It's Time to Become Proficient in Photoshop/ACR and Bridge!

Related Posts

• 
  Camera Raw/Bridge Basics

   

  Learning to use Adobe Camera Raw can be daunting and cumbersome.  Especially if you are new to the program.

  Here are 2 videos, showing you how I use bridge and ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) to edit my images.  

  I cover Batch Editing, Star ratings and how to use them effectively in a fast workflow, presets, adjustment brushes, radial filters, tone curves, using the straightening tool and more! 

   Video 1

   

   

  Video 2

  Don't forget about our Sale!  $99 for our ENTIRE STORE!  Never happened before and will never happen again!!  Hurry!  CLICK HERE. 

  Also don't forget to join our Facebook Group for chances to win free sets!  CLICK HERE

  Our 1st sky Swap is being discontinued on July 2nd!  Hurry and get your set for only $28!  CLICK HERE!

   

• 
  How Batch Renaming in Bridge Can Save You Headaches - Pure Photoshop Actions Photoshop Tips

  As we are moving content over from Facebook that we have shared over the last few years, we came across this gem that we talked about back in 2011!  Can't believe it has already been 3 years since we shared this!  We do this a little differently then we did 3 years ago, so here it is, updated and current! 

  We've probably all had it happen.  You have an amazing session.  You deliver a disk full of amazing images.  You eagerly await the client's enthusiastic email response and you get, "Wow!  We love ALL the images you gave us.  But we save IMG_0255 and IMG_0259.  Where are the ones in between?  We'd love to see them all!"  Ugh.  Maybe the ones in between were duplicates.  Or blinks.  Or REALLY wonky expressions.  Or out-of-focus.  But for whatever reason, you don't want to have those images out there associated with your brand.  But once the door is opened and the client thinks there are adorable images of their child that you're withholding, it can be a tricky situation to tactfully avoid (without sounding like you made 4 duds of images either.)

  So, we avoid this by renaming our images in Bridge.  (We also do from Lightroom, and we will be creating a post outlining the Lightroom steps for Lightroom too!)  This means your images will simply go from 1-whatever your last image is.  It doesn't suggest to the client that there are images floating around that could be AMAZING that they do not have and will never see.  Instead it looks like you delivered a great set and they are excited.  

  Afterall, drama avoided is the very best way to deal with drama.

  • Open up Bridge.  It is part of the Adobe Photoshop Program.  
  • Navigate to your folder of images.  We only batch rename photos, after, we have culled and edited the session.  That way if we find more images to edit, or we decide that an image we had chosen to edit, wasn't up to par, we don't have to rename. 
  • Select all the images that you want to rename.  I always add a star rating to my images that I want to keep when I cull my sessions, and then view by star rating of 1 or greater.  That way I only see the images that I have edited.  (As I only edit the images I have giving a star rating too)  You can select them all by choosing the first one, holding down the shift key and selecting the last image, and it will choose all the images in between.  We will go into culling, and how we cull a session in just minutes and a wedding in about 30 minutes, in another blog post

   

  and now you are only viewing the images you have marked with a star. 

  • Go up to your menu and choose Tools > Batch Rename

   

  • For the options, you can choose what you feel is best, however I just choose to rename in the same folder.  That way I am not taking up any more hard drive space.  I then choose the options of Text and that is where I enter the name of the client and date of the shoot.  That way I can search easily if a client has a question later on.  I then start my sequence at 01 or 001 depending on how many files I am renaming.  If it is a portrait session, I usually delivering under 99 files.  If it is a wedding I usually am upwards of 3 digits sometimes even 4 digits. 

  • If you need to add more information to the name, you can add option boxes but clicking the plus sign next to one of the options already present, and then choose one of the options from the drop down menu. 
  • Then hit rename.  Viola, you have all of your files renamed, and the client will never know how many images you took, or that 16 images are missing between shots due to duplicates, out of focus, bad expressions, bad lighting etc. 
  • Save your images as JPEG files, and either deliver to clients, or finish your Photoshop work on the files that need more touch ups and then save, or if you are renaming your JPEG files, Viola, you are done! 

