I wrote a few tutorials awhile back and thought I would make them available to anyone that might find them useful. They are in PDF format. If you are unable to read PDF format, you can download the free Adobe reader from Adobe or PM me and I'll send it to you in another format if needed.
While designed for Photoshop, many of the steps can be adapted to work with Elements and PSP, as well.
This first tutorial is a brief overview of making basic tonal adjustments and a basic workflow ... Link (http://www.never3putt.com/photos/files/Basic%20Tonal%20Adjustments.pdf)
Next is a tutorial on how to make and use a simple layer mask. Layer masks are very powerful tools and I rely on them greatly during my Photoshop work ... Link (http://www.never3putt.com/photos/files/A%20Quick%20Tutorial%20on%20Simple%20Mask%20Techniques.pdf)
And finally, a very quick tutorial on how to straighten the horizon in your picture (you know those shots...the one where the water is running uphill :) ) ...... Link (http://www.never3putt.com/photos/files/Straighten%20that%20Horizon.pdf)
Thanks so very much for these.
I will sit and read through them a little later. I really appreciate your putting them on here.
I hope that you and others find them useful. If there are other topics that people would like to see a tutorial, please let me know and (if I know anything about the subject) I will put one together.
Thank you so much for posting these tutorials. I have PS but have never used it.
Enjoyed the tutorials and learned several things from them. Thanks! I would personally like a little bit of tutelage on unsharp mask as I never seem to get it to look clean and sharp.
Glad people are finding them useful. I'll see what I can put together on sharpening.
I'm usually dealing with reasonably sharp stuff, but my biggest problem seems to be that I can't discern that fine line between "just enough" and too much with various radius settings, threshold, etc. Tips on "how much is usually enough" would be good.
Sharpening is one of those worlds where there is a lot of debate over what's best and what's not. Personally, I find it to be a very personal choice. I tend to shoot 100% RAW mode and do not apply sharpening until late in post processing. I'll review some notes on radius and threshold settings and get back to you. You're right, there is a fine line between just enough and too much. Too much and you start to see halo effects. Another consideration is whether you're viewing it on a monitor or you're going to print it. I tend to sharpen more for print than I do for a monitor display....also recognizing that LCD monitors will look sharper than CRT so that also will affect your sharpening. In any case, I do have some input buried in my computer somewhere and will review them and post the info for your use.