Tutorial on Post-Production
In this post we will be looking at basic tips and tricks while using post-production software such as Capture One and Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Lightroom etc) as well as a basic tutorial on how to use these applications for the post production side of a shoot. Many aspects of these softwares will be covered such as how to focus stack, correctly colour balance, create new background, retouch images and use colour channels. For this post photoshop will be used as the example to explain where all the functions are located.
The Basics:
Panels:
Panels are the areas which hold the tools which allow you to make edits to an image or find relevent information about the image/edit. To find specific panels or retrieve panels you have lost click the window tab at the top of the screen and make sure the panel you are looking for is ticked. Once you have ticked the panel it will pop up allowing you to place it wherever you see fit.
File Formats:
Once you have completed an edit there are two ways of exporting or saving the image with muliple file formats attached to both. The first way is to save the image. By saving an image you will be able to select from many different types of file formats. The most common of these file formats which you will use are photoshop(*.PSD/*.PDD/*PSDT),Large Document Format(*.PSB),JPEG(Joint Photographic Experts Group)(*.JPG/*.JPEG/*.JPE), PNG(Portible Network Graphic)(*.PNG/*.PNG) and TIFF(Tag Image File Format)(*.TIF/*.TIFF). These files all have pros and cons when chosing them. The second way, Exporting, will offer JPEG and PNG but also GIF(Graphic Interchange Format)(*.GIF) and SVG(Scalable Vector Graphic)(*.SVG). The main difference between exporting and saving is the abiliity to go back and interact with layers. When exporting you will be unable to interact with layers when opening them in photoshop. This is known as a lossy compression file format. Examples of this type of file format are JPEG and GIF. On the other end of the specturm are lossless file types such as TIFF, PSB and PSD. File Formats also dictate whether an image can have transparency(Alpha Transparency, the ability to remove the background), formats such as PNG will allow transparency where as JPEG will not.
Image Resizing:
Image Resizing is very important if you need to send the images to a printer. Firstly you need to decide what size you want your image to be, all measurements can be found online. Once you have found this you need to go to the Image tab at the top of the screen, then go to Image Size. A pop up screen will show you a preview as well as a couple of different changes you can make. The first thing to do is select what measurements you will be using. This can be changed by selecting the dropdown tab above the current image measurements. Next you want to change the measurements to the ones which fit your needs. The last and most important thing you need to check is the resolution. The resolution will dictate the quality of the image, a high quality image will have 270-300 resolution. However 600dpi (Dots Per Inch) can be used when blowing up an image or printing an image in a large format. A first generation JPEG (the first time you convert to a JPEG) is Lossless but has a smaller file size than other Lossless files, this can be useful for printing.
Layers:
Layers are used in most applications such as photoshop and capture one. Layers are used in order to edit an image without affecting the original image. A layer is placed over the original image like a piece of transparent paper, this allows the editor to add something, like a graphic or adjustment, ontop of the original image while retaining the ability to change the edit. You can create a new layer by clicking the icon which looks like a square with the bottom left corner folded over, located at the bottom right of your screen.
Merging Layers:
Merging layers is very useful when completing an edit. Layers will make the file sizes much larger which will be a hiderense if you are sending files to a printer or to a client. Merging the layers will remove all the flexabiltiy that the layers offered however will reduce the final file size drasically. In order to merge all layers you must first make sure all the layers are selected. You can do this by holding shift and clicking the top and bottom layer, this should highlight all the layers in between as well. You can also hold cmd/ctrl to select specific layers. After the layers have been selected you should right click and see three merging options. These can all be used and usually the appliation will only show the ones which can be used.
Layer Visibility:
Layer visibilty is a very important factor to understand when editing using layers. All layers including the original image will have an eye icon next to the thumbnail, this is the layer visibilty. Any layer which has an eye icon on it is visible and making an impact on the image. The ability to turn off this visibilty will allow an editor to see the exact changes the layer is making to the image. Turing on and off the visibitly is as easy as clicking the eye icon on the layer in the layers tab.
Background Layer:
Any image you open up will load in as a locked background layer. This layer is locked and will be unable to have changes made to it such as renaming or chaning its stacking order, meaning it will remain at the bottom of the layer stack. This is done to avoid transparency. If you want to make changes to this layer you can unlock it by clicking the lock on the layer in the layer tab.
Adjustments:
Adjustments are applied to layers in order to change the way an image looks. There are many types of adjustments which can be found under the Edit tab at the top of the screen or in the adjustments panel above the Layers,Channels and Paths Panel once opened. The main adjustment layers are Brightness/Contrast, Levels Curves and Exposure. These will be covered in the next section.
-Brightness/Contrast: This will allow you to edit the brightness and contrast of the image.
-Levels: The tones of an image have a value from 0 to 225, this is the exposure level from 0 being complete blackness with no information to 225 which is completely white with no information.
-Curves: The tones are now on a graph which are shown in a diagonal line going right. The bottom left is a value of 0 and the top right is a value of 225. You can manipulate the curve in order to manipulate the shadows, mid-tones and highlights.
-Exposure: This will allow you to change the exposure of the image.
Tools:
There are many different tools in photoshop. These tools can be found in a panel on the left hand side of the page. The main tools you are likely to use in post production for a studio shoot are the pen tool, clone stamp and patch tool, the quick selection tool, the marquee selection tool, the spot heal tool and the crop tool. These tools all have unquie properties with can be used in conjunction with each other or independently.
Blend Modes:
Blend modes or blending modes are used to change how one layer interacts with another layer. There is an entire seperate blog post regarding all the different blend modes so only the main blend modes will be covered here. The blend modes are screen(lighten),multiply(darken),overlay(adds contrast) and normal(shows image as it is).
Transparency:
Transparency is denoted in photoshop by a checkered background. When you see this background that means that there is no image there. No information at all is indicated by checkered backgrounds and can be useful for creating png cutouts. This will also be useful for denoting when you have correctly cut out subjects from a background.
Masking:
A mask is type of layer which is placed onto a layer which allows you to make changes to that layer without affecting the layer completely. In order to apply a mask layer you need to select the layer you want to apply it to and click the icon in the bottom right which looks like a grey rectangle with a circle in the middle. This will apply a mask to the layer and will look like a white thumbnail next to the thumbnail of the layer. The mask will appear as white at first and the white represents the background. When you paint onto the mask with the paint brush you will see black appear on the mask, this represents the foreground.
Wraps and Transformation:
Puppet Warp:
While this adjustment is a very advanced one it is useful to know when editing images of people. Firstly, make sure you have a graphic of a person who has been cut out from the background. Once you have this new layer graphic selected go to the Edit, then select Puppet Warp. This will create a smart filters layer which is conncected to the graphic layer. Next make sure Show Mesh is selected and create points on the persons body. Thess points will be used to wrap the persons body and limbs. Once you have taken the time to mess around with the puppet warp you will begin to understand how it can be used to make adjustments to a persons positioning.
