I'm using an older version of full-blown Photoshop -- 7.0 to be
exact -- and have been meaning to take in some tutorials on YouTube for
a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. A lot of the reason I
haven't gotten too deeply into the post-production end of it has to do
with the lack of resources I have on my current computer. I need more
storage space to hold all the files, and more memory to run the software
well, to handle the larger-sized RAW files -- particularly using
multiple layers of high resolution images.
At the moment, my hands are a bit tied, but I'm slowly getting there. I
have a larger hard drive to hook up, but I need to get a USB enclosure
as it's a SATA drive, and I'm currently running a regular old ATA drive
in my system, and the motherboard won't allow me to run both on the same
system. I also need to get at least another 2 Gigs of RAM, but it's an
older type of RAM (PC-3200 DDR) that isn't as cheap as it once was, back
before I needed it, and I'm not sure that my system will be compatible
with any newer types.
So, it'll be slow going before I'm able to do as much with my images as
I'd like, but with any luck, I'll have some manner of windfall before
too long. There are some opportunities for me on the horizon. I'm just
not in the position to bank on them yet.
Thanks for the guidance -- I'll be sure to look into all of this stuff
when I'm in a little better position to actually do it.
-- Walt
Are you using Elements or the full blown Photoshop?
I don't really know Elements, but there are tons of free Photoshop
tutorials on the web, many of them on YouTube.
There two essential things to learn about Photoshop that are the basis
for everything else.
First, use Adjustment Layers for adjustments, corrections and filters.
Placing them on their own layers allows you greater flexibility, and
more importantly allows you to go back at any later time and
completely undo something if you've come to regret it.
You just delete the adjustment layer. You don't even have to delete
it; turn the eye off and the layer becomes invisible.
If an adjustment is only a little "heavy-handed", decrease the layer
transparency == decrease the effect.
Second, always save your work as a .PSD file with all of the the
layers to preserve your work in progress before flattening the image
and creating a JPEG for output.
You can save as TIFF, but Photoshop "converts" files to PSD while it's
using them. Saving as TIFF just adds unnecessary complexity. You'll
have the PSD file (with your layers) to come back to even after you've
created a JPEG for output.
Never save changes to a .PEF file in Photoshop. That way you always
have your original "straight out of the camera" image as a starting
point if you ever need to completely start over.
Once you learn those two things, you've given yourself almost
unlimited possibilities to "do over" anything you're not satisfied with.
Do the best you can now and at some later date when you know more
about using Photoshop, you can more easily come back to the image and
do it better ... without having to reinvent the wheel.
Note: Adobe Camera Raw does not save changes to the .PEF file, it
saves your changes in a "linked" sidecar .XMP file. Getting back to
your unaltered "straight out of the camera" original file is easy;
just delete the .XMP file.
ACR will create a new .XMP saving your new "changes" next time you
open the .PEF file and either continue on to open it in Photoshop or
click on "Done". Clicking "Cancel" does not create a new .XMP file.
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