Photoshop Order of Operations

I don't know if it's been mentioned in here yet, but it should be noted that Lightroom has a workflow that is different from Photoshop in that everything you do is non-destructive. Changes that you make are saved, but not applied to the image...so it doens't matter what order you do things in. You can even bring the image into Photoshop, do some things there, then bring it back into Lightroom.

This is also true for Picasa. Changes aren't saved to your image until you click on, "Save to Disk." Even then a backup is made so that later you can revert the image if you wish.
 
I edit every photo accordingly, I don't apply a certain order of things to all my photos because some needs color balance, some don't, some needs cropping, some don't etc..

However, I rarely ever use the Sharpen function as I only edit and keep photos of the sharpest quality to begin with. But normally, color balance, levels, blend modes, gradient overlays and a border is always nearly a must for me - just no real order in doing so
 
Well, as head photographer you should understand that all digital images need a degree of sharpening as the AA filter softens all images, its not just a case of good glass either. H
 
I usually (but not without exception) :

1. Open RAWs in Lightroom and adjust WB, Expousre, Highlight Recovery if necessary
2. Export images to psd and open in Photoshop
3. Crop
4. Levels
5. Other colour adjustments
6. Noise Reduction if needed
7. Sharpen (unsharp mask, settings altered as appropriate)
8. Resize
9. Clone if needed (if it's a simple removal I would rather do it on the smaller image which has less detail that you have to try to match, but half the time I do it on the full size image after all other PP - yes I know I need to get better at cloning ... :roll:)
10. Save as 100% quality jpeg

I would still maintain that crop is the first thing to do, because if you can't find a valid composition to work with, there is no point wasting any time on the pic with other adjustments ...
 
I can't remember where i found this list but I've been using it -

  • Crop
  • Contrast
  • Brighteners
  • Color
  • Defects
  • Sharpness
Any thoughts on this list?

I just don't know where noise correction would fit in - would that fall under defects?
Myself too not have certain place for noise reduction in my workflow, but i do it in my first parts of image editing (sometimes i re-apply it at the end if i want to) - usually it is:

  • Noise reduction
  • Retouch
  • Colour and light adjustments (as long as it is in separate layers and can be readjusted at any time, it doesn't make much sense to me when)
  • If im happy with results, Merge retouch layers, then do sharpness or unsharp mask (whatever related to sharpening),
  • And at the very end crop & resize (these two actions strongly goes only at the very end for me)

btw: very informative thread, im confused myself now :)
 
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why crop first? wouldn't it be better to leave that till the end?
 
why crop first? wouldn't it be better to leave that till the end?

Totally agree and that is what i meant too... :)
Though i remember the time - working with big files and weak pc. Photoshop was freezing so often and wasted lots of time, then i was cropping/resizing firstly just to save time, but for quality it is a minus, i agree
Probably some might have same problems and crop first just to work more smoothly
 
I would always crop first. As I said before, if I can't make a nice picture in terms of composition, what is the point of all the other adjustments? And you don't change the quality by cropping, you only alter the available part of the image you want to work on.
 
:) I personally crop at the end because i have phobia that i might need some detail or not sure if i'll like that way after im done with picture (probably lack of experience). Its ok to crop if only colour adjustments needs to be done with images + sharpness etc. and so on. But when need to spend hour or more for this photo (retouching or some other work, which requires much more time to spend with practilular photo/project) then is very pitty, when at the end i understand sometimes that i would rather have little more of image.

For that reason, i keep on the rule do not make any changes (at the start at least) which can not be undone.

But thats of course depend on everyones habbits and experiences
 
I try to consider the destination/product I'm working for. If it's down and dirty for the internet, documentation of some sort, or personal (family shot) I'll crop right off the bat. Usually there's not too much processing involved with shots for my web site and I can just pick up the original again and do it over if I need to.

For fine art prints, I rarely ever crop at all. I print in sizes that fit the ratio of my camera (typically 8x12, 12x18, 16x24 or 20x30) and get the composition to what I want before I shoot. If I do need to have an 8x10, 11x14 or whatnot, I can crop online since my printer service provides a way to do that. I sell online so if a customer wants an off size they can crop their own.

I've found if I crop first, and I want a different ratio later, that part of the photo is gone and reprocessing to get the same look never seems to work. So if I do want something off my standard, I crop the original processed image and save it as a separate image.
 

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