Essential Post Processing By Ian Cran Preamble Getting to grips with Photoshop and Lightroom could be described in three stages. One is always learning and going through stages but there are three main steps or stages at the beginning. There is lots more to follow but that is for the enthusiasts. 1. Essential Post Processing. This covers straightening horizons, cropping, tidying up spots and rubbish, automatic tone, contrast and colour adjustment, and simple sharpening. Lightroom has parallel moves. These techniques are quick and easy to learn. 2. Taking it further. Knowing a range of tidying up techniques including the Stamp and the Healing tool, adding Transform, mastering Levels and Curves, and having a range of sharpening methods available. These are big steps and although not hard they do require gaining concepts of the digital work of post processing. 3. Selections, Masks and Layers. This is where the post processing really takes off with adjustments to local areas, and non-destructive work. Again it is the concept of what is being done rather than the actual steps that is difficult. But this is the level to which all should aspire. These are not major alterations to a picture rather subtle changes, which should not be visible to an observer. The picture should now focus attention on the subject and tell the story that you saw when you took the picture. Introduction to Essential Post Processing I believe that for competition or exhibition a small but necessary Post Processing improves all images. JPEG images are processed in the camera and may need little extra post processing. In the following tutorial only the minimum post processing is given and the simplest methods are chosen. The methods are not necessarily the methods to choose for more advanced post processing but they are entirely adequate at this stage. The methods are gone into in detail making the process look long. However, in practice the whole post processing should only take a few minutes. An image of surfing at Elizabeth Beach will be used as an example. It was taken in Raw mode and has been converted to a JPEG. A JPEG image processed in the camera would look better but would still have faults and would benefit from a little post processing. 1. Straightening the horizon A slopping horizon is rarely good and looks careless. It is difficult to get a horizontal The Crop tool in the tool bar of Photoshop.
horizon when you are taking pictures in a hurry and concentrating on the subject. No matter, it is easy to correct. In straightening the horizon some of the picture usually will be lost so don t crop to closely in camera especially with portraits, animal shots, wild life and action. Because of the possible loss of pixels at the edges of the image it is wise to straighten the horizon before cropping. To straighten semi - automatically. Open the Crop tool from the Tool bar or hit C. In the Option bar at the top click on the Straighten tool. As instructed click and drag a line along an edge that should be horizontal or an edge that should be vertical. As you release the mouse the computer will straighten the image, and crop the image to fit inside pixels available. This is often the best method. To straighten manually. Get the Ruler tool from the Tool bar (nested with the Eyedropper tool). Click and drag a line along an edge that should be horizontal or an edge that should be vertical. In the menu bar go Image > Image Rotation > Arbitrary. The window will show the angle to be corrected. Click OK. The image will be rotated to make the horizon level but the new image edges will be outside the available pixels leaving white triangles at the corners. There are now two choices. If you are happy to have a smaller image open the crop tool and drag a crop inside the available pixels. If you do not want a smaller image you have to repair the white corners. There are two simple methods that work most of the time. If the result is unsatisfactory repair is complicated and probably best avoided at this stage. 1. With the Lasso drag a selection loosely round one of the white triangles, hold Shift (if Shift is not held the first selection will be deleted when the second is started) and drag selections round the remaining triangles. Then go Edit > Fill > Content Aware > Click OK. The computer will fill in the white triangles with pixels like those around the triangle. 2. From the Tool bar get the Magic Wand and in the Option bar at the top click Contiguous. Click in one of the white triangles and then holding Shift click in the other triangles. Then go Edit etc as above. To get the Ruler tool hover over the Eyedropper tool and click or right click In the Develop module click on the Crop Overlay icon, the first icon in the tool bar looking like a rectangle, or hit R in either the Library or Develop modules. In the Crop and Straighten palette click on the Ruler tool, on the left, and then click and drag a line along an edge that should be horizontal or an edge that should be vertical. On release the The Crop panel in the Develop module of LR showing the Crop icon the farthest to the left in the tool bar and the Ruler tool on the left beneath Aspect.
