Early on in my learning journey someone asked one of my PPSOP instructors how people were able to get their images looking so sharp and rich in colour. Until then I was still shooting jpgs and wasn’t using Photoshop very much at all. When it was explained to us that many photographers shoot in RAW and process their images in Photoshop, a whole new world of post-processing opened up to me. While I recognize there is a debate about getting it right “in-camera” versus working on your image in Photoshop, I’ve long since resolved it in my head by categorizing post-processing into fixing, finishing, and fabricating. I strive to do little fixing; I don’t enjoy fabricating; and I have concentrated my efforts on finishing my images. Moving to shoot in RAW and post-process my images was an important step forward for me and I slowly started to learn Photoshop mostly through reading and experimentation. Finally this week I took another step forward and signed up for David Nightingale’s online tutorials located on Chromasia.
I haven’t had a chance to do too many tutorials yet but I have to say based on what I’ve done far, they are excellent. I could describe to you what I’ve learned but since we deal in a visual medium I decided to use a picture to demonstrate just how effective David’s teaching style is. The image above consists of three versions of the same image. I processed the version on the left last week based on my knowledge of PS then but I wasn’t happy with it at all so I didn’t post it to my blog. A few days ago I started with David’s Four Part Digital Workflow tutorial and re-processed the image resulting in the one you see in the middle. It is much improved and I was able to experiment with split toning which is something I’ve been curious about given my interest in black and white photography.
Late last night I finished up the Digital Workflow tutorial and was so energized by how much I learned and how easy it was, that I ploughed right through the Black and White tutorial as well. The image you see on the right is based on this tutorial. I have to say I like this version the best. It’s clean, sharp, simple and to me, it says everything I wanted to say when I first created the image.
If you are interested in David’s tutorials, please visit his website. Right now and until the end of July, he is offering 15% off annual and lifetime subscriptions. I highly recommend them!
Much better! The whites are much whiter and the contrast better! Love the black/white version!
Thanks Sue. I've been meaning to ask you and Ron how you've found the tutorials. David suggested I start with the earlier ones and that was good advice. You just might see more black and white from now on