# PhotoShop Tips



## Melissa Miller (Aug 2, 2006)

Photoshop is a HUGE program but it is so powerful, you can do SO much with it. A lot of you can really improve some photos with easy steps. Those who have PS can follow along and we can do tricks. I do NOT have elements and do not know what features it has. I have been told its close to the full version.

You can download the full version for 30 days for free at www.adobe.com

Lesson one. 
Open an image in Photoshop. 
( File>Open> browse for your photo)

Hit Control L ( at the same time. Shortcuts are the KEY to getting around photoshop fast)

This will open the Levels Dialog Box. ( You can also go to Image>Adjustments>Levels)

Hold down your ALT button and drag the left slider underneath the graph until you see color appear in your image. When the eyes start to turn dark, let go. DO the same thing with the right slider. Keep holding down the ALT BUTTON and drag the right slider until you see a color, ( probably red. ) and then let go. Click ok.

Here are some screen shots and a before and after. 
By holding down the alt button, the image will go solid white and as you slide the sliders, colors will start to appear. These colors represent what pixels are being affected. The colors show what blacks are going too black or whites going to bright. So you stop when you see a lot going too black and the white going too white etc....


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## Melissa Miller (Aug 2, 2006)

Did I lose anyone? And I thought I would say, this is NOT Stogie. Its Maverick, Stogies uncle. I think he is a brother to Noah?

This is the dog I dog watched for a while and fell in love with, so you can see why I wanted Stogie. When he was born ( Stogie) I told Joan I want HIM, I dont care if has no tail and five legs. hehe


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## Dawna (Aug 3, 2006)

Yes you lost me. :frusty: 
Is it just my screen? I can't see the color difference in the two pics of Mav.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

I can see a change in the grass and a small change of color on top of his head.Is that what you mean?


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## Melissa Miller (Aug 2, 2006)

It just pops the contrast. This is not a wonderful example as I usually make sure the levels are better when I process photos. I shoot RAW. I couldn't find a great example. The blacks are blacker and the whites are whiter. 

And yes monitors are going to be different, if yours is over contrasty it would be harder to tell. 

Ill try to find a better example.


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## Melissa Miller (Aug 2, 2006)

If you are in photoshop and do the levels. Just hit cntrl- Z to see the before. You should be able to see better contrast. Cntrl Z again will put the levels back. ( Cntrl Z is just undo and redo) 

I hope Paige doesnt kill me. I found this pic in the gallery, can you tell better with it?

I slide the sliders even if I see color pop up on the screen. Black is supposed to be black, so I dont mind losing detail in some really dark areas.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

Yes that does show it more.
If I were to go out and get Photoshop could it fix/save someting like this photo


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## Melissa Miller (Aug 2, 2006)

It can not fix the top of the hair where it is blown out. That part is just over exposed. Did you add any contrast or do anything with the photo after you took it? Actually you have really nice contrast in your photos, but sometimes with a white dog and over head lighting, its tough. Once you loose the detail in the white you can not bring it back. 

You can however lighten just the face and body some to bring it closer to the top of the head. I did this in about 30 seconds. Is the above photo how it came out of the camera?


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## Melissa Miller (Aug 2, 2006)

Its also hard to get these photos in the middle of the day. Maybe do it later in the evening, and the light would not be right on top. Most likely the camera exposed for the dogs face, but since the sun was so bright on top of the hair, it blew that out. Hope it helps.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

Thank you Melissa-I love the way you fixed the photo. That is part of my problem--he isn't white his color is champagne parti. (However most of the time he looks white in pictures) 
Yes It came out that way from the camera. Should I have changed the settings?
Sally


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## Dawna (Aug 3, 2006)

okay, I can really see it in that example. Kewl!


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## LuvMyHavanese (Apr 13, 2007)

So you can adjust only part of a picture? Those pics are all so cute.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

I saw an ad for Essentials for Adobe Photoshop.
Has anyone tried or know about this program?:suspicious:


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## JimMontana (Feb 18, 2007)

Melissa, thanks for the PS tip. I've already been a Photoshop user but I learned something from that. I've used the Levels menu often but never even knew about the hold-Alt button trick, so I'll have to try that.

