Comments on: A 5 Step Photoshop Elements Workflow

By: PRH

PRH — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 22:45:22 +0000

I like to copy images that I’m working on into a different folder which I’ve labeled “processing” that way when I hit save I don’t accidentally write over the original.

As for the workflow, I like to duplicate the image layer and leave the original as an unseen background layer. If you make a mistake with one of your editing layers, you can always delete it and make another copy of the background layer. If you’re really keen, you can use a different layer for each of your processes and blend them together.

When I’m happy with the image I hit merge visible and save as jpeg for printing/web

By: James-PhotographyByJET

James-PhotographyByJET — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:44:10 +0000

I like to be as nondestructive in image editing as possible.
This mean I use layers for nearly everything. Cropping would be the second from last step (allows other cropping later). Sharpening should be the last step or done as part of the final resizing before printing. Different amounts of sharpening are needed depending on the final resolution.
I admit to using some sharpening at the RAW stage to make sure the image is sharp before spending time enhancing it.

By: David

David — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:20:35 +0000

crop
rotate/straigthen
levels or highlight/shadows
color adjustment (remove color cast and/or skin tone, where appropriate)
sharpen last
resize

I would crop first and adjust levels later, because the overall histogram may be biased by what you end up cropping out.

I agree that duplicating first is important.

The highlight/shadow can be problematic: sometime bringing up the shadows makes it very low contrast. I alternate between the levels and the highlight/shadows.

The current Photoshop Elements 6 (and I gather CS3) have an amazing Quick Selection tool for masking that is incredibly fast to isolate key areas. I have used that to, for example, just lighten subject faces, darken and blur background elements, or darken the over-bright near field in a flash-illuminated shot of a white table.

By: Ernie Hatt

Ernie Hatt — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:31:37 +0000

So far, both the article and the first comment have missed the most important thing in any workflow, and that is duplicate the image.
I use CS3
make dulicate.
use the highlight/ shadow.
adjust colour manually.
remove the unwanted.
Crop.
sharpen.
resize if for web.
sharpen again.
Ernie

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:59:30 +0000

I follow a similar workflow although this is not all inclusive for every situation these are my fundamental steps.

1) Levels
2) Hue and Saturation
3) cropping
4) Sharpening (I think every image could use a little)
5) anything that could add the creative look you’re looking for

By: Blue

Blue — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:56:26 +0000

My workflow is very similar to what Dan has described.

I think it is important to crop and clean before you tweak the levels, so that the histogram is not reflecting things which will later be removed.

Lately I have only been spot-sharpening the most important bits of my image (for instance, the eyes) which really helps make them “pop”, while not creating any extra noise in the rest of my image. Then I’ll apply a very light, all-over noise reduction/artifact remover.

By: Joey Rico

Joey Rico — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:50:27 +0000

what i do is:

clean (remove spots and others)
adjust levels
adjust colors (use auto colors also but if not satisfied then manually adjust)
sharpen
crop