We have now had three of our four Summer Schools.
Last week was a change of pace from the head splitting intermediate level I gave to the less straining but still most enlightening beginners level so delightfully presented by Christine. I even learned some new tricks myself. Christine managed to reinforce some of the more advanced topics I covered in a more down to earth manner.
In the first half she covered taking a RAW file and processing it in Adobe Camera Raw using only the basic controls getting an optimally corrected image ready for Photoshop. Once in Photoshop she demonstrated how to improve what was there by correcting for converging verticals and lens distortions then enhancing the strength of the image using the dodge, burn and sponge tools. All the time quietly introducing safe ways of working using layers.
I think Christine managed to show that with a few simple and quick “tweaks” it is possible to take a good photo and turn it into a much more powerful photo worthy of printing and putting into competition.
In the second half she showed how to automate the process of re-sizing images for projection and introduced Layer Comps and Scripts to simplify the process of generating images for AV.
A very informative and enjoyable evening.
On a personal note it reminded me how there are many ways to achieve the same thing in Photoshop. There are no wrong ways but different ways that suit different workflows. There are ways that make it easy to go back later and change your mind using layers, there are completely non-destructive methods that let you change almost everything at any time later, there are methods that are quick but allow very little if any correction later. You have to choose which approach to takeand it is possible to use all these in a single image. It is the final result that counts. I have seen sucessful images produced using each of these methods. I would suggest you learn all the different way to do things in Photoshop then you can decide which is best.