Post processing help please...trying to learn PShop CS

[brandywine9699]

Would anyone take a look at these and walk me through the steps to improve them? TIA!!!

[Samanax]

Maybe you should post what you already did to each image.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by Samanax

Maybe you should post what you already did to each image.

yup...and what you'd like to improve...

[brandywine9699]

gotchya. I haven't done anything to these. I would like to warm the colors a bit - her face looks overexposed. I would like to smooth her skin and bring out here eyes.

[Samanax]

So these are straight out of camera with no editing done to them?

Are these RAW or JPEGs?

Which version of Photoshop are you using?

And how familiar are you with all the controls and functions?

I don't think you have to smooth this girls skin...her complexion looks almost flawless.

You might want to check YouTube for Photoshop tutorials...there are a lot of them available.

[zona5101]

For quick color balance & exposure I usually don't use PS as Lightroom is easier and quicker. If you don't have LR most of your raw processing programs will do the same. But to address your question:
You'll want to open the image in PS and create two adjustment layers, one for color balance and one for levels (or you could use curves). You'll adjust those sliders on those layers to get the desired effect.
I hope that helps. If not, come back with some more questions.

[brandywine9699]

Yes, it does help, thank you very much. I am just very unsure of my post processing skills, and am having a tough time manipulating layers. I have PS CS.

[edbayani]

your exposure overall looks alright except for the overexposed skin tone in photo no. 2.
the warm tone can be done as zona explained.
the overexposed face can be corrected by encircling the head up to the V of the aqua dress with a lasso tool and press Ctrl J to copy it to a layer above the background layer. set the blending mode for the top layer to multiply to darken the face. if you find it too dark you can lighten it with levels or curves. click the layer mask icon below the layers palette to create a layer mask. with a soft brush and opacity set to 50, brush away the excess image around the head. you can also lighten the eyes by brushing it with a small brush. if satisfied flatten the image and save.

[Samanax]

Originally Posted by brandywine9699

Yes, it does help, thank you very much. I am just very unsure of my post processing skills, and am having a tough time manipulating layers.

The learning curve for Photoshop is pretty steep and learning to use it effectively will take time and lots of practice...it's something that you can't learn on your own by just playing around with it blindly. There are lots of books on Photoshop available, many on-line tutorial sites and there are lots of video tutorials available on YouTube (which many people seem to prefer).

Another thing you could try is to ask someone else to edit the images for you and then have them explain what they did. Then you can try editing the image by following their workflow and editing techniques.