image will be levelled and cropped to lie within the available pixels. Should you wish you could click on the slider beside the Ruler tool and manually rotate the image. 3. Cropping Cropping is nearly always needed. A small crop will not damage the image but a large crop may leave too few pixels to form a nice picture. 1) To change the size or ratio of the picture. This nearly always has to be changed for printing. For commercial printing if you don t change the size of your image before sending the image to the printer the image will cropped by the printer but the printer will not know what you want in your picture. 2) To improve the composition. 3) To remove ugly or distracting elements. 4) To enlarge the subject. Subject needs to be larger and better positioned. Click on the Crop tool in the Tool bar. In the Option menu at the top type in the height and width wanted. Be sure to include in or mm. You may also add the Resolution. 300 ppi is usual. There are handles at each corner and on each side. Click on any of these and drag to adjust the crop. As you change the crop, the size and ratio of your image will remain as you entered in the Option bar but more or less of your picture will be included with in the crop. The image can be moved within the frame by clicking on the picture and dragging. This is my crop on the image. Tone, contrast and colour need to be attended. Not perfect. If you wish to change from landscape to portrait or vice versa click the arrows between the height and width in the toolbar. Leave room for the mounting mat when cropping. Here are my presets and they include preset for A5 and A4 prints. I crop to the printable size of the paper.
Presets in Photoshop Instead of typing in the size you can use one of the Presets. The presets drop down when you click the second icon from the left in the Option bar, which may be labelled W x H x Res, Ratio or the last used Preset. In the drop down menu click on the Preset that has the height and width that you want. The figures will be loaded into the boxes on the Option bar, and you can include the Resolution (300 ppi). If there is not a preset that suites, type in the height and width you want in the boxes in the Option bar and in the drop down menu click on New Crop Preset. Click OK and the new preset will be there when it is needed. There is no need to have presets for portrait and landscape formats. To change from one format to the other click on the double arrow between the height and width boxes on the Option menu bar. Note that the drop down menu from the first icon also has presets. The presentation is different but the function is duplicated. I don t know the reason for this duplication. To get the crop tool enter the Develop module and click on the rectangular icon furthest left in the tool bar. The crop tool may also be accessed from the Library or Develop modules by pressing R. Lines will now surround the image and there will be handles at the corners and sides. Dragging a handle will alter the crop. By default the crop will stay in the same ratio as the original. Having drawn the frame of a crop the image may be repositioned within the frame by clicking in the image and dragging. To accept a crop click Close, double click in the image or click on the crop tool. all alterations are non destructive, that is instructions are written and recorded but no pixels are altered. So, if you have second thoughts about the crop, reopen the crop tool and recrop. Should you wish a different ratio from the default click on the Ratio button in the Crop palette and a choice of ratios will be The Crop palette in the Develop module of LR. The arrow points to the Crop icon and the circle surround the Ratio icon available in the drop down menu. The Ratio button may be labelled Original or the last ratio used. If none of these ratios is suitable click on Enter Custom at the bottom of the menu and type in the ratio desired. (Note this is not the Custom at the top of the menu. This Custom allows you to draw a crop free hand).
4. Clean up of Spots and Rubbish This can be a big subject but only a simple method will be described. Camera sensors acquire dust and these show up as spots on the image most visible in areas of even tone such as the sky. There may be rubbish or unsightly objects that spoil the picture. It looks careless to leave them and they should be removed. Although, some purists will say that you should have tidied up the scene before talking the picture! Zoom to 100% or 200%. The easiest way to do this is to click on the Zoom tool at the bottom of the tool bar (it looks like a tennis racquet) and choose 100% from the Option bar. Alternatively, with the Zoom tool active if you right click there will be an option for 100% or 200%. Grab the Spot Healing Brush from the Tool bar. The Spot Healing Brush is nested with the other Healing tools. Using the It is hard to see on this paper but there are about 6 spots in the top left corner, a fault of the camera. The Spot Healing brush is nest with the other Healing tools Square Brackets adjust the size of the brush to be slightly larger than the spots. The left bracket reduces the size and the right bracket increases the size of the brush. Then brush over the spot or offending rubbish. To get over the whole image use the arrow keys. First go to a top corner then move across the image, down one width then back to the other side and so on. The Spot Removal tool is the second from the left in the tool bar. Adjust the Size to be just larger than the spots, the Feathering to zero and the Opacity to 100%. Click on a spot. Lightroom will show the area from which the pixels
will be taken to remove the spot. This area will usually be suitable but if not click on the chosen area and drag to another area. Choose either Clone or Heal from the top of the window (Heal is usually best as it blends in the pixels). When you are happy with the choices click again on the Spot Removal tool. If the result is unsatisfactory click on Reset and do it again. 5. Colour, Tone and Contrast This, of course, is a very large subject and little will be dealt with here but there are a few simple and essential steps to take. Photoshop has always provided three valuable Auto buttons and now a fourth, which may be the best of them all. There is no down side to using the auto buttons and many professionals use these buttons to assess what is available or to see if their editing has gone too far. If your image file opens in ACR hold ALT/Option and click Open Copy. The image will now be in Photoshop. Duplicate the Background image by going Image > Duplicate or use the very useful Control/ Command J To access the auto buttons go Image > Auto Tone / Auto Contrast / Auto Color. Go through the three auto buttons to see which is best for the image. Don t think about the names as Photoshop has provided three algorithms only based on tone, contrast and colour. Some will have little effect, some may produce a colour cast but one will be the best. To do this click on one Auto button to assess then press Command/Control Z to delete that command before pressing the next Auto button. Having looked at all three then click on the Auto button that works the best. The Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and the Auto Color in the Image drop down menu. It is unlikely but if the effect is too great go Edit > Fade Auto Tone etc and adjust the slider. Auto buttons also reside in the Levels, Curves and Contrast and Brightness panels accessed from the main menu.
