I have to get this off my chest guys. I try to be a very helpful person when I can, because Lord knows I learn a ton from you guys (and other forums I frequent).
I have seen a lot of folks in this forum that don't know a lot about Photoshop. That's ok of course, but what disturbs me is to see people treating certain settings like it's "the law."
Just in the few weeks I've been on this forum I have come into contact with some of the most ridiculous notions concerning Photoshop.
Rather that deal with each, one by one, I'd just like to explain a little of how Photoshop works...
1.) Each pixel has a value in Photoshop. That value represents it's color, hue, luminosity etc. By having value, or number, attached to each pixel, it is then possible to do mathematical calculations on those numbers. The point here is that Photoshop has know way of knowing whether it's calculations look good or not. That is up to you, the artist. That said, you should never, never, never, never think that one setting in Photoshop is going to always work. Change the resolution of a picture (say from 72 to 300 dpi) and you'll see that quite a number of filters act differently (because for instance, you set the Blur to 3...meaning 3 pixels...but 3 pixels to a 72dpi image and 3 pixels to a 300 dpi image are proportionately different...as the effect will be (Blur in this case).
2. ) If you have 6 pixels ranging from white to black, with greys in between, and you apply a SHARPENING filter, Photoshop will change the color of those grey pixels to be closer to white and black. Many times this will cause 2 adjacent pixels to be the same color. If this happens, you have LOST detail. Folks on this forum really need to understand that almost (maybe all) FILTERS under the "Filter" menu are IMAGE DEGRADERS in some way.
3.) If you want to adjust a photo in Photoshop WITHOUT degrading your image, then stick mainly in the "Image" menu, which mostly offers tools that are non-degrading, and simply deal with the pixels that are present, rather than creating new pixels.
I say "mostly" because if you use the color controls to make a range of colors more similar, you run the very real risk of making adjacent colors "the same" - and in doing so, you are losing image detail.
That's all I can type for now, but if anyone ever has any Photoshop questions, I am here to help. I've used the program since version 2.0 in a print pre-press environment. I know this app like the back of my hand (probably better).
I just wanted to say this stuff because I don't think people should look to Photoshop for answers. It's always going to be there. It's an amazing program, no doubt. But it's much more amazing on a poor photo than a good one. In fact, a good photo to me could hardly be improved in PS.
I know 14 year old's that are amazing in Photoshop, but have no idea how to take a picture (that includes me...even though I'm 31;-). Hopefully that explains what I'm getting at.
jizzer
I have seen a lot of folks in this forum that don't know a lot about Photoshop. That's ok of course, but what disturbs me is to see people treating certain settings like it's "the law."
Just in the few weeks I've been on this forum I have come into contact with some of the most ridiculous notions concerning Photoshop.
Rather that deal with each, one by one, I'd just like to explain a little of how Photoshop works...
1.) Each pixel has a value in Photoshop. That value represents it's color, hue, luminosity etc. By having value, or number, attached to each pixel, it is then possible to do mathematical calculations on those numbers. The point here is that Photoshop has know way of knowing whether it's calculations look good or not. That is up to you, the artist. That said, you should never, never, never, never think that one setting in Photoshop is going to always work. Change the resolution of a picture (say from 72 to 300 dpi) and you'll see that quite a number of filters act differently (because for instance, you set the Blur to 3...meaning 3 pixels...but 3 pixels to a 72dpi image and 3 pixels to a 300 dpi image are proportionately different...as the effect will be (Blur in this case).
2. ) If you have 6 pixels ranging from white to black, with greys in between, and you apply a SHARPENING filter, Photoshop will change the color of those grey pixels to be closer to white and black. Many times this will cause 2 adjacent pixels to be the same color. If this happens, you have LOST detail. Folks on this forum really need to understand that almost (maybe all) FILTERS under the "Filter" menu are IMAGE DEGRADERS in some way.
3.) If you want to adjust a photo in Photoshop WITHOUT degrading your image, then stick mainly in the "Image" menu, which mostly offers tools that are non-degrading, and simply deal with the pixels that are present, rather than creating new pixels.
I say "mostly" because if you use the color controls to make a range of colors more similar, you run the very real risk of making adjacent colors "the same" - and in doing so, you are losing image detail.
That's all I can type for now, but if anyone ever has any Photoshop questions, I am here to help. I've used the program since version 2.0 in a print pre-press environment. I know this app like the back of my hand (probably better).
I just wanted to say this stuff because I don't think people should look to Photoshop for answers. It's always going to be there. It's an amazing program, no doubt. But it's much more amazing on a poor photo than a good one. In fact, a good photo to me could hardly be improved in PS.
I know 14 year old's that are amazing in Photoshop, but have no idea how to take a picture (that includes me...even though I'm 31;-). Hopefully that explains what I'm getting at.
jizzer
I did not take offense at all but rather took it to heart and filed it away for future thought. Sometimes we need to be reminded that the art begins with the image.