20 TIPS FOR FLAWLESS PHOTO EDITS
- MAKE SURE YOUR WORKFLOW
IS NONDESTRUCTIVE
A good workflow is key for photo editing, especially in
a professional studio environment, as Andy McIntosh
from PSD Innovative (www.psdinnovative.com)
explains: “A fully non-destructive workflow is essential
for what we do. Everything we do is done in layers,
which of course means very large files and huge
amounts of RAM and storage space. A client may
come back for a project that we have done six months
or so ago, and ask for something to be changed or
19. CUSTOMISE PHOTOSHOP FOR THE TASK
Fashion photographer and retoucher Sabine Metz
(www.sabinemetz.com) has found that learning how
to customise your Photoshop workspace and tools
makes it much easier to be fast and efficient in
projects: “I’ve been really keen on improving my
workflow efficiency. Not only by making the retouching
process from import to export as streamlined as
possible, but also by making my workspaces more
suitable for what I want to achieve. A lot of people do
use shortcuts, like B for Brush tool and J for Healing
Brush tool. Because I always use a Wacom when
retouching, I have my right hand on my Wacom, and
my left hand on my keyboard. All the shortcuts I use
are by default scattered all over my keyboard, which
makes having a Wacom to prevent strain on my right
arm redundant if my left hand is still reaching
everywhere. By using Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts I set
my shortcuts so that I have everything I use daily on
the left-hand side of my keyboard. Also, I’ve set the
interface colour back to good old CS5 grey. I find that
having the darker colour scheme around my image
clouds my judgment on contrast too much.”added or just an element of that design to be used in
a new project. Without a non-destructive workflow
that could be problematic and time consuming.
Colour accuracy workflows are vital too; we calibrate
everything from our cameras (input devices) to our
Wacoms and Eizo monitors, and use the same
workflows for colour accuracy through all our
software. We use Prepress ISOs to ensure that we
don’t get any nasty surprises from printers!”© Photography and retouching by Sabine Metz
© PSD Innovative 2015