The Photoshop Options You Should Never Use

Amongst the plethora of screens and functions and the thousands and thousands of options that you have in Photoshop and Elements for correcting, changing and composing your images, there are some options, features and functions you should never use. It might seem inconceivable that Adobe would put options you shouldn’t use in the program, but they are there, and some of them are named to sound downright savory. These features lurk in the user interface, and users make the same mistakes over and over by using them. The features and functions that you shouldn’t use span every nook and cranny of the program, from opening your images, to correcting, through saving/printing. Users apply them again and again until they learn what these features and functions are and to avoid them because of the damage they do to their images.

The list of features is tremendously long spanning all versions of Photoshop and Elements. Instead of listing all the features, let me simplify the list by making a few generalizations:

• Don’t ever apply features just because they appear on a dialog and you feel obligated to move a slider or click a button.
  
• Don’t ever apply features that don’t improve your image or your vision for it.
  
• Don’t ever apply the features you have not experimented with enough to know how to apply with predictable results.

The crust of this biscuit is simply: don’t feel obligated to use features just because they appear on screen and in the program or ‘sound good’. What you should use are the features and functions (and buttons) that make sense, fit your workflow, and improve your images. Features that ‘make sense’ means that you know what the features do before you apply them to finish images, and not that you ‘click-and-pray’.

For example say you open the Levels dialog — which is an imperative tool for image correction. Once the dialog opens, you could click the Auto button. You could also click the White Point, Black Point and Gray balance eyedroppers and apply those — some tutorials may even suggest it. But, even if your image seems to improve on your screen, you may not be doing the image integrity any favors. The fact is that even brilliant features used incorrectly can run counter to what you really want to do for an image or even ruin it. It may be easy to go the fast way and click an Auto button, and it may produce pleasing results at a glance, but it can also compromise your images. And what is the biggest objection to applying things the right way? People want it quicker, and they will ultimately accept speed while sacrificing quality…For my images, it is unacceptable to sacrifice quality to save a few moments. It doesn’t make sense to spend lots of time to learn how to take the best pictures, lots of money to get good equipment, and toss away the quality of the images you captured because you can’t be bothered to spend time getting the corrections right.

Tools you shouldn’t use include those that might damage your images, as well as those you simply don’t know well enough to apply. That is, the list of tools you shouldn’t use is virtually different for every Photoshop user based on their level of experience and what they know. The list will change as you learn and gain experience with the program.

Regretfully learning the tools takes time. However, you can use your time learning more efficiently and cut time from experimentation and exploration. The first thing to do: make a short list of tools you know you should explore. Just start listing those you think you should know better. Don’t list more than 30. Make them tools that you think are important (you may find out otherwise). Next set aside a time — 15 or 20 minutes a day — to explore those features/functions. Plan to explore just one tool a day for as many days as there are tools on the list. To begin your exploration, learn the basics of any feature using the Help materials provided by Adobe. The information there will tell you the way the function was designed to perform and how to apply it. This is a useful starting point: you’ll find out how a feature is applied. Help will tell you little or nothing about the best way to use a feature. Reading up shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.

Next try applying the feature/function on an image according to the instructions to see how it behaves in practice. Try to give it a workout using all the possibilities you can think of. Apply it to several different images. Spend between 10 and 15 minutes ‘playing’ with the tool. That should serve as your introduction, and you will probably learn a few things you didn’t know before. However, you’ve probably learned just enough to be dangerous…you may be able to apply the tool, but that may not tell you what it really does and why it works, and that can affect how you use it productively.

To learn proven techniques for the best way to apply features, may take a lot more effort, and sometimes weeks, months or even years of study, depending on the complexity of what you are trying to accomplish. It is the kind of time that not everyone can dedicate to learning. Sampling tutorials found on the web may be helpful, but choosing the right tutorials can be tricky and may not be cohesive with a holistic approach to image editing. Some tutorials may actually contradict one another, and it will be hard to sort the good tutorials from the bad, and the harmful. Beware of tricks and tips that you can’t get to work on images other than those used in the tutorial. Even some books that promise quick results or that are a series of effects may never do much to improve your process with image editing. A scattered approach that does not rely on solid process may prove more confusing than helpful. Many tutorials may be well-meaning, written by people who are excited about sharing their new-found successes. However, good intent doesn’t make for a good tutorial — and it may be that what you apply can harm your images…and it may be difficult to tell the difference.

