More photoshop

What exactly do I do? It all depends on the photo.

This one:

Again, adjusted the RAW image for exposure and color balance, ran my quickie actions (it's a slight sharpen, a curves adjustment, and a levels adjustment...oh and Noiseware/Portraiture to help smooth out the grain if there is any).

I take this image, and I "pick it apart" in my head. I do not like how bright the grass is. Not much I could do about that since I took it in full sun, which left Katie slightly underexposed in the SOOC shot. This image I adjusted exposure down slightly and brightened it. I do not care for how light the pink dress has become either. I also do not like that red dot in the background! LOL



So, what did I do exactly? I took out the curves and the levels, then I ran an action that is called V-Pop, which has a slight orange tint to it along with the curves pop (why I took out the basic curves and levels). I then adjust the opacity of it, use layer masks to mask out the grass (don't like it popped as it turned it too bright again). After running that, I ran another action that pushes up the "blues" in the photos and saturates them...at least that is what I think it does. After running that I again adjust opacity and use layer masks to mask the portions I do not want adjusted. Finally, I run a vignette action that I bought and love. It's fully adjustable on the shadows, midtones, and highlights...typically I only adjust the midtones, and then after it is done I use a layer mask. Surprise. When running the vignette, you have to REALLY watch out for "halo effect" around the subject. When I'm in a hurry, I often don't care. If I'm printing it, then I really pay attention to it.

OH, prior to running the V-Pop action I played with the eyes...sharpening the edges and brightening the irises.

This image, I did not like the full frame crop that I had in camera, and adjusted for a creative crop (many times I do not do this step for putting on the web). I like this crop, it's a 1::2 ratio.

Notice, the adjustments I made are MINOR ones. Each step is done on it's own layer, and the background image is rarely changed (it gets the basic defog, noiseware/portraiture, and sometimes further sharpening...but only in rare cases). As for that pesky red dot? I removed it on the background image. I used the patch tool and corrected it. Patch tool is great for the portions of an image where you do not have a lot of texture (or that texture is blurred). Not so great on things like hair, clothing, grass that is in focus...