[jeffbanke]

So, you wonder why we keep harping on about read your manual, well here are a few pointers from the Adobe Photoshop Manual which I doubt very many have read.

About Bridge
Adobe Bridge is the control center for Adobe Creative Suite. You use it to organize, browse, and locate images (assets). You can add metadata, keywords, batch rename files so they can be searched by other software such as Windows Explorer. Files can be batch processed using the image processor, labelled, can be viewed as a filmstrip, a slideshow or as data.

Bridge uses a cache, which uses space on a hard drive, so one must manage this space.

Bridge allows the photographer to build a very large data base of keywords in Bridge that can be applied to individual files and to a batch of files.

On Color Management
View your documents in an environment that provides a consistent light level and color temperature. For example, the color characteristics of sunlight change throughout the day and alter the way colors appear on your screen, so keep shades closed or work in a windowless room. To eliminate the blue green cast from fluorescent lighting, you can install 5500 degree Kelvin lighting.

View you document in a room with neutral-colored walls and ceiling. A room's color can affect the perception of both monitor color and printed color. The best color for viewing is a polychromatic gray. Also the color of your clothing reflecting off the glass of your monitor may affect the appearance of colors on-screen.

Remove colorful background patterns on your monitor desktop. Busy or bright patterns surrounding a document interfere with accurate color perception.
Set your desktop to neutral grays only.

When you color-manage documents that will be viewed exclusively on the web, Adobe recommends that you use sRGB color space.

Apple computer do not display sRGB, but rather use Apple RGB.
Adobe recommends calibrating monitors so that viewing on the monitor and in print is the same. Before any calibration is made ensure the monitor has been on for at least one half hour.

On Scratch Memory
Photoshop requires space on any drive assigned as a scratch disk. (This is temporary memory storage for images as you are working on them) [/i
Scratch disks should be the fastest disk.

For best performance, scratch disks should be on a different drive than any large file that you are editing. [i](This means you need at least two drives)

Scratch disks should be one a different drive than the one used for virtual memory. (This could mean you need 3 drives in a system)

Scratch disks should be on a local drive (Not a network drive)

Scratch disks should be a conventional (non-removable) media

Raid disks/arrays are good choices for dedicated scratch disk volumes.

Drives with scratch disks should be defragmented frequently.

All the above makes it very hard to gain optimal performance on a laptop!

On Camera RAW
A camera raw file contains unprocessed picture data from a digital camera's image sensor. Many digital cameras can save image files in camera raw format. In this way, photographers can interpret the image data rather than having the camera make the adjustments and conversions automatically.

Camera raw plug-in can perform the following tasks:

Preview camera raw images in Bridge using the default image settings.

Apply settings to camera raw files in Bridge without opening the Camera Raw dialog box.

Copy and paste the settings from one camera raw image to another in Bridge.

Use the default image settings and open camera raw image files directly in Photoshop without opening the Camera Raw dialog box.

Process the files in Camera Raw dialog box and open the images in Photoshop, where you can do further editing and save in a supported file format.

Process the files in the Camera Raw dialog box and either simply close the dialog box or save camera raw images in a file format supported by Photoshop.

Automate the processing of a batch of camera raw files and save them in a Photoshop supported file format using the image processor, the batch command, or a droplet.

Mark raw files for deletion as you process a batch in the Camera Raw dialog box, and send the rejected files to the trash/recycle bin.

Save adjusted settings as the default image settings for a specific camera.

Create and save several other settings applicable to the camera for different lighting conditions.

About Histograms
A histogram illustrates how pixels in an image are distributed by graphing the number of pixels at each color intensity level. The histogram shows whether the image contains enough detail in the shadows, midtones, and highlights to make good correction.

The histogram also gives a quick picture of the tonal range of the image, or the image key type. A low-key image has detail concentrated in the shadows, a high-key image has detail concentrated in the highlights; an average-key image has detail concentrated in the midtones. An image with full tonal range has a number of pixels in all areas. Identifying the tonal range helps determine appropriate tonal correction.


About Masks
When you select part of an image, the area that is not selected is "masked" or protected from editing. So, when you create a mask, you isolate and protect areas fo an image as you apply color changes, filters, or other effects to the rest of the image. You can also use masks for complex image editing such as gradually applying color or filter effects to an image.
In Photoshop, masks are stored in alpha channels, Masks and channels are grayscale images, so you edit them like any other image. With masks and channels, areas painted black are protected, and areas painted white are editable.
I hope you find this information useful and encourage you to read the entire Photoshop manual.

[mikeledray]

very helpful

You really should teach a workshop or at least one on one tutorial help for a fee.


thank you

[ruxpriencdiam]

[jeffbanke]

[jeffbanke]

histograms

The first is biased towards the black end, and as such will have no detail in the black. The D 300 LCD screen shot has detail across the entire range.
The Photoshop histogram of another image is well balanced with the peak slightly towards the white end giving the greatest amount of detail and least noise.

The Camera RAW histogram is much more accurate than the one in your didgital camera, so don't be surprised to see a difference.

[jeffbanke]

Just added some info about Masks :-)

Here is a link to how to do black and white conversions a gazillion ways in PS
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=89494&highlight=raw

[kenk]

Very helpful, Jeff.

Adobe also has online manuals and video tutorials.

There is always something to learn about Photoshop.

[fraiseap]

Very useful Jeff.

here is my contribution - latest trick learned.

To check color tones (especially useful for skin), select eyedropper and press F8. An info box pops up and you can see the color mix of the area the eyedropper is over. This allows you to adjust the skin tones to a specific mix using curves (best done in CMYK)

[jeffbanke]

[duneratt]

Excellent post! I especially like Bridge and RAW. They raise the bar on work-flow and processing immensely. I "upgraded" from GIMP recently. Gimp is great but PS rocks. It has Power. I do suggest one "freeby" called Fastone Image Viewer for initial "culling" of photo batches and for "final review" after batch processing. It will be interesting to see if there is a difference in my uploads pre-PS and post-PS. They may go from crap to mediocre. I can only hope.

[duneratt]

Faststone puts out some other cool little freeware photo packages that rock.

[kenk]

http://tv.adobe.com/product/photoshop/

Make sure you have a fast Internet connection.
Pass the popcorn!

[jeffbanke]

[chrismarr]

Thank you for that!!! I just got a big headache from using it today.
I wish I've read this earlier. :D

[jeffbanke]

As an FYI for anyone who might want to consider my work-flow, this is what I do.

Download images from camera memory card using Bridge. I store all my images chronologically, so I have a directory/folder that is called D100 2010, another D70s 2010, and yet another D300 2010, since I shoot with three different cameras.
Within each of these directories, I have a folder for each month; D100 Jan 2010, D100 Feb 2010, etc.
When I ask Bridge to download, I have it download from the memory card and store the images in a folder names by the date.
So when this happens, even if I have shot images over an entire week or more, each image is filed into a folder for the day it was taken.

Now with my images nicely organized by day, I open a folder for a day and browse them in Bridge, delete or reject anything that I don't like, or screwed up.


My next step is using the batch rename in Bridge is to give each image taken on that day a name that
a, Is going to be meaningful to me
b, Is searchable using windows search or any other software that has that capability, like Bridge.

See (step 3)