Consulting books and courses by experts in the field, designed to get you up to speed, can save you time and effort. An expert’s years of experience can go to work for you by helping you steer toward the best features and how to use them — saving time in exploring the program. Just as you would invest in your camera or additional equipment like lenses, invest in yourself to gain the skills you need to make the best images…don’t expect the equipment or the program to do-it-for-you (you may want to read my blog about “magic tools”).

So, do yourself a favor and start a list of tools you shouldn’t use today, before you damage another image. Stop oogling at tools that sound like the solution to all your problems, and learn about yourself and what you really need to know. Focus on those that you know and that you can use productively to make your images better. I’d be glad to hear which tools are on your lists, and happy to help you answer your questions about them!

PS — There have been some changes and updates on the hiddenelements.com and photoshopcs.com layers websites that you may want to check out…with more to come. I added some elements 6 materials to hiddenelements.com and a switch to php page building so the site will be easier for me to maintain. I also added some materials to fill out the ‘under construction’ pages on the photoshopcs.com site. I look forward to hearing from visitors about the changes.

What Makes a Good Photo?

A topic that comes up again and again in my classes and presentations in one form or another is "What makes a good photo?" There is no simple answer.

However, there are pure, simple facts of what comprises good photography. Good photography takes into account many things: lighting/shadow, composition, exposure, subject, story, color, contrasts, sharpness, depth of field, and more -- often intangible -- things. A good photo is one with great orchestration of the facets of photography, that ends in a pleasing image. Likely there is a little bit of luck tossed into our salad of preparation, positioning and equipment.

There are no bonus points for dangling from helicopters except in that it may offer the right perspective. A great moment, whether captured of a penned animal or one in the wild, is still a great shot. Whether they look while standing knee deep in mud or sitting in a plush armchair, the final image is what the viewer sees...no less or more because of the subject or how it was captured. Passion for a subject should be evident in the photography of it.

There is no one philosophy that will capture a great image, but any great image will encompass all these things. I think the ideals are reinforced by the perceptions of Ansel Adams, and I have collected a few of his attributed comments here:

Mr. Adams on a good photograph:

• A good photograph is knowing where to stand.
  
• A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.
  
• A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.
  

On the rules for making a good photograph:

• There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.
  

On luck in making photos:

• Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.
  

On perspective of observing photos:

• A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into.
  
• There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
  

On how to take an image:

• To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.
  

On photography and the creative spirit:

• No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.
  

To me, wherever there are opportunities, I am glad to share the joy of photography, at whatever level...photographs need not be marred by griping discussion for what an image could have been, if only...Shots can be satisfactory as an amateur or professional, and only your own expectations of what is good will change. Images can be explored in greater depth and improved in image processing to bring out more -- as Adams often did himself as an artisan in the wet darkroom, which today we can all explore without chemicals using Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

As you explore your photography on whatever level, and as your skills develop, enjoy it for what it is. Enjoy a sense of accomplishment in how you improve or improve your images, and your skills. Resist the urge to be overly critical and poison the water that keeps your interest in images and photography growing.

A good photo is always the one you are about to take, and it can be better for what you learned from the experience you gain as you shoot.

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Improve your photography with post-processing using Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Richard's Photoshop Courses can help you get more out of your images and your investment in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

Magic Tools in Photoshop and Elements

The Entertainer and the Entertained

Magicians in their magic acts are entertainers. They perform mystical feats designed specifically to cleverly trick us -- those being entertained -- into believing something miraculous is happening when they waive their wand or perform an incantation. Deep down, we know it is somehow explainable, but we want to be entertained, suspend our disbelief, and enjoy the show. We may half-heartedly try to figure out what really happened behind the scenes, but in a way, perhaps, we almost don't want to know: it might ruin the illusion and we'd no longer be entertained. The entertainer practices his craft building the clever and believable deception, and the entertained soak it in without thinking all too hard. That is the difference between the entertainer and the entertained.

The Juggler

Photoshop and Magic
People beginning to edit images with Photoshop and Elements often scour the menus looking for the tool that will do something spectacular to their images believing great images are just a few clicks away. It is almost as if they want the program to entertain them with an element of magic or a fantasic feat of mind reading. Photoshop and Elements have lots of tools whose behavior may seem mysterious and unexplainable at first, at least one named specifically 'Magic Wand', but regretfully there are no 'magic' tools that read your mind. No matter how clever the implementation of a function or how well it seems to work there is never anything 'magic' about a tool itself. There is a calculation -- however complex -- that drives any tool application. The behavior can be described and predicted, no matter how we might resist knowing.