I agree that adjusting Levels is huge improvement for many photos. Especially how I would say it is that, like Melissa's good Paige photo example, if you have any photos that look sort of washed out -- colors not as sharp and bright as could be. Another good example is landscapes with hazy skies can become much clearer. 

I got a free copy of PS via my office, altho it's an old version now, v. 7. But for most of my photo adjusting I use a simpler shareware/freeware called Polyview, in case anyone here interested in a simpler to learn and cheap/free software; which Yes, one of its functions is adjusting levels. You can download a shareware free version to try out and it does keep right on working past "expiration" date. I've used it for probably 6 years or more. I use Photoshop instead for trickier or more complex functions.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

JimMontana said:


> Melissa, thanks for the PS tip. I've already been a Photoshop user but I learned something from that. I've used the Levels menu often but never even knew about the hold-Alt button trick, so I'll have to try that.
> 
> I agree that adjusting Levels is huge improvement for many photos. Especially how I would say it is that, like Melissa's good Paige photo example, if you have any photos that look sort of washed out -- colors not as sharp and bright as could be. Another good example is landscapes with hazy skies can become much clearer.
> 
> I got a free copy of PS via my office, altho it's an old version now, v. 7. But for most of my photo adjusting I use a simpler shareware/freeware called Polyview, in case anyone here interested in a simpler to learn and cheap/free software; which Yes, one of its functions is adjusting levels. You can download a shareware free version to try out and it does keep right on working past "expiration" date. I've used it for probably 6 years or more. I use Photoshop instead for trickier or more complex functions.


Is the Polyview program for both MAC and PC?:ear:


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## JimMontana (Feb 18, 2007)

mintchip said:


> Is the Polyview program for both MAC and PC?:ear:


Sally, I've got it on PC. I went to the site and see it is for Windows only. For others here if you look, just google for Polyview and the top hit takes you to the Polybytes homepage.

By the way, I too have lots of trouble, as anyone with white/light Havs, of overexposed photos of Minka.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

*


JimMontana said:



By the way, I too have lots of trouble, as anyone with white/light Havs, of overexposed photos of Minka.

Click to expand...

*Your photos of Minka are adorable! Maybe we could share photo tips sometime.:ear: 
PS-Is Photoshop really hard to learn? I have Photoshop Elements but keep wondering if I should get Photoshop.:suspicious:


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## JimMontana (Feb 18, 2007)

mintchip said:


> Your photos of Minka are adorable! Maybe we could share photo tips sometime.:ear:
> PS-Is Photoshop really hard to learn? I have Photoshop Elements but keep wondering if I should get Photoshop.:suspicious:


Thanks so much for the compliment! If you have any specific questions, send me a PM.

In this Photoshop Tips thread, maybe Melissa or anyone else will post more tips? :ear:

Your question... I'm not familiar at all with Elements and so don't know what it can do. As for Photoshop, depends on how computer savvy you are and I'm a computer geek professionally. Sure, anyone can learn it if you want to spend the time. Very powerful program that can do a lot of things; used by the pros. I guess I'd say, if you're fairly competent with computers and not a beginner, it's somewhat harder to learn but not too bad, in comparison to a simpler software that instead you use to just do a lot of viewing, cropping, simple adjusting of colors, etc. Timewise to learn, definitely more.

However, I'd also comment that there's lots in PS that I haven't learned but still find it useful. You can be a beginner with it and just start out knowing a few things. Maybe Melissa could comment more on the learning curve?

The other reason people use other simple softwares is they can be much faster for simple tasks. Photoshop is a huge software and takes a little while just to start up even: for example, the 2 viewing softwares I use, Polyview and Irfanview (but again, Irfanview is for PC only) -- Irfanview literally starts up in less than one second; or with it as my default viewer, click on a photo file and it displays in less than one second.


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