Over Processed - the scoop?

[Alex - Spot-This !]

Hi,

1) Yeah we need to have a look at that.

2) Brian has to answer that

3) I do all my editing before resizing anything. This way I have a full size edited version. When I resize I just need to sharpen the final 1280 version.
With 4000+ pictures I guess it doesn't work too bad.

Rgds

Alex

[brianw999]

First: thank you all for the help.

A few questions now..
.............2. Brian - does your very helpful menu (especially point 4) work for PSE8? Is anything missing in PSE8? I am going to test your procedure...............

I assume you are talking about the Action Set creation in which case I cannot advise as I don't have any knowledge about PSE8.

As far as point 4 is concerned... Again, I have no knowledge of the features of PSE8. You should though be able to select individual areas for processing and I would think that you can also create layers. This Adobe tutorial might help... http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-phot...2-using-tools/

[Moose135]

3) I do all my editing before resizing anything. This way I have a full size edited version. When I resize I just need to sharpen the final 1280 version.

Same here - well, the 1024x version in my case...

[aceriana]

So to sum things up as suggested - how would a simple step-by-step proceed?

Once PhotoShop (whatever version) is open - in what order would the following events take place under normal circumstances:

Crop
Resize down to 1024
Align horizon (if necessary)
Sharpen photo
Eliminate dust spots (if necessary)

Incidentally I performed a few tests leaving the sharpening in the last spot - only selecting the aircraft in flight - and sharpening only the aircraft and not the sky. Things look much better and I think halos around the aircraft are not there. This may be a good solution?

Regards from a still very rainy Northern Italy

[brianw999]

..........Incidentally I performed a few tests leaving the sharpening in the last spot - only selecting the aircraft in flight - and sharpening only the aircraft and not the sky. Things look much better and I think halos around the aircraft are not there. This may be a good solution?.............

Exactly right.

My workflow is basically as follows...

1. Level horizon.
2. Set histogram.
3. Crop to size.
4. Fix any dust spots.
5. Create a background layer. (this is to avoid adding any further processing to the sky.)
6. Fine tune the contrast and brightness if required.
7. Sharpen as required.
8. Delete the sky area (returns the sky to its original unprocessed state.)
9. Flatten the image.
10. Save.
11. Cross fingers and upload. (even screeners cross their fingers occasionally !!)

That's how I've always done it and having nearly 4,000 images in the database must say something ?

That's the basic workflow. I may use Noise Ninja to fix some grain, especially if I was shooting with a high ISO and I might use curves or (say it quietly, the purists are listening ) shadow/highlight to balance the contrast.
Noise Ninja would come after item 3 in the list above and curves-shadow/highlight would come after item 5.
If you do use shadow/highlight IT IS ESSENTIAL IN ANY WORKFLOW TO CREATE A BACKGROUND LAYER FIRST. Shadow/highlight use is the best way known to man to introduce horrible haloes. Any haloes caused will be deleted in item 8 when you delete the sky background layer.