Can someone share the work order they use when editing photos?

[rnruns53]

What I mean is...do you open a photo and then save it in another file format...then do you adjust color or lighten...and when do you sharpen? If someone could walk me through their process I would appreciate it. Also when do you crop in the order or does it matter. Thanks for the help...I am just learning the whole process. Thanks.

[Matty]

I'd be very interested with comments on this one too. I do know that sharpening comes last.

[kevq]

Hi,
In 6 if you click on Guided it gives the work order suggested by Adobe. It's a great place to start but as you become used to editing you'll find that you adapt it to your own style.
Kev.

[GaryK]

HI

As Kev mentioned everybody develops their own way of doing thing.

Generally.. big adjustments first so colour correction,cropping,levels ..all somewhat interchangable as some may effect the others. So once you have done one you may need to go back in and readjust the others.

Cleaning up and modifying would be a good next few steps ..again..no particular order as the image will dictate what should be done when.
Why try to remove a scratch if you are just going to put an embelishment on top.:)

Then sharpen last. .. I wouldn't even sharpen unless there is a specific output intended and just sharpen for that.
Once you have sharpened it can be difficult to do any more adjustments or modifications and have them look right.

Final step... look at what you have created... decide you like it another way... start over..:D:D

[dj_paige]

The format you save the file in is entirely irrelevant to the issue of what order you perform editing operations.

Here's what I do when I open a .jpg for editing.

1. Make adjustments via levels
2. Adjust color (if it is a minor color adjustment — if the entire photo needs major color correction, I'd probably do that as #1)
3. Adjust saturation and contrast

Now it may turn out that after I have done 1-3, I'm not happy with the results, and I decide to go back and do more of items 1, 2 or 3 depending on what is necessary. So sometimes, my sequence is 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1. Only when I am done editing would I apply sharpening.

Then you save the file. Your choice of .jpg vs .psd is up to you, there are advantages and disadvantages to each. There have been discussion threads on this topic here, please search for them. In my opinion, the advantage to .jpg is that it is much smaller than a .psd, and if you plan no further edits to the photo, that is what I choose. If you think there are additional edits you might want to make, save as .psd, which is much larger, but let's you resume your editing, and even lets you go back and re-adjust previous edits if you used layers.

[dj_paige]

...do you open a photo and then save it in another file format...

Depends on whether you open the file from the PSE Organizer, or not.

When you open the file from the PSE Organizer, you don't need to do a save immediately. Total waste of time. The Editor will not let you over-write your original (unless you choose to override three different defaults).

If you open your file directly into the Editor (i.e. not opened from the PSE Organizer), then many people do a save immediately as a different file name so they don't overwrite their original photo. It's extra insurance. But if you don't save immediately, you still can't overwrite your original photo unless you choose to override one default. Some people prefer to do the save immediately. Your choice.

[Matty]

thanks all, got the general idea now. Kev, love your words of wisdom on cats and dogs. I have 2 of each and so rightfully written

[vawitt]

Just chiming in my 2 cents, to add to the front of the workflow.

I ALWAYS work on a copy of my file. That is, I locate the file on my EHD and drag a copy to the desktop. I then work on the desktop file.

Saves my original and my computer will respond faster to work on my internal HD vs. external.

Happy editing!

~Val in cloudy IL

[twoaussies]

I thought one should not work in jpeg because something is lost each time one makes an edit. I always save to tiff first. Am I doing an unnecessary move. Jean

[bnk1953]

"one should not work in jpeg because something is lost each time one makes an edit"
When you keep re-saving in jpeg - you tend to loose pixels. You can edit all that you want - it's only in the constant "saving" that you lose. At least that is what has been told to me.
~bruce.

[dj_paige]

I thought one should not work in jpeg because something is lost each time one makes an edit. I always save to tiff first. Am I doing an unnecessary move. Jean

In the editor, your photo is not .jpg, it is not .psd, it is not raw, it is not .tif, it is not any file type whatsoever. It is a collection of pixels in memory. Any edits you make in the editor are to the pixels, not to a .jpg or .psd or .tif or .raw file.

It is only when you save the photo that it takes on an extension and the properties associated with that file type, along with the advantages and disadvantages of that type of file.

The drawback to .jpg is when you save it, it loses a certain amount of quality, because .jpg files are compressed to make them smaller. If your camera shoots .jpgs, and you save as a .jpg one time (with a new name so you don't overwrite your original photo), the loss of quality is usually so slight that most human beings cannot tell the difference. If you repeatedly save a .jpg, edit it, save it again as .jpg, and so on, you will notice a loss in quality. Therefore, the recommendation is you never re-edit a .jpg — in other words, you can edit a photo and save it as a .jpg one time (with a new name); if you need to make more edits of a .jpg, start from the original photo.

[JonE]

Either right after opening or after making a few changes, save the file as a PSD file. There is no loss of quality in compression and you preserve your original jpg file intact. Save early and often to avoid losing your changes due to computer failure or user error. When you are finished, you can save the file as PSD, then save it as a jpg file; or you can resize it at that time (say to 72 dpi for online use or e-mail) and save it as a jpg file. However if you do these extra saves such as to a small size, save them as a differently named jpg file from your original. And, do not save those changes into your PSD file. For example if you (1) make changes (2) save as PSD (3) resize to 72dpi (4) save as jpg file w/new title then (5) go to close PSE, it will probably ask you if you want to save those changes into your PSD file which is still open. This a time to think carefully and don't save any changes into your PSD that you don't want. Once you save the PSD and close you can't undo the changes. If you haven't closed yet you can undo and go backwards, then save again. But once you close that session is over and the versions to go backwards on changes are discarded. BTW saving as PSD saves all your layers etc. so you can go back and change those or pick up where you left off. Saving as jpg flattens the image into one layer as jpg does not allow layers.

[twoaussies]

Thanks folks. I have had the wrong thinking all along. I usually save to tiff to keep all the changes. Shall be saving in PSD from now on. Jean