Adobe Photoshop and CS

[JenLovesMickey]

Awesome! Thanks guys! Both of those sites are more expensive than what my school is offering, but only by a couple hundred. At this point anything is better than the $1500 Adobe has listed on it's site

 

[JenLovesMickey]

Just want to second Twigs' recommendation of Academic Superstore. I've used it several times and been pleased with the service and price.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm pretty good at searching for things on the internet, but it always helps in cases like this to have another person's input.

 

[boBQuincy]

My school uses JourneyEd.com, CS4 Design Premium is $299 there. I certainly would not get CS3 now unless you got a *very* good discount.

 

[JenLovesMickey]

Thanks Bob! You must qualify for an extra discount cause I can't get it for the same price. My school isn't listed on there. But at least it isn't more than the other websites. Now it's just a matter of who can get it to me quicker.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Thanks Bob! You must qualify for an extra discount cause I can't get it for the same price. My school isn't listed on there. But at least it isn't more than the other websites. Now it's just a matter of who can get it to me quicker.

All you have to do is fax them info. showing you are enrolled. I have purchased through JourneyEd with my son's elementary report card.

 

[orchjoe]

So my better half had to work today so instead of going out and taking pictures like I should have. I decided to stay in and work on a WDW photo instead.

I managed to do it all in elements 4.0, so those who feel they need the full photoshop don't worry. It can be done!

Feel free to let me know what you think. I am always trying to improve.

Original Shot

Edited

 

[DragonSlyr]

Very nice. I love the look of the trees and grass.

 

[jfulcer]

I'm not sure about the big circle in the middle (Is that a watermark?) but it's pretty nice. I wonder if you can put a reflection of the words in the water?

 

[Quicklabs]

Very nice! You had a great photo to start with.

 

[orchjoe]

That was a watermark in the first shot. I agree that the reflection in the water looks a little bit better. Thanks.

 

[saturndb]

I think that came out very nice! How long did it take you to do the adjustments?

 

[Mckymousefn]

Very cool!

 

[mouselovenfamily]

I just got Photoshop CS3 and it seems really deep. I'm used to another program that is really basic on click and improve photos easily. This seems to not be as easy...for example. Here is a photo of Tink. I thought I was trying to improve and clean it up by going under sharpen and didn't get great results. What should I have done or is there hope? Am I in the wrong area???

Thanks~
Renee

 

[saturndb]

if you just got photoshop cs3 and are learning it you should get some how to books to help you learn this program. photoshop has a high learning curve.

Which sharpen tool did you use?

 

[dpic]

Also, Renee, it's hard to tell without an original. Could you post the original (same size or maybe a little larger) to see what you're trying to do.

Also, given time, Photoshop will offer great rewards for those who are picky about their photos. If you merely want to tweak alittle, Photohop Elements may be a better option.

 

[ukcatfan]

It looks blurry even at this small size. I do not know if sharpening can help that much. I prefer the unsharp mask FWIW. You might try http://www.focusmagic.com/

 

[princess.chell]

Photoshop CS3 is hard to learn. I took a semester long course on it and am still finding new things. But sharpening is something I can do.
There are mulitple options to sharpen. They are under the Filter (at the top along File and the like) then go down to sharpen. There are five different ways, but I was taught and prefer the last one (Unsharpen Mask).
Heres what I do
Open the pictures then choose Unsharpen Mask from the dropdown.
A box will open up with a zoomed in version of a certain spot on your picture. You can change this spot with the little box that appears as your curser. From there simply move the sliders around to change the sharpeness. The more you play with it the more you will become comfortable with the numbers. My advice is to keep the radius within 1 or 2. Play with the other two as you like. Here is what I came up with using this...

The Amount was 44%. Radius 2. Threshold 0
Hope this helps!

 

[saturndb]

ukcatfan & princess.chell are right. the unsharpen mask is most likely the one you want to use. That is why I asked which one you used.

 

[mouselovenfamily]

I did use the unsharpen mask. So this is the best I'll get??? It's a tough program. Thanks all!!

Renee

 

[pointandshoot]

First, nice photo. I like Tink's expression and the background.

Photoshop is deep! A detailed photo retouch can take many steps and is a more advanced than simple one step modifications. You can take your photos to another level of retouching using tools such as Photoshop but it will take time and committment. Do not get discouraged and learn it in little steps. Over time, you will see the results.

What has helped my Photoshop skills the most was using online courses. I use Lynda but Kelby has them as well. It was easier to see someone perform a sharpen, retouch wrinkles, etc. than read about it for me. They have free previews of courses so you can figure out if it is for you.

As for this picture, looks like you have a bit of a red color cast, some noise, low contrast, and hot spots/blemishes on the skin. It is suggested that sharpening is the last step in a retouch after you fix everything else.

I saturated the yellows and greens, a curve adjustment for contrast, spot healed the hot spots and skin, and adjusted the skin tone. I then removed noise and sharpened. I prefer smart sharpen using lens blur. Given this is a low res image, I used an amount of about 50% and a radius of .2. Any more seemed to over sharpen for my tastes. Many different apporaches to sharpening. Sometimes, you sharpen the entire image while other times to selectively sharpen.

Here is the quick retouch.