I know that the topic of work flow in PSP has been discussed here before, but I'd appreciate hearing what others recommend about order in which different steps are taken. The tutorials and guides I use don't always compare apples to oranges, so I get confused.
1. Noise removal: I have been running Edge Preserving Smooth at the very beginning of the adjustment process. My reasoning is that if there is electronic noise in the image, those pixels should come out early on or they get adjusted along with the rest of the shot. Sometimes it's easier to simply blur a noisy background, so I'll do that instead.
My question is whether I'm doing the right thing by beginning with noise removal.
2. Leveling: At first, I leveled horizons at the beginning of the process, too. It just bothers me to look at the photo and have to tilt my head. Also, because leveling requires subsequent cropping if you want a rectangular image, I reasoned that I should know what details at the edges were going to stay and which I was going to lose.
However, I came across a recommendation to avoid small rotations because of the way the algorithms might affect fine details. I have tried to be much more careful now when I shoot to prevent the need for rotation in processing, and I've also tried to save it for after resizing.
But does it make a difference when in the process I make rotation adjustments?
3. Sharpening: I often use a light degree of the Clarification filter toward the end of my process---one of the last things before converting the image back into a jpeg for posting on my online gallery. However, I know that you're supposed to wait until after that conversion to jpeg to use Unsharp Mask. Should I be waiting until after the conversion for Clarification, too?
Thanks in advance for any insight you may be able to share. I'd like to be able to stop fussing about details like this...and probably fuss about some others instead.
PS: In case it has a bearing on anything, I use an advanced compact camera, not a DSLR. The sensor is on the small side, so digital noise does tend to be a significant problem. Also, RAW files are not an option. I shoot high quality jpegs, as I didn't see any discernible difference when I tried shooting TIFFs.
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