To Be the Magician
A true magician doesn't waive a wand and hope magic will happen -- imagine what would happen to a magician doing that on stage. The magician knows the secrets of the tricks and what goes on behind the scenes, utilizing props and tools with purpose to craft the perfect deception. Likewise, the imaging magician, must be a master of the tools and craft of post-processing. Just clicking a filter or auto function and being elated or disappointed by the result isn't mastering Photoshop and Elements, it is being entertained. Being entertained can be pleasing at times, but generally it is not how you make a magical image. The tools themselves have no way to see and evaluate the images they work on except as a calculation. They are lifeless props and props never make magic either.

Magicians practice their craft and develop their art, and you will want to do the same to achieve desired results with your post-processing in Photoshop. Changes do not have to be mystical, spectacular or flamboyant to get the most from your images, and post-processing is only a portion of the photographic craft. There is a place for being both the entertainer and the entertained, the magician and the audience. Learn and be awed by other people's craft, but strive to understand the magic of their images like a magician in the audience watching the craft of the magician on stage.

To Learn More
My courses teach the timeless fundamentals for Photoshop and Elements that you'll use as the core of your craft. I talk about magic tools in my Photoshop 101 class...namely the "read my mind" and "do it for me" tools: mythical tools designed in the minds of users hoping there is an easier way. But it is the only mention of magic tools in my courses. You get practical methodology for Correcting and Enhancing Your Images, solid techniques for matching your images on your Monitor and In Print, and advanced exploration of
Layers: Photoshop's Most Powerful Tool. Each is a facet of the tools you have to master to perfect your image editing craft. My latest book, The Adobe Photoshop Layers Book, is the perfect companion to these courses.

When to Upgrade Photoshop

Are You A Photoshop Junkie?
Photoshop junkies are people who religiously upgrade from one version to the next without thinking as if a new release were some type of signal that the current version of the program would soon expire and stop working. Others upgrading without a second thought may believe that owning the newest version of Photoshop automatically makes their images better. Regretfully, "cool" new features may sound enticing, but in the long run these enhancements may be something you rarely use -- or use once in a lifetime -- that isn't a reason to upgrade. The boring reality is that sometimes what you have is really what you need. While it does not carry the social status of owning Photoshop, it is easily possible that Photoshop Elements may serve every need you have even if you are a demanding digital technician (and at a savings of 90% (!) of the cost of Photoshop). Upgrading out of habit, obligation or anything other than a clearly defined need makes you a junkie.

The Truth About Upgrades

It is Adobe's job to make their product compelling enough so that you want to upgrade. In the early years of Photoshop, every version had a significant new feature. Digital imaging had a lot of maturing to do from the first release in 1988, so the room for improvement seemed endless. Now, as Photoshop has matured, the list of enhancements for any version may be as long as your arm, but it may be less clear if you really need to upgrade because features are not always something every user will benefit from.

Richard's Philosophy of Upgrades

1. Don't automatically upgrade to a new release of Photoshop. You don't owe it to Adobe, and your version of the program will still work months and years from now.


2. It is not a social embarassment to skip an upgrade version of Photoshop. For example, if you are on CS2 already, you can probably wait for CS4. People may point and wisper under their breath, but how long can they do that for? Just ask them for a compelling reason to upgrade.


3. Know the Photoshop upgrade cycles. You can count on a new version every 18 months or so. Don't get the last version after it's been out 17 months when it suddenly goes 'on sale' or you'll be looking and yearing to get the next version in a month all over again.


4. Don't be swept away by the hype of the 'cool' factor of new Photoshop tools. Advertising can make features look more promising than they are. Find out what tools and functions actually do by reading reviews before you upgrade, and weigh how much you think you'll actually use them.


5. Find at least two actual must-have features in any new Photoshop upgrade that will save you time, effort or improve image quality on a daily basis before considering an upgrade.


6. Don't upgrade if there are a significant number of tools and features that you already don't know how to use. Learn the tools you have. New features will take weeks, months and perhaps years to incorporate into your workflow. Give them time to sink in before looking for more features you won't use.
   


7. Find out about system requirements and compatabilities BEFORE you purchase a Photoshop upgrade. If you purchase a version that requires a new operating system, it may trigger a reaction where you'll have to buy a whole new system at many times the cost of the upgrade just to run it.


8. Just because it costs more doesn't mean it does more for you. Know what you are buying. For example, don't get the extended version of Photoshop CS3 instead of the vanilla version if you have no interest in medical imaging, 3D modeling and video editing.

