Hello,
So I've read a couple of different websites describing their workflow for printing but not so many for posting images online. I'm wondering how professionals and serious amateurs post processes their raw files in photoshop.
After you make adjustements in Abode Camera Raw, do you open it as a RAW file or a TIFF file to perform the bulk of the editing?
Also: which sharpening technique is preferred: smart sharpen or unsharp mask? I know the latter is good for local contrast enhancement but in CS4 is it the optimal sharpening tool?
Finally, I know the file has to be saved as a JPEG to be posted on forums and sites like facebook, but I would like to know how peopld resize the image first to avoid image quality loss
Hey I know its a lot of questions but any dvice you could offer up would be great. thanks
regards
Arthur
If you think at any time you may both print and post the file, make sure your settings in ACR are set to Adobe RGB(98) or ProPhoto and in 16-bit. When you open the image from ACR into PS you would now have large a 3 channel file which you would save as a PSD or a TIFF. It is no longer a raw image. To prepare this file for the web, after making all the edits you need in order to make it look good on your display, you would do the following in this order: Go to Image>Image Size, click on Resample, set the resolution to 96 PPI, set the image dimensions to a mximum size of 6 to 8 inches on the long dimension, make sure the resampling method is set to Bicubic Sharper (as most likely you are starting with a much larger images you will be making smaller). Flatten the image. Go to Edit>Convert to profile and for the Destination Space select sRGB and check Use Black Point Compensation (very important). click OK. Go to Image>Mode and select 8 bits per channel. Then do SAVE AS (not Save), name the image, and select the JPEG format, and select the folder where you want to save it. Click OK. A dialogue will appear asking you to choose the image quality (which determines the amount of JPEG compression that will occur). Normally I use a value of 10 or 11, provided the total number of KB is not more than 200~300 (this shows in the dialogue as you change the Quality). Click OK and you now have a JPEG image of suitable dimensions for the internet.
If you have Lightroom, you can let Lightroom create a web gallery from raw images and post it directly to the internet, or you can prepare a suite of JPEGs as I indicate above, import them to Lightroom, select all the images, select the WEB module and let Lightroom create a fully finished web gallery which you can up-load to the internet.