A Color Correcting and Sharpening Tutorial in Photoshop

Another video tutorial - this one talks us though correcting color and sharpening images in Photoshop.

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90 Responses to “A Color Correcting and Sharpening Tutorial in Photoshop”

  • paul Says:

    Whow

    Me liked that a lot.

    Just a beginner and I learnt heaps.

    Yes do more do more thank you lots

    Paul [SMILE]

  • Andy Ferra Says:

    Thanks for the video. Just for clarification A is actually Red / Green & B is Yellow and Blue.

  • Chandamama Says:

    Thank you; it is quite helpful for novices like me. Sure I am going to try it out.

  • Stephan Says:

    Nice tutorial.

  • Jack Hynes Says:

    Good video, helpful to have some of the simpler techniques shown to novice Photoshop users.

  • Puplet Says:

    LAB mode’s new to me - this succinct and interesting video was a real eye-opener. Definitely don’t leave it at this! do more!

  • Terry L. Says:

    Are there any tutorials around for Paint Shop Pro.

  • Rodrigo Says:

    Great tutorial!! txs!!

  • birgit Says:

    Echoing Puplet,

    Please do more!

  • Jenn Says:

    Thanks a lot for the tutorial! I’d been using unsharp mask pretty blindly since I learned about it, but your expanations of what the threshold and radius do (and numbers to stick around) were particularly helpful! More of these please!!!!

  • STEVE J Says:

    Excellent, just what I have been looking for. I have been struggling with photoshop without a clue, just trial and error. Please do more.

  • YoAshnish Says:

    Thank you for the tutorial! I do not have photoshop but my current editing software does have unsharp mask and sharpen options. I’ve been trying to sharpen some images I took recently of a dance recital. USM and sharpen were the suggested tools to use, didn’t know much about them but now, thanks to you, I understand them a bit better. Thank you!

  • Mike Weiland Says:

    Keep ‘em coming I really enjoyed it.

  • Andi Says:

    Cheers! Very helpful… just processed so pictures I took on my last day trip- some more please!

  • Johnathan Says:

    Great stuff. What about importing RAW images? Would you just import as-shot then use LAB?

  • Amy Says:

    Thanks for the concise and easy-to-follow tutorial. I’ve tried your techniques on a few of my photos and they look so much better.

  • Mike Says:

    Thanks. Pretty cool. I use Lab mode for sharpening as well. If you use Unsharp Mask on your Lightness channel only, you can avoid a lot of the haloing you might get with oversharpening. Although, Smart Sharpen is starting to overtake that old method a bit.

    Nice to see that everyone has slightly different techniques.

  • Chris Patterson Says:

    I thought it was a great tutorial, very useful for people new to photoshop.

  • Michael Says:

    Good information but lousy presentation. I don’t mean to be critical, but the creator of the tutorial should have spent some time practicing the demonstration before doing the video screen capture. I felt like he was uncomfortable making the demonstration, and that made it distracting to watch.

  • Robin Says:

    Very useful tutorial. I found the pace to be just right. I don’t agree with the previous comment’s criticism at all.

  • Robin Says:

    By the way, your calendar is off by one day - today is June 4, not June 5.

  • Robert W Gilcrease Says:

    Great tips, thanks for producing this and I hope you continue to produce them.

  • Sahil Says:

    This was an excellent tutorial for beginners. Yes, you should do more!

  • Chinmay Says:

    Hey,

    Great tutorial,

    Keep them coming, we just love it..

    Cheers
    Chin

  • Chris Osborne Says:

    That’s a lot of um, pausing, and clicking. He really should have practiced more.

  • TX2Step Says:

    Great tutorial, i learned a lot! Keep up the good work!

  • boreeder Says:

    I wasn’t able to view the video of the color corrections and sharpening tutorial. Is there another path? It the tutorial available commercially. I can really use this kind of info.
    Thanks,
    boreeder

  • grungedandy Says:

    Thanks for the tutorial, more please!

    They are really helpful to someone who is dyslexic & finds it difficult to trawl through the very large books on photo shop!

    Bite sized is good!

    *G*

  • Jesse Says:

    Excellent! Thank you for taking the time to produce this tutorial.

  • Matt Says:

    Thanks for this usefull tutorial. I am curious about what the 2 last commenters have produced which is as usefull as this…

  • Denios Says:

    Awesome swift and to the point tut, very nice, lookin forward to more of em!!

    Denios

  • Rogerio Says:

    Thanks for this. Very useful. Who is the author of this tutorial? I’d love to be able to check out any others he has on YouTube.

  • Ana Says:

    Thank you very much for this tutorial - I’ve been playing around with the techique and I love the “punch” it’s added to my pictures! Very useful!

  • Touraine Says:

    I think your tutorial was great… I have used Unsharp mask, and like Jenn (above), I was doing it blindly… moving things around until I thought it looked right. Good to have some numbers to go by. The new color looked great, and I can’t wait to try this! (I watched the tutorial a second time, just to take notes!) Please consider more! Thanks! :-)

  • Evan Says:

    no one said the comments were teaching anything theyre just saying he didnt present it very good which i agree with.

