You will eventually reach a point when the question of what to do with your images will need to be resolved. We started with Web graphics and produced this site as it seemed a logical first step in what is essentially a computer based hobby. We were also motivated by the fact that Web graphics is a lot more forgiving reproduction medium than hardcopy print media.

Web Graphics

We create our Galleries using the picture frame multi-index template provided with BreezeBrowser. If you feel this is a daunting task, don't be intimidated. The process is simple and painless and you'll be up and running in no time! We use CuteFTP Home Edition to structure, edit and transfer files to our host site. You are welcome to use the source code for this site if you want to create a simple format for generating a Web presence (simply click View>Source for each of our Web pages while online to access and copy the code).

When it comes to Web graphics, colour correction and sharpening don't have to be an arduous process. It's a much more forgiving medium than print. We use a simple and quick workflow that generally produces good results. In fact, we would argue that there is no strict formula for either of these key image enhancement functions. Colour correction and sharpening is definitely an acquired skill. As you become more familiar with the power of PhotoShop, your eye will begin to dictate what is good or bad colour and clarity. However, there are a relatively small number of simple procedures you can try early on that will jump start your ability to determine what, if anything, can be done to enhance an image. Most beginners are lulled into over using PhotoShop on both good and bad exposures. From our perspective, if you begin with a well exposed image, there is generally no need to perform other than a few simple functions to bring out the best for use as a Web graphic.

Before getting underway, make sure you have set up Curves and the Eye Drop Tool correctly. This will ensure that you maximise the results for colour cast correction and pixel sampling (see our previous reference in Workflow to the relevant pages in "The Adobe PhotoShop CS3 Book For Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby that details how to configure the software). We also set the Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) parameters to Adobe RGB (1998), 16-Bit and 360 Pixels Per Inch(PPI). This maximises available colour and matches the native resolution capacity of our printer. We can assure you that working in 8-Bit and 240 PPI produces no real differences in image colour and clarity perception. It simply uses less computing capacity. In any event, you must reduce to 8-Bit in order to print. We also recommend you do all colour correction and sharpening at 50% image magnification on a large flat screen monitor in a relatively dark room. It's also best to place the image on a grey background (hit the 'F' key once in PhotoShop after finishing RAW conversion).

In ACR, we set the white and black points first by moving the Exposure and Black sliders until the image is pleasing to the eye. We define "pleasing" as revealing as much sharp detail as possible without creating any clipping as indicated on the extremes of each vertical Histogram axis (we correct minor clipping with the Recovery slider). This is an easy process as depressing the ALT key while moving the sliders reveals exactly where clipping occurs. We then adjust the Clarity slider until we feel detail has been further improved and Open The Image in PhotoShop. If detail remains hidden, we might try Shadows And Highlights to see whether improvements can be made without creating any noise artefacts (a condition that produces noticeable grain dots throughout the mage). Remember, each operation in this process is inherently destructive as you are working on the background layer affecting all image pixels. As such, it is imperative to keep the number of operations executed to an absolute minimum. Try starting with Shadows (25, 50, 30), Highlights (0, 50, 0) and adjustments (20, 0). Once we maximise the amount of detail captured without degrading image quality, we then try either Auto Contrast or Auto Curves. Surprisingly, this generally produces a very pleasing combination of contrast and saturation and no further colour correction is required. If neither works, we will apply Saturation, Hue, Contrast and Brightness (in that order) until we get a result we are happy with.

Before sharpening, we will classify an image as sharp, soft or slightly out of focus. This determines whether we use Unsharpen Mask or Smart Sharpen and what settings we intend to use with each. Because sharpening is a curse and inherently produces noise artefacts and halos, we use a process that separates detail from colour that eliminates both effects. Under Windows we choose Channels to separate colour into its RGB components. Next we select Lab Colour under Image/Mode and click on Lightness in the new layer pop-up menu. This reveals the image detail without the colour component. Sharpening the detail now depends on our image classification. For sharp or slightly soft images we use Unsharpen Mask. For soft images, we set Amount (A), Radius (R) and Threshold (T) to 150, 1 and 10 respectively. Sharp images use a more all purpose setting of A (85-120), R (1) and T (4-3). For images that are slightly out of focus we use Smart Sharpen with Lens Blur and More Accurate highlighted (Remove Gaussian Blur seems to produce equally good results). Here we set A to 65 and R to 1 and generally apply twice. Simply select the Lab tab to check results and return the image to RGB colour under Image/Mode when you are happy with the result.

As a final step, slight adjustment of the Neutral and Black sliders under Image/Image Adjustments/Selective Colour can be quite effective in producing a much sharper image. Although some experimenting is necessary, you should find the above approach and settings produce great Web graphic results.

Prints

As we moved on and began to research print production, we found the process to be laced with technical difficulties, especially colour management and the need to calibrate a monitor to ensure "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" (more popularly described as WYSIWYG). It got worse as applications like PhotoShop needed to be augmented with printer profiles for such things as paper type and size. Fortunately, life soon got easier as printer manufacturers began to embed these settings into their software, allowing easy access from the Print Screen to change key parameters on the fly.

Having said this, we have made very few prints to date as our primary objective was to focus on improving our camera, composition and processing skills. We envision this continuing for some time. Moreover, of the roughly one thousand pictures exhibited in our Galleries, we feel there are less than ten images that would qualify as "photographs" suitable for framing and hanging on a wall. Nonetheless, in order to begin experimenting with colour and various print media, we needed to create some sample images that were of sufficient quality to produce a creditable and worthwhile result. The Gallery below contains eight that we subjected to an unbelieveable amount of experimentation to develop a print process and finished product that we were happy with. This is not to imply they are compositionally correct or without flaw, simply that we have cloned out as many imperfections as we could find before enhancing and cropping the original to suit our tastes. From there we spent a fair amount of time trying to determine why our output was so poor from a colour perspective. The answer was that both the printer and PhotoShop had colour management turned on and it was not immediately obvious how to turn one or the other off. After correcting this and experimenting with various paper types, we finally reached a point where we were happy with the print process and finish. In the end, we found 11X17 inches to be an ideal size for framing given the RAW file capacity we were working with. We also decided that traditional papers, specifically those with a glossy finish, were not to our liking as a framing medium. Although our Epson Stylus Photo R2400 printer is capable of working with quite an array of professional media, we found watercolour paper, specifically Epson 13X19 Super B Radiant White, to be quite easy to work with and produces a subtle, pleasing finish. In any event, we were looking to produce output that progressed beyond "old world" reproduction media. Its textured, almost matte surface displays a vibrant, long lasting colour that is more than suitable for framing. Again, this is an intensely personal decision. Our advice is to experiment and go with what works for you.