Around here, we are a little jealous of our contributor, Erin Cobb. Her images are always perfect.
Perfect color? Check.
Perfect exposure? Check.
It is a good thing that we love her so much or we might be annoyed that she is so perfect. Tuesday is my new favorite day of the week. I love to read what she has to say.
When Erin released Clean Color, she was kind enough to let us watch her revolutionary videos. And really, these are revolutionary. You watch her edit images using her system and she goes into serious detail as to why she does what she does. I watched the video for Photoshop (there is one for Elements also) twice and I hung to her every word. Why didn’t someone make these 5 years ago when I was learning Photoshop?
I have been shooting forever and using Photoshop since my days of digital. What is so amazing about Erin’s video is that even though I use Photoshop every day, I learned so much. It was eye opening to see how someone else goes about editing and the thought process behind what they are doing.
I am a color shooter. 9 times out of 10 I will keep an image in color and I have always struggled with skin tones. Not anymore. Erin (and I) believe that it is important to get it right in camera as much as possible, but sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes our exposure is off. Sometimes we get weird color casts. Erin teaches us how to fix them. And not just fix them, but how to work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. She teaches you how to speed up your workflow. Little things here and there that have changed how I use Photoshop and how Photoshop performs for me.
Here is an image taken of my son. I used Erin’s steps for her basic edit. Isn’t the difference amazing?
This image taken in Trader Joe’s, was a little harder to work with. I used Erin’s simple steps and made a subtle but noticeable difference in the overall quality.
This last image has a whole lot wrong with it, but after a couple of Erin’s tricks and some adjustment layers, it is a whole new image. Even though Erin and I have very different styles, I can still take what I have learned and make it fit my own style.
How about a few more samples. These two are from Stephanie:
Before:
With TLC from Erin’s Clean Color tutorial:
A classic headshot:
With a few Clean Color adjustments to make it pop.
If you want to achieve classic, clean color, do yourself a favor and get Clean Color. You (and your images) will be happy that you did.
Erin is generously offering TCM readers $30 off of either version from today until FRIDAY (3/25). The code is thecreativemama.
