Damien Symonds

Sorry, there is no way to "urgently" learn the advanced features of Photoshop, or even the basic features for that matter. It takes years and years to get really advanced.

Great. This is probably because you turned down your lighting. What brightness target did you calibrate to? 80? 100? Something else?

I fear you're not following my instructions closely enough. You should never have landed on this screen.

Should be fine, yes.

Yeah, you're probably right. The first thing I need you to do is this: https://www.damiensymonds.net/2013/10/how-to-properly-re-install-spyder.html

How long, exactly? I'm trying to establish how long it's been since you last achieved a good calibration with the Spyder.

Thanks, I'm sure this answers the next question I was about to ask - whether you were confident that the Spyder itself is functioning ok. If you've used it successfully plenty of times before, that's great. What screen did you have before?

Are you still there, @Amanda A?

Thanks. And you were following my directions here?

Hi @Amanda A, just to check, do you only have the one monitor attached to your computer? Occasionally there can be complications if you're running dual monitors. Which Spyder is it?

What does your "someone" need help with, exactly?

It's here: https://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/09/cropping-tutorial.html I recently updated it, yes. Well, when I say "updated", I actually shortened it a whole lot, to just leave the most important part.

I went with Outlook, and it's going well. As it turned out we didn't switch our ISP after all, so it kinda didn't matter.

I'm about 70% sure that I'll be able to help you change the colour of smoke, in at least some of the photos you take. But that means I'm 30% nervous, of course. If you invest the time and expense, then it turns out that it's not possible after all, you and I will be frustrated and your client will be disappointed. The decision about whether to try it will have to be up to you. (I can say, though, that I'm 100% sure that it will be very time-consuming editing. So be sure that you're prepared for that commitment.)

With a gradient. I did a quick one, but of course the masking will need to be MUCH more precise than this. Download PSD

Do you mean you want the trees and marina in your photo to be invisible?

https://www.damiensymonds.net/thread1.html https://www.damiensymonds.net/2015/09/black-boxes-and-other-weird-behaviour.html

Oh gee. For anything else, turning red or blue to maroon is easy. Like, clothing or whatever. But smoke? You can't "select" smoke. Can you give me any links to photos that have used a smoke bomb, as examples?

Channel Mixer layer ... Red 0, +85, +15, -9 Green 0, +85, +15, -3 Blue 0, +85, +15, +10

Please @Jadegirly2k?

Definitely ok, yes.

Although I haven't used this particular screen, my general experience with HP screens has been great. The only problem is, I can't figure out how glossy or matte it is. I read through pages and pages of the Q&A, and some people said it was glossy, somebody else said it was glossy with an anti-glare coating, but somebody else said it was matte. You'll need to satisfy yourself that it's NOT glossy. Glossy screens are the devil for editing.

My personal experiences with LG monitors have been good. Out of interest, what size screen are you working on at the moment?

I have used a BenQ myself, but I know plenty of people have said they love theirs. I think you'd be happy with this. I don't know what Eye Care is, but I'm very worried about "Brightness Intelligence". Make sure you turn that off.