Post Processing HELP.

[eric-holmes]

I don't know if I have hit a mental road block or if I have just came to expect more from my pictures and editing than what I can deliver. I shoot in RAW and JPEG. I usually edit all of my pictures from the RAW file but lately I do not feel like I have been able to edit them properly. Here is an example of a RAW file straight from the camera and my take on an edit. Something just seems off to me. I need help.

RAW

EDIT

 

[KmH]

Are you using Elements? PSE8?

What editing education documentation do you have?

 

[eric-holmes]

This was done using CS5. I downloaded a free trial. I did a linear curve contrast adjustment. I sharpened as in the picture. And I processed the raw file as in the picture.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I think your DOF is too deep but thats about it. The edit looks much better but I feel you can blur out the background a tad more.

 

[Hardrock]

Personally I think its a great edit and I really like the DOF. It allows you to have a little taste of what the girl is seeing.

edit: After really looking at it I think you should leave the houses in the back ground from the non edited version. They appear blurry enough that I think it wouldnt be to distracting.

 

[davebmck]

I think I would warm up the color temperature a bit. Maybe to 5500 or so. I would also bring up the black level a little. You have it set to 3 which is below the default of 5. You might try about 10. I also usually set the clarity slider to about 60 and the vibrance to about 30.

 

[EhJsNe]

Its ok to let some things be really bright, even blown out. It looks like youve got plenty of recovery which makes it kind of funky looking.
Also, getting the exposure better from the camera can help fix it.

Try using the exposure instead of brightness...stuff like that. Mix it up, youll start to like how things look in no time!

 

[KmH]

.......I would also bring up the black level a little. You have it set to 3 which is below the default of 5.......

Many pro image editors change the Black slider default to zero, because they feel 5 is way to much before the black point has even been set.

 

[Village Idiot]

Grab a book. I think one of the pnes I have is PhotoShop CS3 (it's a little older) for photographers and goes over photograph related commands more so than a generic PS book would. Something like that might give you some new ideas and techniques to inspire you.

 

[KmH]

For how to really use ACR:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Real-World-Camera-Adobe-Photoshop/dp/0321580133/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276527118&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS4 (9780321580139): Bruce Fraser, Jeff Schewe: Books[/ame]
There were no major upgrades to ACR so this CS4 version will work just fine.

For Photoshop CS5:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-CS5-Photographers-professional/dp/0240522001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276527200&sr=1-1]Amazon.com: Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: a professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC (9780240522005): Martin Evening: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Digital-Photographers-Voices-Matter/dp/0321703561/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276527250&sr=1-8]Amazon.com: The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers…[/ame]

 

[ChrisStone]

What's 'off' about it? I think the edit looks fine!

 

[irfan]

edit looks fine, but id take it down a notch in the exposure.. maybe 1/2way between original and edited. just seems a little too bright for what looks like an overcast late afternoon.

Id recommend a martin evening book:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-CS5-Photographers-professional/dp/0240522001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276560840&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: a professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC (9780240522005): Martin Evening: Books[/ame]

I bought that one this year, and own the CS3 version as well. there were enough changes to warrant a new book. plus it just gets me to read it all over again. I highly recommend it.

 

[kkamin]

Many pro image editors change the Black slider default to zero, because they feel 5 is way to much before the black point has even been set.

Interesting, can you expand and clarify this? What does 'black point been set' mean?

 

[KmH]

Black point is an adjustment that will determine the amount of shadow detail in an image. It is considered proper to set the black point so that the darkest part of an image will only just have zero detail.

Not all scenes have areas that should be completely black.

The Blacks slider in ACR operates on the linear-gamma data. Small moves of the slider make bigger changes than the black input slider in Levels, a good tool to use for setting white, mid-tone, and black points.

The adjustments between 1 and 5 can have a tremendous impact with each increment, though at higher values the changes smooth out some.

Note that the Blacks slider in ACR can be used as a black clipping control by holding down the Alt (Option) key (clipping display mode) while making an adjustment, and it is often useful to zoom into the deep shadow areas to see what effect even small units of adjustment have.

You can adjust the shadows in increments of 1 by using the ↑ and ↓ keys.