My Daughter

[Mandy1973]

I borrowed a computer tonight and gave myself a lesson in Photoshop (okay, I had a little help but sent Mr. Stodgy to play with the dog when he began to hover). I have RAW capability but no program to edit it in, so this shot was from a jpeg image.

The biggest problem I had and it is still obvious in the final output, is too much red. I tried some layer adjustments, desaturation and color adjustment but couldn't make it go away. How else can I do this and not get too technical with stuff I am just beginning to learn?

[Peter Ryan]

Hi Mandy and welcome to CiC.

Nice shot but I hope you saved an original copy. Have another go and start with adding a little contrast (not a lot) and some sharpening (not a lot) and see how you go. This has just got too much of everything. It is very hard to tell you what to undo as I am not sure what you have done.

If we start with some simple basic adjustments then we ahve a chance to help you add to them.

It is a learning experience and it is the only way to try.

[Mario Xavier]

you may want to try the curves tool, Mandy. It is very powerful. Choose the Red line curve from the drop down and decrease it to get what you want. A small reduction has a large impact. Possibly play around with a much smaller reduction in the blue channel too just to see what happens. (Preferably prior to anything else)

[Geoff F]

Adjusting with Curves is normally my first starting point (apart from Raw conversion) but although Curves usually does a good job it does take a little bit of initial understanding. Not difficult, just confusing at first.

Your photo example simply has too much of everything, as Peter said, and is looking very over saturated. Average photos taken under average conditions with modern cameras (assuming correct settings were used) usually only require a basic tweak during editing.

So, if possible, start again; and it would be interesting to see the original image.

If you haven't already read it, here is the CinC tutorial about Curves https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...hop-curves.htm

To use Raw, you will need some conversion software to turn the original Raw files (plus a little initial editing) into one of the standard formats which your editing programme can use. There are a number of free converters available but I would say don't worry about shooting Raw for now. That is something to consider at a later date once you have fully mastered the basics of 'normal' editing.

[Mandy1973]

I have a copy of CS2 and will try your suggestions once I can find my way around the tools. Thank you for all of your nice suggestions. I just finished reading all about curves. This is a wonderful place to learn.

[Geoff F]

I just finished reading all about curves. This is a wonderful place to learn.

Or to put it another way, Mandy, you have just read 'chapter one' - with photography you never actually finish learning.

Here is a lot more information; which may take you into the advanced stages http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/c...1/curves-1.htm

The Photoshop CS range can sometimes appear a bit daunting at first but eventually it will all start to make sense.

[AlanP]

The hue/saturation adjustment layer lets you adjust the red channel only using the pull down menu. Desaturate the red channel. You can also shift the hue of the red channel. The adjustment layer comes with a layer mask. If the hue/saturation has any unwanted effects on parts of the picture you can mask that part of the correction out by painting black on the correspondin area of the layer mask.


Alan

[Nomadr]

i had a quick play with your pic in photoshop, desaturated a tad and found the tee shirt to be purple , at the mo it looks like a blue,
photoshop is a good tool, once you get used to it it will be your friend, lol.
i too find the pic way over processed,what i would do is post the original ,let others process and explain what they did and see what you like best, cheers martyn ps killer smile btw,

[Mario Xavier]

I have a copy of CS2 and will try your suggestions once I can find my way around the tools. Thank you for all of your nice suggestions. I just finished reading all about curves. This is a wonderful place to learn.

might I recommend two videos I've seen to help you:
http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/to...ers-photoshop/ - Fits the current topic
http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/to...nce-photoshop/ - Extra