Post processing adjustment sequence

• Brian_C

  Participant

  January 25, 2008 at 1:56 pm

  I’m just curious… is there a best sequence of adjustments/enhancements when processing either a JPG or RAW. I mean, I heard some place that sharpening should be the last thing you do to an image, but is there any other adjustments that, if carried out, are best done either before or after other adjustments.
  stcstc

  Member

  January 25, 2008 at 2:04 pm

  it depends on what adjustments you do

  for example if you apply contrast in one move, ie an s curve in curves, it can create a colour shift,

  so if you do this do your colour adjustments after it
  kellyseye

  Participant

  January 25, 2008 at 10:48 pm

  good question, something i was always curious about!

  I usually adjust contrast ie curve first, then decide on whether i want to change white balance or not (RAW).

  Then color adjustment & finally sharpening.

  I was always wondering what is the proper way to approach this.. i guess it varies depending on type of photo and how the camera is set up before you shoot.

  I know that when i started shooting in RAW i would be spending hours messing with adjustments! & after a while it does get rather tiresome!

  Anyway i would be interested to know other peoples processing sequencing

  Thanks

  derek
  petercox

  Member

  January 28, 2008 at 4:22 am

  The workflow in most RAW converters is pretty sensible, although it is often useful to get the tone of the image right (exposure tools, contrast) before changing colour balance – if you can’t see the colours you can’t judge ’em.

  Agree with the suggestion to do curve changes before colour changes due to the colour shift that can happen when increasing or decreasing contrast. That can be avoided by converting the image to Lab colour and applying your contrast curve in the Lightness channel, though.

  Other than that, it’s fair game. I’d make global changes first, then do your local changes (dodging/burning, masked layers and so on). Sharpening is indeed the last thing you do and should only be done on the image when it is at its output size. Resizing a sharpened image (especially upressing) can produce some undesireable artefacts.

  You should do as much as you can in the RAW converter, obviously, and make sure you bring the image into Photoshop as 16 bits. My RAW tutorial at http://www.petercox.ie/tutorials.php should help there.

  I plan to add tutorials on IR post processing and Lab colour in the near future too.

  Peter