27 January 2008
Don’t Get Too Close in Photoshop - TWIP
Posted by
Scott under:
Tips
By Scott Bourne
Too many photographers spend their time in iPhoto, Photoshop, Aperture etc, making changes to their images when they are zoomed in. If you zoom to 200% or more and start working on an image, particularly if you’re cloning or working with color, you’ll have an unrealistic view of how the overall image will look when you’re done.
Working at 100% (except at times when you really need to zoom in for a short period of time on a very small problem area) will yield the best results.
4 Comments so far...
dj paine Says:
30 January 2008 at 7:11 pm.
and sometimes u should zoom OUT for a minute to see if it looks natural….
[Reply]
Brent DeShazer Says:
3 February 2008 at 8:53 am.
There are a lot of reasons to use zoom levels greater than 100%, such as detailed retouching, hand-tweaking masks, etc.
To work at a zoomed-in level like this but still be able to keep an eye on the overall image, fromthe Photoshop menu choose “Window->Arrange->New Window for [name of your image]“. This creates a virtual copy of your image that you can keep at a zoom level that shows you the whole image while you use the other window to work at > 100% zoom levels. The virtual copy will reflect all the changes you make in the zoomed-in image, allowing you to easily see if you’ve gone to far with an adjustment or correction.
[Reply]
Scott Says:
3 February 2008 at 7:44 pm.
Please note the post isn’t intended to say you should NEVER zoom in. Just that you shouldn’t START zoomed in and stay there. You will indeed end up with poor results in my experience.
[Reply]
