PROFESSIONAL ORDER OF ADJUSTING PICTURES:

1) Configure the MONITOR

2) Have the histogram open.
3) Brightness / contrast – most basic adjustment, traditionally an image spoiler but improved in
CS4. Just make sure the LEGACY is ticked OFF, otherwise it will become the old style B&C
adjustment. Brightness adjusts midtones. Do not adjust too far for either brightness or contrast,
or posterisation will result. Watch the histogram while adjusting these – for guidance and to
watch out for clipping.
4) Color cast. Get rid of predominant color cast. Use COLOR BALANCE or, better, VARIATIONS. Set
the step size – fine to coarse. The colors in variations are arranged as complimentary colors. The
highlight and shadow function in variations is not very useful. However, the saturation function
is useful for making colors less/more vibrant here. Finish with EDIT/FADE VARIATIONS. Here you
can choose opacity of the variation change. Use history brush to undo any particular areas to a
previous state.
5) HUE and SATURATION. Adjust as needed – for all colours or one particular colour (again, use
history brush to revert areas inadvertently affected). The lightness function here is not useful, it
compresses the histogram towards one side. Colorize = fill the entire image with the selected
color. When adjusting particular color, use the eyedropper with + symbol to add to selection of
color. CS4 has a new color adjustment tool leftbottom corner of the hue/saturation palette
window (little hand with LR arrows) – just click on it, then click on desired color and hold, move
left – right to adjust saturation, and CTRL click and drag L-R for HUE. Another new CS4 function –
VIBRANCE – IMAGE/ADJUSTMENTS/VIBRANCE. Vibrance slider adjusts saturation but prefers
colors low saturation colors more than high saturation – favours colors which need saturation
most. It does not cause much noise.
6) SIZE and RESOLUTION. 267pixels per inch is a printing standard. Depends. Maximum would be
360ppi. And often you can go as low as 220. To increase number of pixels = upsampling = use
the image size menu and have ‘resample image’ ticked. Resampling is done using the resampling
options. Nearest neighbour is the most basic one, just blows up pixels. Not used for
photography. Bilinear is a complete waste. Bicubic is more useful. Ignore the information in
brackets, just go for smoother, sharper, enlargement bicubic. If there is noise, use bicubic
smoother. If not much noise, go for bicubic sharper. Scale styles tickbox means ‘apply changes
to all layers’. For printing, 360 ppi is maximum, the rest is wasted. Upsampling reduces quality,
downsampling is better. If you have no choice and need to upsample an image, use Genuine
Fractals software.
7) CROPPING, ROTATING, STRAIGHTENING and PERSPECTIVE. Select the CROP tool and at the top
of the page you have presets, e.g. 4x6 inches etc. Also enter the resolution at the top. Create
own presets. Hold down R and get a preview on rotation – press ESC to exit. To straighten
properly, select ruler tool, and create a line alogn a feature you want level, then go to
IMAGE/ROTATION/ARBITRARY. Best way to crop is via layers – just in case you change your
mind later. PERSPECTIVE: Sometimes you need to shoot a subject at an angle (e.g .to avoid
glare), but you can fix it with perspective later, not only up-down, but also left-right.
8) HISTOGRAM. Histogram can be turned on via the palettes or window view. Use it while making
brightness/contrast and other adjustments.
9) Use the NEW (cs4) dodgeand burn tools to highlight midtones, shadows etc. Use history brush
for undoing. Use for unwanted shadow areas hiding detail. When done, use SPONGE tool to
adjust saturation of the adjusted areas.
10) Recolorize areas with color problems. Use brush in COLOR or HUE mode.
11) Fix red eyes.
12) Look for CHROMATIC ABERRATION (esp. along sharp edges) and MOIRE PATTERNS, check also
PINCUSHION AND BARREL, and VIGNETTING.
13) Use healing brush to fix problem areas.