Photoshop Show and Tell

[geogphotos]

It has been there in front of my eyes all this time and only today after doing thousands of pics 'manually' ( using the far right option) I discover how good this tool is for sorting out verticals.

 

Please post something similar that you have come across - that might be blindingly obvious to others - but which will help others who don't know about it. 

 

Here is mine. The A tool in Geometry. Wow.

 

 

This thread is just for sharing. No sneering allowed 😃

Edited January 23 by geogphotos

[StokeCreative]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

It has been there in front of my eyes all this time and only today after doing thousands of pics 'manually' ( using the far right option) I discover how good this tool is for sorting out verticals.

 

Please post something similar that you have come across - that might be blindingly obvious to others - but which will help others who don't know about it. 

 

Here is mine. The A tool in Geometry. Wow.

 

 

Just thread is just for sharing. No sneering allowed 😃

 

I use these a lot, often the rightmost one if not happy with the others

 

[StokeCreative]

 

More often than not I need to rescue a washed out sky with the sky (auto) mask - selected on RH side of interface.

Works OK unless very "frilly" horizon. Subtraction brush used to tidy up mask if I can be bothered!

 

 

 

[Matt Ashmore]

Pretty sure it (auto geometry) has existed in Lightroom for quite a while now. I believe it is a reasonably new addition to Photoshop though.

90% of my editing is done in Lightroom though so can't swear blind as to when this was ported to Photoshop.

Edited January 23 by Matt Ashmore

[StokeCreative]

18 minutes ago, Matt Ashmore said:

Pretty sure it (auto geometry) has existed in Lightroom for quite a while now. I believe it is a reasonably new addition to Photoshop though.

90% of my editing is done in Lightroom though so can't swear blind as to when this was ported to Photoshop.

 

ACR in Photoshop is identical (except visually) to the Develop menu in Lightroom and has been for some time.

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

why would one isolate verticals?
to add "vertical" keyword-tag?

other reason(s)?

color me dense...

 

my final batch processing action

is "brightness/contrast" just in case

any image strayed too far from my

acceptable appearance range...

[StokeCreative]

4 minutes ago, Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg said:

why would one isolate verticals?
to add "vertical" keyword-tag?

other reason(s)?

color me dense...

 

my final batch processing action

is "brightness/contrast" just in case

any image strayed too far from my

acceptable appearance range...

 

To sort out converging verticals (if you dont want them for drama)

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

1 hour ago, StokeCreative said:

Works OK unless very "frilly" horizon.

isn't there way around this as long as sky has some blue...?

 

select all blues not in sky -- need not be perfect selections;

inverse selection; (now faded blue sky & all non-blue selected;

select saturation window;

select blue only in window; alt-7 in Windows

raise saturation to deepen blue in sky, avoid unnatural look...

 

 

[MDM]

1 hour ago, StokeCreative said:

 

ACR in Photoshop is identical (except visually) to the Develop menu in Lightroom and has been for some time.

 

This ia generally true but a recent exception was the ability to edit in HDR which was introduced in ACR in late 2022 but didn't arrive in Lightroom until October 2023. It has gone relatively unnoticed I think because most people don't have monitors suitable for HDR editing or don't realise that they have - the MacBook Pros with XDR screens are eminently suitable. In any case, this is a good candidate for a feature in ACR that sits under noses unused.

 

EDIT To conform with the topic title, I should admit that I barely noticed it myself until it arrived in Lightroom, almost a year after it appeared in ACR, despite the fact that I am a very keen editor of HDR video. It's an amazing feature - well worth checking out for anyone with a MacBook Pro with XDR screen.  

Edited January 23 by MDM

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg said:

isn't there way around this as long as sky has some blue...?

 

select all blues not in sky -- need not be perfect selections;

inverse selection; (now faded blue sky & all non-blue selected;

select saturation window;

select blue only in window; alt-7 in Windows

raise saturation to deepen blue in sky, avoid unnatural look...

 

 

 

Here's a tip that probably qualifies as sitting under noses unnoticed that you and  others might find helptul. A much better way to deepen blue skies than what you are describing  is to use the Color Mixer in ACR (best done on the raw file but you can use the ACR Filter in Photoshop as well). Set it to Adjust HSL. Then select Saturation and simply slide the Blues up to taste. You can also select Luminance and use the Blues slider to darken the sky. This is really simple to do and you can create a preset that does it in one click. 

 

This does not just apply to skies. You can use Yellows and Greens to lighten vegetation etc.

 

Of course you can always use the Sky selection mask in ACR to select skies which generally works way faster than the old way of selecting skies in Photoshop. 

 

All of this applies to Lightroom as well. 

