Damien Symonds

So I think this method will work. Using it, I ended up with these white slider values for the first one: R 235 G 200 B 155 And for the second one, these white slider values: R 215 G 185 B 140 In both cases, the masking should be mainly ok with a 100% brush, but then a little bit of 10% work will be necessary to blend it nicely.

Great! Then that's all you can do. Explain to him that jpeg compression works very efficiently on photos that have areas of broad flat colour; so the sky (and to some degree the water) in this photo are the reason that the file isn't larger. Assure him that the quality is exquisite, and that he can safely print it as large as a house if he desires.

Flatten it and save it as a jpeg, do you mean?

Great

Was it this one? https://www.damiensymonds.net/workspace-video

That's great. So, while at work in good light, follow the troubleshooting part of my calibration instructions to correct the problem. And of course take steps to fix your lighting at home.

How about your light? Could it be the problem?

Do you mind showing me a screenshot (or several) to display the problem?

I was sure I'd written about this in the old AD, but I can't find it. It's High Pass Filter. These are the steps: Duplicate the Background layer Ctrl I to invert the colour of the layer. This will make everything look like a negative. Convert the layer to a Smart Object Change its blend mode to Soft Light Run Filter>Other>High Pass

Move the mask from the filter to the actual layer, I assume? Just drag it up.

Well duh. It's working absolutely fine, but you can't see it! It's completely obscured by your "Layer 1". Turn off "Layer 1" and you'll see what I mean.

No. Anything "auto" is dangerous, and must not be done. The reason you're switching to Bridge is to make the quality of your images better, not worse. If your photos need leveling, it's usually the very first step of your Photoshop editing, immediately after raw processing. Information about it here. If the situation is more complex, and actual distortion is needed, it's still usually the very first step. Information here. A very comprehensive discussion of these complex edits here. Please ask as many questions as you need to about this issue, because it's not easy to wrap your head around. As I said, the purpose of switching to Bridge is to make your photos better, not worse. I won't entertain this question. Stop doing that awful shit to your photos. Cropping never happens, EVER, during the editing workflow. Only during the output workflow. You will learn about it in the Sharpening Class. Very important info here and here. Once you take the Levels Class, you'll know how to naturally and seamlessly incorporate vignettes into your actual editing process, so that you won't need post-crop vignetting. Any form of automatic vignetting is unnatural and very last decade. Again, you'll learn this in the Sharpening Class. But the short answer is Image Processor. Also, this is very important.

What things?

Please post this photo in the Raw Class as soon as you're ready.

Your editing and sharpening are all wrong (you'll learn about those soon), but I can assure you this focus is fine.

Huh!

Oh, great! Then just add a white Solid Color layer, then zoom way the heck in and mask using the Shift key. Easy peasy.

Ok. And how many are there to do?

I've moved this thread to Ask Damien, since it's not a class question. In order to answer this question, I need to know whether they ACTUALLY want a white background, or whether they want no background at all. For whom are you providing this service, and what did they exactly ask for?

Ok, can you identify any differences between the old files (that work) and the new files (that don't)? Eg number of layers, or bit depth, or file format?

Hang on ... earlier you said you were running an action ... now you're saying you're not?

Ok, try putting it at 100, and seeing if it makes any difference. IMPORTANT: Even at 100, there will still be a limit to how many images you can batch at once. ALSO IMPORTANT: Don't take it higher than 100, unless you have a VERY powerful computer.

No, they're not related, don't worry.

Not quite. Look in "Performance"

Great! So, calibrate again. This is not an uncommon glitch, it happens to everyone from time to time. Wait, what? Has this happened before?