Hi all,
Thought I would start a thread geared towards peoples workflow in photoshop. For me personally, I have a different workflow depending on the subject, so for aviation, it's always been roughly the same. Below are the steps I usually take to get my final result. Bear in mind that this workflow is used to uploading to anet and jp, so things differ when you go outside that box.
Step 1: Crop and level. I always use the grid function to see where I need to level.
Step 2: Re-size. There are many myths out there on resizing for shaprening purposes, but I think this makes no difference resizing in steps to maintain IQ. I don't normally go above 1024 x for anet/jp unless I can justify it (to show off detail)
Step 3: Remove dust spots. I create a duplicate layer, select the background layer, then use the dust brush to go over any dust spots. Then I delete the copy layer to leave my background nice and clean
Step 4: Levels/Curves. Always a tricky one if the exposure needs a lot of correction. You could always adjust this in a RAW workflow beforehand. Keep the highlights to a minimum and control the shadows. Don't go crazy with the shadow/highlight tool. Halos will start to appear and the shadows can become noisy too
Step 5: Colour/colour balance. Usually I boost colour to make them pop a bit more. In the case of a photo having a bit of a colour cast, I use the sliders on the colour balance tool to even things up. Beware that it can only be used to correct a faulty white balance to a certain extent.
Step 6: Contrast. Usually just a bit of a boost, nothing to much.
Step 7: Sharpening. I've always worked on 500/0.2/0 using the USM tool in photoshop if the original is a sharp as it can be. only sharpen the aircraft. The easy way to do this is to sharpen the entire image then produce a layer mask - hide all.