BackdoorArts
Senior Member
I have a 30-day membership at Lynda.com that runs out this Friday, so I've been cramming as much in as possible. I spent this morning going through some of Taz Tally's Color Correction videos and I tell you, it made my head explode - in a really good way. I've mentioned things like histograms and how I use them in my image evaluation and editing, but after watching some of these things what I don't know about how much they can be used to really adjust an image is a lot.
By no means is the content of most of this anything that would be necessary for most folks to know in order to properly process an image, but if you really, really want to know what a digital image is composed of, and how to really, really adjust it in order to maximize the color and contrast in there, this is the stuff you need to understand. Without it most of us can likely get to 90-95% in an image in terms of pulling out what's there and making it look great, but that last 5-10% is where the pros live (and likely why many of them have someone on staff who does their post-processing).
I've got nothing specific to share, because it's all new floating around in my head, but to give you a feel for what's involved consider this - I'd previously mentioned using Black and White Levels adjustments to maximize contrast in an image and how it's a first step in my Photoshop workflow. Take that step and break it up into evaluating the same information, color by color, and performing adjustments on each of the RGB curves based on specific points within the photo, matching numerical RGB values at these points - and that is just the "evaluation" process so you can understand where to go next.
I'm a bit of a math geek, and knowing how the numbers that make up colors work with each other has gone a long way to helping me decipher editing techniques (I have a page of formulas for all the PS blending modes pinned to the wall in front of me). If that's not you then just walk away - or at least know that you might get lost in the woods if you go here. But if you want to get out of the shallow waters start looking for some videos specifically on color correction, and I heartily recommend this one.
By no means is the content of most of this anything that would be necessary for most folks to know in order to properly process an image, but if you really, really want to know what a digital image is composed of, and how to really, really adjust it in order to maximize the color and contrast in there, this is the stuff you need to understand. Without it most of us can likely get to 90-95% in an image in terms of pulling out what's there and making it look great, but that last 5-10% is where the pros live (and likely why many of them have someone on staff who does their post-processing).
I've got nothing specific to share, because it's all new floating around in my head, but to give you a feel for what's involved consider this - I'd previously mentioned using Black and White Levels adjustments to maximize contrast in an image and how it's a first step in my Photoshop workflow. Take that step and break it up into evaluating the same information, color by color, and performing adjustments on each of the RGB curves based on specific points within the photo, matching numerical RGB values at these points - and that is just the "evaluation" process so you can understand where to go next.
I'm a bit of a math geek, and knowing how the numbers that make up colors work with each other has gone a long way to helping me decipher editing techniques (I have a page of formulas for all the PS blending modes pinned to the wall in front of me). If that's not you then just walk away - or at least know that you might get lost in the woods if you go here. But if you want to get out of the shallow waters start looking for some videos specifically on color correction, and I heartily recommend this one.