Adobe has consistently put out an enticing product that gives users a real reason to upgrade. Adobe does work hard at it, they have a fabulous, well-tested product, and have generally productive reasons for upgrading. However, there is no reason to feel pressured, rushed or obligated. The new version will be there when you are ready for it, and your old, tried and tested techniques for image editing will not soon be worn out and displaced by the latest tool if you learn the right techniques. The real task is to learn the right techniques and theory to make your image editing efforts less tool-centric.

A Short List of Photoshop Enhancements by Version This is an extremely abbreviated list of enhancements for Photoshop versions. Versions 2 through 7 list the major enhancements only. CS versions are listed in greater detail so it will be evident what was added in the newer versions and what you may gain by upgrading from prior versions. Photoshop 2 (no, not CS2, Photoshop 2.0 released in 1991) added Paths Photoshop 2.5 added a Windows version Photoshop 3 added Layers (which makes my Leveraging Layers course possible) Photoshop 4 added recordable Actions Photoshop 5 added editable type, the History palette, and the dreaded Color Management Photoshop 5.5 added Image Ready for web development Phtooshop 6 enhanced the user interface, added layer styles and Blending Options dialog, and 16-bit editing Photoshop 7 introduced the Healing brush, paint engine enhancements, and introduced RAW image handling Note: At this point Photoshop broke into the CS versions, the first of which was released on October of 2003. As more users still own these versions I'll use more comprehensive (but still partial) lists... Photoshop CS (8) added: — Camera RAW 2.x — Highly modified "Slice Tool" — Shadow/Highlight command — Match Color command — Lens Blur filter — Smart Guides — Real-Time Histogram — Detection and refusal to print scanned images of various banknotes[2] — Macrovision copy protection based on Safecast DRM technology Photoshop CS2 (9) added: — Camera RAW 3.x — Smart Objects — Image Warp — Spot healing brush — Red-Eye tool — Lens Correction filter — Smart Sharpen — Smart Guides — Vanishing Point — Better memory management on 64-bit PowerPC G5 Macintosh machines running Mac OS X 10.4 — High dynamic range imaging (HDRI) support (32 bit per channel floating point) — Scripting support for JavaScript and other languages — More smudging options, such as "Scattering" — Modified layer selection, such as ability to select more than one layer. Photoshop CS3 (10) added: — Smart Filters — Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools — Advanced compositing — Streamlined interface — Better raw image processing — Improved Adobe Bridge — Enhanced Vanishing Point — Enhanced 32-bit HDR support — Peak performance — Black-and-white conversion Note: The waters get further muddied here by a release of more than one version of CS3; CS3 and CS3 Extended.

What Do I Do With Photoshop?

Question:
I am fairly new to Photoshop, but rarely use it because I don't know what to do with an image. In your last blog entry you mentioned having a 'workflow'. I guess you mean by that a process to follow when editing images. Can you tell me what I'm supposed to do?

Answer:
Short Answer: Yes. Have a workflow and use it with every image.

Working with images isn't random. You shouldn't just fiddle with some filters and auto-corrections and hope to suddenly stumble on something to make your images look good. What you really want to do is outline a process to follow so you are sure your images will look their best every time.

A good workflow takes setup into account as well as image correction.

1. Calibrate your monitor, create an ICC profile, and make color management decisions
   
2. Store your original images safely
   
3. Evaluate the image (composition color and tone) to develop a list of things to correct (in steps 4-8)
   
4. Make general color and tone corrections
   
5. Make small damage corrections (dust, etc.)
   
6. Make composition changes (cropping, replacing, removing objects...other 'heroic' measures)
   
7. Make targeted color and tone corrections.
   
8. Add enhancements (soft-focus, sharpening, etc.)
   
9. Save the working/layered version of the working image
   
10. Save a purposed/final image for output/use
    

Even long-term users of Photoshop may not have a sensible workflow in place, but the fact is that it can save tons of time and account for consistent results.If asked which is the most important of the 10 items above...I'd have to say you need every one of them to get the most out of your images. If you are missing any of them, you'll want to consider adding them to your workflow.

• Calibration and color mangement decisions can greatly affect your outcome
  
• Storing your images is essential to ward off data loss
  
• Evaluating an image tells you what to do and keeps you on track with corrections
  
• Having an order to your corrections helps you correct logically so you aren't taking on the wrong issue at the wrong time (color correcting a hat that is the wrong color before color correcting the whole image makes no sense)
  
• Storing your layered work can save tons of time in making later changes or enhancements
  
• Saving your final image separately allows you to make the best image for any purpose (e.g., a downsized JPEG for the Web, a full-sized EPS or TIFF for print)

With a workflow established, you'll never be puzzled about what to do with your images and you'll be ready to explore them the same way every time, checking over your list so nothing gets missed.

