PS Processing Wizardry

[abraxas]

Anyone out there just click "Auto-Levels, Auto-Curves or Auto-Colors", and let it go at that?

How far do you get into it?

 

[mrodgers]

I move levels myself, I only put a slight curve on the curves, and I never touch the colors unless I desaturate some. I prefer a bit of desaturation over giving them more color.

I don't mess around with PP very much. Most of my PP is cropping to where I want it and resizing.

 

[ksmattfish]

Sure, if it works for the photo. Some of my photos get more effort, some get less. It depends on what the photo is, if it's got issues that need to be dealt with or not, and what the use of the finished photo is. I like quick processing for family snaps and live music photos. I tend to spend a lot more time on my landscape photos, but there are a lot less of them. For portraits and weddings it's somewhere in the middle. In my experience the auto-process options work best when the photo is pretty close to alright to begin with.

 

[Alpha]

I think too many people use levels and curves inappropriately because they don't know what they really are. People say things like "use some curves" or "do levels" and it doesn't make sense. Do what? You should know what you're modifying and how it works. If you put me in a wood shop and asked me to build a table, I'd probably use most of the wrong tools because I don't know which ones do what I want (and sometimes I don't know what I want). As a result, I'll probably succeed in building a table, but it'll look pretty shoddy.

 

[Ls3D]

Auto Curves/Levels, never. Auto color about 3% usage on shots that present a difficult color grade, like when there is a subtle color cast that I'm having trouble correcting manually with Color Balance.

Most common Curve; the subtle S, with a bit more bottom for contrast - usually immediately followed by a slight desaturation to offset the gain from the curve.

Most common Levels; midpoint right or left (darker or lighter) and some trimming of the black (left) point (as indicated by the histogram), often going back for another even more subtle curve and final evaluation of the saturation.

Sometimes send jpgs to camera raw too, but don't tell anyone.

-Shea

 

[Joves]

I never use any of the auto settings myself. If I need to tweak a photo then I do it and, dont rely on the program to do it for me.

 

[ksmattfish]

Just like the auto modes on a camera the auto functions in software follow specific instructions. As long as you understand what's going on, it's just another tool.

Before people started doing their own processing again almost all of the photographs in the last 50 years of the 20th century were processed and printed using machines running on auto with only minor human oversight.

 

[craig]

In lightRoom my images get the full treatment. A lot of images get the cut and paste "previous" setting. If I get confused I will hit auto tone or whatever. This generally heads me in the right direction. I used to think that it was cool to spend about 15 seconds per photo. Now I am more interested in H/S/L levels of colours and all that fun stuff. Theoretically I need to get faster at it, but that is further down the road.

Love & Bass

 

[AlexColeman]

All depends.

 

[Fox Paw]

I have Corel, not Photoshop. I almost always check the "smart fix" function to see what it recommends, but I seldom use it except for quick and dirty snapshots. To the extent I agree with its diagnosis, I'll fix the problem my own way, and often I don't agree.

 

[TwoRails]

Anyone out there just click "Auto-Levels, Auto-Curves or Auto-Colors", and let it go at that?

How far do you get into it?

I'm not anywhere as advanced as I should be. I use the semi-automatic option (called Smart Photo Fix) in Paint Shop Pro which does a nice job on most of my "snap shots." I might go into other semi-automatic settings, too, such as white balance, and the like. I don't get into the hard core stuff all that much, but never use full Auto, either.

Here's a screen shot of the available controls for that tool: (I just happen to have a snow shot in the editor, hence the wide-right histogram)

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