Again, quite well done. While, I'm not a fan of some of the techniques (Gaussian Blur), the application of other techniques was very enlightening. Specifically, the combined use of masks, curves, and channel mixer components. When I download the PSDs I immediately 'get it', both literally and figuratively. Thank you.

Clear and Shiny as always. Really well exposed and great concepts in here. I really like the way You expose every single theme. Waiting for the second part :). I think that the most interesting thing is, not only the technical thought, but the crystalline way You explain the irrational part (emotions and how to represent it). Thank You.

Excellent tutorial - who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks ;-)

"Immediately after creating the Curves adjustment layer I fill the mask with black using the bucket tool (I’m pretty sure there’s a keyboard shortcut for doing this, but I can never remember it). This entirely blocks the effect of the layer."

I don't know about the shortcut for filling black but on a solid white mask I usually do CTRL-I (I'm on a PC) to invert it, which then makes it black.

another great tutorial :) my only comment is have you got any further with the being able to create a pdf format so i can print it off and have it in front of me im working from laptop and its a tricky keep flipping to and fro
thanks

Jamey: thanks for the tip.

Lisa: I got part way through sorting it out but ran out of time to implement it for this tutorial. When I do get it sorted I'll update all of them.

" I spent ages drawing very precise masks around the whites of people’s eyes and then wondered why my adjusted images ended up looking odd."

Me too!!

This is the single best piece of advice (for me) in this tutorial, I would have never thought of this....thank you!

Paul: you'll find it makes a huge difference, and providing you don't overdo the adjustments your images will look much more natural.

Fantastic tutorial, I never realised how much impact a very small change can make if applied well.

Does anyone know if I can use these techniques using Photoshop Elements for Mac? Or do I Need CS3?

Chris: you can use some of the techniques in Elements 4 for Mac but as there isn't a demo version I can't download it to work out exactly which are compatible.

I know that it probably has all the blend modes you'll need, but I'm not sure if it has a Curves tool. The latest version for PC does (though it's not as flexible as the full Photoshop tool) but I don't know about the Mac version.

In response to Chris/djn1: Although certain things won't be possible with Elements 4, it is possible to follow a lot of the tutorials with minimal workflow changes. Extra functionality can be added to Elements through 3rd party (sometimes free) plug-ins. In fact, Elements 3 is actually better in this respect as Adobe closed some of the loop-holes in v.4 so its hard to get curves/channel mixer plugins for v4 whereas its easy for v3... just do an internet search for 'curves plug in photoshop elements'

I'm running behind in the tutorials at the moment, but the one's I've read have been very good so far! I like the idea of a PDF version.

Your portraits are awsome and so is this tutorial! As said above, the PSD's are great, they really are the practical learning element of all these tutorials.

hello, as a new member, i want to say that this is well done. I do like the .psd files and i wish i could use a pdf for reading also...i hate to read for a long time on computers... just can't wait for the lab color one, Merry Christmas to you and your family ;-)

i don't know where to write this, so here it is... i have a suggestion for a tutorial... eyes... not just sharpen and screen a layer, but the magic ones like we see on flickr but nobody will share the recepies... thanks in advance, Mike

Mike: I suspect that the majority of people will use a masked Curve to adjust eyes, maybe two: one for the white of the eye, another for the pupil and iris. The technique is identical to the one I describe in this tutorial other than that the masks are probably more precise; i.e. in the tutorial I show you how to lighten the eyes and the surrounding area.

Great ...
Really a beautifull work this tutorial ...
Tks!!

Great job ! My first steps in chromasian pictures !

No french translation available !?

paflechien: at this stage we don't have any plans to translate the tutorials, but it is something we're considering.

I love doing portraits and associated with this is a question.

Do you decide the "look" of the final image at the time you take the photograph or just before you do post processing?

I understood what you said regarding the exploratory nature of landscape images but was wondering when the decision is made on how you are going to manipulate the image....before or after the shot is taken? I.e. are the shots set up to be manipulated or simply just taken and the interpretation of how to present them chosen just prior processing?

Does this make sense?

Anurag: most of the shots I take of my own children aren't staged in any way so I often grab the shot then think about the processing later.

thanks david.. useful as always!

odilia

You wrote, "Immediately after creating the Curves adjustment layer I fill the mask with black using the bucket tool (I’m pretty sure there’s a keyboard shortcut for doing this, but I can never remember it). This entirely blocks the effect of the layer."

I use a Mac w/Photoshop CS4. Here are the keyboard shortcuts:

Pressing the letter 'g' will select either the bucket tool or the gradient tool depending on which one you have visible in your tool pallet.

You can toggle back and forth between the gradient tool and the bucket tool by pressing SHIFT+g.

Once the bucket tool is selected you can make sure that your color is set to black by pressing the letter 'd' for the default color.

Re: last comment on Keyboard shortcuts.

If your default foreground color ends up being white when you press the letter 'd', you can toggle the foreground color from white to black by pressing the letter 'x'.

Thanks Jonas.

Many useful techniques were demonstrated in this tutorial and the processing of image 3 was, for me, of particular interest as it allowed me to learn how particular colour tones can be achieved to dramatically change a portrait.

Thank you.