  

   

   

• 
  Batch Editing in Bridge and ACR

  
  

  People often ask us how long it takes us to edit a wedding. When we reply 3 hours MAX, they can't believe it. What they don't know, is that it used to take us 30-40 hours per wedding. When we first started wedding photography, we felt we needed to hand touch each image in Photoshop. Since, we have learned the power of batch processing. Now the only images that we even open into Photoshop, up close images that need a little skin touchup on the bride or groom, images that are going in albums, or being printed, or the client wants as a fb profile image and it needs just a little bit of touchup on the skin.
  Most of our images just get the ACR edit, and it is a clean, simple and classic edit. It is the epitome of our style. We don't want our wedding clients to look at the editing on their images, and be like, oh yes that was so 2014. We want it to be simple and clean. We want them to be the star of the picture, not the editing.
  That makes the batch processing an ideal workflow for us.
  Even making this video, I was able to speed up my own personal workflow, by trying something different. We are always learning.
  If you like this video, and like the tutorial, please share this and tag your friends! We would love to know that this is helping someone! Also if you have any questions, please ask.
  Please remember, this is not me saying this is the only way to do this. This is simply a video where I show, what works best for me, and how I have achieved a fast wedding workflow.
  

  The presets that I used are from the 1st preset collection. We have them for both ACR (what I used here) and Lightroom.  Click HERE to view those. 

  Click the gear at the bottom right hand corner to choose 1080 HD. :)  That way you get the best quality.  

• 
  Good, Better, Best--The Most Effective Workflow

  To be a successful photographer you need to create great images.

  ...

  Ok, duh.  Right?

  But really.  You DO need to create stunning, timeless images that resonate with your audience.

  However, you also need to have an effective workflow.  You need to be able to handle enough clients to pay the bills and you need to be able to deliver your product quickly enough that people will be happy with the speed of delivery.

  Well, that is one reason we sell our actions and presets.  We believe that we can help photographers with getting clean, classic, stylish, timeless edits more quickly.  Which we feel pretty good about.

  But there is a nagging question that lots of people ask us.  Heck, WE asked ourselves this question for months.  WHAT is the place of Lightroom in an effective workflow?  What is the place of Photoshop?  What about Adobe Camera RAW (ACR)?

  Here's what we've come up with as we continue to tweak and refine our own personal workflows.  See, we're not just action vendors.  We're wedding and portrait photographers with a full plate.  We have lots of kids and a home life too, so getting a workflow that was fast was important to us.  We'll go over the minutiae of our workflows in a later post, but we wanted people to start thinking about how different programs can work together.

  We feel like Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW/Bridge serve a very similar function for the end user.  We don't advocate one over the other, because we understand that their use is really personal preference.  In fact, to highlight this, Rachel prefers to use Lightroom and Crystal swears by using Adobe Camera RAW/Bridge.  So, even amongst Pure, there is no consensus as to which holds the crown.

  What we DO agree on is that getting as MUCH of your editing done in your RAW editor (ACR or Lightroom) is critical to speed.  This is where we come in and apply our workflow presets and white balance, etc.  We get a very good, clean image.  In Lightroom or ACR you can easily apply full edits from one image to the next.  It cuts down your time from days or hours on a session to often under an hour.  (I can usually get a full portrait session out of Lightroom in under 30 minutes.)

  I will actually deliver a wedding/reception straight out of Lightroom.  That is how nice the edit is...but for the album??

  Lightroom/ACR are incredibly fast, and I want them to be the full answer to editing, but I am going to admit something.  I don't think Lightroom can give that final OOMPH that adding just that last polish in Photoshop can.  So, after I get all of my RAW tweaks, I will upload the images to Photoshop to give that last polish.  I feel that Lightroom/ACR can get an image to about 90%, but there is a reason Photoshop costs more.  It is more targeted.  I can clean up an image better.  Healing and cloning are much better in Photoshop.  Targeting specific colors and styles is better and more effective in Photoshop.  I feel that last 10% of style and nuance can come in Photoshop.  So for any items going to print or for display on the web or in ads, I will make sure it gets the once-over in Photoshop.

  Again, using our actions, I can give my images that final Pure polish, but do so efficiently.  Because with out both style and efficiency, I feel that our business would not succeed.

