Week 6--Editing

This week has been a hectic one. But it allowed for some reading on editing. This is an area where schemas and scripts and tools and expertise all collide and form a program called Photoshop.

Previously, in my undergrad years, I had (what was then) the latest and greatest version of Photoshop.  Whew baby ... it was something. Even the bells had whistles. But then, sadly, technology does what it always does as 5 turned to 5.5, and 5.5 turned to 6, and 6 turned into money that I didn't have. Then, that computer died. Goodbye money.

We saved and got another computer, and with it, another Photoshop program. This one however, lacks all the bells, and the whistles, in fact, it's symphony is more like a middle school one: a couple flutes and a few acne-ridden tuba players.

I've always believed that an expert isn't someone who has lots of tools, an expert is someone who can do a lot with a few tools. Think of the Apollo 13 mission mentioned in Martinez's text--what made those NASA control guys experts? Knowing everything about everything? Sure. But also, being able to use lesser tools to do harder things.

I'm no NASA anything ... and I am certainly not a Photoshop expert ... but I tried this week with the lesser tools I had, and I think I did okay. Let me take you step by step for how to edit a normal landscape photograph.

The original: Flat, washed out colors, taken at late afternoon light. Composition is fine, but what should shout from this photograph are the colors, and they are just whispering.

Step one: I pull up the levels tool. This tool adjusts the levels of exposure in a photo. Shadows become darker, highlights become brighter, and midtones ... oh the midtones ... they really punch up colors (or flatten them) depending on where you take them. As you move the midtones toward the shadowy place (not the Simba-don't-go-there-Mufasa-said-so-place, but rather the darker side of the spectrum), the colors become darker and richer.

Step two: Now that things are really popping, you might be tempted to say, "Oh! That looks so much better! I'll call that good." But wait! In any photograph, some things are lost in the camera, and a photo may not look like the eye originally perceived it. I like editing that looks natural, and there is still much to do! I use the contrast and brightness tool to brighten a few darker regions of the photo, and make the lines in the rock and the stairs to be a little more defined. (Not too much, you want a that just-rolled-out-of-bed natural look!)

Step three: Saturation. Sponges do it. Why can't we? What the saturation tool does is boost colors of all hues and spectrums up a notch, or two, or five. This tool is a tricky one ... too much and it looks very, very, very unnatural. So, just adjust it slightly. Remember, you are going for natural!

Viola! What went from a seemingly okay photograph, has now, thanks to tools, knowledge (and a, one might say "expertly", combination of the two) this photograph has transformed!