There’s no doubt that Photoshop is an incredibly powerful software.
However, it can also be extremely overwhelming due to the nature of the programme: the tools are multi-functional, and if you want to complete a certain editing step, for example change the colour of an item, there are about a hundred different ways to achieve that goal.
Next, there’s the fact that the interface is based on working in layers, meaning that you can (mostly) do things in whichever order you want and work with a lot of freedom.
This is great, but it can also make things confusing.
When I first started using Photoshop, I would often be at a loss at what to do in what order – I would complete some basic clean up actions, then perhaps crop the image and change some colours, then do some more clean up, add some textures, use the clone stamp, and so on.
I would do this without any rhyme or reason, which often lead to problems – for example, I would merge all layers to use a certain tool, only to realise later on that now I couldn’t go back and correct or change previous edits because all the layers were irreversibly combined.
This was not only time-consuming, but also very frustrating, as I often completely messed up my edits and then didn’t manage to revert the changes – ultimately having to start my whole editing process again or simply chuck the whole thing in the virtual bin.
Luckily, practice makes perfect, and after having edited countless pictures, I have finally found a workflow in Photoshop that works.
In this post, I will share with you which Photoshop tools are part of my editing toolbox, what order I complete tasks in, and how I keep the process as streamlined as possible.
But first of all…what role does Lightroom play in the process?
If you’re familiar with the Adobe product suite, you may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned Lightroom yet – that’s because it plays a very minimal part in my editing process.
It IS a great tool, but I find it a little clunky, and I don’t see the point of using it for editing my fine art photography when I can simply use the more powerful and purpose-built Photoshop.
I only use Lightroom as a cataloguing and image selection tool, which is what it was mainly designed for anyway.
Alright then, let’s get to my editing workflow in Lightroom and Photoshop!
Part 1 – Lightroom
- The first part of my workflow includes copying the content of my camera card to an external hard drive to make sure it’s secured.Also, editing and saving a photo on your external hard drive keeps your laptop or desktop PC clutter free and speeds up the process. I like to keep things tidy by creating a new folder for each shoot and sticking to a particular naming convention.
- I then open Lightroom and import all the pictures of the new folder I created.Next, I flick through all the images, using the keyboard shortcuts “X” to mark the photos I want to delete and “P” to mark the ones I want to put into my favourites folder.
- Then, I select all images marked “P”. After that, I click “New collection” and add all selected (“flagged”) pictures. After that, I delete all the ones marked with “X” as I won’t need them anymore.
- Next, I navigate to the new collection I created and look through the images again to find my favourite. Finally, I select “Photo” – “Edit In” – “Open as Smart Object in Photoshop”.
I do this so that Lightroom will keep a copy of the original unedited image, so if I don’t like my edits, I won’t have overwritten the original RAW file and can just start again.
Part 2: Editing in Photoshop
- The very first thing I do in Photoshop is copy the main layer so I have a safety copy. I then rasterize the new layer to get rid of the smart object. Finally, I save the file as “FILE NAME_Editing File” on my hard drive.
- Next, I complete any kind of compositing task.For example, I recently created a self portrait and added a butterfly on my finger that was composited in from a different photo. I always do these photomontage tasks first because I want to have all the elements of the picture in place before changing colours etc later on – this way, I avoid having to do my clean up, colour grading etc twice.
- Next, I make sure the composite elements (if applicable) look the way I want them, using tools such as Warp, Transform, Perspective, Skew or Distort.Basically, I want to have the building blocks of my picture in place before moving on to “aesthetic” corrections. This would also be the time to straighten lines, such as the horizon line.
- This is your reminder to save your picture! I actually save after almost every editing step – make it quick by using the shortcut Ctrl + S.
- Next, I create a merged layer of all layers below other than the very first safety layer.This new layer is my main cleanup layer for using the Remove tool, as this particular tool doesn’t work on a transparent layer. It’s a relatively new tool that works like magic! I use it for cleaning up stray hairs, spots and stains, or other elements that bother me.
- Once I have finished with the Remove tool, I create a transparent layer on top and use the clone stamp and spot healing brush to do some more cleaning up.I find that not all tools work equally well for certain problems, so I just experiment and then use whichever works best. For example, the spot healing brush is great for pimples, skin blemishes, dust speckles etc, whereas the clone stamp works great for removing small elements, making an edge cleaner, etc. Also, try the clone stamp at about 20% opacity, set to “Lighten”, on dark circles under the eye, and on pronounced wrinkles – a portrait editing life saver!
- Next, I like to fix issues with the brush tool – I mainly use this technique for hair.When spot healing or removing a lot of stray hairs, it can sometimes look too smooth or blurry, in which case I simply paint back in some individual hairs to make the whole area look more natural. For this purpose, I use the eye dropper tool in two or three places and draw in hairs with the brush at 2px, then use Gaussian blur until the hairs look real.
- My next step would be frequency separation for skin retouching and fixing things like wrinkles in clothing. Frequency sepration seems very intidimating, but it actually only takes about one minute to set up, and the effect is beautifully smooth, especially for skin, so it’s totally worth the effort. There’s a great article on frequency separation here.
- Having now completed all corrective actions, I often use dodge and burn to make my images look more painterly and to emphasize light and shade. To do this, create a new layer and select it, then press Shift + F5 (Windows) and select the following parameters in the dialogue window: Contents: 50% grey, Blending Mode Soft Light, Opacity 100%. Then, you can use the Dodge and Burn tools to emphasize highlights and shadows, e.g. on the hair or, using a very fine brush, even in the eye. I set both tools to about 2% in order not to go overboard.
- Now, it’ finally time to colour grade.This used to be my least favourite task because I found colour theory quite overwhelming and never really knew how to get the colour I wanted, but I found that with practice and watching lots of Youtube videos on the topic, I got better at it. Also, it’s incredibly useful to get one of these colour wheels – you can see all complementary colours and know straight away what colours you need to add or subtract to get the desired result. My favourite colour grading tools in Photoshop are:
- – the White Balance tool for adding specific colours to shadows and highlights
- the Selective Color tool to adjust individual colours such as adjusting only reds or yellows, and
- the Hue/Saturation tool to change colours of an object or the overall look of the image
- Also, I almost always use the Color Lookup tool to pull the whole look of my photo together and give it a certain aesthetic (decrease the opacity to make it look more natural).
- Next, I go to “File” – “File Info” and add the title of the image, my website information, some keywords and a copyright notice (this is legally not necessary in the UK as simply having created the image makes me the copyright holder, but I always think it can’t hurt)
- Finally, to save the picture, I use a three part saving system.
- The first file remains saved under “FILE NAME_Editing File”, as a PSD document.
- I then copy this file and save it as a TIFF file under the name “FILE NAME_Printing File”. I use The Print Space in London for printing, and I have set up a printing profile in Photoshop for the print and paper type used. With the printing profile installed, I can now go to “Edit” – “Convert to Profile” and convert it to the correct colour space for The Print Space. This ensures that the colours will look correct when printing.
- Finally, I copy the editing file again and rename it “FILE NAME_Web File”. I convert this file to the colour space “sRGB” to make sure colours appear similar on everyone’s screen. I also change the image size to about 1500px at the widest side and change the resolution to 100dpi max. This is the only file I will ever display on my website or on social media.