If you're interested, here are some details regarding the following topics:

RAW workflow

A. Renaming in PIE

I found out that PIE is also able to rename RAW files using the EXIF date and time embedded in the picture. That was a very good news! So I rename all my RAW files before post-processing them.

B. Developing in CaptureOne

I use CaptureOne to 'develop' my RAW file. I just started, so I won't even try to describe my amateurish process here. I basically follow C1's recommended workflow and develop my picture as a 16-bit TIFF file that I then open with Paint Shop Pro.

C. Finishing in Paint Shop Pro

I perform in PSP all the steps that I cannot do in C1. That is to say:

1. EXIF edition to add the picture title

2. Fine rotation adjustment (if needed)

2. Lens distortion correction (if needed)

3. Perspective correction (if needed)

4. Cropping

5. Saving as full-size JPEG for printing

6. Resizing to fit the web

7. USM slightly

8. Add frame and title

9. Saving now as a reduced size JPEG for web publishing

I then erase the 16-bit TIFF file that was just created as a lossless transition file between CaptureOne and PaintShopPro.

JPEG workflow (PaintShopPro)

I'm now the happy owner of Photoshop CS, but I still don't really know how to use it. Later, I'll update this PaintShopPro workflow with a new one applicable to Photoshop CS.

A. Preparation work

1. Portrait / Landscape rotation

Many software actually do this. However, few do 90 degrees lossless rotations without loosing EXIF information at the same time (at least PSP7 wasn't... I actually think that PSP8 does it. I should try). I'm using PIE from Picmeta (see credits & links). PIE does lossless rotations, preserves the EXIF information and is pretty cheap.

2. Renaming

With two different cameras and two different file naming standards, archiving pictures can become complex. I'm renaming all my files with PIE. It extracts date and time from the EXIF information embedded in the JPEG file to create the new picture file name (YYMMDD_HHMMSS.jpg).

3. Creating duplicate

I start by loading my original picture file in Paint Shop. Then, I save a copy of the picture (by pressing F12) with the suffix "_2". From now on, I'm just working on the copy, keeping my original file untouched.

4. Editing EXIF

I edit EXIF information using Paint Shop Pro to edit the title of the picture. This title will later be read by a script and be written on the picture border. To see EXIF information in PSP, press SHIFT+I and go to the third tab.

B. Adjusting Image geometry

1. Fine rotation adjustment

I "hate" titled pictures... So I always check that what is supposed to be horizontal actually is (especially the sea's horizon). It really hurts when it's not. The grid (Ctrl-Alt-G) helps a lot here. I use the "Free rotate" tool (Image>Rotate>Free Rotate...):

Then the tool shows up as follows:

I pick a angle value. If it doesn't work, I undo (Ctrl-Z), re-launch the tool (Ctrl-R) and try again with a new value.

An other way of doing this that I discovered recently is to use the Straighten tool. It's very convenient.

2. Lens distortion correction

I have a slight barreling at 35mm, and a much more pronounced one with the Raynox adapter at 24mm. I use the new PSP8 Lens distortion correction tools (Adjust>Lens Correction> Barrel Distortion Correction... or Pincushion Distortion Correction...)

Using the grid (Ctrl-Alt-G), I verify that the correction makes the pillars, walls, etc. straight (and not curvy anymore). I usually don't check the "Preserve central scale".

Later, when I'll have time, I'll try the "Panorama Tool" as described here. This is a Photoshop plug-in but I believe that it should work in PSP8 as well.

3. Perspective correction

Well, which picture do you prefer?

The first one is the original (taken from the street, looking-up). The second one was corrected and cropped. I personally prefer the second one. Even if perspective is not a default from the camera (like barreling for instance), I found out that correcting it sometimes helps the picture a lot.

There are two set of tools that can be used. The first one can be found here:

I mostly use the Perspective - Vertical... one. As with the other tools, it's really a trial and error thing. I just do it (and undo it) till it looks good.

The second tool is appropriately named "Perspective Correction" and can be found here:

It basically combines the Horizontal and Vertical perspective tools in one. I find it very useful, although you need to have some straight lines on the picture and have a good sense of the effect you want to get.

4. Cropping

Then, I crop. Honestly, I always spend a lot of time on this. It's like having a second chance to take a good picture. I always try to 'isolate' my subject by removing objects or persons that distract attention. With the Nikon 5700 and its Electronic Viewfinder, I found out that I needed to do much less cropping than with the Olympus. While cropping, I always keep a ratio of 1.333 (or sometimes 1.5 for some landscapes). The 1.333 ratio will make a nice 800x600 at the end of the process. I use the 1.5 to make a 800x533 or 900x600.

I've just started now to take more liberty with my cropping. I now do some verticals (300x800) or horizontals (800x300) when I believe that it helps the picture.

C. Adjusting Color Balance

This is quite tricky and highly subjective, especially if you're not sure of the calibration of your screen. There are the a multitude of tools available to actually correct color balance as shown here:

I've tried all of these tools quite unsuccessfully I must admit. The only one that I've had some good luck with is the first one: Automatic Color Balance.

I most of the time move the ruler to the left to make the picture warmer (more orange - less blue). Now, you can also play with the Strength. As for a lot of steps here, it's a trial and error process and this also depends a lot on the camera and whether filters have been used. I found out that my Nikon 5700 needed much less correction than the Olympus.