  

  Above is a clean SOOC.  Middle image is a color corrected edit from Lightroom using Basic Warm Workflow 2 from Pure Presets 1. (Not bad, and done in one click.)  Bottom is polished with Defined Matte in PS and fixed with the Healing Brush tool.  

• 
  How to photograph your Christmas Tree

  The holidays are coming and with them come a lot of photo ops. Want to take them up a notch? How about getting a little star burst on your Christmas tree lights or Menorah candles? This is a fun little trick that will give your holiday photos a little extra sparkle.

  It is important that you have a tripod for this, as we will be working with longer exposures. You will also need a camera where you can control the exposure, like a DSLR or a bridge point and shoot.

  Now, in a semi-dim room with candles or Christmas lights lit, position the tripod where you would like it. Now we fiddle with the exposure. My usual starting place is f/16, ISO 200, shutter speed 15 seconds--see why we need the tripod? I also will put my camera on a 2 second delay, so when I hit the shutter, it isn't affected by any movement of the camera when i push the button.

  (If you do not own a tripod, you can also set your camera on a table or s chair or the arm of a couch. Just make sure that wherever you place it, it will remain 100% still, and is also 100% safe!)

  The critical part here is the f/16. (Go higher if you want or can! Mine were shot at F22) You need to be able to close your aperture as tightly as it will go or very close. (Some lenses can close up to f/32, some only go to f/16. The point is to close it up tight.) Fiddle with your shutter speed and ISO to get the right balance of light, but keep your aperture closed. Depending on your camera, you may have to have a longer shutter speed, if your camera can not handle higher ISO's well. It is the high aperture that gets you the star burst, so this is pretty much non-negotiable.

  Another key point is to use the self-timer. Even if you have your camera on a tripod, when you hit the shutter button, there will be just a tiny bit of shake or movement. If you use the 2 second self timer, that allows you to press the shutter and move your hand away from the camera, so nothing is touching it while the camera is taking the picture.

  

  Below is a pull back shot of the tree lights, with the up close shot being above. (In this small size, the full shot won't have the same punch with the lights as it would in a larger image.)

  

  

  

  My settings for the image above. :)

  Using the technique above here are pictures from last Christmas

  

• 
  How to Photograph your Christmas Tree

  The holidays are coming and with them come a lot of photo ops. Want to take them up a notch? How about getting a little star burst on your Christmas tree lights or Menorah candles? This is a fun little trick that will give your holiday photos a little extra sparkle.

  

   

   

  It is important that you have a tripod for this, as we will be working with longer exposures. You will also need a camera where you can control the exposure, like a DSLR or a bridge point and shoot.

  Now, in a semi-dim room with candles or Christmas lights lit, position the tripod where you would like it. Now we fiddle with the exposure. My usual starting place is f/16, ISO 200, shutter speed 15 seconds–see why we need the tripod? I also will put my camera on a 2 second delay, so when I hit the shutter, it isn’t affected by any movement of the camera when i push the button.

  (If you do not own a tripod, you can also set your camera on a table or s chair or the arm of a couch. Just make sure that wherever you place it, it will remain 100% still, and is also 100% safe!)

  The critical part here is the f/16. (Go higher if you want or can! Mine were shot at F22) You need to be able to close your aperture as tightly as it will go or very close. (Some lenses can close up to f/32, some only go to f/16. The point is to close it up tight.) Fiddle with your shutter speed and ISO to get the right balance of light, but keep your aperture closed. Depending on your camera, you may have to have a longer shutter speed, if your camera can not handle higher ISO’s well. It is the high aperture that gets you the star burst, so this is pretty much non-negotiable.

  Another key point is to use the self-timer. Even if you have your camera on a tripod, when you hit the shutter button, there will be just a tiny bit of shake or movement. If you use the 2 second self timer, that allows you to press the shutter and move your hand away from the camera, so nothing is touching it while the camera is taking the picture.

  Below is a pull back shot of the tree lights, with the up close shot being above. (In this small size, the full shot won’t have the same punch with the lights as it would in a larger image.)

  

   

   

   my settings for the picture above :)