    Dont act like one of those people who just cant stand any constructive critisism I hate when people do that

    -Evan

  • Chris Osborne Says:

    I’ll go ahead and defend myself on this.

    I’ll admit, I haven’t made anything that is much use to the general world. Mostly I’ve made things for very specific projects that don’t help much outside of the world in which they were created.

    What I have done recently is some presentation of other materials. I have a 2 hour radio show where something always goes wrong with the equipment(easily the worst part of a student run radio station) and I have less empty space and um’s in my whole show than he had in the first minute. I’ll admit, the same mistakes are there for me. It happens when you have a live show that you do by yourself.

    I also send songs to a few podcasts that include an introduction recorded by me. I routinely spend about an hour getting a 10-15 second introduction recorded correctly because if I’m going to send something out into the world I’m going to make sure that it’s good. Nobody forced this guy to make the tutorial (from what I saw), so he had all the time that he needed to make it presentable.

    Presentation is part of the total package. And he loses points on that front for the same reason this site would lose points if this site had yellow text on a white background. It doesn’t matter if the information is the best in the world, if it’s full of distractions then people won’t be able to get as much information out of it as possible.

  • Denear Says:

    Tutorial was very informative. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

  • ankush Says:

    thanks for the tutorial. i recently started doing my post-processing in aperture, i am trying to dig into aperture’s sharpen and edge-sharpen tools.

  • JerryW Says:

    Um, I liked it a lot and don’t think the nervous chatter was distracting at all. Do it some more Dude. You’ll gain more confidence the next time.

  • Jevy Says:

    To quote Borat: “I LIIIKEEEEE”

    Seriously.. nice and light. Not to beginner with good points.

  • Robin Says:

    More more more!!!

    I’ve been playing with PS in all its forms and incarnations for years, but this is the FIRST time anyone has ever explained lab color sharpening and unsharp mask to me.

    I just feel like I’ve been driving on autopilot and luck. Now I feel at least somewhat ready to work on good images!

    Thanks!

  • Robin Says:

    Oh, and I completely disagree with the idea that presentation somehow limits what we’re able to get from a tutorial.
    If I really want to learn, I’ll be focused on the material.
    Which I guess is why I’m loading up old photos on CS3 and not trying to count the “ums” and “clicks”.

    I learned something, regardless of the presentation, which I STILL can’t recall being poor.

    Thanks for this, and please bring us more.

  • Benbimi Says:

    Thanks for the tutorial. It was very helpful, especially the part about sharpening, something I have always had difficulty with. BTW - recently I’ve been using High-Pass Sharpening instead of Unsharp Mask. Do you have any opinion about which is better?

    B.

  • AdamK Says:

    Being a newb to PS I found this very helpful. It was quick and to the point. Thanks so much.

  • Steve Z Says:

    Thanks for the tutorial!!! Please post more!!!

  • smc1377 Says:

    I’m glad to see that my work process is similar to yours. I’ve just pieced some things from here and there and it’s reassuring to see someone do the same. I never messed with manually setting the white and black points by adjusting the RGB values. Good stuff. Keep them coming.

    BTW, I didn’t mind the pausing either.

  • AMOL Says:

    Hi, the tutorial is really informative thanx for the same.

  • Paul Says:

    I found this information to be quite useful for me and my students. Wish there was some way I could save the file. There was too much emphasis placed on the presentation. i have seen some better and professionally done, but i have also encountered much much MUCH worse from our IT guys.

    Keep up the tips, my yearbook kids appreciate it.

  • Daniela Says:

    I liked it. A LOT! Thanks :)

  • Darren Says:

    Robin - when this post was published it was 5 June in Australia - where I live :-)

  • Silvia Says:

    Hi!

    I also liked this tutorial very much, regardless of the “um’s”.I would really like to learn more about Photoshop, I hate being a “rookie”, trying everything by myself with no guidelines to apply to.Please send me information each time you post a tutorial! It would mean the world to me! And, like Paul sayd, it would be nice to download the file somehow….

    Keep up the good work!

  • Emma Says:

    Thanks for this Darren! This is probably the most I have learned in any 7 minute period in a long time. I especially appreciate the demo in curves . . I often struggle with skin tones and I’m sure this will prove very helpful.

    PLEASE post more tutorials!!

    ebe

  • Skye Says:

    Thank you so much for this is a wonderful tutorial. Would love to see more tutorials from you soon. Cheers!

  • Neil Says:

    Great info.
    Just what a novice like myself is looking for.
    Keep up the good work.
    Much appreciated.
    Thanks Neil.

  • Marcin Says:

    Thank you so much for this is a wonderful tutorial

  • RayL Says:

    I want to thank you for a job well done, and applaud you for this help with photoshop. I hope you find the time to share more help.

  • sinergy Says:

    I’ll basically reiterate what everyone has already said. Please keep these coming. I find it much simpler to grasp a concept by watching it being done, rather than reading it from a book. Thanks! :)

  • Nikki Says:

    Thank you so much, very imformative and helpful - keep them coming. Loved the speed you spoke at, gave me enough time to write the steps down without having to replay. Don’t worry about the “Ums” the more you do the less “Ums” will be there.
    Thanks.