Even better open an Adjustment layer. Go Layer > New Adjustment Layer or open the Layers palette (Windows > Layers) and click on the Adjustment layer icon the half black and white icon circle fourth from the left at the foot of the layers palette. In the drop down menu click on Levels, Curves or Contrast and Brightness to open an Adjustment layer. The Levels Adjustment layer about to be opened. The menu from the Auto button. The Auto button in the Levels Adjustment Layer The Levels Adjustment layer These Adjustment layers will have an Auto button. You may click on the Auto button to adjust your image. But to see what the Auto button offers hold ALT/Option and click on the Auto button. A menu drops down which will look strange but is quite simple if you excuse Adobe language. Enhance Monochromatic Contrast is the same as Auto Tone. Enhance Per Channel Contrast is the same as Auto Contrast. Find Dark and Light Colors is the same as Auto Colors. Enhance Brightness and Contrast is the new algorithm that enhances tone, contrast and colours. Click on each of these in turn to assess. There will be no need to cancel with Control/Command Z as you are now using an Adjustment layer. You may fine that Enhance Brightness and Contrast is the best. If you wish to use this algorithm, or any of the others, all the time just click on Save as Defaults down at the bottom. Now all of the Auto buttons in the Adjustment layers will use this algorithm. It may be the default for the Adjustment buttons to have Auto Brightness and Contrast.
there are not the same range of auto buttons but I suggest that it is simple to go down the Basic menu in the Develop module making small edits. WB: Temp: Ignore Usually raise to between 5 and 10 but occasionally it is better to reduce slightly as in this image. Tint: Ignore Exposure: Adjust if necessary. Contrast: Raise to between 5 and 10 Highlights: Shadows: Whites: Blacks: These are the adjustments I chose for the image Lower a bit (push slider to the left) Raise a bit (Push slider to the right) Raise a bit but watch the histogram and stop if a white line forms at the right edge of the histogram. Lower a bit but watch the image and stop as soon as small effect has been produced.
6. Sharpening 7. This again is a big subject, but lets simplify. A soft image (poorly focused or result of camera movement) cannot be made sharp. Over sharpening is obvious and unpleasant. There may be white haloes along edges and grittiness over all. Therefore avoid at all costs. Small images need very little sharpening. A5 is small and A4 needs some sharpening. Sharpening magnifies noise and any non-picture faults such as haloes therefore use only enough to accentuate the image. The process of taking a picture and printing it reduces sharpness so an A4 or greater print requires some simple sharpening. Nearly all images require some added contrast and an image without adequate contrast is difficult to sharpen effectively There are many different methods of sharpening but the simplest method will achieve a good result. Sharpening can only be fully assessed in the print, but to assess as well as possible on the screen zoom in to 50% or 100%. If haloes can be seen back off. Before sharpening always duplicate the Background layer (Image > Duplicate or Control/Command J). The simplest method is to go Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen. It is tempting to repeat this act but only do it once and not often. You have a choice. Either Sharpen in Photoshop. Go Photo > Edit In > Edit in Adobe Photoshop. When finished sharpening hit Save to return to Lightroom. Stay in Lightroom and go to the Print module > Print Job > Print Sharpening and choose Low, Standard or High. Note that small prints need little or no sharpening.