png images with transparent backgrounds.  Simply un-zip the file and Extract each of the eggs and use as you like. 

You can feel free to use these in your personal projects, as well as for commercial purposes, but please do not simply repackage the files and sell them as-is.  I would also love to see what you create with them, so feel free to tag Carrie Weston Photography on Facebook, email me and share with me the Flickr feed or other location of your creation.

Enjoy!

My First Free Photoshop Action-- {Sharp as a Tack}

My Photoshop students know-- Actions are just one of the many ways that Adobe Photoshop has worked to automate your workflow and make editing of photos easier. 

While I want you to know how to use Photoshop and understand the functions and processes involved in everything you do in Photoshop, I also love the ability to automate repetetive actions and to learn new things as you study and adjust Actions. 

My first Action that I have made for my student's usage is CWP-Sharp as a Tack.    This Action will sharpen your image using  a High Pass Filter, one of the best ways to sharpen your image, but one of the lesser known. 

I will be posting later the Action Recipe for how you can do this, or you can look at my Photoshop Extras page for this and future Actions for my students.

{Making the Most of Your Point and Shoot Camera}

Point and Shoot digital cameras have come a long way from the simple 2MP still image recorders of just a few years ago.  Today, a wide variety of creative styles and inexpensive editing software has changed the world of digital photography to the level of art, even for those who cannot afford expensive professional cameras. 

This series will cover basics of using your point and shoot digital camera beyond the automatic settings and quick fixes that you can do to when it seems like your camera just doesn’t “get” what you want it to do. 

One of the most popular features of point and shoot cameras is their numerous Creative Settings.  One of the most powerful is the Portrait setting.  This setting is most often symbolized as a woman's profile, sometimes in a hat.  This setting will do two things- it will make the point of focus crisp and clear while blurring out the background (commonly called bokeh) and will meter the exposure based upon the subject of the portrait rather than the surrounding background. 

This setting, naturally, is useful for portrait photography, but it can also be useful for still life photography where you would like to have a singular subject in focus and the surrounding area blurred.

What should the Portrait setting not be used for?  It functions poorly as a setting for landscape photography where you want a large area of your image in focus.  Some cameras also have issues in the portrait setting when they are trying to photograph larger groups of people.  The camera wants to have a smaller area in focus, and so people in the background or along the sides of the image may not be in focus. 

Up Next in Making the Most of Your Point and Shoot Camera: The Sports Creative Setting.