  • Airman Says:

    Thanks for tutorial,
    useful, but I prefer to do the same with layers.

  • Alfonz Says:

    That was a great tutorial, thanks! I’ve been trying out your technique, and I realize it is now 1:30 in the morning!

  • Jack Pearce Says:

    Great stuff. Really easy to listen to.

  • Lisa Says:

    good, helpful information. i really liked the casual style and quick pace of the tutorial…some on the ones i’ve seen online just drag on and on…

    Thanks!!

  • CC from AZ Says:

    Great!!! Thanks for all the info please make more!!! Thank you again for showing us how.

  • Sharon Says:

    It made we want to upgrade from Photoshop Elements to the full version. Very helpful.

  • AS Says:

    Thanks! Really nice tut - learned a lot and can’t wait to try it out! (I took notes as you went along)…. :)
    More, please!

  • Jill Says:

    Finally, an opportunity to learn more of what PhotoShop can do without spending hours thumbing through the manual or clicking through the endless ‘help’ selections. It’s so much easier having your own instructor explaining the steps as they are done. Thanks and PLEASE continue this great service!!

  • Steve L. Says:

    Very nice tutorial, informative and to the point.
    Thanks. Please make more.

  • KERRY AUSTRALIA Says:

    NO !!!! don’t stop please…

  • Dan Says:

    Yes please make more. While the presentation was a little clumsy, I didn’t find it distractingly so. I actually didn’t really care that it was a little clumsy. If less rehearsals = more videos, then I’d happily make that compromise. Please make more!

  • Luke Says:

    Holy crap! I made this tutorial. =) Glad you guys liked it. Wish someone had told me it was posted here — this looks like a good website.

  • Luke Says:

    (Sorry for the double-post…)

    This presentation presentation was actually my third attempt. I can’t present any better than this right now — I’m working on my communication skills but these things take time. ;) Toastmasters and reading out loud to myself are starting to improve my articulation, but for the mean time you’ll have to live with the good content / bad presentation mix.

    My YouTube username is DigitalAssassin, I don’t have much else up right now, but feel free to poke around.

    All comments & criticisms are welcome.

  • Darren Says:

    thanks Luke - will email you shortly.

  • Linda Says:

    Thank you. Please do more……

  • Jacq Says:

    Very useful, and don’t worry too much about your articualtion. Your audio came across plenty clear and you have a friendly tone. Keep ‘em comin!

  • Rick Says:

    Great job … thanks

  • Leo Says:

    Very great tutorial,look forward to seeing more from you.
    Thanks

  • Petemoss Says:

    The color correction in LAB mode is new. Curious, what’s the difference from adjusting Saturation?

  • Neil Says:

    Why is every thing CS2/3 these days.
    Where are all the DVD’s/tutorials for other programs such as elements5 for one cause I just bought it.
    I am sure people with Elements3/4 and other photoshop editions would like to see DVD’s avaliable for their editions of photoshop.
    Any other DVD’s in the works?
    RSVP
    Neil Elements 5 apprentice.

  • bee Says:

    thanks going to try curves right now

  • Luke Says:

    Adjusting inside Lab Colour doesn’t affect brightness and gives you far more control than just boosting saturation — you can change the balance of colour at the same time.

  • Melinda Says:

    That was amazing!! Thank you so much for your tutorial, YES please do more. I use Photoshop for editing for ebay and personal, but had NO IDEA how incredible the software was. THANKS AGAIN!! MORE MORE MORE! Regards, Melinda

  • Joe Says:

    Wow. Very cool. Thanks. As always, a request, finding white and black points for using curves on the last step in this photo were fairly obvious. How do you find white/blacks points on a photo were its not so obvious.. thanks again. i appreciate the time you took to make this video tutorial.

    cheers. joe

  • Jen Says:

    Thanks for the tutorial! I loved it!

  • Juan Says:

    Thank you! I’m glad I found this tutorial, I’ve been taking a lot of pictures using a Rebel XTi lately and was starting to get frustrated with the quality and colors of my pictures… I’ve managed to save a lot of pictures thanks to these tips. Thanks!

    Juan

  • Akshat Rathi Says:

    Thanks man…keep the good work going…

  • Walter Says:

    Excellent! I was having trouble with color-adjustments, but I did not know about the lab-colors. Now I do :-) Looking forward to more.

  • Furball Says:

    Thanks for the tutorial! The lab mode technique does wonders. Keep on sharing!

  • Harry Says:

    I appreciate your time and effort in making this video. I have never used the lab color to control color. Thanks. Please do more tutorials.

  • fendrri Says:

    Fantastic tutorial!! thanks for sharing.

  • Emil Says:

    Hi!

    I downloaded the trial version of CS3 - the RAW feature was part of what I wanted to check out. I found a lot of merit in your tutorial. Thank you! Been battling to get my sharpened images not to look grainy. I must say, having shot film for many years AND having had these pics SUCCESSFULLY placed as High Res. images on CD are causing me to consider returning to film. But then … perhaps some more tutorials like these would help?

    Thanks again!

    E

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