In the digital age you as a photographer are expected to be familiar and knowledgeable with Photoshop. It can be argued back and forth if this is right or wrong and whether Photoshop is ruining photography. But I see Photoshop as a tool, just as the darkroom was a tool to manipulate images. I have put together this list of 10 techniques that helps me get the most out of my images.
As my photographic skills grew so did my curiosity for better images. The more I observed the photographers I looked up to, the more I noticed the images they took were not straight from the camera. Post processing plays a big role in today's photographic society. Whether it's used subtlety, or for major composites, it's definitely an important skill to know. Over the last few years, through experimentation and taking bits and pieces of what other photographers have shown me, I built a workflow that I use for my post processing. This list is an overview of how I edit my photos. There are thousands of post processing methods; this is just what I have developed and what has worked for me. This is not a beginners guide to Photoshop. This list is in order of my workflow.
Flattening out the Image in Raw
This is the foundation for my editing. You can't build a house without a solid foundation; well you can't edit a photo without one either. It is in Camera Raw where I set up my image to be edited in Photoshop. The first thing I do when I open my images in Camera Raw is adjust color temperature or exposure if I need to. I will then set the highlights slider between -30 to -80. I then set the shadows slider between +30 to +80. I want my highlights to be a little dull and shadows to be very flat and almost in the same tonal range as my midtones. This flattens out the image quite a bit (the image will look pretty boring and ugly). I want the image to be really flat when going into Photoshop. I flatten the image out because when I open it into Photoshop, all of the toning and techniques I use will give it the right amount of contrast I need. If the image has a lot of natural contrast going into Photoshop my techniques will ruin the image and give it way too much contrast.
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