Image Processing
Please check out the articles on Lightroom, which have been rewritten to reflect major changes that have taken place in the last 2 years.
Basic Computing Skills
This is for those of you not comfortable with computing to give a few important basic skills. Treat it as revision for experienced computer users. If you do need help with any of this please contact John Taylor.
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Image Processing Workflow (Updated August 2019)
This article describes the basic workflow of image development from downloading to printing, producing JPEGs for showing to others or submitting to competitions. It compares different applications, including Adobe's Bridge, Camera Raw, Lightroom and Photoshop. Other applications (Corel Paintshop Pro, Capture One, GIMP, Affinity, Elements) are described.
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Sharpening
This article is an overview of sharpening in Photoshop, Lightroom and other applications. Capture sharpening, creative and output sharpening are described.
Lightroom & Lightroom Classic
Lightroom has evolved considerably since these articles were first issued. Now there are two versions. Lightroom CC is designed to work with the Adobe Creative Cloud. Your images with the edits are stored on Adobe servers. This app is available for computers, smartphones and tablets.
Lightroom Classic is the new name for computer-based Lightroom, where the images are on your computer hard drives. The edits are in the Lightroom catalogue file on your computer.
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The articles below have now been revised to reflect this and other major updates.
Starting with Lightroom Classic (Updated 20 Dec 2021)
This article explains how Lightroom Classic works, how to load your existing photo files into Lightroom Classic, and why Lightroom Classic is preferred to Cloud-based Lightroom.
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Lightroom Classic Library Module (Updated 18 Dec 2021)
See how to get around Lightroom's Library window, use it to organise your file structure, import from your camera, rate and sort your images, apply keywords. It describes how to perform complex searches on keywords and other metadata.
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Lightroom Classic Development Module (Updated 21 Dec 2021)
Lightroom Classic's Develop module is used to crop, sharpen, reduce noise, adjust colour and tone after downloading your images. Local adjustments can be performed with the new Masks tool. Use a Preset to apply a camera profile, lens corrections, sharpen and add ISO-adaptive noise removal when you import your images. Develop several images at the same time and copy development from one image to others.
Cloud-based Lightroom (Updated 20 Feb 2022)
This article explains how Lightroom CC works and how you can use it with Lightroom Classic. The most obvious use is while travelling, you can use a smartphone to transfer photos from your camera to the cloud and develop them using a tablet. They can be copied to your hard disk when you get home. The process of copying Develop Presets from Lightroom Classic is described.
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Lightroom Classic Shortcuts (First Issued 22 December 2021)
A list of Shortcut Keys in the order of processing a group of images in Lightroom Classic. From reviewing and classifying images, developing images, comparing before and after editing. Have this list next to you as you develop your images to speed up your workflow.
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Photoshop
Photoshop is a powerful application that can perform advanced development of digital images. It is more complex and difficult to understand than Lightroom, but is capable of much more. If you are unfamiliar with th e application, it is possible to damage your image permanently, or lose all the development work you have done if you are not careful. The notes below show a safe way of working with Photoshop.
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The Photoshop Workspace
This article describes the workspace photoshop uses, introducing the terms Tool and Panel, and describing how you use these for photograph development. Thanks Vi: Your workshop showed me where we need to start with Photoshop training. It's here!
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Selections in Photoshop -
This article describes the methods of making selections in Photoshop, which is rather more complicated than mousing on and dragging over text or spreadsheet cells. Selections are the way of choosing part of your image, so that you can work on just this, leaving the rest unchanged.
Layers and Masks
Master the use of layers and masks to give yourself the most flexible and safe workflow. Photoshop destructively changes pixels and the use of these tools avoids this destruction until you flatten the image.
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This article describes the most powerful way of removing distractions from an image. Lightroom and ACR have a simple touch-up brush, but using the multiple tools in Photoshop will work in difficult situations. You need to understand the Photoshop workspace, selections, layers and masks first.
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Controlling Colour and Contrast to Enhance Your Image
This article describes how colour and contrast are adjusted in Photoshop using Layers, Masks, Curves and Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers. These are the only tools you need to for this. Although Photoshop has many other tools, everything can be done with just Curves and Hue/Saturation. The concepts may apply to Elements and other applications.
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Low and High Contrast Scenes - first published 5 Apr 2019
Vistas can have a wide range of contrast depending on the lighting. Learn how to expose and develop images to manage contrast.