lightroom plus photoshop - couple o q's

[jarg007]

1. what are the best photoshop/lightroom photography tutorials?

2. What would I do in photoshop vs lightroom... like when to use each? I've done most image enhancements in Lightroom currently which usually consists of changing the white balance and tone, and other minor mods. But what would I want to use photoshop for?

3. What would be the best way to reduce/resize or crop images but keep a decent quality for say facebook. Right now im shooting in raw and converting to jpeg at like 60%. It looks like when i upload to facebook it reduced the file automatically and reduces quality even more. Im trying to figure out how to keep a high quality work flow and be able to upload stuff to web, ie facebook, instagram.

 

[Light Guru]

1. Lynda.com

2. You do in Photoshop the things Lightroom cannot do.

3. Export from light room at your desired pixel detentions.

 

[jarg007]

what are some things a photographer might need to do that cannot can't be done in lightroom?

when you say pixel detention do you mean the slider bar where you change the percentage from 0 to 100

 

[fjrabon]

there's an option on facebook to upload at higher quality, which from what I can tell is pretty close to JPEG fine, but you can only do it from the full web page and you have to specifically select it. But definitely worth it, if you're using that to display anything more than super casual pictures.

as to your original questions:

1) I like the Kelby tutorials

2) I really only use photoshop when I need to blend multiple exposures/photos manually or the only way to achieve an effect is layer masking

3) see above

 

[jarg007]

Yeah I get you I think I uploaded some pics and they looked like crap so thats good advice.

 

[ronlane]

The gap between what Photoshop can do that LR can't is getting more narrow, but it's still a pretty big divide. The biggest thing that PS can do is non-destructive layers. This is useful to do portrait retouching. You can also to composite photos with PS. Those are the two biggest things that I use it for even though there is a LOT more differences.

 

[jarg007]

got it thanks!!! Im just getting into photo editing and light room seems a lot simpler and easier for simple mods for now.

 

[ronlane]

With the CC for photographers you get both for $9.99 a month. There are plenty of online video's to watch to learn to use both.

 

[jarg007]

ye that sounds like a good deal for 9.99/month. now where can i learn about image quality and pixel ratios and such. I'm trying to understand how to keep great image quality while reducing file size. My original raw and jpeg fine pics are comming out at 30 megs at a 6000x4000. WHen I reduce the size to 1000x1000 @ 100% they come out about a 1 meg, is that a good route or should i keep the 6000x4000 and just convert at 55% or so which comes out at about the same size.

 

[The_Traveler]

You need to understand a lot more than can be told in Q&A.
The way to reduce file size is to reduce the dimensions of the image to screen size in pixels and then increase compression.
A screen size image at a compression that will give good viewing will be <500 kilobytes and still look great.
Look at my web site. All of those pictures are about 359 kb.

 

[jarg007]

whats your website

 

[fjrabon]

My rule of thumb is 400 pixels per square inch of intended display size.

However this somewhat changes with viewing distance and device as well. I used to use the rule of 250, until retina screens and monitors started becoming a thing.

For prints usually 350 pixels per inch is fine, but it depends on viewing distance. For large prints you can usually get away with lower pixel density because they're usually viewed from a greater distance. iPhones typically require the greatest density for intended display size because the displays are so sharp and people hold them like 5 inches from their face.