Quote:
Originally Posted by kenstogie
Francis, Thanks for the tutorial, I have been trying to digest it and am working at it now and more later. I was all set to add my 2 cents worth but I've got to say that I am using my laptop's monitor and I am not sure I am seeing what I should be. I have a monitor at work (Viewsonic I think but it's mine)
that I am going to bring back home and try this further. I will share my comments at that point. As I am actually studying this as it's great to have the PSD file and see how its done by a pro. Thanks again for the tutorial 
I attempted to "rep' but "you must spread some rep around before add to this individuals reputation" Damn. |
My pleasure. It will take some time to get the hang of it. Photoshop is very complex, and there are dozens of different ways to accomplish each and every step I listed there. Some ways are better than others in certain situations. Everyone's workflow is different, so as you go along you'll get a feel for how YOU like to see a photo, and how YOU like to work. Some people swear by levels and won't touch curves. Some people swear by curves and won't touch levels (me). Both work, its just what you're comfortable with (in most cases).
If you want to see absolute friggin magic, download a trial of this and play around it with it.
http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx
Monitor colors are always troublesome. Unless you pick up certain high LCD monitors, or you are using a Mac (which include high end LCD displays as a standard feature), you are never going to get a super accurate representation. Laptop displays in particular are usually pretty bad for this. Even if you have a good display, you won't really know what you are getting unless you calibrate it. It's AMAZING the variations I see from monitor to monitor. Looks fine when you are using it, hell, you get so used to it you never notice the color differences... but line 3 monitors up side by side, put the same photo up on all three of them, and your jaw will hit the floor.
Further complicating the color issue is that of color spaces and where the image will be displayed. If you open an image in photoshop, PS will give you by default an accurate view of the images color in that working space. BUT if you save the image and open it on the same computer in your web browser or the windows image previewer, you'll probably see a completely different set of colors, because those programs are operating in a different color space then the one you might have used when you edited the image in PS. I'm afraid that I am not qualified to give a good tutorial on color spaces, you'll have to look that one up later on.