I really hated the idea of using photoshop on my pictures, but some people's photographs that have some minor photoshopping look really good and not overdone like I pictured photoshopped photography to look like.

So what are some of the common things you change in photoshop with your pictures?
Does anyone have a tutorial for these things so I can practice?

Let me know please ^_^, or anything else you think i'll need to know with photoshop and what stuff you do to your pictures.
Thanks!

.RAW edit Read antichrists stickied tutorial!

Lol completely forgot about stickies, i r dumb.
Btw how do you get a .raw off your camera? Or does it explain it in there?

EDIT: I am a complete noob at Photoshop, so when he talks about tinting it and doing the white balance etc etc is there tutorials for all of those lol

This post was edited by Virtue on Jun 21 2009 03:57pm

Dodge, burn are very helpful.

Contrast/saturation very nice.

If you have the money to spend on addons, buy the NiK Addon collection, VERY VERY good B&W and other great pro actions.
-Black and white, Sharpening, etc.

Lens corrections, cropping, etc.

White balance adjustments.

Healing brush which is VERY useful for skin blemishes.

Noise reduction etc.



Long ago I used to be quite against Photoshop, and then learned from a pro photographer MANY MANY advantages from it, and that there is no substitute. It is a "must" in a way for people serious about their work I guess.
It's worth the money, or if you can find a key or something.


Photo merging is also very nice, like said. RAW Editing, etc.
The "Merge the HDR" Isn't that great, but can be good if you don't have any other HDR Software.

I would totally suggest you get a 30 day trial, see if you like it!

Which Photoshop do I need?
I only have Photoshop Elements 6.0
And how much are the add-ons

TheBlackRose66 pretty much said it

I mainly use my Photoshop for boosting the colors a little, in some of my pictures.

Photoshop Elements is basically a "mini" version of the real creative suite.

Photoshop CS4 (Creative suite 4-Which is the bigger, fuller version with MUCH more features) is currently out, and I believe the only one you can get the 30-day trial for right now.


The NiK Software Collection is $599.99USD Right now, so I wouldn't recommend getting it until you get to know the basics of Photoshop first, and how to work it.


Maybe I'll make a video later tonight about it.

This post was edited by TheBlackRose66 on Jun 21 2009 04:49pm

Alright thanks alot for the info
Can I still do alot to enhance my pictures [but not overdone so they look fake] without the NiK Software Collection?

Yes lol!
The NiK is just a really neat tool that can do extra stuff.

You can still do TONS with photoshop, I know tons of users without the Nik Collection (I bet very very very (maybe 1 person) have the software here.)

Alright
I don't want to over-photoshop my pictures anyways, I think it's kind of cheating in a way.
If they look completely fake after photoshopping it bothers me for some reason lol