Feeling Proud!

[CatherineA]

This is an accomplishment for me. I have been trying to learn how to edit and this is the first time that I've edited a photo in PS. I used a luminosity mask and curves and a couple of other techniques which are new to me. I worked hard to capture a good macro shoot but it needed editing to bring out what was there.

I know that it is not as high a resolution on this site as it should be but that's another thing that I need to learn how to do.

[Donald]

Well done, Catherine. You've now grasped the opportunity. Keep at it and you will find you are able to produce the images you want.

[Tronhard]

That's actually rather gorgeous Catherine, well done!!!

[lovelife65]

Very lovely!!! I really need to learn PS. Your image looks fantastic.

[xpatUSA]

I know that it is not as high a resolution on this site as it should be but that's another thing that I need to learn how to do.

Seems like you lost a lot of resolution with that huge border, Catherine.

The best way I know is to store my images somewhere that doesn't mess around with your stuff. Do you have a Google account? If so Google Photos (used to be Picasa) could be good for 10+ GBs. I myself have my own website and that's where I put my stuff.

Then to put a photo up here all you do is type in it's link (URL) between "img" and "/img" (but replace the quotes with square brackets).

I blew yours up X3, messed with it a bit and put it up on my site, temporarily:



See the detail? ...

[CatherineA]

Thank you Donald, Trev and Sharon!

And Ted, thank you for telling me how import at a higher resolution on CIC! I tried doing what you suggested and imported the photo to Google Photos but I couldn't find a way to share it publicly. I don't have a website so I didn't have that public intermediate step. So I looked into Adobe Portfolio and have used it to post the image below.

That border is a nuisance for showing my image here. I did it as a final step when editing because I thought it might be nice touch should I print the image. I did that in PS after the command to flatten the entire document and now the border is on all the layers except the background. I thought that I would be able to go back to the step before I flattened the entire document to see the image without the border but I was wrong and it now attached to all the edits.

[xpatUSA]

Thank you Donald, Trev and Sharon!

And Ted, thank you for telling me how import at a higher resolution on CIC! I tried doing what you suggested and imported the photo to Google Photos but I couldn't find a way to share it publicly. I don't have a website so I didn't have that public intermediate step.

I haven't used Google Photos in years but it seems now that they make it all but impossible to get a simple URL to post here. After going through many, many steps, I finally got an album with your picture uploaded from my computer. I doubt it will work but here's a link to the album (but not the picture):

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...RiWmFEN1lITUdR

After I post this response, I'll click on it to see wo hoppen.

So I looked into Adobe Portfolio and have used it to post the image below.

That border is a nuisance for showing my image here. I did it as a final step when editing because I thought it might be nice touch should I print the image. I did that in PS after the command to flatten the entire document and now the border is on all the layers except the background. I thought that I would be able to go back to the step before I flattened the entire document to see the image without the border but I was wrong and it now attached to all the edits.

Can't help with Adobe stuff, sorry, but good luck with the border thing.

[xpatUSA]

... I finally got an album with your picture uploaded from my computer. I doubt it will work but here's a link to the album (but not the picture):

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...RiWmFEN1lITUdR

After I post this response, I'll click on it to see wo hoppen.

Well, up came your picture in the album surrounded by Google crap. Out of interest, I right-clicked and there was an option to "copy image location"!! So pasted the result into my browser and lo:



Preety small, eh?!

Google Photos is way, way, worse even than Flickr ...

I'm soooo glad you found an alternative ...

[CatherineA]

Can't help with Adobe stuff, sorry, but good luck with the border thing.

Hi Ted,

Thanks so much for suggesting I try Google Photos though, because it did spur me on to try Adobe Portfolio and I will be able to post better quality images from now on.

I wish you would befriend Adobe because you are always so generous with your help. The questions that I could ask you ...

[Urbanflyer]

so beautiful!

[Manfred M]

Catherine - lovely image from both a composition and post-processing standpoint. The colours are vibrant and the delicate textures in the flower come through very nicely.

As others have pointed out the white border is quite distracting and when posting for critique, it is often best to leave it out. I understand how you ended up this way, so may I make a suggestion in your workflow that a lot of Photoshop users follow?

When editing in Photoshop we work with something called a master file and this is the version that has not had the final prep for output; no borders, no final colour space, no resizing to output size, etc. We save this and don't touch it so as to maximize our flexibility in creating the final product.

We then make a copy of this file and work on it for output. I can put a border on it, change it to a different colour space, resize it for screen or print size, etc. After making the final output copy I will make the output either to screen or to a specific print size and then when I am done, it delete this working copy. If I ever want a different output, say making a print, I will go back and work off the master file again.

Making an output file from a master copy is really no more than a couple of minutes of work.

[DanK]

Catherine,

A very nice image. Keep it up!

I have a suggestion for you. I would forget about luminosity masks until you master the basics in Photoshop. Luminosity masks are an advanced tool, and they are not essential for work like flower macros. I have done many flower macros and exhibit them routinely, and I would guess that I have used luminosity masks on perhaps half a dozen at most.

What I would suggest focusing on at first--for this type of work--is just two things.

The first and most important is tonality controls, of which curves is one. Learn to get the total tonal range, the overall brightness, and the contrast as you want them. In Photoshop, the tools for doing this are levels, curves, brightness/contrast, exposure, and shadows/highlights. Shadows/highlights is found only on the image-adjustments menu. In Lightroom and ACR, the tools are different. There is a curves tool, an exposure adjustment, and sliders that primarily affect regions of the histogram, such as "shadows" and "highlights".

This points to another thing: if you don't yet understand the histogram, I think that is essential. I don't think you can really understand what tonality adjustments do unless you understand the histogram. I have taught tonality adjustments a few times by starting with the histogram, and the comment I got both times was the the students had no idea what they were doing until they learned that. I think there is an explanation in the tutorials section of this site.

The second is various edits to bring out detail. This includes sharpening. Photoshop offers several methods for sharpening; I use almost entirely a high-pass filter or smart sharpen. This also includes other methods to bring out detail. In the ACR filter, there are two: texture and clarity. The latter is a little heavy handed and includes a midtone contrast adjustment, but texture is a subtle tool that I have used in almost all of my flower photos since the tool was introduced. You can also do this with the unsharp mask tool in photoshop, using a large radius--e.g., amount 20%, radius 50, threshold 0.

My suggestion is that you work on mastering these before you venture on to the many other tools. These are the essential ones for flower macros.

Dan

[Wavelength]

It is a beautiful image with wonderful mix up of red and black shades; the border must at least be reduced to half its present width, i feel

[xpatUSA]

Hi Ted,

Thanks so much for suggesting I try Google Photos though, because it did spur me on to try Adobe Portfolio and I will be able to post better quality images from now on.

I wish you would befriend Adobe because you are always so generous with your help. The questions that I could ask you ...

Hello again, Catherine! By coincidence, I've recently deleted Adobe's Flash Player from my computer - That was the last vestige of their stuff, so now it is truly Adobe-free. You'll get plenty of Adobe help from others - I see that Manfred and Dan have already made a start ...

[DanK]

Just to be clear, the general (unsolicited) advice I offered applies regardless of your editing tools. I only referenced Adobe products to make it easier, since you are using them now.

[CatherineA]

Judith - thank you!

Manfred - yes, now that I know what happened I will make I will duplicate the image and edits before doing anything is destructive in the future. thank you

Dan - Thank you for taking the time to write out your advice

Nandakumar - Thank you for your comment