Photoshoping a picture?

[Irie Times]

What do you typically do when Photoshoping a picture? I basically sharpen it and crop it; However, I am not very impressed with some of the results. Those results being it doesn't look much different than before I did anything other than the crop size.

Anyway I was just curious what other people do to their pictures to make them look so great.

Thanks in advance for all info.

[Sebastian]

Crop, unsharp mask, and levels adjustments. THere is no reason you can't get great results. Tell us exactly what you do, step by step, and we'll see if you're on the right track.

[Irie Times]

Step 1: Crop out what I don't want.

Step 2: Go to Filters and select sharpen then apply.

Step 3: Go to Layers and adjust contrast and shapness, but usually cancel that change because I don't like the results or it changes my original photo to much.

That is it.

[Sebastian]

Yup, that'll do it. Each one of those functions is useless.

Crop
Adjust LEVELS
And UNSHARP MASK to your liking

Try that.

Here's a good discussion on using levels.

[Irie Times]

I will take a look at that link

[Irie Times]

thank you!

[Sebastian]

thank you!

You're welcome.

The tools you were using are canned, they provide no control, and they don't work most of the time or deliver unwanted results. The tools I suggested give you control, and can make or break it.

[StillMrFitz]

What do you typically do when Photoshoping a picture? I basically sharpen it and crop it; However, I am not very impressed with some of the results. Those results being it doesn't look much different than before I did anything other than the crop size.

Anyway I was just curious what other people do to their pictures to make them look so great.

Thanks in advance for all info.

The following could be termed PhotoShopping a picture or "Post Processing"
I can sit at my computer and fully correct my prints to match my thoughts off how the print should appear. The second thing to realize with digital cameras and scanners, is that the system is imperfect and results in losses when you take a photograph with a digital camera or scan a negative or slide.
You lose sharpness, contrast and colour saturation, it is a part of the process with present digital technology. The only way to recover the losses and restore what the system is capable off is through post-processing. This need not be a long process; the first step is to cull or throw away the hopeless exposures, then you crop to improve composition, next you restore contrast, do colour corrections, chose colour saturation, spot if needed and finally do any necessary sharpening, using one or more methods, one or more times, throughout the process. In addition, I suggest cloning out any distracting elements, which intrude around the edge of your photograph.
With a good workflow and very little practice this can be accomplished in 5 to 7 minutes per photograph.
See the attached example and decide for yourself if it is not worth it for your photography.

You should know that I reserve this task for nights, rainy days, idle moments, snowstorms, being home alone, awake at night, or first thing in the morning, when nobody else is and I cannot make noise and any other non-shooting time.
I shoot slides so of course I must scan them as well; now that's a chore. fficeffice" />>>
This process is most important if you wish to print your photos at their best. Think of it as "your" control over "your" photography!!!
Top photo is straight from the scanner.
Bottom is after the corrections outlined above.

[Irie Times]

been troubled with. I feel I take a promising picture only to download it and not have it look as my mind had pictured it. I know that much of this is a result of the shutter speed, apature and other factors which I didn't use properly.

However, at the same time when I process a picture I find promising, it was turinng out poorly.

Anyway thank you for your explination, by the way your photo is very nice.