D. Adjusting Brightness & Contrast

1. Histograms

Ok, I'm not very good at this, but I always give a quick look at the picture histogram. If the picture is supposed to have some real black and real white, I stretch the histogram to cover a wider spectrum as show below. The original histogram of this hazy picture of Seattle is concentrated in the middle of the spectrum, lacking real whites and real blacks. By moving the small triangles (I usually don't touch the middle one), I stretch the histogram to get the resulting red one.

This is a very powerful tool, but I usually don't touch anything else that those two triangles as I find the other tools to be much to complex to control. Also, it's important to make sure that we don't loose too much information. Here, we can see that the 0.221% darker pixels of the whole picture have been converted to pure black, and that the 0.972% brighter pixels have been converted to pure white. These numbers here are too high, I usually try to loose less that 0.1%

2. Increasing dynamic range

I'm just starting to touch this, but I love the concept. The idea is to have two versions of the same picture, one darker and one lighter. The darker one would be rich of details in the dark areas, but would lose information in the bright zones. On the contrary, the brighter pictures would reveal much more details in the bright areas. There are two ways to get these two pictures. The best is to actually take several exposures and bracket the exposition (use a tripod to ensure that these are exactly the same pictures). An other way is to duplicate the picture in PSP8 as a second layer and then darken one and lighten the other (this would reveal different details in each picture). Then, with the eraser, remove the parts of each pictures that you don't want to keep (the light areas in the underexposed picture and the dark areas in the overexposed one). You get the final picture by merging the two and therefore the best of both worlds! Sounds great? Yes? Well, I don't find this particularly easy to do and quite time consuming, but if this is your wedding picture, it's maybe worth the time...

3. Brightness / Contrast

I was using this tool before discovering the use of histograms. I use one or the other, not both. You'll find it here:

I usually start by entering a 'huge' number from -20 to +20 in brightness, just to see how it affects the picture. This usually tells me in what direction I need to go (plus or minus something). Then, I go back to 0 and do the same -20/+20 thing with the % Contrast. Then, I know whether I need to increase or decrease contrast. At the end, I'm usually pretty conservative and try to keep my modification within the -10/+10 range, well, except on the example below:

4. Clarify

I usually try it, just to see. This sometimes gives amazing results, sometime it darkens my picture too much Worth trying though. I still have difficulties figuring out what this tool actually does. I believe it lightens up the areas around the dark ones and therefore enhancing the contrast. Strange, but worth trying.

E. Adjusting Colors

1. Chromatic Aberration correction

I found this method here. It's described for Photoshop, but easily applicable to PSP8 by using the "Hue/Saturation/Lightness" tool:

I use the tool as follows:

I start by selecting "Cyan" because this is the color of my Chromatic Aberrations and put a Saturation of -70. Then, I try to narrow down the color spectrum range by shrinking the grey area included in between the 2 color circles. The preview pane (on the right) shows if the correct color is correctly removed. I believe that this modification should not be applied to the whole picture, but just to the concerned area, but I haven't found a way yet to correctly select the area without creating a mark or halo.

2. Hue and Saturation

I use the same tool. I was doing this all the time on my C3000z pictures. I was playing with the "Automatic Saturation Enhancement" or "Hue/Saturation/Lightness" and usually got some pretty good results. With the Nikon having much more accurate colors, I usually leave my pictures untouched or just add 5 of Saturation, but again, I should really have my screen calibrated.

F. Image finishing

1. Edge preserving smooth

For some close portraits, I found that Edge preserving smooth (set at 1 or 2 max) can actually remove some skin imperfections. I rarely use this tool, but I found some instances were the result was quite pleasant.

2. Sharpening

That's key and quite complex matter. There are tons of articles on the web about this. The one that really helped me is here. The whole dilemma is to increase sharpness without creating the famous 'sharpening halo' as explained in the article referenced before. Here's an extract:

"[...] USM rule 1: use as small a radius as you can... (...and boost the amount until it looks good.)

[...] USM Rule 2: set the threshold as high as you can."

I usually zoom at 200% on a high contrast area of my picture and closely watch to avoid the creation of the 'sharpening halo'. I usually start with a radius of 0.7 and progressively increase the amount (sometimes to 110 or 120). Then, I finalize with the threshold parameter.

3. Saving

All the modification are completed on this full-size version of my picture. I'll use this version for printing to maximize the number of dpi.

G. Creating the web version

1. Creating duplicate

I press F12 to save a copy of the picture as a want to keep the full-size version for printing.

2. Resizing

Use SHIFT+S to launch the resize window. If the cropping above was done with the correct ratio, the resize to a 800x300 or any other format that I want to use shouldn't be a problem.

3. Sharpening

I found out that this last sharpening step generates a truly visible effect. It all depends on the picture, but I often use USM 0.5/100/5 or something like that.

4. Framing

I've written a small script in Paint Shop Pro (Python) that add the white borders and the title of the pictures (read by the script from the EXIF information).

5. Just save, and you're done!

Diffused Glow technique

I've learnt this technique in the www.dpreview.com forum. I used this technique on this picture:

This is done as follows:

Create a copy of the picture in a second layer by using Layers > Duplicate.

Modify the top layer by applying a Gaussian blur (I usually use 20 or 25 pixels) and changing its opacity (I used 50% here, but I know some other people prefer just 25% - the higher the percentage the blurrier the end result).

Then, merge the two layers in one and save.

Black & White conversion

I'm using the technique from Russell Brown published on the Adobe website:

http://www.adobe.com/tips/phs8colorbw/main.html

This process appeared complex to me at first, but it really allows for a richer, deeper conversion than just a simple grayscale conversion.