Edited January 23 by MDM

[Ognyan Yosifov]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

Here's a tip that probably qualifies as sitting under noses unnoticed that you and  others might find helptul. A much better way to deepen blue skies than what you are describing  is to use the Color Mixer in ACR (best done on the raw file but you can use the ACR Filter in Photoshop as well). Set it to Adjust HSL. Then select Saturation and simply slide the Blues up to taste. You can also select Luminance and use the Blues slider to darken the sky. This is really simple to do and you can create a preset that does it in one click. 

 

This does not just apply to skies. You can use Yellows and Greens to lighten vegetation etc.

 

Of course you can always use the Sky selection mask in ACR to select skies which generally works way faster than the old way of selecting skies in Photoshop. 

 

All of this applies to Lightroom as well. 

I'd mention the Lab Colour mode for colour enhancement in PS. Information is available on the Web.

[MDM]

34 minutes ago, Ognyan Yosifov said:

I'd mention the Lab Colour mode for colour enhancement in PS. Information is available on the Web.

 

By all means feel free to give a taster of what it does. I used to do that sort of stuff years ago with colour modes and channels in Photoshop but my philosophy now is: if it can be done on the raw file, do it on the raw file.

 

Really I was just trying to give a very simple tip that can be done in a couple of steps and is very easy to repeat by creating a preset. It's there right under the nose but easily missed. 

[Ognyan Yosifov]

3 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

By all means feel free to give a taster of what it does. I used to do that sort of stuff years ago with colour modes and channels in Photoshop but my philosophy now is: if it can be done on the raw file, do it on the raw file.

 

Really I was just trying to give a very simple tip that can be done in a couple of steps and is very easy to repeat by creating a preset. It's there right under the nose but easily missed. 

I didn't mean to quote your post, MDM.  I just wanted to participate in the forum thread...

[MDM]

59 minutes ago, Ognyan Yosifov said:

I didn't mean to quote your post, MDM.  I just wanted to participate in the forum thread...

 

Ok no worries 😀

[IKuzmin]

4 hours ago, MDM said:

A much better way to deepen blue skies than what you are describing  is to use the Color Mixer in ACR (best done on the raw file but you can use the ACR Filter in Photoshop as well). Set it to Adjust HSL. Then select Saturation and simply slide the Blues up to taste. You can also select Luminance and use the Blues slider to darken the sky. This is really simple to do and you can create a preset that does it in one click. 

 

This does not just apply to skies. You can use Yellows and Greens to lighten vegetation etc.

 

You missed his major point: he selected only sky blues as opposed to your total blues.

 

As for the sky in ACR, if one does not want to do automatic sky selection mask, can just do a rough brush mask (Cnt+K in Windows) on sky and click on the selective color pipet to select the desired blue or whatever (e.g. if it is a red sunset?), then do saturation and/or luminance as you suggested above.

[IKuzmin]

Sits in my PS actions for a period of time and used often for a partial/local contrast enhancement:

 

1. Duplicate layer.

2. Menu filter -> Sharpness -> Unsharp Mask

   - Amount 12%,

   - Radius 66 pixels,

   - Threshold 0.

 

Another action for the same at Amount 5%, Radius 100 pixels, Threshold 0.

 

Then filter to the background via a layer mask as desired.

[IKuzmin]

Increasing the contour sharpness before specialized applications (e.g. Topaz Sharpen AI) came to the market:

 

1. Duplicate layer;

2. Make it grayscale (Ctr+Shift+U in Windows);

3. Menu Filters -> Other -> High Pass;

   Select value 0.5 pix (for print can use 1.0 pix);

4. Merge with background as Overlay.

 

If desired, can filter to the background via a layer mask.

[Ognyan Yosifov]

2 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Ok no worries 😀

ok

 

[geogphotos]

How about some more straightforward tools that others might not have realised is there and can be so helpful. 

 

Such as 'Optics' and 'Remove CA'

[Jill Morgan]

I open all raw files as smart objects when opening from ACR.  This way I can simply double click the image layer and it reopens in ACR with all adjustments saved and I can do further adjustments.

 

I also convert jpegs or pngs to smart objects so filters I will apply to the image become smart filters and I can double click on those in the layers panel and they will re-open with all adjustments saved as well.

 

Jill

[Bryan]

As the possessor of a steam age copy of PS, I don't have access to many of these amazing gizmos, but I frequently use Select Colour Range to pick sections of the image to work on, often the sky, which may need a levels adjustment, and/or noise reduction.  Unwanted sections selected can be edited out. 

 

I also use it for cut outs, always in conjunction with other selection tools, the most accurate of which is the pen tool used at larger than actual pixels.

 

Then there is the Channels window, very useful to show which section of a layer is being worked upon, you can easily modify a layer mask that way.

 

I'm resisting buying a subscription to Adobe's package, but might have to if my aged copies of LR and PS are no longer supported by future incarnations of Windows, or, god forbid, I buy an unsupported new camera.

 

 

Edited January 25 by Bryan