A Case for Photoshop

LEFT: Straight out of Camera, RIGHT: Minor curves adjustment in Photoshop, that's all!!

Back in film days, every good photographer learned how to use a dark room. Yes, everything out of the camera had to be just right, because you don't want to have to correct things in the dark room that could be taken cared of at the camera. Without knowledge of the darkroom, you might as well drop your film off at the local pharmacy with a 1-hour photo production service.

That said, Photoshop CS5 (Capture One, Lightroom, Aperture, etc., pick your poison) is the software that every digital photographer should know. We are not here to discuss the ethics of digital lipo-suction, or digital plastic surgery, but Photoshop use is the same as working the negative to its greatest potential. Without all the chemicals ... Photoshop is more environmentally friendly, and if you're conscientious of making what you have last longer, most every important thing that a digital photographer needs can be done all the way back to Photoshop 7. Yes, that's when Curves were introduced.

The above photograph depicts the reluctant subject shot straight out of camera (SOOC), and on the frame on the right, some minor digital negative adjustment in Photoshop. We are not removing any blemishes, though we know that it may be warranted considerably in this subject's particular case. WE MERELY ARE MAKING THE KIND OF ADJUSTMENTS THE HUMAN EYE MAKES WHEN VIEWING ANYTHING. That's all. The human eye, despite evolutionist's claim, is one of the most complex organs in the most complex organism created by God. It's photosensor behind the eyeball works in such a way, that it adjusts for light availability WITHIN each frame, not between frames, like you would on your camera, when you adjust your ISO setting.

What we did in this photograph is keep the picture in the RGB colorspace (not CMYK, that's for print, or LAB, that's for color theorists or special landscapes.) In PS5, look up at your top menus, find Image, and then Mode in the drop down menu, that list gives you the color space, and color depth. Adding a new layer (adjustment or otherwise), what we have done is adjust the curve of each color individually. Why? Because that's HOW THE HUMAN EYE WORKS, it increases its perception of contrast for each distinct visible light way. So with increase the contrast of Red, ONLY in the area that we're interest in, not across the full range. For this particular subject, and most any photograph involving people, it is the face. We find the lightest value of red in the photograph (probably the forehead) and then lightened it even more, and found the darkest value of red (probably the left cheekbone), and darkened it even more. We did the same for the Greens and finally the Blues. In this fashion we can also color correct similar to the way our eyes color correct. Notice that when you look at a room with a flourescent light you continue to think the page of paper in a book is still white, (despite the fact that each type of light has a different color cast)? That's your eye helping you out. No matter how good the sensor in the camera you own (yes, that includes the $40k Hassalblads), it simply cannot change its white balance and ISO (light sensitivity) on the fly for VARIOUS AREAS of the frame. We just can't do that yet.

And that's all that we have done. No Exposure adjustment in Camera Raw, no Vibrancy adjustment, no Saturation adjustment, no crop tool, no Brush tool, no Heal tool, no Rotation of the frame, no Levels, NOTHING!

So maybe you consider yourself a 'purist,' whatever that means, and you don't want to learn Photoshop. Well, then so be it. I agree on many purist ideas, all good photographers do. Here are some:

Get the exposure right the first time.
Get the best contrast through the lens (use a hood, stop the light down, meter off a constant source, etc.)
Get the composition right in the frame.
Get the best shot out of the camera you can get.

Then you'll have a great STARTING point, and make as little adjustment in Photoshop as necessary.

For those who want to try this at home, no parental supervision is required:

Mode: Manual:
Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: 70-200mm f2.8L @ 100mm
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec.
Aperture: f5.6
ISO: 800

Lighting:
Key Light
580EX II, shoot through white satin 43" umbrella, about 35° camera left, above ~2.5 ft, pointing just right of subject (for feathering the key light).
Mode: Manual
Setting: 1/8 power at 105mm

Fill Light (If you don't have a second flash, you can use a reflector)
580EX II, shoot through a reverse white satin umbrella (approx 1 stop diffuser), at subject base (for fill light).
Mode: Manual
Setting: 1/32 power -2/3 stop down at 105mm

Further Reading:
- Hit the link HERE.
- Get Dan Margulis's book: Professional Photoshop: The Classical Guide to Color Correction, the latest edition is the 5th. And read it at least TWICE.