# editing question?



## mommyof4qteez (Aug 21, 2012)

I edit with PSE10 and sometimes it seems as though my edited pics are not near as sharp as my SOOC pics...am I doing something wrong in edit to ruin the quality of my images?


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## MTVision (Aug 21, 2012)

mommyof4qteez said:
			
		

> I edit with PSE10 and sometimes it seems as though my edited pics are not near as sharp as my SOOC pics...am I doing something wrong in edit to ruin the quality of my images?



Are you editing jpegs or raw files?

What do you normally do for editing?


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## mommyof4qteez (Aug 21, 2012)

I've done both raw and jpeg...and I airbrush the skin, whiten the teeth,  add a bit of eye sparkle and then tweak colors and such with my florabella actions...


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## MTVision (Aug 21, 2012)

mommyof4qteez said:
			
		

> I've done both raw and jpeg...and I airbrush the skin, whiten the teeth,  add a bit of eye sparkle and then tweak colors and such with my florabella actions...



Anyway to post an example before and after??

Do you sharpen them at all??


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## KmH (Aug 22, 2012)

Post a before and after example.

Any edit done degrades image quality to some extent. Are you doing each edit type on a separate layer? Do you use adjustment layers? What edit tools/features/functions does the florabella actions use?
What technique/tools/tool options do you use to airbrush the skin, whiten the teeth, add a bit of eye sparkle and then tweak colors.

Elements can only do 8-bit depth edits, where as image editing experts recommend doing as much editing as possible with the bit-depth set to 16-bits.
Elements Camera Raw is a parametric editor, which means pixels don't actually get changed (non-destructive editing). Adjustment layers are also non-destructive.

JPEGs are edited in the camera, have had 805 or more of the color data thrown away, and have little if any editing headroom left for post productioin.


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## mommyof4qteez (Aug 22, 2012)

Well my RAW edited image did look alot sharper...and yes, I do sharpen in edit if needed...I do use several separate layers for colors, etc... I use the florabella retouch for airbrushing, and all the glamour edits...just read online that florabella is intended for RAW images and won't destroy them...thinking I'm just going to shoot completely in RAW from now on... do you all shoot in RAW?


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## MLeeK (Aug 22, 2012)

Yes. Most of us shoot raw. 
It would really help if you would simply save one of your images as jpeg before you do any editing and then edit it. Then post. We can usually see pretty easily what's going on.


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## The_Traveler (Aug 22, 2012)

From examples shown on the site, Florabella Retouch produces plastic, blurred skin.
my general reaction is UGGH

Using actions when you don't know what you are doing yet is a sure path to mediocre results.
Actions are good to save time if you know how they work and what they do; otherwise it is a crap shoot.


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## mommyof4qteez (Aug 22, 2012)

I mostly just get rid of blemishes and when airbrushing, I always lower the opacity...I'm not a fan of the plastic look.. I know how to make my own color overlays, the actions just save me alot of time...but thanks.


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## MLeeK (Aug 22, 2012)

Florabella has some great actions-when you make them bend to your will. As long as you know what they are doing and you are adjusting it to a much better level you are fine with them. 
I have learned MUCH from actions like florabella by reverse engineering them to find out how and why they produce what they do.


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## mommyof4qteez (Aug 23, 2012)

Yes, florabella has taught me alot as well...I love how you can adjust them and play around with them to get unique looks with each action


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## mommyof4qteez (Aug 23, 2012)

And I did find out that the florabella actions are in fact more compatible with RAW images than JPEG images...that might just be my problem....


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## The_Traveler (Aug 23, 2012)

mommyof4qteez said:


> And I did find out that the florabella actions are in fact more compatible with RAW images than JPEG images...that might just be my problem....



I don't know what you mean.
Florabella actions seem to be recorded keystrokes in either Photoshop or PS elements.
A RAW file has inherently more information than a jpeg and, adter translation into a psd or tiff,  PS has more to work with.

Your issue about sharpness may be due to the actions using blur layers that obscures some of the tone changes that create the visual perception of sharpness.
It would be much easier to see what you are talking about if you would post good sized before and after images.


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## MLeeK (Aug 23, 2012)

The_Traveler said:


> mommyof4qteez said:
> 
> 
> > And I did find out that the florabella actions are in fact more compatible with RAW images than JPEG images...that might just be my problem....
> ...


Florabella's new actions are designed to be layers above the raw image and not to do any invasive editing of the image that you can't change the opacity of or adjust to taste. Hence why it's said that they are designed to work with or be compatible with raw images.

As for that being the problem when editing-no. It is actually not touching that base layer that is YOUR image until you flatten and save as a new jpeg. If the edits are too much as might be for a raw image you have the ability to scale them back because of the way the actions are designed.


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## The_Traveler (Aug 23, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> > mommyof4qteez said:
> ...



There is the disconnect.
The base layer is not the raw file.
It is the original data as converted by the raw translator into whatever file format is chosen - psd, tiff or dng.
It is quite possible that the overlying layer leads to an impression of unsharpness because sharpness is perceived as the junction between a dark edge and a light edge.
If the overlying layer blurs that junction, it will look less sharp

so:

Here is an unsharpened example







if I sharpen it, the margin at 600% looks like this. This is what shapening does. It darkens a line of pixels on the dark side and lightens a line on the bright side to accentuate the transition.
So your image looks sharp.






Now if I add a layer (like the action does) and blur it to remove the skin blemishes, it also blurs the edges and removes some of the perceived sharpening effect.






so what looks sharp, now looks less so.






If you did the defect/blemish removal by hand, you can/should create a mask to protect the edges and keep the sharp look.
By using an action, it blurs everything, the blemishes, the pores and the edges.

Make some sense?


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## MTVision (Aug 23, 2012)

The_Traveler said:
			
		

> There is the disconnect.
> The base layer is not the raw file.
> It is the original data as converted by the raw translator into whatever file format is chosen - psd, tiff or dng.
> It is quite possible that the overlying layer leads to an impression of unsharpness because sharpness is perceived as the junction between a dark edge and a light edge.
> ...



I'm not 100% about the actions the OP used but usually with skin actions the black mask is already in place so nothing is touched - you actually have to paint in what you want fixed. 

But I have seen other actions that do have a soft blur layer added to the overall image.....


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## mommyof4qteez (Aug 24, 2012)

The_Traveler said:
			
		

> There is the disconnect.
> The base layer is not the raw file.
> It is the original data as converted by the raw translator into whatever file format is chosen - psd, tiff or dng.
> It is quite possible that the overlying layer leads to an impression of unsharpness because sharpness is perceived as the junction between a dark edge and a light edge.
> ...



Makes perfect sense!! Thanks!! And @ MTV, yes, I just use a brush and fix what I want....


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