I teach a course on betterphoto.com that will help with workflow issues. It is called From Monitor To Print, and helps you establish a full workflow, covering all 10 items in the list. You can find the course here:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/RIC01.asp

If you are simply uncomfortable with Photoshop, you may need even more basic help, which I can provide in my Photoshop 101 course, found here:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/RIC03.asp

But whether you take a course or not, take notes on what you want to do and establish a workflow. It will save you time, and probably money as well!

Learning Photoshop

Question:
What is the best way to learn Photoshop?

Answer:
Short answer: There is not one 'best way'.

Many people are daunted by trying to learn Photoshop. There are hundreds of tools and infinite possibilities. Infinite. You can pick an image and do anything with it...even create an entirely different scene. But the point of working with images would seem to be to improve what you have taken, and not to turn a picture of a cat into an elephant (by applying the "turn this into an Elephant" filter, of course!). Most people will not expect to accomplish such transmogrification, and what would be the point when you could make the result simpler with a visit to the local zoo?

One of the reasons users find Photoshop daunting is that they try to learn too much—or even all of it—at once. A better approach for most people will be to learn a-tool-at-a-time. Pick a tool, read about the tool in Photoshop or Elements Help (press Command+/ or Ctrl+/ [mac/pc]), then open an image and explore the tool by applying it. Don’t look so much for expert results as the opportunity to learn how the tool behaves. That experience will go a long way toward incorporating it into your workflow. 15 or 20 minutes a day puts a new tool into your belt.

Further, and following this line of logic, you can limit the tools you look at to only those that are more practical for what you want to do. If you will be working with digital photographs for the sake of editing and improving them, you can virtually ignore whole sets of tools, and in the case of Photoshop, an entire application (Image Ready). in my courses and books I have a list of 30 or so core functions and tools that you can pretty much expect to incorporate into your work with any image. Some of these are terribly obvious, like Open and Save, but you quickly get into the heart of a tool set that helps you stay focused on correction and the task at hand. People hem and haw about Curves and how important they are to correction, and honestly I think they are a bit of a hack the way it is often described to use them, and at this point in my editing I rarely use them at all. Levels are a far more accurate and useful tool, except in specific circumstances. But the point is that with a significantly limited set of tools, you can accomplish what you need to in editing almost any image...as long as you know which to use.

That said, some people will find books most helpful, some DVDs, some online courses, some live seminars, a rare few personalized instruction, and others just poking about in the program. Having learned Photoshop at a time where there were no books or tutorials, I would suggest that poking around can be effective, but it is likely to be the slowest method of learning unless you already have a lot of digital imaging experience with another program. Any one of the products that help you learn Photoshop will likely cut months and years off learning. Here are a few things that will help:

1. Get acquainted with the interface. Learn about palettes and menus and where the tools are stored. ( See my Photoshop 101 course on betterphoto.com for an outline).

2. Have a goal in mind when opening Photoshop rather than just hoping it will do something for you or that you will suddenly feel inspired. Do you want to improve images from a recent shoot? Learn color correction? create a new logo? The answer to the question "what do I want to do?" will give you direction and save time.

3. Take a note from your own learning history and follow the path that has been most successful for you in other endeavors. If you have been successful learning in a classroom, take a course; if you learn from books, take a look at the books in a local store and see what looks most interesting to you.

4. Don't expect to be an expert overnight. Personally I have been using Photoshop daily for about 15 years. I learn something new every day. It could be about the program, about my images, about seeing, composition, settings, whatever...but there is always something new in thee program as long as I allow myself to see it. Becoming an expert will likely take months or years.

5. Establish a base workflow, including a solid color management setup, good step-by-step correction practices, and test your output. You will be following a similar set of steps for most images unless you will be doing a lot of work to them. Outline your process or borrow someone elses (see my Workflow course on betterphoto.com).

6. Experiment with limitations. Don't give your self open-ended amounts of time to try and achieve an effect by applying filters willy-nilly. Again, have an idea of what you want to achieve, and allow yourself 10-15 minutes to experiment with a result rather than running all over with it. At the end of the time, post the image to a Photoshop forum somewhere and ask for help in what you want to achieve. Try my forums found through http://hiddenelements.com

I hope that helps people get on track toward learning Photoshop in their own way. If you have questions feel free to send them for future editions of the blog. Send to Richard Lynch thebookdoc@aol.com